Creating a Professional Artist Portfolio

Welcome to Ask an Artist 5! We are going to get into how to make a portfolio for your art that is professional and thorough and will open doors for you when opportunity arises.

Creating a college application portfolio is very different than creating a fine art portfolio, so the first thing we will talk about is how they compare. Then we'll get into why you should be doing artwork in a series, and ultimately what the five components of a great art portfolio are.

Feel free to pop me a question here or in the YouTube comments to be discussed in an upcoming ‘Ask an Artist.’ You can also see some previous episodes featuring other figure drawings and questions here.

If you'd like to snag some of these amazing super smooth pastel pencils, the first two are the ones I'm using in the video and the other two are some of my favorite colors. Any purchases through my special links helps to support my channel so thank you!

White Chalk Pencil: https://bit.ly/3d3COLh

Raw Umber Carbothello Pastel Pencil: https://bit.ly/30zLfL8

Steel Grey Carbothello Pastel Pencil: https://bit.ly/2YIvbED

Deep Purple Carbothello Pastel Pencil: https://bit.ly/2XTkGPk

How I create my figure drawings (and this one too)

How to Photograph Artwork

How to Photograph Artwork Without a Glare

How to Write an Artist Statement

How to Write an Artist CV

If you would like more info on getting your own handmade-with-love toned (or white) paper sketchbook pop over here to be kept in the loop for my next sketchbook release: https://www.caleighbirdart.com/handmade-sketchbooks

10.4.2020

Parrot Skull Oil Painting + Update Vlog

Have you ever seen a parrot skull? I honestly hadn't til I found this royalty free image to paint from - it's so wild right??

Today I wanted to give you a few studio updates while I share the painting of this bird skull in oil. Namely, that I’m going to be running polls and questions in my Instagram Stories and on my YouTube community tab in order to get you know YOU, my lovely audience, better so that I can make the kind of artwork and videos that you love to see!

It will be 8 days of ‘Hi, How ya doin??’ starting Wednesday September 23 so don’t miss it!

If you'd like to know more details about how I paint bones, check out this recent human skull painting workshop on my website or Skillshare, or catch the 3D process here on YouTube.

How to Paint a Skull in Oil:

https://skl.sh/2YECFZJ

https://gumroad.com/l/how-to-paint-a-skull-with-oil-paint

3D Skull Trio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLf_l1zV3E4

9.20.2020

How to Transfer a Drawing to Canvas for Painting

Today I've got three super easy ways to transfer your drawing to canvas to paint in oil or acrylic. I've actually shared this in a video once before, but it was at the end of how I create my own painting surfaces and since I always refer to it for this, I figured a tutorial on transferring drawings to canvas needed its own video.

The good news is you can transfer a traced drawing to canvas, or even transfer a photo to canvas without having to create your own drawing first - it's super easy!

My favorite way to transfer my drawings when I’m ready to start painting is by using carbon paper and tracing my original drawing. However, if you don’t (yet) have carbon or graphite paper (which I highly recommend you get), you can use charcoal, a graphite stick, or even just a regular pencil to trace your drawing, or even a photograph, in order to transfer it to canvas.

Supplies:

If you needed to grab some graphite paper or any other supplies, use my special links and it will help support my channel without costing you an extra penny. Thank you!

Graphite Paper: https://bit.ly/2R6oo3P

Fredrix Canvas Pad: https://bit.ly/3i4oOnx

Anything else.. https://bit.ly/36vvPr8

9.6.2020

How to Paint a Skull with Oil Paint

Yay folks my highly anticipated Skull Trio is complete, and not only that, but I’m going to use them to teach you how to paint a skull with acrylic or oil paint too! First we’ll draw a skull from a royalty free image I found to share with you, and then I’ll take you step-by-step through the skull painting process, from materials to paint mixes, to how to enrich our human skull painting from the reference image using an array of natural toned paint that will really breathe life into our skulls!

The abbreviated version that includes the resin pouring process is here on my YouTube, and at the bottom you can find a link to the extended Skillshare version that is almost an hour long and goes into way more specific technical detail.

Grab a Skull or some wearable art in my Shop here!

Ta daa! My completed mixed media Skull Trio oil paintings!

