Simon Blandhttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/rssA Blog About Oil Painting(c) 2024What is Drawing?https://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/what-is-drawing<p align="left">Everyone knows that picture made with a pencil and paper is called a drawing, whether it's a scaled technical drawing, a loose sketch, an architect&rsquo;s rendering, or even a scribble. But what is the actual definition of drawing and what part does it in painting?</p> <p align="left">In this blog post I go in search of answers to these questions and a better understanding of drawing.</p> <p align="left">On first glance, this may seem like a waste of time &mdash; I know that even a child can make a drawing with a pencil and paper. So, you may be wondering why I&rsquo;ve even bothered to write about it.</p> <p align="left">You only need to search for the definition of drawing on Google to get a taste of the problem:</p> <ul> <li><em>A picture or diagram made with a pencil, pen, or crayon rather than paint. [1. Google&rsquo;s own dictionary service]</em></li> <li><em>The art or technique of representing an object or outlining a figure, plan, or sketch by means of lines. [2. Merriam-Webster]</em></li> <li><em>Drawing is a visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface. The instrument might be pencils, crayons, pens with inks, brushes with paints, or combinations of these, and in more modern times, computer styluses with graphics tablets. [3. Wikipedia]</em></li> </ul> <p align="left">Something is going on here because none of these definitions agree with each other. Not only that, but there is also a fault in each one (see the footnotes). Why is that?</p> <p align="left">Resorting to books, I was surprised to find that John Ruskin&rsquo;s The Elements of Drawing (1857) contained no definition of drawing. In fact, it wasn&rsquo;t until I searched Harold Speed book on drawing that I found something useful:</p> <ul> <li>&nbsp;<em>The expression of form upon a plane surface. [The Practice and Science of Drawing. Harold Speed. 1913]</em></li> </ul> <p align="left">This is an artist's definition which doesn't apply to things like technical drawing and architect's plans. They belong in their own class, and we shall omit them entirely going forward.</p> <p align="left">While it is a good definition, it may be difficult to understand for some and it also has some important implications. Let's demonstrate with some examples.</p> <h3 align="left">1. A Perspective Drawing</h3> <p align="left">I got a small bowl from my kitchen to use as a still life prop.</p> <p align="left"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Ramekin-sm.JPG" alt="A small white ramekin on a yellow ochre surface" width="650" height="486" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;" align="left">The bowl I used is actually a small ramekin, seen here under window light.</p> <p align="left">Suppose I make an image that represents the bowl on a piece of paper with a pencil. I do it so there is a correspondence between what I see and what I draw [4].</p> <p align="left">I start making lines with the pencil to create an outline which shows where all the perceived edges are [5]. It looks like the bowl and has the same perspective, although I scale it to make it a size that fits well on the paper, not necessarily the same size as it is in real life.</p> <p align="left">I may or may not add a little shading to emphasize the lights and darks, and three-dimensionality is implied, but does not need to be fully realized. I stop without fully rendering the surfaces [6].</p> <p align="left">Although I am a bit out of practice, the result is a crude drawing. I have created an expression of a solid object (the <em>form</em>) on a two-dimensional surface.</p> <p align="left"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Ramekin-pencil-sm.JPG" alt="A crude pencil drawing of a ramekin bowl" width="650" height="530" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;" align="left">A drawing of the ramekin (graphite pencil on paper)</p> <p align="left">We use <em>drawing</em> as both a noun, to describe the picture in front of us, and a verb, to describe the process of creating it, so why would we have a problem with something so straightforward?</p> <p align="left">Let&rsquo;s look at it in the context of painting... [7].</p> <h3 align="left">2. Drawing as part of painting</h3> <p align="left">Suppose I make another drawing of the bowl just as I did before, except that I now use Conte crayon on a piece of canvas. I take care of edges, shapes, proportion, scale, and position. I add a little shading to emphasize the lights and darks.</p> <p align="left">I have created a drawing on the canvas, albeit another crude one.</p> <p align="left"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Ramekin-crayon-sm.jpg" alt="A drawing of a ramekin on canvas" width="650" height="495" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;" align="left">Another drawing of the ramekin (pastel pencil on canvas)</p> <p align="left">Now I start to add layers of paint over the top of the drawing on the canvas.</p> <p align="left"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Paint-over-crayon.jpg" alt="Am oil painting of a ramekin" width="650" height="504" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;" align="left">Oil paint applied over the top of the crayon drawing.</p> <p align="left">What has happened to the drawing?</p> <p align="left">Your first thought might be, &ldquo;it disappeared under the paint&rdquo;, but I think you&rsquo;ll agree that the core of the crayon drawing has remained. Things like the lines, shapes, edges, proportion, scale, and composition still exist &mdash; it&rsquo;s just that they now appear in paint. Some lines might be the result of pushing areas of paint against each other, but they are there all the same.</p> <p align="left">What we refer to as drawing, then, is something more than just an image in pencil or charcoal. It is describing some set of properties of that image that also occur in the painting. In this example, <em>drawing</em> defines the structures and shapes, perspective, proportion, scale, and composition.</p> <p align="left">So, when we see a painting and say, &ldquo;good drawing&rdquo;, we mean that the lines, shapes, edges, etc. show good draftsmanship or technical skill. The form is expressed in the layers of paint.</p> <h3 align="left">3. Transition from drawing to painting</h3> <p align="left">Now for another thought experiment. Suppose that we start yet another painting of the same bowl on canvas, but this time we do the drawing in thinned paint. Note that the lines are much thicker than before, even though I used a reasonably small round brush.