It’s just a selection of stills taken of me painting a portrait in acrylic on canvas. I was trying out some techniques I’d not used before – like a mid grey undercoat as Holbein used when painting The Ambassadors. I thought I might try letting the base coat show through in some of the highlighting. But as it turned out I painted over practically all the surface.

Also I’d been looking at polychrome work and Estofado – the process of layering of gold leaf and then paint particularly on sculptures made of wood. They would reveal the gold leaf by scratching the top layer of paint off. The polychromer can scratch or scrape the design off the reveal the gold underneath.

As well as scratching it off I’d heard the gold leaf was used under paintings to help make the painting itself glow – especially the flesh tones. So I  tried that too. I think it did work. There was a finish to the facial area that felt more vibrant. The final picture. Click on it to get a close up of the detail.

Video Music: Daydream by Danny Sharp

Tell me what you think.

I like the way he demonstrates very quickly with no messing around. You do have to watch his cursor closely to see precisely what he’s clicking on, because he doesn’t always tell you. But I have made quick notes to support this video which you can have to one side as well, whilst you chose your own image and work your way through the process. Give it a go – if you’ve got Photoshop that is.

Pop Art Images from Photoshop

• Select image and duplicate
• Image > adjustments > invert
• Filter > blur > Gaussian blur > select radius about 7 ish
• Change blending mode (on Layer window) to ‘colour dodge’
• Change threshold (bottom of Layer window) jiggy it round until happy with detail – here set at 240
• New layer > blending mode to Multiply – label skin and choose colour – paint bucket
• Duplicate background > move to top > this to be ‘hair’, so change colour > filter > sketch > halftone pattern – size 2 contrast 50 – blending mode to either ‘overlay’ or ‘multiply’
• New layer – Lips – blending to ‘multiply’ – red, zoom in and hide other layers to see what you’re doing
• New layer – eye whites – blending mode to ‘overlay’ – white (erase any other section you don’t want so they can shine through)
• New layer – eye colour – blending tool to ‘multiply’ – blue
• Can change colours though ‘saturation’ if not happy
• Can change background colour – blending mode to either ‘overlay’ or ‘multiply’.

I find it really useful seeing other people’s videos and watching how they use Photoshop. Everyone has their favourite techniques, sequences and ways of building up layers. I’d like to build up a library of different videos or written tutorials from which any of us could select the approaches that best fit the way we would like to work.

How useful was this for you?
Do you know of other tutorials that would help with making Pop Art images?

Please make a comment or suggestion. I would find it really useful with my work.

After the earlier image faded, the artist could remove the canvas from the camera obscura and continue his work. Caravaggio converted his studio into a kind of darkroom by filtering light through a purpose-made hole in his ceiling, using a biconvex lens and a concave mirror to reflect the image he planned to paint directly onto the canvas.

The use of a camera obscura to sketch the subject was not a new technique among artists, having gained prominence thanks to Leonardo da Vinci’s writings.

The device works by projecting reverse images of outside objects onto the flat wall of a closed box through a lens in an aperture. By attaching a mirror to the apparatus, artists were able to trace the exact dimensions of the image onto a piece of paper.

Caravaggio spent months refining his technique, adjusting the light and the size of the models.

However, by turning his entire room into a camera obscura, Caravaggio found himself working in the dark.

The experts believe this led him to create his own version of the faintly luminous, lead-based paint.

But the technique could sometimes give rise to distortion, said Grundy. ”In ‘Boy with a Basket of Fruit’, photographic discrepancies emerge with the lengthening of the subject’s head and neck as a result of the projection,” she explained. The size of the area being projected in the paintings depended on the size of the room, and Caravaggio was able to paint his subjects from ”far away” by altering the mirror and lens arrangement.

The many techniques pioneered by Caravaggio (1573-1610) have confirmed his reputation as one of the most revolutionary artist of his time, although he is probably best known for his mastery of chiaroscuro lighting.

People near

Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts

will be able to see demonstrations of this strange technique at their Arts Festival this weekend.