Space artist Alizey Khan painted the moon on a faux-leather bag and will make one just like it for you for just $100. Khan used Angelus leather paints; I can vouch for them as the best I've found, too, both creatively (in that they run and mix like standard acrylics) but have a convincing texture that doesn't crack.
Here's a tutorial she made, too:
The Next Rembrandt is an original portrait created with machine learning algorithms trained using the Dutch master's works. The resulting image isn't a plain old bitmap, either, but a fully three-dimensional artifact built with scans of real paintings' brushstrokes and protrusions.
"We really wanted to understand what makes a face look like a Rembrandt," Emmanuel Flores, director of technology for the project, told the BBC.
After they had been digitally tagged by humans, data on Rembrandt's paintings was gathered by computers which discovered patterns in how the Dutch master would, for example, characteristically shape a subject's eyes in his portraits.
Then, machine-learning algorithms were developed which could output a new portrait mirroring Rembrandt's style.
To limit the many possible results to a specific type of individual, the computer was asked to produce a portrait of a Caucasian male between the ages of 30 and 40, with facial hair, wearing black clothes with a white collar and a hat, facing to the right.
The involvement of human artists in the final work is unequivocally denied: "humans didn't decide the final look and feel of the final portrait - they simply chose algorithms based on their efficiency and let the computer come up with the finished result."
The suggestion of emergent brilliance from the machine, then, is quite exciting. That said, there are an awful lot of Rembrandt portraits in exactly this strictly-composed style – a good place to get started.
I was excited to read this article about Jacob Collins, an artist working in the style of the old masters--so many oil glazes!--as it's the effect I often aim for (albeit with ersatz digital shenanigans, though I did receive formal training back in the day). But, at least in James Panero's telling, he seems really humorless and severe about the whole thing. Read the rest
4 Artists Paint 1 Tree is a short documentary released by Disney in 1958, in which four of its best animators (then working on Sleeping Beauty) each paint the same old oak tree. An illustration of the depth of artistic brilliance and individuality informing the technical uniformity of an animated feature, it's well worth 15 minutes of your day.
They're all great, but my favorite is Eyvind Earle's, top, closely followed by Josh Meador's on the left. To the right, Walt Peregoy ("Walt Disney was a shit. We made Walt. Walt didn’t make Walt. Walt was an asshole.") holds his modernist rendering. At bottom is Mark Davis, whose technique seems delightfully contemporary. [Thanks, Wendy!] Read the rest
Pop surrealist pioneer Camille Rose Garcia returns to Seattle's Roq La Rue Gallery tonight, March 3, with a magnificent new show of phantasmagoric paintings! This remarkable exhibition, titled "Animus Chrysalis Mortis," hangs until April 2. Garcia says:
For this body of work I was inspired by the surrealist and deeply symbolic films of Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jungian archetypes, and Greek mythology. I created a personal language of symbols, then made a card set and selected at random a different set for each new painting. This method taps into the elements of subconscious influence and chance, as well as mirrors the cut-up method of writing created by one of my favorite authors William Burroughs.
From these subconscious suggestions I created a lush and layered symbolic world that explores the realm of childhood, memory and longing. Ghosts and gardens, snakes and skulls frame fever-dream scenes of wounded goddesses slayed open, fecund gardens growing from their wounds. Vibrant strange gardens populated with insects and dream imagery portray a psychedelic dance between life and death.
I've always loved sharing artist Gus Harper's work. Regardless if it is time-lapse videos of Gus working, photos our readers have told me ARE safe for work, or just news about a forthcoming show. This time I get to share something special! Gus painted the owl above for me, to fix my living room and get me out of a funk.
Commissioning a piece of art from Gus was a lot of fun! I was reluctant to give him any direction beyond showing him some photos of the wall in question and my living room, but thankfully Gus knew what he was doing. We talked about prior pieces of his that I particularly enjoy and focused on his paintings of Lions. I'm not the only one who loved that series, and one piece was featured in the recent biopic on N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton, decorating Dr. Dre's office.
A lion, however is not the animal for that wall. Gus promptly noted that my shelves, and most every flat surface, were filled with owls that I have collected over the years. Serendipitously, Gus had just painted his first owl, ever, a week or so before, just for fun and was itching to work on a larger piece. Sketches flew back and forth, I changed the color of the wall the painting would sit on, and got a new rug. When Gus' painting showed up, I knew my living room was right... for the time being.
Gus has been up to a lot more than just decorating Hollywood movies, and my home. Read the rest
James Gurney is the creator of the Dinotopia book series and is one of the best book illustrators alive today. His work is in the league of N.C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle.
James has a new instructional painting video called Fantasy in the Wild: Painting Concept Art on Location for sale as a direct download and on DVD. In the excerpt above, James shows how he made a small model of an excavator robot out of craft foam to assist him in painting an urban attack scene. James' teaching style is so friendly and warm. I have met him a couple of times, and this video captures his personality perfectly. Read the rest
Steve Ross doesn't have the sweet 'fro, but he knows his way around a tube of Van Dyke Brown just like his dad. Here are a few tips and comments Steve offers on this video about painting a lake in the woods. "Be real rough on it." "Push nice and hard." "You know if your wrist is wore out by the time you get done doing this, you did something right." "It made me feel real good inside." "That's the funnest way to do it." You catch me making sound effects here and there. That's real good." "When I say large, I mean it, don't I?" "Two-inch. Right in there. Push up on it." "Gee whiz! That'll wear your arm out." "See, I just played with it! And suddenly things just started to happen for ya." "It's getting bigger all the time. Oh no, it's huge! Look at that. It's a monster." "You gotta keep your confidence up. Tell yourself you're good. Read the rest
What a gem was released upon the internet today! This video of Bob Ross: A Walk in the Woods, was Season 1 Episode 1 of his long-running “anyone can paint” television HOWTO show.
John Poppleton demonstrates how he creates eye-popping body-painted landscapes using fluorescent paint and UV light. Below are a couple of examples: Read the rest
As part of a state-funded anti-violence project, Germen Nuevo Muralismo Mexicano turned an entire neighborhood in Pachuca, Mexico into an artwork titled El Macro Mural Barrio de Palmitas. Read the rest
Parisian photographer Jackie Tadeoni Sacha Goldberger created this wonderful series of superheroes (and Snow White!) as subjects of Baroque Flemish portraits. Read the rest
Sacha Goldberger's "Super Flemish" series is a spectacular set of images of superheroes, sf movie characters and other futuristic figures (including some of his notorious aged superheroes) in the garb and affect of Dutch Renaissance portraits. (via Neatorama) Read the rest
Astounding bodypainter Paul Roustan is running a kickstarter to publish a book of his unbelievable work. Read the rest
Robbo writes, "My friend, SF author J.M. Frey, posted this curious thing she found where a detail in Hieronymus Bosch's painting 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' features musical notation inscribed on some dude's ass. Of course, someone has taken the time to transcribe these notes and have now presented to the interwebs a piano interpretation of the 600 Year Old Butt Music From Hell of Hieronymous Bosch. Feel free to gavotte along." Read the rest