</p> <p align="left"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Ramekin-paint-sm.jpg" alt="A drawing of the ramekin (oil paint on canvas)" width="650" height="523" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;" align="left">The same drawing done in paint (oil paint on canvas)</p> <p align="left">As before, we add layers of paint over the top of the drawing.</p> <p align="left"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Paint-over-paint.jpg" alt="An oil painting of a ramekin" width="650" height="505" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;" align="left">Oil paint applied over the top of the layout (oil on canvas)</p> <p align="left">My question is, where does the separation point between drawing and painting lie?</p> <p align="left">In the first example we used a change of medium to separate the two actions. Now we don&rsquo;t change medium, so is there still a point at which the transition from drawing to painting occurs?</p> <p align="left">I&nbsp;would argue that, instead of two processes happening one after the other, at no point can you separate the drawing from the painting.&nbsp; Painting is also an act of drawing. I'll demonstrate that in the next example.</p> <h3 align="left">4. When drawing is implied</h3> <p align="left">Now we return to the bowl for a final time, and we consider the case where we produce the same painting directly, without a charcoal or paint drawing underneath.</p> <p align="left"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Ramekin-mass-sm.jpg" alt="Massing in preparation for an oil painting" width="650" height="523" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;" align="left">I started this version of the painting by massing in the ramekin (oil on canvas)</p> <p align="left">&nbsp;</p> <p align="left"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Paint-over-mass.jpg" alt="An oil painting of a ramekin" width="650" height="506" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;" align="left">A third version of the ramekin done without an underlying drawing (oil on canvas)</p> <p align="left">This painting has the same structure, proportion, perspective, scale, and composition, as our previous efforts and therefore the same drawing (using my definition above), but at no point is an actual drawing done (in the sense of our original definitions).</p> <p align="left">The drawing has occurred entirely within the painting process. It is seen in the abstract representation of lines, edges, shapes, proportion, perspective, scale, and composition of the painting.</p> <h3 align="left">Conclusions</h3> <p align="left">We progressed from thinking of drawing as making images in pencil on paper, to one where we see drawing as an idea that those images represent.</p> <p align="left">We also understand that drawing and painting are not analogs of each other.&nbsp;</p> <p align="left">Drawing is the process of creating structure, proportion, perspective, scale, and composition in imagery on surfaces, irrespective of the method used. It is an expression of form upon a plane surface.</p> <h4 align="left">Footnotes</h4> <p align="left">[1] You can also draw in a fluid medium like ink or even in paint.</p> <p align="left">[2] The definition of using lines is also consistent with John Ruskin&rsquo;s work, but it is fundamentally flawed as we demonstrate in the article.</p> <p align="left">[3] Despite being the longest definition, it&rsquo;s so vague that it&rsquo;s not really giving us a definition of anything.</p> <p align="left">[4] Drawing something &ldquo;as we see it&rdquo; here means using the ideas and conventions of realism in post-renaissance Western Art. Other cultures at other periods in time might interpret the drawing process entirely differently.</p> <p align="left">[5] All drawing is, in part, symbolic and follows some kind of convention. The most obvious way you see this is in the way we use lines to symbolize edges &mdash; we create an outline around shapes to make them recognizable. However, these lines do not exist in real life.</p> <p align="left">[6] We render a surface to make it look solid or three dimensional. We might use the term &ldquo;rendering&rdquo; to describe an illustration that helps you to visualize an object. For example, architectural renderings are drawings which show you how a planned building will appear in real life.</p> <p align="left">[7] I am using the term &ldquo;painting&rdquo; to refer to any process that uses a pigment/medium mixture which is applied in a series of marks and/or fluid washes. Thus, the medium could be oil paint, watercolor, or even a dry medium like pastel.</p> <p class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: left;" align="left"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Courier New';">&nbsp;</span></p>simon.bland@portraitsbysimonbland.com (Simon Bland)DrawingGeneralInstructionWritinghttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/what-is-drawinghttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/what-is-drawingWed, 28 Feb 2024 20:06:37 +0000Seeing Your Reference Photos in a New Lighthttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/seeing-your-reference-photos-in-a-new-light<p>For almost the entirety of my painting career I have used digital photography to capture my reference photos. Even when painting in plein air, I've always taken a camera with me.</p> <p>I find that reference photos became are much more useful if I can get them close to the way I wanted my paintings to look (I've never been much interested in doing it the other way round). The problem is that image processing software like Photoshop and GIMP can be extremely complicated and time consuming when doing anything other than the most basic things. But that all changed when I discovered GIMP plugins, and I realized that the fiddly work could be done in a single click.</p> <p>This article is about some of the GIMP plugins which I use to process my reference photos, and which are also freely available for you to download. You can even use them as the starting point for creating your own effects; I am publishing this blog post in conjunction with an article on <a href="/blog/a-short-guide-to-gimp-plugins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how to write your own plugins</a> for GIMP.</p> <h3>Matte-Fade</h3> <p>I developed this plugin in part to emulate the work of photographer <a href="https://www.claregallagher.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clare Gallagher</a>. Her work has a unique look and a consistency that really appeals to me.