Follow Muddy Colors, filter it, and define how you want to receive the news (via Email, RSS, Telegram, WhatsApp etc.) https://follow.it/muddy-colors Tue, 25 Jan 2022 09:11:28 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nuh8T1M2eVeSoxzwoq1nFt

One of the things I love about traditional media is its built-in texture. While digital artists have to go to elaborate lengths to achieve the grit, scratches, and subtle surface variations that mark a piece “finished,” the traditional-media virtuoso can accomplish the same and better by spilling the occasional cup of coffee on their workspace, and storing their paintings in the same drawer they keep the pennies in. The downside, of course, is that not…]]> Mon, 24 Jan 2022 13:00:54 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nuh8T1M2eVeSoxzwoq1nFt https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kg3K8EgzAuqbDXWBZfdr71

If your training was anything like my early years before finding good mentors, you probably jumped into a painting class, and just started without much in the way of tool guidance.  There was likely no lab class where the materials were explained, no reasoning behind the canvas, linen, or panel you brought in, the paint brush types, the hair types, the ground, sizing, or anything that has to do with pregame preparation. For some odd…]]> Sat, 22 Jan 2022 13:30:36 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kg3K8EgzAuqbDXWBZfdr71 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8k5pxXPQLuFj1Lv-B9hV9S2

I know I keep saying this was a dream job/ bucket-list project, and it truly was. I just have a really HUGE long bucket list of dream projects. But among them THE PIANO stands mighty and tall. I had just seen ANGEL AT MY TABLE about a week before this landed in theaters way back in the early 1990’s, and the leap between them was engulfing and mighty. The unconventional nature of it, the blossoming…]]> Fri, 21 Jan 2022 13:00:31 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8k5pxXPQLuFj1Lv-B9hV9S2 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mbvo88V7NuezErtZyObPkc

Colin and I have been on juries for numerous art contests including Spectrum, Infected By Art and the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, The Walter S. Baird Prize for Art and Literature along with various local and regional events. In this video chat, we’ll give a behind the scenes look at different ways contests work, share some thoughts about presenting your entries in the best possible light, provide perspective on results and look at the benefits…]]> Thu, 20 Jan 2022 13:00:53 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mbvo88V7NuezErtZyObPkc https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kFrrijmud71ovmyuk5fxzE

January 3th of this year marked the 130th anniversary of J.R.R. Tolkien’s birth, Happy Birthday John Ronald Reuel! With the new Amazon Silmarillion adaptation coming soon, Middle-earth is on my mind these days, with an itch to start another massive landscape work.  To hold us over, here is a revisit to a post from the beginning of MuddyColors days and one of my favorite paintings from the studio, a portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien. I cannot…]]> Wed, 19 Jan 2022 10:01:17 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kFrrijmud71ovmyuk5fxzE https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8lzPD-utVeQGgp41t9tiERU

Holy cow, I completed my #d20Dec drawing challenge! (I wanted to see if I could randomly roll 20 monsters on a d20 dice from the 5e Monster Manual, draw and post them on social media- all in the month of Dec. This in addition to my normal work load.) If you caught my preview last month, I had barely started and failed to understand how long it would take! It was down to the wire,…]]> Tue, 18 Jan 2022 13:30:07 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8lzPD-utVeQGgp41t9tiERU https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nM_cUB4rE1JEQqW5gBv7mX

“Good artists copy, great artists steal.” Recognize that quote from Picasso? It touches on the idea that nothing is truly original, and as artists, everything we create is derivative in some way or another. I’d like to take some time today to talk about creating master copies. “But I thought copying was bad?!” Straight-up copying IS bad in any kind of professional setting. Copying an entire image for a freelance project = not good. The…]]> Mon, 17 Jan 2022 12:00:56 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nM_cUB4rE1JEQqW5gBv7mX https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mJVGoVcZj9cWZMehmtHS8-

Last session I started gathering ideas for my occultist. Now I’m going to start in on a set of sketches. First thing is, I need to get into the mood. I love to find music that feels appropriate for the character. For this guy, I’m starting with this: I felt I’d gotten a good direction going last session when I hit on those banyan robes, and I want to really play with the shape of…]]> Sat, 15 Jan 2022 13:30:47 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mJVGoVcZj9cWZMehmtHS8- https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8lPrwv2NV_2AvnNuMIJyU22 I don’t know about you, but I am excited to go to some events in 2022. I know we are still in the thick of Covid, but I feel like we are getting better at having events with reasonable precautions. A few years ago (2019… I can’t believe it) I was in invited as guest faculty at Jeff Miracola and Silvia Acevedo’s Fantasy Art Workshop. I had an incredible time. Jeff and Silvia put together…]]> Fri, 14 Jan 2022 08:00:55 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8lPrwv2NV_2AvnNuMIJyU22 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kB2Foi6B4U49KEpFgimKzx

