New Art Techniques- Glazing Oil Paint Over Markers and Color Pencil (Time Lapse Demo)

What you are seeing is a short time lapse of me layering color with illustration markers (prismacolor) and color pencils. I have discovered that using markers and color pencils is a much faster way to build a foundation for a painting (if you could still call it that). Today, I will add a third step to my process. In less than a minute I will teach you how to glaze oil paint. Glazing is a very well known oil painting technique that gives a work of art a more life like finish. I am a mixed media artist now but the first medium that I learned in my training as an artist was oil painting. Glazing was, by far my favorite oil painting process, but it would often take months to reach the point where I could glaze because of oil paints slow drying time. The crazy caricature of the little old lady with the gun took me less than an hour to make. Now, let me define glazing. Glazing is the act of adding transparent or translucent color to a painting. Water is a good example of transparency because you could almost perfectly see through it and candle wax is a good example of something that is translucent. Some light can shine through something that is translucent but only hints of color. You could usually tell if a color is good for glazing by looking at the tube of paint. Most paint manufacturers put a square on the outside of the tube indicating the paints opacity. If the square is empty or half full it is a good color to use for glazing.
You can download a list of the paints that I use for glazing on my website merrillk.com. Just type in Glazing in the search box. One last thing before we start to glaze. I recommend a product from Windsor and Newton called Liquin for glazing. It mixes very well with the wax from the color pencils.

I am not quite sure why I drew a little old lady with a gun. I guess that I will figure that one out later- New art by Merrill Kazanjian
Category: Education

Homer Simpson Stop Motion Art

This video is a stop motion animation of me drawing / sculpting / assembling Homer J. Simpson with various beans, chocolate chips and sunflower seeds. It took me about two hours to create this and it is all fit in less than two minutes in this video. I have been watching the show since I have been in middle school; so this is my tribute.

New Art Techniques- Mineral Spirits and Color Pencil

Today, I am going to demonstrate a new artistic technique. I am going to merge the best qualities of two artistic mediums; oil painting and color pencil. What you are now watching is a time lapse of me building up layers of illustration marker and color pencil over a pencil drawing. In about a minute, I will slow the video down to show you that color pencils can be blended by using mineral spirits and a paint brush. I am doing this artwork on 110 lb. bond paper and please note that this method will not work as well on simple 20 lb. printer paper. This drawing was done as a tribute to Manhattanville Colleges iconic History Professor- Mr. Lawson Bowling. Professor Bowling is a mentor and friend of mine. He just completed his 25th year of service at Manhattanville College. It is an honor to give him this drawing and possibly turn him in to an internet celebrity.

The best quality of oil painting is that you can 1.) Blend while the paint is wet and 2.) Add multiple layers of new paint after the previous layer dries. The greatest nuance of color pencil drawing is the accuracy that is attained by using the very fine point at the tip of the pencil. I dip the paintbrush in to the mineral spirits and then dab it on a paper towel; then I drag the brush over my drawing. The mineral spirits quickly break down the thick cake of color pencil. The soft tip of the paint brush allows me to move and blend the pigment from the color pencil in a manner that is similar to the process of painting. It takes only a few minutes for the mineral spirits and pencil to dryAfter the mineral spirits dry, you can add more layers of color pencil. I have actually finished an oil painting with color pencil and an oil paint medium called liquin before, but to save time, I built up the flesh tones today with markers and color pencil.
by Merrill Kazanjian http://merrillk.com