</p> <p>You can download it here:&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/Nikkinoodl/Matte-Fade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://github.com/Nikkinoodl/Matte-Fade</a></p> <p>The effect changes the curves of the image then overlays a gradient of colors, followed by overexposure and vignetting. The end result has some of the qualities of an older film print and is super for working into the light.</p> <p>Here I've used a teal to purple gradient overlay. Most of the softness in the image comes from the old lens.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Morning-Light-Studio-Green-sm.jpg" alt="Artist's studio with pale green light coming in through a large window " width="650" height="435" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">My old studio. Pentax K10D with Tokina 28mm manual lens</p> <p>This is a transparent to purple gradient overlay.</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Studio-Palette-sm.JPG" alt="A close-up photo of a painter's palette with blue rubber gloves" width="650" height="425" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">Palette. Pentax KP with Pentax 40mm HD DA Limited lens.</p> <h3>Instagram</h3> <p>I re-worked Mario Crippa's Instagram plugins, combined them into a single plugin, simplified them and updated them to work with GIMP 2.10. These were one of the first GIMP plugins that I came across and I used to use them extensively, although some of the scripts are more appealing than others.</p> <p>You can download my version here:&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/Nikkinoodl/Instagram" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://github.com/Nikkinoodl/Instagram</a></p> <p>This is the Brannan effect applied to a photo that had a lot of green &mdash; I used it for a painting that I created with a limited palette.</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Meadow-Grove-Brannan-sm.jpg" alt="A photo of a field on a farm in the Virginia Piedmont with some hay bales in the foreground" width="650" height="435" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">Meadow Grove Farm. Pentax K10D with SMC Pentax 50mm FA lens.</p> <p>Some of the effects can help you quickly get into a different artistic mindset, like the Poprocket effect shown here.</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Ace-Poprocket-sm.jpg" alt="A photo of an old Ace Hardware sign with peeling paint" width="650" height="488" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">Ace Hardware. iPhone SE.</p> <h3>Lomo</h3> <p>This plugin emulates the retro photography look of Diana and Holga cameras that were the inspiration behind Instagram's effects and the Lomography movement.</p> <p>You can download it here:&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/Nikkinoodl/Lomo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://github.com/Nikkinoodl/Lomo</a></p> <p>This is a script written in Scheme, rather than Python, and the code is more difficult to understand. It has been around for something like 20 years in different forms, although I only discovered it recently. This version is based on the Elsamuko Lomo script which I updated to work in GIMP 2.10.</p> <p>This plugin contains a lot of different effects and I find it works best for me if I use them sparingly. In this photo some of the retro look comes from using an old, manual lens.</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Ballard-industrial-Lomo-sm.JPG" alt="A retro looking photo of a street in an industrial area with a red car in the center of the image" width="650" height="435" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">Ballard Industrial. Pentax K10D with Photax 135mm manual lens.</p> <p>This second photo was taken with a better camera and lens. I used the plugin more for artistic effect rather than for deliberately trying to give the photo a retro look.</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Ballard-pizza-Lomo-sm.JPG" alt="A white delivery van outside a pizza shop in the old section of Ballard" width="650" height="432" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">Ballard Pizza. Pentax KP with Pentax 40mm HD DA Limited lens.</p> <h3>Nykvist</h3> <p>This final plugin is inspired by the work of photographer and fellow Pentax user, Annie Nykvist.</p> <p>You can download it here:&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/Nikkinoodl/Nykvist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://github.com/Nikkinoodl/Nykvist</a></p> <p>It was the first plugin I developed for my own use, and it gave me the chance to learn how to create a GIMP plugin while also coming to grips with what turned out to be a complex, multilayered effect.</p> <p>It creates a black and white image with sharpening at the center, a soft glow surround and fade out at the corners. It is particularly suited for animal close ups. Great to use if you are thinking of doing portraits in pencil.</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2024/Rabbit-Nykvist.jpg" alt="A close-up black and white image of a rabbit with a soft glow effect" width="650" height="497" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">Rabbit. Pentax K10D with Tamron 70-300 FA lens.</p> <p>And that's all folks. I do hope you will try some of these plugins for yourself and I would be delighted if I inspired just one reader to try their hand at creating a plugin of their own. Don't be afraid to take one of my plugins and tweak it even if only a little.</p> <h3>Adjusting Effects</h3> <p>All these plugins share one design feature &mdash; each component of the overall effect is created in its own new layer. You can fine tune any effect by changing the opacity of each layer.</p> <p>Some plugins also allow parameters to be changed or switched on/off via an input screen.</p> <p>If you add an effect to an image and don't like it, you can either revert the image to the saved version (using menu option /File/Revert) or delete the effect layers by right clicking on the layer and selecting "Delete" (/Windows/Dockable Dialogs/Layers, or Ctrl+L will display the layers).</p> <h3>Installing the plugins</h3> <p>Download the relevant <em>.py</em> file from one of the links above then copy it to one of the following locations.</p> <p>Windows:</p> <pre class="language-markup" style="background-color: #f5f2f0; padding: 1rem;"><code>C:\user\&lt;username&gt;\AppData\Roaming\GIMP\2.10\plugins</code></pre> <p>Linux:</p> <pre class="language-markup" style="background-color: #f5f2f0; padding: 1rem;"><code>/usr/&lt;username&gt;/.config/GIMP/2.10/plugins</code></pre> <p>The Lomo plugin is a script file which must go into a slightly different location. Download <em>pbsb-lomo.scm</em> and copy it to the scripts folder which you'll find alongside the plugins folder.</p> <p>Open GIMP and you're now ready to go!