Hi folks! Well, it has been a very busy couple of months. First of all, I am very excited to announce that my Patreon has launched, now available at patreon.com/colinnitta Starting this new venture has been a big learning experience for me. I’ve been studying the work of other artists with Patreons and have come to realize that the […]
The above painting is an old favorite of mine. It’s titled “Forbidden Knowledge”. I’ve already written about this painting and the process behind it before in a previous post – so fear not, this post is about something entirely new! I’m taking a new tack here and writing a very personal (personal for me, at […]
I recently reworked a painting from last year, “Wrong Turn”. Revising old pieces is never as satisfying as starting something new, but I often find that I learn more by the time I’ve finished. This piece was no exception! The biggest problem I dealt with in this piece was the two merchant characters who are […]
My New Year’s Resolution for 2018 is quite simple – to do more life drawing! (my other resolution is to improve my painting skills, but that one is always the same).
Life drawing, like so many other beneficial practices, is easy to fall out of. As a working artist, I’m always busy finishing commissions, completing revisions, and sometimes just doing paperwork. It’s a lot to handle and it can be so easy to shrug off the need for constant practice and studying from life with “ah, I’m too busy/tired/unmotivated for that sort of thing.” After all, life drawing has no immediate benefits beyond the practice itself. No one pays me to do these drawings and there’s no one breathing down my neck if I don’t produce them.
My latest painting is a commission of a friend and his roleplaying character. This collaboration actually started about a year and a half ago when his father contacted me regarding a portrait for his son as a birthday present. As is often the case with private commissions, it was some time before I was actually able to meet with the client to determine what sort of portrait would work best.
Every now and then, I decide to take a big leap forward with a new painting. “Wrong Turn,” is definitely one of the biggest leaps yet. As 43″ inches wide, this painting is one of the largest, most complex compositions I’ve attempted in recent years.
“You have to finish. There is no other option.”
These words were spoken to me by the renowned painter and illustrator Donato Giancola at the beginning of the Illustration Master Class. This year’s IMC was my very first as an attendee and I was curious as to how many students actually finished their painting in one week’s time. I already knew that the IMC was basically a crazy illustration blitz in which students of all skill levels learn an incredible amount of technical and conceptual skills with world class faculty in one week. What I was unsure of was how many students actually manage to finish a painting from start to finish in that time. I’d seen other people post their unfinished paintings from IMC to Facebook, talking about how much they’d learned and how they hoped to finish their work with the help of their newfound knowledge from the class.
Painting models from life is a precious thing. Over the years, I’ve learned just how rare it is to find a painting group that meets on a weekly basis. Several things must converge: a studio space large enough to hold several artists needs to be available (no easy thing in the Bay Area), professional models need to be willing to sit for long periods, a chief organizer needs to wrangle said models and artists together, and schedules need to be available that permit for said wrangling. It also helps if everyone gets along too!
I was invited to participate in a group exhibition at Sketchpad Gallery in San Francisco, titled “100.100.100”. The theme of the show was simple: 100 artists, each creating a single piece at 10″ by 10″, or 100 square inches.
I’m pleased to announce that my painting “Forbidden Knowledge” was accepted for inclusion in the annual art competition Infected by Art, Volume 5! What is most interesting about this is that Forbidden Knowledge is actually a paint over of a canvas I originally conceived four years ago, titled “Sage.”