Al Fresco Art Club Challenge, April 26, 2020 -- Use Three Primary Colors in a Painting

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Today’s art club challenge was a limited color palette exercise. We were supposed to use three primary colors. We could any tint or saturation of the colors, which really amounts to an infinite number of possible colors. In addition, when using the three colors on separate layers and using blending modes, we had multiple infinities of possible colors. I chose to paint a jaguar-like feline character. I started by sketching the jaguar from memory. My first attempt looked like a pig. I swallowed my pride and did an image search and found a picture of a jaguar cub, which I interpreted as a teenage Jaguar.

Off the Road and into the Ditch

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Today I experimented with Adobe Fresco and a limited red, blue, and yellow color palette. This resulting looks extraordinary! That is, extraordinarily ugly. I’m going to give the process another try tonight by choosing de-saturated primary colors and by using them at reduced opacity. I’m also going to redo the line work with an ink brush. In this picture I use the Fresco rough pencil for everything, and it turned out…rough. What did I expect? I don’t like the colors I’m seeing, but I do like the composition. I’m going to redo this one more time.

My biggest annoyance today wasn’t with the results of my harsh color scheme — it was with Adobe CC. Once I uploaded the image I created on my iPad, I couldn’t find it in my Adobe Cloud files using my desktop Photoshop. I get the impression from the hype that the sharing of files would be painless. Guess what! It’s painful!

Attacking the Wall Again

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Tentative camera angle

This picture of Buddy airlifting his friends over the border wall has been a real learning opportunity. What I envisioned so clearly as a dramatic action shot has become a major lesson in the School of Hard Knocks — I understand that my perspective and composition exist only in my ego. I can easily imagine the picture I want, but when I start to draw and paint, I lose touch with my vision. So, this is my fifth or sixth version of this scene. I think it could be improved by moving the camera below the kids so that we’re looking up at them when the soar overhead. I’ll try that tomorrow.

It’s after work now and I’m on my chill time. I usually draw or watch art or food videos or play with some software (Artrage, Procreate, etc.) Tonight I’m going to repaint this picture using Adobe Fresco. I know…I’m off searching for the Holy Grail again, that magic software that fits my brain like a silken glove. That’s the way I roll. I’m a searcher.