</p>simon.bland@portraitsbysimonbland.com (Simon Bland)GIMPPhotographyhttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/seeing-your-reference-photos-in-a-new-lighthttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/seeing-your-reference-photos-in-a-new-lightTue, 30 Jan 2024 16:07:17 +0000A Short Guide to GIMP Pluginshttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/a-short-guide-to-gimp-plugins<p>On more than one occasion, I have mentioned that you can get great benefits from processing and adjusting your reference photos before you start to paint from them.</p> <p>In this blog post I want to introduce you to a sample automation script for GIMP (which I will hereafter refer to as a <em>plugin</em>) and show you how to create others like it that can perform incredibly powerful image manipulation with just a small amount of code. The benefits of this are twofold: you can do repetitive, complex image manipulation very quickly, and by having these operations in a script you can repeat them at any point in the future without having to remember or relearn anything.</p> <p>Before we go further, I just want to quickly review the two main options for image manipulation software.</p> <p>The most popular software, Adobe Photoshop, requires a subscription (there is also a limited version called Photoshop Elements that can be purchased outright). Photoshop has great workflow tools, the ability to record, edit and run automated scripts called <em>actions</em>, and has started to incorporate AI tools for image generation. It is the software of choice for most professional photographers.</p> <p>The other major image manipulation software is called GIMP. It is free software which is developed and maintained by volunteers. I think it is fair to say that it falls far behind Photoshop in terms of workflow and integration with a wider suite of tools, however the core functionality is very strong. Its big advantage over Photoshop is that you can write plugins in different coding languages such as Python, Scheme and C.</p> <p>In this article, we are going to limit ourselves to working in Python because it is much easier to learn than the other two: you can get started in no time, even if you have little experience with coding.</p> <h3>A GIMP Plugin Sample</h3> <p>By way of an example, here's a short GIMP plugin written in Python. It converts an image to a kind of Payne's Grey version of black and white and makes changes to the brightness and contrast in a constrained range, depending on the user's input:</p> <pre class="language-python" style="background-color: #f5f2f0; padding: 1rem;"><code>#!/usr/bin/env python # -*- coding: utf8 -*- from gimpfu import * def desat( img, draw, brightAdjust, contrastAdjust ): #clean start img.disable_undo() pdb.gimp_context_push() #set new foreground and background colors pdb.gimp_context_set_foreground((255, 255, 255)) pdb.gimp_context_set_background((0, 0, 0)) #copy the visible image into a new layer copyLayer1=pdb.gimp_layer_new_from_visible(img, img, "BaseCopy") pdb.gimp_image_insert_layer(img, copyLayer1, None, -1) #desaturate and colorize the new layer pdb.gimp_desaturate_full(copyLayer1, 1) pdb.gimp_colorize( copyLayer1, 215, 11, 0) #adjust brightness and contrast of the new layer pdb.gimp_drawable_brightness_contrast(copyLayer1, brightAdjust, contrastAdjust) #clean up pdb.gimp_displays_flush() pdb.gimp_context_pop() img.enable_undo() register( "gimp_desat", "Add b/w effect", "Add b/w effect", "Simon Bland", "(&copy;) 2024 Simon Bland", "2024-01-30", "&lt;Image&gt;/Filters/Desat", 'RGB*', [ (PF_SLIDER, "brightAdjust","Brightness", 0.4, (-0.5, 0.5, 0.1)), (PF_SLIDER, "contrastAdjust", "Contrast", 0.3, (-0.5, 0.5, 0.1)) ], '', desat) main()</code></pre> <p>Although it looks complicated at first glance, there are only five lines of code in here that are doing image manipulation, the rest is boilerplate code that you might find in any other plugin. The coding is trivial.</p> <h3>Deconstructing a GIMP Plugin</h3> <p>Let's break it down into its constituent parts. There are five different sections that we will look at separately.</p> <h4>1.Opening</h4> <p>The first two lines are typical of all Python code. It tells the executable where to find Python and which coding is used for this script. You can likely use this unchanged for all your plugins. I would point out that the /usr/bin/env location is probably unnecessary and is definitely not used by Windows, but it won't hurt to leave it in.</p> <pre class="language-python" style="background-color: #f5f2f0; padding: 1rem;"><code>#!/usr/bin/env python # -*- coding: utf8 -*-</code></pre> <h4>2. Imports</h4> <p>Next, we import the GIMP plugin API so that we can call GIMP functions from the plugin. All GIMP plugin scripts should contain this line.</p> <p>If we need to import other Python modules (more advanced than we need to know at this point) we can also import them here.</p> <pre class="language-python" style="background-color: #f5f2f0; padding: 1rem;"><code>from gimpfu import *</code></pre> <h4>3. Define Functions</h4> <p>The main part of the plugin defines a set of functions and properties (here we just have a single function) that does something to our image.</p> <p>You can see that we preface GIMP API calls with "<em>pdb"</em>. That stands for&nbsp;<em>procedural database</em>&nbsp;which is the collection of all GIMP API functions, scripts and plugins. You can call other plugins from your plugin.</p> <p>A good practice when creating a plugin is to make a copy of the visible image into a new layer and start editing the copy rather than the original image. Each new effect occurs on a new layer. After the plugin has run, we can fine tune the image effect by changing the opacity of each layer or even eliminate a layer entirely.</p> <p>In this simple plugin we are just copying the visible image, adding it as a new layer above the old one, then colorizing it and changing the brightness and contrast. For the sake of simplicity, we have done performed both actions on the new layer.</p> <p>The remaining code does things that might be thought of as administration.</p> <p>We try not to leave a mess behind when we run a script because it can be incredibly annoying if we start overwriting settings and defaults, so we&nbsp;<em>push</em> the context when we start and <em>pop</em> the context when we finish.</p> <p>In GIMP, <em>context</em> means the current collection of things we have as settings like brush size, brush type and gradient type. <em>Push</em> saves a copy of those settings and <em>pop</em> restores them. Foreground and background colors are also part of the context.</p> <p>Flushing the display ensures that all pending image updates are completed before the plugin terminates.