-27.2-

Oil painting, according to the Wikipedia page is: "...the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil."

Before researching, I'm going to guess what this means:
Oil painting is when you paint with pigments (the colors you use that are made up of manmade chemicals or naturally occurring chemicals) that are bound with a medium of drying oil (after you paint, you put a coating on it so the colors don't run and they stay in place).

What I know about oil painting/physical make-up of oil paint:
-In the olden days, some colors were worth more than gold (ex. Lapis Lazuli...it was mentioned in the sistine chapel packet)
-Some colors were harmful to breathe in, therefore paint with
-There were/are cheap shades of colors and more expensive versions
-Crushed up berries, shells etc. are some natural forms of pigments
-Apparently some paints can function as medicine and vice versa (also mentioned in the sistine chapel packet)

Terms...

...I'm confident that I know (from the list we got on the sheet):
Opacity- How transparent/strong a color appears to be. The stronger the opacity, the more intense the color is. The weaker the opacity, the more transparent/faint a color is. (I know this more from digital art from using layers)
Art Dictionary definition: The power of a pigment to cover or obscure the surface to which it is applied (values from 99%-1%).
Student Grade vs. Artist Grade- Materials that students use (cheaper quality, but good to use to experiment with things), and that professional artists use (better quality, but more expensive and not as open to experimentation...because of how much it costs)
Art Dictionary definition:
Drying Times- How long it takes paint/whatever medium you're using to dry.
Art Dictionary/web definition: Traditional oil paints are bound with drying oils. This makes them much slower drying than water-based media. Drying times depend on how the paint is layered. 
http://www.winsornewton.com/resource-centre/product-articles/article-drying-times-for-oil-paint/
Varnishes- A protective coating that gives a shiny look to whatever it covers
Art Dictionary definition: A protective transparent finish applied in a liquid state to a surface. Many are available with a matte, semi-gloss or glossy finish.
Pigment- The chemicals (naturally occuring or synthetic) that produce colors that can be used to paint with.
Art Dictionary definition: Finely powdered color material which produces the color of any medium. Made either from natural substances or synthetically, pigment becomespaint, ink, or dye when mixed with oil, water or another fluid (also called vehicle). When pressed into wax it becomes a crayon, pencil or chalk.
Natural Pigments- Pigments made of naturally occurring materials (ex. Berries, shells, plants)
Art Dictionary definition: Naturally occurring pigments such as ochres and iron oxides
Synthetic Pigments- Pigments made of man-made materials (ex. Chemicals that are similar to the chemical make up in naturally occurring pigments)
Art Dictionary definition:  Pigments that are manufactured or refined from naturally occurring materials (can be a cheaper alternative to more expensive naturally occurring pigments ex. lapis lazuli)

...That sound familiar (defined with artdictionary/regular dictionary):
Hues-A particular gradation of color; a shade or tint. The property of colors by which they can be perceived as ranging from red through yellow, green, and blue, as determined by the dominant wavelength of light.
True Pigments- (Pigments made of a single type of material/pigments producing the true color?????)
Thinners- A liquid mixed with paint or varnish to reduce its viscosity and make it easier to apply
Mediums- The material or technique used by an artist to produce a work of art. (Can also refer to what carries a paint's pigments can be called a vehicle/base)
Water Mixable/Miscible Oil Paints (WMO's)- A modern variety of paint that can be thinned or cleaned up with water (safer to use water than turpentine to clean up)
Pigment Load- The amount of pigment in a paint, compared to the amount of binder and other ingredients.  May also refer to the maximum amount of pigments or other solids that can be added to a paint and still form a strong, stable film.
http://www.goldenpaints.com/technicaldata/glossary.php