Happy New Year everyone. Hope you all had a nice holiday, and Santa brought you exactly what you wanted. We had a nice couple weeks. Got pretty snowed in the day after Christmas which really completed the whole aesthetic, albeit a day late. Figured I’d share a couple Christmas presents I made for my parents this year. I often try to do little drawings for close family as gifts. To me, they mean more because…]]> Thu, 13 Jan 2022 12:00:22 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kB2Foi6B4U49KEpFgimKzx https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nZ4P7ZgghcvH1d0VB8z-7c

After wanting one for nearly 20 years, I finally decided to buy myself an airbrush. I think I put it off for so long simply because I just didn’t know where to start. You need a lot of stuff, and there are so many different options, that it’s a bit daunting. It can also be expensive, and I’m not the kind of person to drop a lot of money on equipment I know nothing about.…]]> Wed, 12 Jan 2022 13:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nZ4P7ZgghcvH1d0VB8z-7c https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8m4EpLUNiNpbFT72x6uxjiK

Some months back we took a little tour down a well-worn rabbit trail, for me. Nowhere in particular to be, nothing in particular to say. Just a quiet walk through some leafy paths. As a new page on the calendar turns over, I thought why not revisit these creatures and take a look at some new ones! So, what are they? No real idea. The only answer I’ve ever had is a shrug and to…]]> Tue, 11 Jan 2022 12:00:49 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8m4EpLUNiNpbFT72x6uxjiK https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kTCtUe3M7aA5JTpfXVttXD

Its a new year. And by that time to reflect. Its perfectly good to make resolutions as to where you want your art to go in the new year. To make small promises to yourself, like: “I wanna start sketching in sketchbook in 2022″. or ” I want to paint more landscapes studies”, and ” I will draw at least an hour every evening instead of watching television”. These are just a small selection of…]]> Mon, 10 Jan 2022 08:34:12 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8kTCtUe3M7aA5JTpfXVttXD https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8k-xB1KfF_MpReIF_fEM9tn

I made this little seashell watercolor palette box recently as a gift, and I thought I’d share it in case someone might want to make one for themselves or as a gift for someone else too. Here is a list of components and how they were used: Tin These tins are lightweight tin-plated steel and magnets can stick to them, which is important. (here is a link to the tins) Seashells I used some seashells…]]> Sat, 08 Jan 2022 13:30:47 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8k-xB1KfF_MpReIF_fEM9tn https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8myDXwf3dq99--bbeigX9oC

Since we’ve started our Saturday evening live feeds on Instagram again (@I_JustDraw) I thought my post this time would display what my final piece, based on the study that I  began on the feed, looked like and how it moved through the explorations. These sketches were done on Borden and Riley craft paper pads. I really enjoy drawing on this toned paper. It reminds me of when I used to draw on paper bags when…]]> Fri, 07 Jan 2022 13:00:04 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8myDXwf3dq99--bbeigX9oC https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mmbu6JndYP48qq6eZJzUh9

-By Julian Totino Tedesco   Hey everybody! I’m super excited to become a small part of the MC family. As many of you, I’ve been visiting the site on daily basis since its beginning, so i’m very happy and proud of being able to contribute. This Meme sums up pretty well how I feel here at MC, among such amazing artists. In my first post, I’d like to share a method that has proven to…]]> Thu, 06 Jan 2022 11:00:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8mmbu6JndYP48qq6eZJzUh9 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nSjJsZTZyF44vmyuk5fxzE

We’re willing to bet there are a LOT of people who got fancy new iPads and digital drawing tablets this holiday season, but don’t know quite what to do with them. Whether you’re a young artist just starting out, or an older artist looking to add digital skills to their toolbelt for the first time, delving into Photoshop can be a daunting task. Well, this is the video for you! This video is a brief,…]]> Wed, 05 Jan 2022 13:00:06 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nSjJsZTZyF44vmyuk5fxzE https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8liM0d8X8NaY0TXPGaG87AR

I’m starting off the new year with a chat with Lars Grant-West, who among other things is a fellow Magic illustrator, instructor at Rhode Island School of Design, and generous with his time (at least in this case) to a fault. I thought it might be interesting to both you fine readers (and me) to dig into his use of digital 3D models both in the creation of 2D paintings, as well as for finished…]]> Tue, 04 Jan 2022 13:00:10 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8liM0d8X8NaY0TXPGaG87AR https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8m_xBSoC-EvQgC0qH-r7xlT

We’re fortunate to own a number of beautiful art books, but last month we added a true gem to our collection: Forgotten Gods: The Art of Yoann Lossel. It is, to put it simply, absolutely stunning. Internationally renowned for his mixed-media/gold leaf paintings and drawings exploring mythic subjects, Yoann has been winning awards and turning heads for over twenty years; this collection includes many of his most popular works along with new art, jewelry designs,…]]> Mon, 03 Jan 2022 12:30:29 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8m_xBSoC-EvQgC0qH-r7xlT https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nHIFohbK8Tee9WSSr4-0sP

There’s no telling what will happen in the months ahead, but here’s wishing everyone a healthy (PLEASE!), happy, and prosperous 2022! Art by the remarkable J.C. Leyendecker, of course.…]]> Sat, 01 Jan 2022 19:29:43 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/CVlgRyURl8nHIFohbK8Tee9WSSr4-0sP