</p> <p>Disabling undo on start allows the plugin to run faster than it otherwise would. If invoked, we always enable undo on completion.</p> <pre class="language-python" style="background-color: #f5f2f0; padding: 1rem;"><code>def desat( img, draw, brightAdjust, contrastAdjust ): #clean start img.disable_undo() pdb.gimp_context_push() #set new foreground and background colors pdb.gimp_context_set_foreground((255, 255, 255)) pdb.gimp_context_set_background((0, 0, 0)) #copy the visible image into a new layer copyLayer1=pdb.gimp_layer_new_from_visible(img, img, "BaseCopy") pdb.gimp_image_insert_layer(img, copyLayer1, None, -1) #desaturate and colorize the new layer pdb.gimp_desaturate_full(copyLayer1, 1) pdb.gimp_colorize( copyLayer1, 215, 11, 0) #adjust brightness and contrast of the new layer pdb.gimp_drawable_brightness_contrast(copyLayer1, brightAdjust, contrastAdjust) #clean up pdb.gimp_displays_flush() pdb.gimp_context_pop() img.enable_undo()</code></pre> <h4>4. Call the Register</h4> <p>The next section calls a function that registers the plugin in the procedural database. We provide some general information about the plugin, where to place it in the GIMP menu, what image types it accepts, any input variables that the user must provide, and the name of the primary function that will be executed when the plugin is called.</p> <pre class="language-python" style="background-color: #f5f2f0; padding: 1rem;"><code>register( "gimp_desat", "Add b/w effect", "Add b/w effect", "Simon Bland", "(&copy;) 2024 Simon Bland", "2024-01-30", "&lt;Image&gt;/Filters/Desat", 'RGB*', [ (PF_SLIDER, "brightAdjust","Brightness", 0.4, (-0.5, 0.5, 0.1)), (PF_SLIDER, "contrastAdjust", "Contrast", 0.3, (-0.5, 0.5, 0.1)) ], '', desat)</code></pre> <h4>5. Load</h4> <p>Finally, we provide the name of the GIMP function that loads the plugin. This same line is used in all GIMP Python plugins.</p> <pre class="language-python" style="background-color: #f5f2f0; padding: 1rem;"><code>main()</code></pre> <h3>Where to Find More Information</h3> <p>You can find more information and documentation on the plugin API by browsing the Python-Fu console window in GIMP. It can be somewhat cumbersome to use, but it is up to date and contains thoroughly detailed information on each function and its options. If you search for information online, be aware that GIMP is now around 25 years old, and some information may have been superseded.</p> <p>There are tons of resources online for learning Python, and it would make no sense to duplicate them here. If you start with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.w3schools.com/python/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.w3schools.com/python/</a>, you should be able to pick up the basics in no time at all.</p> <p>It is worth noting that the current version on GIMP uses Python 2, not the more recent Python 3. There are some small syntax differences between the two versions, but nothing that should cause you significant problems when writing plugins. Future versions of GIMP will switch to Python 3 at some point.</p> <h3>Installing Your Plugin</h3> <p>Once you finally have a script ready it must be named with the Python extension type, e.g.:</p> <pre class="language-markup" style="background-color: #f5f2f0; padding: 1rem;"><code>desat.py</code></pre> <p>Then copy it to one of the following hidden locations. If you have not already done do, you will need to make these hidden folders visible &mdash; you can do this from the menu bar in File Explorer.</p> <p>Windows:</p> <pre class="language-markup" style="background-color: #f5f2f0; padding: 1rem;"><code>C:\user\&lt;username&gt;\AppData\Roaming\GIMP\2.10\plugins</code></pre> <p>Linux:</p> <pre class="language-markup" style="background-color: #f5f2f0; padding: 1rem;"><code>/usr/&lt;username&gt;/.config/GIMP/2.10/plugins</code></pre> <p>And that's all there is to it. Open GIMP and you're now ready to go with your new plugin.</p> <p>The best way to create new plugins, of course, is to build on existing ones. Please feel free to use this and any of the other plugins in my repository as the starting point for your own work.</p> <p>Happy image editing!</p>simon.bland@portraitsbysimonbland.com (Simon Bland)GIMPPhotographyTipshttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/a-short-guide-to-gimp-pluginshttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/a-short-guide-to-gimp-pluginsMon, 29 Jan 2024 23:14:07 +0000My Artist’s Statement, Annotatedhttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/my-artists-statement-annotated<p>I nearly made the mistake of writing an extremely long-winded post about putting together a new artist&rsquo;s statement. Then I realized that it had somehow become an obsession and it was going nowhere; the more I wrote, the harder it became to understand.</p> <p>You will be pleased to learn that I scrapped that idea and instead I will just put my artist&rsquo;s statement here together with some notes that describe how I got to this point. I hope it makes for a better read and will help with writing one of your own. <a href="/blog/writing-an-artists-statement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">My previous article</a>&nbsp;provides more guidance on structure and content.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/pexels-suzy-hazelwood-1995842.jpg" alt="A photograph of a typewriter ribbon with the words &quot;Stories Matter&quot; spelled out on the paper." width="650" height="470" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The breakthrough moment of writing this version of my artist&rsquo;s statement occurred when I selected three of my favorite paintings and wrote a few paragraphs on why I had created each one. That, together with an in-depth review of my painting history and motivation, caused things to fall into place; I realized that stories matter.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr /> <h3>My Artist&rsquo;s Statement</h3> <p>Each of my paintings has a short story woven into the fabric, often deep beneath the surface [1]. Sometimes I know that story before I start work, but sometimes I only understand it when the painting is well underway [2].</p> <p>All my paintings are built on simple, abstract ideas [3] which are used to create designs that consider the picture as a unified whole [4]. I frequently modify reality or allow it to break down into abstraction in places [5].</p> <p>I prefer to paint without sentimentality but even so, the act of painting always causes an emotional response which finds its way into my work [6].