Thursday 15 December 2016

ABADID 15...ARTWORK - oil pastels...


Was in a bookshop called The Works which also sells cheap art supplies. It's been years since I worked with oil pastels so I picked up a set, fully realising that the quality might not be that good. But at £3 for a box they could be used for something.


There was a good range of colours, nice warm and cool tones across the spectrum. I'd sketched an idea for an alien/elf a few days previous. Tidied up the pencil outline and didn't use a fineliner - I wanted the outlines to fade under the pastels. 


Using a base of greenish yellow I built up deeper yellows and added shading in green. Using the pastels felt more painterly than using alcohol markers. Hair was coloured in blues, building up darker blues to give definition.


Wanting to define the face further I took a pencil and crosshatched across the surface, creating shadow, but in doing so I scraped off some of the pastel. A large soft dry paintbrush cleaned up the crumbs. To lighten strands of the hair I added white pastel and discovered that white gel pen could be used for highlights in the eyes. 

I might try the pastels again using a solvent to see what effects that will give. I like the close-ups images of the eyes. The face is rough but has interesting effects and the use of pencil to crosshatch gave it depth.



Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit

All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

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