...That I don't know at all:
Vehicle/Binder- What carries a paint's pigments. It determines what kind of paint is produced.
Linseed Oil- A binder that produces oil paint. A drying oil that's commonly used because it dries to the most durable film.
Poppyseed Oil- A drying oil.
Stand Oil- Oil generated by heating linseed oil at high temperatures for a few days with the comlete absence of air. Highly viscous and can give highsly uniform coatings that can "dry" to more elastic coatings than normal linseed oil. Less prone to yellowing than normal linseed oil. (However, the rags with linseed oil are prone to spontaneously combusting)
Walnut Oil- One of the most important oils used by Renaissance painters. It has short drying time and lacks a yellow tint. Good for base thinner and brush cleaner. However, the paint film it produces is considered by some to be inferior to that of linseed oil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walnut_oil
Fat over Lean- The technique of applying paint with a higher oil ("fat") to pigment ratio over paint with a lower oil to pigment ratio ("lean") to ensure stable pain film. (Done to avoid cracked and less durable paint film.)

-26.2-

I saw the artist:
-It was amazing how they made the actors look like they were stars from the 20's (the girl looked a little modern at the beginning, though...I can't exactly say how)
-It got you thinking about Silent films
-It's neat seeing a modern film done silently...a nice change. (It made me want to make a silent film...!)
-2 Favorite scenes: One where the main character dreams about sound ruining him (here they played around with the sound...everyone/thing was making noises except for him)

Trivia:
The whole movie spans about 5 years; about 1/20th of the history of film (interesting!)

-25.2-

I'm starting to experiment with 3D things....I'm reading up on a tutorial for this free program, blend. (Normally, I prefer working with 2D but a friend showed me the program, so I might as well play around with it and add to my library.) Wish me luck!

Also, I did another, longer .gif over the break. I forgot to post it here. It's also of a fight scene.:

Click to view.
Based off of the anime Soul Eater (the guy in the blue is my character, though.)

-24.2-

In other news, I've been doing more digital things during the break:

I put this on Facebook (reference)

Also put on FB (but they don't take .gif's, sadly). Yesterday I found a "how to" vido on making smooth .gifs on Photoshop Elements, so I tried it out (I didn't really want to get the smooth part they way the did it in the video, so I just made a .gif instead. Additionally, I found out how to import film clips on photoshop! Now I can try doing some drawn-in video effects, yes?)

-23.2-

Working with color:
-At first I was confused on how to approach it, and what people meant when they said a color was "strong". I was used to picking out colors when I was working digitally (because all the colors are layed out for you on a palette)
-After asking people, and experimenting with the basic colors (and their complements) I now know that when a color is "strong", it pushes colors towards its color range when mixed (and you don't need to mix much to accomplish this pushing)
-I found it easier to try and reach a grey when mixing colors. When I had a specific color in mind, there were less options and it was easier to work with the colors.
-My watercolors tend to be on the watery side...I find it hard to get it dry....

Misc:
-Its in teresting how movies, TV, electron ics can draw your atten tion and suck you in. (I have to pay closer attent ion to exactly how they do this)
-I've been watching Sherlock Holmes (multiple versions), and it's funny how certain things remain the same...for example, 221B. Baker St. looks almost the same in the PBS version, the Downey Jr. version, the BBC version (even though its modern), and even the Russian version!

Which reminds me, when we saw the monologues/dialogues being preformed on Friday, I found myself thinking that it had to be eye-opening to see your very own work being preformed by others. (additionally, I was wondering why most of the scenes were on depressing subjects/had a sad or strained feel to them....)

The photography section was neat to see, but I wish they, and all of the groups, went a little more in-depth on the sorts of techniques they covered during their "boot camps". The photography session mentioned about the "hearts under the nose" and "hatchet shadowing", but for acting and writing, not a lot was said about what they worked on. (I noticed the actors had something with writing scripts(?), but what was that for?)

-22.2-

Drawing with grids in class today was something I have rarely done. I suppose I took a long time drawing one picture in this style because I'm this unexperienced.