</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr /> <h4>Notes</h4> <p>[1] I&rsquo;ve gone through many phases over the last twenty years, and this wasn&rsquo;t always the case. For the first seven years of painting full time, I painted mostly portraits of dogs, and I didn&rsquo;t have an artistic agenda. When I first started painting plein air painting, I painted more in a documentary style, recording things I saw. The desire to relate my art to stories came about much later in my career.</p> <p>[2] I have often found that I&rsquo;ve been motivated to paint something before knowing why. When that happens, I just get on with the process and let the story fill in as I go.</p> <p>[3] In my book, I wrote at length about the concept of an abstract idea underlying my work. I learned this from artist Gregg Kreutz&rsquo;s book &ldquo;Problem Solving for Oil Painters&rdquo; which I consider to be essential reading for any beginning painter.</p> <p>[4] I first learned about this from the classic Betty Edwards&rsquo; book &ldquo;Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain&rdquo; which I read and digested long before I started painting.</p> <p>[5] I am not a hyper-realist painter. I often use painterly realism in conjunction with abstraction to manipulate the viewer into focusing on the important parts of an image. I went backwards and forwards with the terms I used here before deciding to keep this part as simple as possible.</p> <p>[6] One of the things I find hardest to understand about my artwork, especially my portraiture, is the way that other people can often see an emotional content of which I am unaware. When I am immersed in a painting, pictures play in my head just as they do when I&rsquo;m reading, and I form all sorts of abstract connections between what I see there and what I paint. However, I am adamant that I am not a sentimental painter.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>simon.bland@portraitsbysimonbland.com (Simon Bland)GeneralUpdatesWritinghttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/my-artists-statement-annotatedhttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/my-artists-statement-annotatedMon, 14 Nov 2022 12:35:36 +0000Using Blender to Create Artist's Reference Imageshttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/using-blender-to-create-artists-reference-images<p>A maquette is a scale model that is used by sculptors and architects for preliminary studies. Although they are not often used by 2D artists (at least among the ones that I know), they can be a useful tool in some situations. Because I have played around with modelling software in the past, I set out to test the idea that a virtual model created in the <a href="https://www.blender.org/">Blender</a> software application could be used in place of a physical model.</p> <p>Blender uses a mesh of nodes, edges, and planes in combination with textures, virtual lighting, and a virtual camera to render an image. It is easy to learn to do some basic modelling&mdash;you can learn the basics in just a few hours&mdash; but it becomes increasingly more complex in short order.</p> <p><span style="text-align: center;">Here's a simple model of a building, created without using colors or textures. It took only a few minutes to build and render:</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/Building.jpg" alt="A simple farm building rendered in black and white using Blender. There is light coming in from the left side and it casts strong shadows." width="650" height="490" /></p> <p>A simple model of a farm building</p> <p>I found a use for this model during a recent painting: I was working from a Google Street View image, but the lighting on the buildings was hard to make out. To give me something better to work from, I extended this Blender model by adding an extra building, then changed the lighting until I matched that of the reference image. With a little work I had created a maquette that I could use as the basis for the painting.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/Buildings.jpg" alt="An image of two white farm buildings in a green field rendered with Blender. There is sunlight coming from the upper left and slightly behind the buildings. The sky has a warm tone." width="650" height="426" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">Blender model used as a maquette</p> <p>This is the model with the extra building added. I included a simple grass texture on the plane which helped to fix the shadow colors and the reflected light under the buildings' eaves.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/Summers-Promise.jpg" alt="An oil painting by Simon Bland of two farm buildings set in a field of broken colors. There are trees on the horizon and a duck egg green sky.." width="800" height="453" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">Summer's Promise. 9"x12", oil on linen panel, 2022.</p> <p>As you can see, the buildings make up a small part of the finished painting and most of the canvas real estate is sourced from elsewhere. Even so, the model was extremely useful, and I thought it was worth showing this nifty trick.</p> <p>Now if you are like me, you are already wondering if this can be used for more than just filling in a few details in a picture&mdash;could it be used to create a reference image from which you source an entire painting?</p> <p>The answer is that it depends on how much effort you think it is worth investing. It is easy to create images of simple things, but more complex objects and real-life wear and tear are harder to build and render. In addition, an ideal Blender model is created from reference images or real-life objects, so it may feel like you are adding an unnecessary extra step in your process.</p> <p>There are a couple of cases where I think it may bring some benefit: we've already seen one example where I needed to play with a model and light to provide better clarity. Another situation might be where you want to play with light effects that you can't create in real life.</p> <p>For example, here is a render of a Mason jar that I created:</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/Jar3.jpg" alt="An image of a small Mason jar rendered in Blender. The jar is sitting on a pale treen surface and is indirectly lit by window light." width="661" height="626" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">Mason jar with liquid, created with Blender</p> <p>I rendered this small liquid filled Mason jar with a backdrop window light. I am now able to modify the composition, light and colors to my heart's content.</p> <p>For example, if I wanted to see this in the glow of sunset light, it would be trivial to change the backdrop and the light color to reproduce the effect. I could just as easily change the color of the plane, jar lid, or even the transparency of the glass.