Large Catfish #3

Here is a sneak peak at my catfish piece in progress. I've been working on it a bit today and I thought a view of one of the larger catfish on the lower half would be fun to share. This will actually be partly covered by an airy transparent paper to give a nice depth, a watery feel, and keep the focal point at the top of the piece. Thanks for looking! :) Enjoy!

Catfish Project Progress

I've finally gotten to starting on the catfish final. I posted about this ages ago, but it never got past the initial idea phase.

So yesterday, on the 18th, I was free to work it up. I've basically finished the final drawing on watercolor illustration board. It is about 37 inches long and 18 inches wide. Some aspects of this piece will be very hard to imagine in drawing form, but I'll share it anyhow. The small male figure was just drawn out of my head so I'll be getting reference for him before I finalize him. The photos have come out wonky but you'll get the idea. Enjoy! And any feedback is appreciated!

Problems Photographing

Final Update: The biggest help to me so far has been to use a gray card for adjusting the settings on the camera. Go to your local camera shop and they'll know what I'm talking about.


Update #3:

I have a photography class coming up. Hopefully I can get some answers from a pro.

Further Update:

Well, I am still in need of a good image of my final. I'm waiting until I can visit the local camera shop for advice. In the meanwhile I shall share some more sketches tomorrow.



Update:

A friend of mine emailed me this diagram (above) of how to set up the lighting for photographing a piece of artwork. I still couldn't focus well enough with my digital camera so I pulled out the big guns and used my film camera.

The hardest part of the set up was getting a large window to shine on my artwork, and a draw back is that I would have to move everything again to take any more photos of other artwork but I needed to try something different. The film is being processed as we speak. I'll let you know the result.

Original Post:

I really need advice! I'm trying to photograph one of my finished pieces. It is a mixed media piece and I'm finding that my camera is picking out the papers differently than the watercolor.

This is causing significant distortion of values and even the hue of certain areas in this piece. All papers were attached with matte medium, so glare shouldn't be the issue. The only thing I can think of is that the textured surface is boggling my camera as the photos seem to be blurring the watercolor paper texture out.

Any advice? Leave comments if you can!

Drawing Too Close to Non-Photo Blue

Okay, I've got to stop drawing in colors that my scanner doesn't pick up well, namely lighter blues and purples. Regardless, I managed to get a couple of my drawings more visible even though they are in colored pencil! (I'll see if I can fix those from the last post to look more like they really do in life.) I've got more finished works coming, and some progress updates.

Oh, and I'm doing a Valentines Day Sale in my Etsy shop. Check it out, there are new pendants up as well!