What I learned about how the Sistine Chapel was created:
-They had t find a way around colors dripping
-Technique of painting on wet plaster was already around
-I didn't know that they used plaster for making frescos. I thought they just used oil paint or some other form of paint. It was an interesting fact that after finishing the fresco, the colors became rock again (through a series of chemical reactions...good thing I'm taking chemistry this year, haha). I suppose that meant that the artists had to plan carefully, and work quickly, otherwise they wouldn't be able to "erase" their work easily...(I'm writing these notes down as I'm reading the packet, and voila, the next paragraph talks about the time issue.)
1-It seems as though they were forced to use the grid method because of the time issue the palster created. They'd create a full-size "cartoon" and then transfer the lines of the cartoon onto the wall. They'd do the lineart of the fresco by tracing over it onto the wet plaster or by leaving a charcoal outline on the plaster (created by hitting the cartoon/template with a bag...the cartoon already had holes in it where the lines would be so the charcoal would just go through the holes and onto the plaster)
2- They'd have to use scaffolding to reach the high ceiling (I remember reading this last year)
3- Michelangelo couldn't even start on the sistine chapel for a few months because he had to pay people to take down the old painting that was up there
4- Hundreds, or thousands of prepainting sketches and drawings were made before beginning to paint. They ranged from tiny sketches to large detailed cartoons and many different mediums to plan out his ceiling. Simple->Detailed
5-MYTH: Michelangelo didn't lie on his back while painting.
6- The quality of the pigments used were an important factor in the painting.
7- Not only did they have to worry about mixing certain amounts of colors together, but they had to worry about how thick or thin a single color was in order to get the right shade (a lot of things to think about during and while painting)
8-After a few months of painting, Michelangelo got more confident at his skills and started to paint freehand in some easier spots
9-He used hogs bristle brushes so they wouldn't get destroyed from working with plaster
10- When he painted freehand, he sketched the outlines of the people, then he painted the backgrounds with a purplish pink pigment, then he painted the figures
.He painted with a wet brush instead of a drier brush which made a water color effect
.Painted with bright colors

Some techniques they'd use to hasten the painting:
-Paint with both hands (one with dark paint, the other with light)
^They must have been forced to become ambidextrous, then!
-Have a lot of people to help (but that would cost extra...it was interesting reading how 1000 ducats could go fast...Michelangelo made off with only 4 ducat profit for one sculpture after all of the costs...)
-Even from looking at the sketches, the shading is so detailed....
-And apparently he did them quickly since the reading said he sketched things at the last minute
-Working on something for over a year seems tedious...and since it was a huge ceiling, it must have taken up a lot of his time....I wonder if Michelangelo got bored, or just focused and banged it out.
-This reminds me. In Kinokuniya (this Japanese bookstore by Bryant Park), I saw a book on mixing colors to reach certain tones. I can't remember it that well, but it had "recipes" for a few hundred colors!
- I found it funny how some pigments could also function as medicines. "Painting is healthy for you" :D
-Interesting to read that Ultramarine was as expensive as gold back then. It showed how much painting and art was valued back in the Renaissance.
-It would have been interesting to see a video of work being done on the fresco. To see how fast and intense everyone was working (or at least how it seemed they were working according to the reading.)
-I remember in this digital painting tutorial, the creator said that artists in the renaissance first painted the picture grey so they could shade easier...
-We did graticolare/squaring today! (It's pretty cool that we're still using techniques that were used by the masters, 1000's of years back...)


I wonder if any recent frescos have been made. Wouldn't they go faster, since we have machines now?

......I have a feeling Luke may appoint us to some sort of project on the wall.......hm......

---
The interactive Sistine Chapel wall is amazing. I blew up the window to full screen on my mac, and there's so much to look at. Some of the figures even look like they're popping out at you!
It's such a busy fresco....you could spend hours looking at everything. (It's nice that you can zoom in on the top of the fresco, because if you were in the actual building, you'd probably need an elevator/binoculars to get up there....)
-It's like a whole gallery on the ceiling and walls.

-21.2-

I've been doing some digital painting recently.....
-Posted these on FB but I decided to show them here, too.-

Original pose, but references used. [Snippy from RomanticallyApocalyptic]

Used a reference completely [John Watson from Sherlock(BBC)]