</p> <p>So, while the lid was especially complex to model, with the work done, this reference can be used forever and in lots of diverse ways.</p> <p>What's still missing, though, is most of the patina and wear that exists in real life&mdash;to create that in this model would be possible, but I'm not certain that the effort would be worth it. In the end, the tradeoff between the effort to create a working model for a reference image and the impact that it will have on a finished painting must be decided by the artist. And there's one thing of which I'm certain: this is a piece of software on which you can spend an enormous amount of time.</p> <p>If you are interested in learning to use Blender, I strongly recommend starting with this series of videos: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIoXOplUvAw&amp;list=PLjEaoINr3zgFX8ZsChQVQsuDSjEqdWMAD">Blender 3.0 Beginner Tutorial - Part 1 - YouTube</a> where you will learn all sorts of useful techniques, which culminate in you rendering an image of a donut like this one. There is no faster way to get started:</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/Donut2.jpg" alt="An image of an iced donut rendered in Blender. The donut sits on a blue-green surface." width="650" height="526" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">Blender rendered image of a donut</p> <p>If you are as nerdy as I am and enjoy writing code (i.e. you are extremely nerdy), you might also want to try your hand at some basic OpenGL programming. This series of tutorials based on C#: <a href="https://opentk.net/learn/index.html">LearnOpenTK - OpenTK</a> will help you to understand more of what's happening behind the scenes in Blender.</p> <p>It will be much easier to do if you've studied some basic linear algebra (vectors, spaces, and matrices). I was impressed by the quality of the tutorials at Khan Academy, where you could start off with this series of free lessons: <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/math/linear-algebra/vectors-and-spaces">* Vectors and spaces | Linear algebra | Math | Khan Academy</a></p>simon.bland@portraitsbysimonbland.com (Simon Bland)BlenderInstructionLandscapeTipshttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/using-blender-to-create-artists-reference-imageshttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/using-blender-to-create-artists-reference-imagesThu, 3 Nov 2022 15:45:01 +0000Setting Up a Contemporary Still Lifehttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/how-to-create-a-contemporary-still-life-setting<p>Lately, I've become a fan of painting still life during the winter months. It is a super way to work on painting skills like observation, analysis, and drawing, as well as being a respite from the gloom and gray. The ability to work from life whenever I feel like it is offset only by the difficulty of figuring out what to paint in the first place.</p> <p>I prefer a contemporary approach to creating still life paintings&mdash;I like working with flat lighting and everyday subject matter. While I look for interesting shapes, contours, and colors, I do prefer painting objects that have a sense of accidental or unconscious aesthetic design: I don't want to create pretty pictures by painting pretty things.</p> <p>I decided that examining another artist's approach might make for an interesting blog article and help improve my own work. Since I have long admired the still life work of British artist Euan Uglow, I decided to attempt reverse-engineering one of his paintings. In doing so, I learned a lot about his painting, and something about bananas, too.</p> <p>I want to be clear that I did not try to copy Uglow's painting. I set out to emulate his set up, then create my own painting of my own banana from the result.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/Uglo-banana-sm.jpg" alt="Oil painting of a banana by the artist Euan Uglow" width="650" height="487" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">Euan Uglow: Banana. 12.7x17.8cm, oil on linen panel. 1995.</p> <p>This is the painting that I decided to analyze.</p> <p>A yellow banana on a yellow ochre background sets us up for a painting where everything is in the same color family (more or less), meaning all the colors are close on the color wheel. We also see some reds in the background, and the deep browns also read like dark reds. The only relief is found in the shadows on the banana where there are some colors that read as greens, and some neutral grays around the stem area.</p> <p>The painting contains Uglow's usual geometric markings&mdash;thin lines that mark tangents and transition points around the edges of the subject. They were deliberately included in the final painting.</p> <p>Uglow was a notoriously slow and deliberate painter and he only painted from life. It is possible that he worked on this small painting for just one or two days while the banana turned brown, but it is equally likely that he executed this painting over an extended period. I do not know how he kept his subject fresh, or whether he swapped the banana out for a new one every day or two.</p> <p>One final thought on Uglow's painting: it is tiny. I found out it is 5"x7" in size after I'd finished my own painting. Why would he have used such a small canvas&mdash;perhaps so he could finish in just one or two sessions?</p> <h3>Assembling the Basic Components</h3> <p>I started with the banana. Despite much searching I could not find a banana that looked exactly like the one that Uglow painted: all the bananas in the store (and I looked in many stores) were more tapered at both ends. One important fact I discovered is that the bananas on the inner part of a bunch have a single face on their inside curve. Bananas that grow on the outer side of a bunch have two faces. Uglow used a banana from the inside of a bunch.</p> <p>In the end, I chose a banana from the dish on the kitchen table.</p> <p>To re-create the surface that Uglow put the banana on (which I will hereafter refer to as a base), I took a scraped-down 11x14 panel and covered it with yellow ochre paint mixed with a little white. I used cold wax medium so that it would dry quickly and have a matte sheen.</p> <p>For a light source I used an artist's clamp lamp with a 7W 6000K LED bulb (you can find a clamp lamp for less than $10 on Amazon or at most hardware stores). I chose the bulb primarily for its white light but switching between this and a 5000K bulb (much easier to find in a store) did not make any appreciable difference.</p> <h3>First Attempts at Set Up</h3> <p>Armed with a banana, a base, and a light, I was now able to try out the set up.