Kelly Ramirez
Kelly Ramirez
Earth
I like stories, whimsy, and portraits. I’m an avid collector of pretty rocks, books, and Dead Things. (Taxidermy, bugs, dried flowers, etc.)
Activity Feed
Kelly Ramirez
Excited for this course. Could we get jpegs or pdfs of the images in the lessons?
Rose Bernatovich
Me too!
Hofan
9mo
yes that would be amazing
Edith V
9mo
Me too! I hope the images are added as well :/
Kelly Ramirez
Me too! I'm a heavily line-centric person and it is very difficult for me to group shadows and shapes. Something that I think helps me is to take off my glasses or blur the image, then with a piece of tracing paper, go over the image with a pencil and map out the shapes of the shadows. I'm still using line, which is my natural inclination, but I'm not outlining lips or individual eyelashes. Then fill them in with an even layer of tone. I start with two tones, and I'm slowly moving into three tones. I try to compress the values to 5 tones at the most. Then I take an image that interests me and do the same but without tracing it directly. I'm a slow learner, so it is taking time, but it actually helps. I love line a lot, and I don't think it is an entirely bad thing that needs to completely go away, so when I have an image that has its values, I go back and reinforce some parts with line, like where shadow edges are hard, or where I want a focus. Hope this helps! P.S. Its a bit awkward at first, but using the pencil like a brush helps with the line issue too. Especially if you have large newsprint paper and a conte or chacoal pencil sharpened with a blade into a stabby lance :3
Account deleted
Ditto all that you write :-) I keep saying to myself that "lines do not exits; they are an illusion." Only shadows shapes do." :-)
@ciai
Great course! Is there a female Asaro head? Where can I buy Asaro head mannequin heads?
Kelly Ramirez
You can order one here https://www.planesofthehead.com/ and they do have several models and types. However, you will have to either call or email them through the contact page in the "order" section. I've yet to work up the courage and money to grab one, but I can definitely see the value in having one! This 3D model also helps: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/asaro-head-9d26548182f8465a8e97371a9170561e
Monika Eidintaite
This is my submission for this month's challenge; the mother of lemurs. :D I used the organic refs such as the leaves, grasshopper wings, fruit, but mostly the fluffy lemurs!
Kelly Ramirez
Ohh I love the dynamic pose!
Kelly Ramirez
“Charging Station” Thank you for the challenge!
Aria Azure
3yr
Absolutely beautiful. Fantastic work Kelly!
Kelly Ramirez
Question: How many years did it take you to build a portfolio that you were confident to show people?
Kelly Ramirez
Yes! The class I've been waiting for! :D
Marco Bucci
Hope you enjoy it!
Kelly Ramirez
This is one of those "what brushes do you use" questions. Sorry. I use cheaper synthetic brushes because of their affordability, but they seem to "swallow" the paint and get bad buildup without leaving the paint on the painting like they are supposed to. I've seen that Rosamary and Co. are a favourite with some artists because they lay the paint down that you load on the brush like intended. What are some good brands, or styles of brushes that don't waste the paint like the cheaper ones do? Thank you!
@lukethesloth
Are there any recommendations on where to find good images for practice?
Kelly Ramirez
I always turn to Pinterest. I use the keywords "National Geographic Portraits" "People of the world" "portrait photography" and "Photography for artists"
Sarah Wyatt
here is a bit of my study for today, from going through the first couple videos. I tried to copy from pictures of my family members, then did tracings to see how close I was and tried to take notes of why they were off. Looking forward to improving!
Kelly Ramirez
Tracing over the references and comparing is a great idea!
Help!
Browse the FAQs or our more detailed Documentation. If you still need help or to contact us for any reason, drop us a line and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!