Colin was the first life model I ever painted at the Edinburgh College of Art evening classes.
I imagine he looks more or less exactly the same as he did 20 years ago and probably will for the next 20. Certainly nothing's changed in the last 3 years, including that facial expression, which i would best describe as 'indifferent'. Good to draw, mind.
I'm a bit of a newcomer to the whole Oil scene, having always used Acrylics before. Can't see myself going back now. I find oils are just so nice to use; the way you can push them around on the canvas and make big sweeping marks. Plus no more paints drying out on the palette! ( not for a few hours anyway ).
Here are some efforts i did at an evening Portrait class at Edinburgh College of Art.
This fella started out on life on the Ipad some time ago. Recently I was reading about Mars One project.
Finally a reality show that would be worth watching! Anyway, even if nothing else comes from it, at least it prompted me to finish my astronaut bloke off in Photoshop.
Here's another little nudey done on the Ipad using the Brushes app. Started this at a life drawing class in Edinburgh at The White Space, and finished her off back at the ranch, as it were.
A first for anything is always rather exciting isn't it? In this case it was my first ever portrait commission - a painting of a rather lovely chap by the name of Monty. His girlfriend Sus, whom i met at an art class in Edinburgh, very kindly asked me if i would be interested in painting his portrait, which i most certainly was!
I started by doing some initial sketches of Monty over at their house and taking some photos. I then went away and did this color study on the Ipad as a practice run before getting the oils out.
And here's the final painting. It was done with Alkyds on canvas ( 24x20 Inches Windsor&Newton deep frame canvas).
Well, good evening, good evening! Thank you very much for visiting.
My name is Alastair Mclauchlan. I work as a video games artist by day at a place called Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland. Here you will find things I've been working on in my spare time.
Why am i doing this blog? Well, recently I listened to a speech made by Neil Gaiman to the University of Arts graduates, 2012. I found this hugely inspiring. Especially the part about seeing your goal as a distant mountain and ensuring that each step you take should be on a path headed towards that mountain. So I'm hoping with this blog I can record some of those steps.
The above sketch is something I did last week at a life drawing class on the Ipad - I love using the Brushes app for this as you get to see all the choices ( or in my case mistakes ) you made along the way.
