UT Informal Classes

UT Informal Classes start their fall line up of classes next week.

Offered through Continuing Education will be:

Acrylic Painting

Figure Invention

Oil Portraiture Fundamentals

Each of the three classes has a Sept/October session, and a October/November session.  To enroll is simple. From the Continuing Education website, just select Our Classes, and then Creative Life.  For a class that has full enrollment, there are also waiting lists.  The University of Texas, Continuing Education Department website can be found here.

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UT Informal Classes. Oil Portrait Fundamentals
Copyright Michael Ziemba.com (2012)

UT Informal Classes- Oil Portraiture Fundamentals

Oil Portraiture Fundamentals

Learn to capture a likeness, and control oil paints, both in the same class.  Working from a model, you will use basic frames and forms, to draw and complete a portrait in each class.  You will gain new insight into light and shadow.  Finally, by limiting colors, you will learn the basics of capturing realistic skin tones.

 

WWII Art / Thumbnail Process

 

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I’ve been working on some thumbnails for a personal project I’m pretty excited about.

Lush Life is the story of two old friends.  As young men, they served as ambulance drivers in WWII.  Stranded, wounded, freezing, and lost in the woods. they witnessed something miraculous.  Unable to agree on what they saw, this event would come to shape their lives for decades after the war.  Now, as their lives come to an end, can they make peace with what they saw and who they became?

Working out ideas in a sketchbook is a blast.  In the beginning, I work in a method almost like pointillism.  Putting a dot where a compositional element might land, and slowly building up from there.  I use a lot of white out so I can “erase” back to white, or add highlights.

pointillism WWII Art / Thumbnail Process

Something is happening here.  Really.  I Promise.

Next up, underpainting.

 

Oil Portraiture Supply List

This webpage is a supplement to the supply list for Oil Portraiture, a class I am offering through UT.  You can download the full list, or register for the class here.

Painting supplies can be a little intimidating.  Brushes are perhaps the most confusing.  To help, here are some basics.  To demonstrate, here is a photo of a few of my brushes…

Austin Art Classes Brushes 1024x768 Oil Portraiture Supply List

Look at those handsome devils.

So first of all, let’s talk about what they are made of. The five guys on the right are bristle brushes.  They are hard and coarse, and generally made of hog hair.  They are great for texture, as they leave deep channels in the paint.  They are also inexpensive, and can take quite a beating.

Notice the shape of these brushes.  Flats are sharp cornered, squared brushes.  A brush stroke made with a flat will have a sharp, hard edge.  Brights are the shorter cousin of flats, and therefore have a little more spring.  If counting from left to right, 1, 4, and 5 are flats, with 4 being a flat/ bright.  With brights, you can really use the tops and sides to make very  sharp strokes.

Austin Art Classes Flats 1024x557 Oil Portraiture Supply List

A filbert, on the other hand, doesn’t have an abrupt beginning, and therefore is a little more natural. Again, from left to right, 2 and 3 are filberts.

Austin Art Classes Filbert Oil Portraiture Supply List

Sometimes, it’s not ideal to see every groove left by each hair of the brush.  In that case, there are softer oil synthetics, like the white nylon brushes, or natural sables, like Kolinsky Red Sables.  They are more expensive, but beautiful, and will last a long time if well cared for.

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There are also round brushes, for a completely different line character, and for a very natural shape.

Fan brushes, like number 6 above, are specifically for blending wet paints together.

If you have any questions, we just need the little bristle, 1 on the left, for the first class.  That flat is about 1/4″, under a dollar, and we’ll get going from there.

Acrylic Painting Supply List

This webpage is a supplement to the supply list for Acrylic Painting, a class I am offering through UT.  You can download the full list, or register for the class here

Painting supplies can be a little intimidating.  Brushes are perhaps the most confusing.  To help, here are some basics.  To demonstrate, here is a photo of a few of my brushes…

Austin Art Classes Acrylic Brushes 01 1024x768 Acrylic Painting Supply List

 

Look at those guys.  Looking good.  Except the third brush from the left, who needs some brush soap.

Notice the shape of these brushes.  Flats are sharp cornered, squared brushes.  A brush stroke made with a flat will have a sharp, hard edge.  Brights are the shorter cousin of flats, and therefore have a little more spring.  If counting from left to right, 1 and 2 are both brights.