</p> <p><br /><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/Initial-attempts-with-light2.jpg" alt="A photograph of part of an artist's studio with a still life set up at bottom center. There is a window on the left and an easel on the right." width="650" height="433" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">Setting up on the left makes it easy for me to work</p> <p>I started by resting the base on my taboret so that it was easy to see from my easel and put it above table level by using a wire rack to raise it up. A pile of books or a stiff cardboard box would have been equally as good for this purpose.</p> <p>My first guess for the location of the light source was to place it high and to the right of the setting.</p> <p>[Regarding the choice of location for the still life: I find it easier to paint when it is on the side of my easel opposite my dominant hand, but light and studio space always have a say in choosing the best spot. On the other side of my easel, there are obstructions in the way of the window light, and these make it difficult to put artificial light in place. There is also plenty of room behind me (in front of the easel), so I wouldn't hesitate to turn my easel around and work in that direction if needed.]</p> <h3>Finding the Right Height</h3> <p>When standing at my easel, neither my perspective on the banana nor the position of the shadows matched those of Uglow's painting. I decided the banana needed to be higher and the light needed to be in a different position.</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/Right-height2.jpg" alt="A photograph of part of an artist's studio with a still life set up front and center. There is a window on the left." width="650" height="433" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">After finding the right height, I also oriented the panel so I'm looking along the long axis.</p> <p>I raised the height by placing a tall box underneath the base so that the banana was approximately sixteen inches below my eye level, at which point I decided it looked right. As soon as I saw the still life in this position, I realized that Uglow must have painted sitting down (which I do not).</p> <h3>Finding the Light Position</h3> <p>The shadows in Uglow's painting are extremely interesting in the sense that they barely exist. They are the painter's equivalent of putting a sprig of parsley on a dish at a restaurant. As soon as I truly looked at them, I realized that Uglow had done something unusual with the light.&nbsp;</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/Intermediate-with-light.jpg" alt="A photograph of part of an artist's studio with a still life set up in the center. It is being illuminated by artificial light shining directly at it.There is a window on the left." width="650" height="433" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">The right position for the light is found</p> <p>I&nbsp;tried the lamp in all the usual spots&mdash;to the side, high and right, even above the banana&mdash;but I could only replicate Uglow's shadow pattern with the light at eye level to the right side of my face, directly above my right shoulder. After finding the right location for it, I held it in place by clamping the lamp to a stretcher bar that was, in turn, clamped to my easel.</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/Right-height-full-studio2.jpg" alt="A photograph of the interior of an artist's studio showing how a still life is set up ready to be painted. The subject is illuminated by an artist's lamp that is attached to an easel on the right." width="650" height="433" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;My home-made easel comes to the rescue</p> <p style="text-align: left;">You do not need to purchase a specialty tripod on which to mount your light (awesome if you have one, though) but finding something to mount a light on in this position could be tricky. My easel is sturdy and tall enough that I can clip a light to it, although it has the drawback of only allowing a small range of angles and distances from the subject.</p> <h3>Refining the Light</h3> <p>To better replicate Uglow's flat light, I left the studio window unscreened so that the banana was weakly illuminated from the left and placed a reflective white cardboard panel behind the set up (which evened out light on the outermost face of the banana).&nbsp;</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/Final-with-light.jpg" alt="A close-up photograph of the interior of an artist's studio showing how a still life is set up ready to be painted. The subject is illuminated by an artist's lamp that is attached to an easel on the right." width="650" height="433" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">The still life set up as viewed from the painting position. Note how the light is near my line of sight.</p> <p>While I do not know how Uglow achieved this lighting for his own painting, it is safe to say that this is not the kind of lighting you will find illuminating a bunch of flowers in a painting workshop or still life class: I could not have stumbled upon this lighting accidentally in my studio.&nbsp;</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/Final.jpg" alt="A close up photograph of a yellow banana reting on a yellow ochre colored surface as the subject of a still life painting. The banana is illuminated by an artist's lamp." width="650" height="433" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">A close-up view</p> <p>The lighting reveals the subject in the same way as if you had gone looking for it with a flashlight.</p> <p>Standing at my easel I have a view of the still life subject that is close to the one Uglow must have painted from. Although the shadows are not an exact match, I am inclined to think that this is a result of him using artistic license.</p> <h3>Creating the Painting</h3> <p>When you paint perishable items, there is a tendency to rush. This causes all sorts of problems, not least of which is the tendency to build on top of drawing errors.</p> <p>That's why it took several attempts to create my own painting.&nbsp;</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://d185xs4ho5y6i7.cloudfront.net/blog/simon-bland/2022/Banana-8.jpg" alt="Oil painting of a banana on yellow background by artist Simon Bland" width="750" height="594" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;Banana. 8x10, oil on linen panel. 2022</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</p>simon.bland@portraitsbysimonbland.com (Simon Bland)FeaturedPainting TipStill LifeStudyhttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/how-to-create-a-contemporary-still-life-settinghttps://portraitsbysimonbland.com/blog/how-to-create-a-contemporary-still-life-settingThu, 16 Jun 2022 17:55:05 +0000