rolley

Huh it's been a while being here. Here's some newer stuff, experimental printmaking things and two older oil paintings. Sorry for the big pictures, can't really use this thing I'm posting these from. Measurements and info + more stuff at http://tuomosundvall.tumblr.com/ .

Tried watercolors again after six months without them, was fun. couple acrylic paintings from few months back. bad pic of better half of my high school diploma thing and last one from period where all seeing eyes were used a bit too much...

schismism, That's really nice, I first thought it was paper collage. Some of your stuff somehow reminded me of Josh Keyes' works. ps, I got chosen for the 2nd part of applying for the school i mentioned before. Really stoked (and scared as well hah). Now I have a week to learn to draw.

Incredible... Really liking that and the "Temptation of St. Anthony" one. Wish I could see them in person.

I'm definitely trying to read and study as much as I can, even though it would seem irrelevant I try to absorb any useful information out of it. I always think that the "old masters" are masters for a reason and that they sure are worth studying. I was in this art high school, which basically means that there was a pretty nice selection of art classes, history, printmaking painting& drawing etc. I remember in every history class these manga girls are hating every single artist (except Mucha) and I'm like wtf do you really think drawings those wolves and gay couples kissing is cooler than this. The school I'm applying to is one in Helsinki so there's a chance you've never heard of it : D I personally think that school kinda offers the tools for learning but what really matters is your own attitude and work ethic. Like, a lot of my friends were saying that the schools in Finland suck so they applied in some pretty expensive schools (they're free in Finland) in UK and Europe. And they are the type of people who never do anything art related unless it has to be done so I don't quite understand what they're looking for... http://www.kuva.fi/en/ . The English website is a bit narrow but the application guide has all the info if you're interested. Applicants and acceptance rates on page 45. Seems quite brutal to me lol. I'll see how things go and try not to stress. Doesn't really matter if I get rejected since it's the kind of school where it's normal to apply more than once and i have no need to hurry. where are you guys studying?

enigmatic, always good to hear things like that. Bottom part was definitely a bit grey area for me. I started that piece mostly because i wanted to get more variation on my works and get rid off always doing so centered pieces. Finished the top and kinda left the bottom as it was and moved to next piece. Will definitely think about what you said. I'm applying for this art school in a couple of weeks and I have to send there 1-5 works (any subject, any media, any size). I started wondering if there should be some clear thing to join together all the pieces or should there be as much variation as possible. For example, I'm not sure if sending the watercolor piece posted back on page 45 and some much larger scale, more painting looking acrylic portraits with that will look just messy or will it look like I'm open for new subjects and medias. I'm aiming for this kinda candid entity packed with mixed media pieces ( that sounded really art school fag to me).The little I've talked with professional painters/artists I've noticed that size is definitely an important factor. Go big or go home or whatever they say... So I'll try to focus on the bigger stuff since it sure will get more attention easily. Nomaq, saw you talking about using acrylics instead of oils (couple pages back..). I tried using acrylics with my oil painting medium (1 part linseed oil, 2 parts turpentine) and it was almost like painting with oils. With water it might end up in some interesting stuff since it doesn't really stick to it. The result is really glossy though, so it probably needs some layering if going for more realistic stuff. Might be worth a try. ps, went back couple of pages and saw some awesome stuff i had already forgot about. Definitely need to start reading this thread from the beginning again.

Yes yes good thing you're not going for hyper realism since I find that stuff extremely boring... Message boards aren't anyways the best places to explore small and nuanced stuff in paintings hah. Keep posting a lot! Started stretching my own canvases today, really looking forward doing bigger paintings than what I'm currently doing. Need to start planning my works a bit more, though, since constantly fixing huge fucked up canvases gets pretty expensive in the long run.

^ Reminded me of this one. Shige

Nomaq solid as usual. Do you use a lot of pre mixed browns? Sometimes your skin tones look a bit lifeless, maybe put some thin layers of blues and greens in there for more depth. I've always liked the unplanned color combinations happening in my palette. Been thinking for a while about cutting my palette into pieces and reconstructing it into portrait or something. Then I saw those Matt Small paintings and got really into the idea. Though the painting above is done just with a palette knife and acrylic instead of "sculpting" it from old paint. Was first time using palette knife for me so i started a bit too thick on some areas.

Agreeing with the Scandinavia part. People around here usually have rather strong (and negative) opinions about yanks and specially their politics. Mostly I think that is because the media in here tends to show us only the very extremities of what's happening in your country, not the mediocre and everyday stuff. The fact that people in here have some sort of grudge against Americans doesn't really matter if you're visiting here. Well, it depends a lot on where you're visiting, but basically all tourists all treated really well. The older generations might have some problems speaking English but they'll try their best. The youth is usually very interested in tourists and eagerly hang out with them and show places and talk about all kinds of stuff. As someone said, when visiting Europe, it's much better staying away from the very central tourist districts and going to the places where normal people normally hang out.

Drew some rather quick (~2 hours each) pencil portraits. I don't really prefer this type of stuff since to me it's just creating a duplicate of a photograph. Thought it would be nice to try how I'll do and learn something new. They're all hb and 2b on 300gsm A3 watercolor paper. I think the bottom right one came out best, was really trying to stay away from using outline (which I'm pretty dependent on...) This one I've worked for a while now... It's still pretty unfinished, the neck and hand areas specially. I didn't really have any plans when I started so it's been going a lot back and forth and just trying things out. Any ideas or thoughts are more than welcome.

There's a better pic on his blog. Btw did he happen to say anything about how busy he is, or something about travel dates? Would be awesome to get tattooed by him and I live fairly near his studio. guess i should just email him hah

Actually I do have tried white ink (Winsor&Newton calligraphy ink), really nice for fine details since it flows really smoothly. Also I like because it's not so intense as acrylics tend to be, nice subtle effects for backgrounds etc. Kinda forgot I have it so I just used one from the tube. Super nice texture on the skull there btw.

The b&g girl is by Chris Lennox. And yep, Shige bodysuit on top of the page, a lot of pics and talk about that on his book. Same girl from behind

Bought acrylics recently and been practicing a lot with them, mostly trying different things and trying to get some sort of touch in it. ~A4 size canvas (2nd ever haha), didn't pay much attention on anything else but the paint itself. Dude came out pretty orange here's one i did with more familiar technique. Was supposed to be saint Lucia but ended up more like Christmas tree. Close enough. ~ 56x38cm. Pen, ink, watercolor and few drops of white acrylic.