'Larger Than Life - Turkey Vulture'

[Click this image to see larger version.]

David Kitler

Larger Than Life - Turkey Vulture, c. 2007
Acrylic on baltic birch panel, w64.77 cm x h91.44 cm (25.5" x 36")
Sold, in private collection(?)

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Intending to make this week's batch rather snappier in length, so we'll see how that goes.

Animal painting — something that's almost like painting lots of other things, but not quite. Not like human portraits, although there's the same animating spark and 'personality' to consider. Not like objects, although there's still a ton of rich texture to deal with. Landscapes are often involved but aren't the focus. It's tricky.

Also tricky: finding a method that works to convey animals in your medium of choice that also fits in with your general style. 

I paint with acrylic, so above is a painting by David Kitler, a contemporary animal artist I admire who also works in acrylic. First off, I'm going to refuse to apologize that it's not a 'prettier' bird, because turkey vultures are awesome (and my Mexican Hairless knows that I'm perfectly fine with animals who run around in their birthday suits, full or partial). Second, seriously look at that thing. You can click on the painting to get a zoom-able version, and I'm just sorry it doesn't go in any closer.

The Working Method:

Basically what Kitler does is put down patches of opaque white paint to create the basic 'texture' strokes of whatever he's creating (feathers, bark, etc). Then he layers over this in thin washes of translucent colored paint, working towards a pre-determined color. THEN, he crosses over this with a new batch of opaque texture, building up and building up until there's a very intricate set of layered textures, with light able to reach and reflect off each of the internal layers of washes to create deep, lustrous color. 

...It's easier to understand by watching¹, so mind the Canadian accent and here you go:

(Explanation of his transparent color layering approach)

(Example of how texture goes down)

(You can mute and ignore the advertising lady, just look at the quick little examples of how these texture and color layers work together.) 

The Effects:

It is an intense amount of layering that goes into each of Kitler's pieces working this way, but it builds in natural complexity, and it obviously gets results. Looking at the sample piece above, for instance, the color in those feathers gives them so much depth (cool in itself, but especially because this is not something acrylic is known for being able to do). Through the whole painting, there's almost a stained-glass-window effect; you feel the light going back and back, and everything glows because of it. 

However. Some further consequences of this technique (neither good nor bad, just definitely there) include the following:

• It's all rather sharp. Since individual strokes/small patches of opaque paint have to go down as the base, there are a *lot* of distinct individual strokes left on the surface. This puts the focus on that lovely texture...but also keeps the focus on the texture, if you get what I'm saying.

• This technique does not play well with other techniques. Once one part of the painting is glowing with rich layered detail, it becomes hard to deviate from that in other areas of the painting. Patches of opaque paint are going to seem really flat by comparison, so these usually have to be relegated to the background, helping the subject to pop even more at the front.

• Attention on the subject becomes diffuse, rather than focused. Painting like this is a way of painting the animal *as* a landscape; Kitler's paintings take you so close up to the animal and give you so much to look at that the eye wanders around through all those peaks and rolls and folds that make up the body. This is great for an impression of expansiveness, nobility, wonder throughout the whole painting...but if the artist ever tries to convey *personality* of some sort, that wandering eye is the last thing you want, because depicting personality is usually about condensing all the visual elements down to one quick punch of unified expression. (TLDR; more detail = less focus, and you can see the difference by looking at super-simplified drawings, which can be highly expressive. See below.)

From Allie Brosh's 'Hyperbole and a Half,'²

which is to be referenced probably a lot.

Through the rest of the week, I'll talk more about what I've *been* doing for animal paintings, how that might change, and other animal artists I admire and/or have considered stealing from.

FOOTNOTES:

1. These videos are excerpts from Kitler's instructional DVDs, which include "Reliable Results in Acrylic: A Medium Demystified" and "Painting Nature's Textures in Acrylic", the two I've watched. (He's got one on drawing as well, but I've actually found his drawing to be the weakest part of the system, so...you know, not to criticize someone much, much better than I am, but there it is.)

2. I love, love Brosh's work, no irony whatsoever. Allie Brosh, Kate Beaton, Fiona Staples and other contemporary graphic-style artists will probably be some of the most-referenced people on this thing ultimately.


COMPARE/CONTRAST PIECES:

1. My Current Attempts

2. Haines' Half-Drawing

3. Bonheur's 'Own Parthenon Frieze'

4. Fuller's "Dog with Wallpaper"

5. Paint Washes with Price

6. Sargent and Some Slap-Dash Oxen