Austin Art Classes Flats 1024x557 Acrylic Painting Supply List

With brights, you can really use the tops and sides to make very  sharp strokes.

 

Austin Art Classes Filbert Acrylic Painting Supply List
A filbert, on the other hand, doesn’t have an abrupt beginning, and therefore is a little more natural. Again, in the line up of brushes above, from left to right, 3 and 4 are filberts.

Austin Art Classes Round 1024x587 Acrylic Painting Supply List There are also round brushes, for a completely different line character, and for a very natural shape.

I like to get brushes in pairs.  Both being the same size, but of different body types.  I use one for darks, and one for lights.

Don’t be afraid of big brushes.  I know it might feel a little clumsy at first, but you’ll get more comfortable. It is good practice to train yourself to grab the biggest brush possible.

 

Art Classes Austin

Are you stuck creatively, or have you hit a plateau technically you can’t quite get past?

I really enjoy helping others to be better artists, and so I am happy to say I have a few time slots open for painting lessons.

If you are interested, check out the art classes tab above, fill out the contact form, or have any questions, we have a phone line just for classes- 512 553-2845.

I’d love to hear from you

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Another Bullet Dodged- SXSW (2012)- Movie Poster

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Another Bullet Dodged- SXSW
Copyright michaelziemba.com 2012

 Another Bullet Dodged- SXSW (2012)

 

SXSW time is here again in Austin.  It’s always a blast.  See good friends, see good movies.  Plus March is the most beautiful time to be in Austin.

I was hired to make this poster by director Landon Zakheim. He described it as :

‘The story of a wolf in sheep’s clothing who thinks he is a sheep.’ A film about romance, selfishness, offspring, and dry cleaning.”   It stars Anthony Deptula (‘One Too Many Mornings’, Official Selection Sundance 2010) and Jennifer Landon (winner of three Daytime Emmys on ‘As The World Turns’).

The film was made due, in large part, to a successful kickstarter campaign, which is very cool in of itself.

The poster was created as a photoshop painting over a scanned texture. The top image, the wolf and sheep, was for the kickstarter campaign.  Later, after the film was shot, I painted the second image from a still in the film.   This was to be a possible poster image, as a standalone image,  but the director asked to combine the two for the final poster.

The poster was a part of the SXSW poster show, and it was cool to see it printed in a large format.

More can be seen about this movie on IMDB, and the trailer can be viewed on the SXSW’s Schedule Page, or YouTube.  South by South West takes over the city starting tomorrow, March 9th.

How to Pitch a Film- Visual Pitch

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How to Pitch a Film:

What is a Visual Pitch?

26 How to Pitch a Film  Visual Pitch

This storyboard was taken from a Visual Pitch for Fox Digital.  It represents a story beat, and was used to supplement a verbal story pitch to producers.  Story by Destin Cretton.

 

For a director, it is best to be armed with more than a slick speech and a clean shirt before tackling a room of would-be financiers.  The goal for the director in this situation is to communicate their vision so it can be experienced.   A Visual Pitch is the best way to do this.

How is a Visual Pitch different from a storyboard?

In contrast with a shooting board, which is meant to show camera movements and scene-to-scene changes, a Visual Pitch represents story beats.  They are in color, so they convey mood and a sense of location.  They are in more detail than a storyboard, but not as detailed as a full blown illustration.

What types of films use  a visual pitch?

In the past, Pre-Visualization work has been key in selling Sci-Fi concepts, with famous examples of Star Wars and the Matrix, but character driven stories can greatly benefit from visual development as well.  In the stories I have been brought in to work on, the Visual Pitch has been used to get the viewer asking questions about the characters, and visualize thier feelings and lives.

As an artist, I can lend my sensitivity to lighting and color to create a greater sense of mystery, convey mood, and add emotion to a story reveal.   I also conduct the initial research of visual reference, thus creating a specific time and space for the narrative to take place.

Samples are grouped by project above, in the menu bar.

Listed on ProductionHUB.com in Storyboards / Storyboard Artists in Texas

Listed on ProductionHUB.com in Storyboards / Storyboard Artists in Austin, Texas