I Love Painting Eyes…

Saturday, May 16, 2009

It’s important to understand a little bit about anatomy to be able to properly render human and animal features in our artwork. Traditional portrait painters have understood this, and those of us who work in the digital realm need to as well. So there are certain things we need to keep in mind when painting eyes, whether they belong to a dog, cat, man, woman or child.

The first thing to remember is that the eye is spherical – sort of like a cue ball with a colorful, circular lens mechanism slightly bubbling out from the sphere's surface, which can be seen through the eye opening of the face. And we need to be sure to use light and shadow to show this rounded form. The whites of the eyes (the sclera) should generally be shaded away from the light source and bright on the side toward the light source. The shape and direction of the catchlights in the eyes should also address the eye’s curvature.

Another aspect of the eye is its translucency. Light travels through the outer cornea of the eye, hits the colorful iris and is then reflected back out through the cornea opposite the entry point– a lot like light traveling through a colorful marble. Especially in eyes that are lit from the side you’ll notice this bright burst of color opposite the catchlight. Portrait artists can enhance this effect as a way to introduce some color and better render the eye’s translucent nature.

Another characteristic of the eye that we need to pay attention to is it’s glass-like reflective surface. Catchlights are the most important way to represent this quality. It’s important to remember that a catchlight is a reflection of a light source. If it’s an indoor portrait, the catchlight may take on the shape of a window or a nearby lamp. The catchlights in an outdoor portrait may be a reflection of the sun or open sky – or a nearby wall. There may also be moist areas around the rims of eyes that produce small but bright reflections.

I love painting eyes.

Welcome...

Thursday, May 7, 2009

…to the first post of my first blog.  It’s an exciting time for me as I get ready to unveil the new website (scottdeardorffportraits.com), which features a lot of new work that no one’s seen before, as well as some older work, which has been reworked (a little).  It’s been a long time coming, but I’m really happy with the look of the site, and proud of the work it contains. 

I did a lot of research into the different web design companies and template-site companies, and I ended up going with BluDomain – a decision that I’m pretty happy with, so far.  Since the kind of work I do really needs to be seen big, I wanted a site capable of displaying large images, and Blu has a lot of those to choose from – and some great designs too. 

In this first post I want to give you a bit of information about what I hope to use this blog for.  Primarily, it will be a means for me to keep people informed about Scott Deardorff Portraits.  I’ll be sharing new work, and hopefully providing a little insight into the processes that went into their creation.  Any news about SDP – specials, new offerings and the like will be posted here as well.

You may already know about my Photoshop video training series, “Mastering the Digital Canvas™,” which is in the works.  Those of you who have taken my class know that this is something I’ve been planning to do for a (long) while.  You may also know that I tend to be a perfectionist, so it’s not unusual for me to want to get everything perfect.  As I have new information about this project, I’ll share it with you here.

From time to time (as new ideas surface and time allows), I plan to post tutorials on Photoshop technique – digital painting technique, retouching technique and other PS quick tips.  I’m open to suggestions on things you might want to see here.  I want this blog to be useful, informative and interesting.

Please do leave me comments, questions and feedback on anything regarding my site, this blog, or anything else.  I want to hear from you.