Take the full workshop here:

You have two options to join! Find me on Skillshare or get access on my website for only $4

Videos I Reference:

Real Time Skull Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9XSNCjh8Y4

How to Create a Shadowbox Frame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJcIFE__tlU

How to Create Resin Layer Art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxmP_I9gEvM

How to Make a Painting Panel + Transfer a Drawing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XozulwC3fM

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8.30.2020

Music Room Mural

Painting this music room mural earlier this year was a great learning exercise for me! Remember that other interior mural I did of the beach scene a few months ago? (Find it here if not) Well, this one is in the same building and I completed them during the same week which worked out well for maximum efficiency for letting paint dry.

I used all interior house paint for this musical mural, and if you watch the vid you'll find out why the painting focused on percussion instruments too. Enjoy!

8.23.2020

How to Clean + Maintain Your Art Studio

Today we are getting down to the nitty gritty of cleaning, organizing, and maintaining your art studio because it is important to take care of the spaces we love and that nurture our creative spirits.

A tidy and maintained studio is a productive studio so I hope you feel so inspired to refresh your space soon!

Grab a Tube Wringer here: https://bit.ly/3ipAm4w

If you use my special link it helps to support my channel at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

How to Clean + Restore Paint Brushes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwdYu1chYGE

How to Get the Most Out of Your Paint Tubes (a super old vid so don't judge too harshly - ha!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il1RHs9QL18

8.9.2020

How to Clean + Restore Old Paint Brushes

Today I am going to share with you a super easy way to clean and restore your old oil paint brushes - yep even the ones with dried paint in them - using common household products.

One of the best ways to be eco-friendly while also being nice to your wallet is to rejuvenate and condition your old paint brushes rather than buying new ones, so grab some dish soap, rubbing alcohol, and olive oil and let's get this party started!

8.2.2020

How to Draw Hands Workshop

This highly detailed and extensive workshop features everything you need to know to draw refined and realistic hands. Together we will start off with basic palm and finger structure utilizing correct proportions, then move onto how tendons affect movement. Next we'll incorporate muscle, skin, and fingernails to round out our drawings and finally learn about shading to bring a real depth and realism to our works. 

You also have the option to get personal feedback through email from me three times over the course of this workshop for that extra boost in conquering this challenging subject matter. Woo Hoo!

Supplies:

White Conte Pencil: https://bit.ly/2DbnqQ5

2B Pencil: https://bit.ly/3jHhDml

4B Pencil: https://bit.ly/39woBGg

4B Woodless Pencil: https://bit.ly/32VNolv

9x12 White Sketchbook: https://bit.ly/39C3wdu

9x12 Toned Grey Sketchbook: https://bit.ly/3hDUrDH

Kneaded Eraser: https://bit.ly/2VC4qBB

Map Eraser: https://bit.ly/2wgzoop

Mono Zero Eraser: https://bit.ly/3885Fej

*Any supplies purchased through my special links helps to support my YouTube channel at no extra cost to you, so thank you!

To preview and access the remaining 10 videos of this 12 part series, hop over to Skillshare or snag the class here:

Skillshare

If you're new to Skillshare I have a special affiliate link that gives you your first two months for free! And that's not just to my classes, that to the 10's of thousands of classes available on the Premium plan. Enjoy lots 'o learnin! https://skl.sh/39snxCW

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7.26.2020

Studio Vlog :: Upcoming Workshops + Nest News

Aloha friends, it’s been a minute since I’ve shared a behind-the-scenes peek into the Nest so I figured this hot July afternoon was a perfect time to sit in the AC for a spell and spill the Birdie tea.

I’ve got two exciting tutorials coming out! One is a detailed workshop in how to draw hands (see this post from last week), and the other is about how to paint skulls in a very lifelike way (right here). I also share a few adventures I’ve been lucky enough to go outside for and my latest 3D painting.

Make sure to grab some new stickers here too!

And to check out my unbelievable Art Mentoring pandemic rates and to see if working with me will be the right fit, read up all about what I offer as a mentor and teacher here.

7.19.2020

Where to Find Copyright Free Images

Okay my lovely patient viewer, I hope you learned a lot from last week’s ‘Copying vs Stealing and Being Inspired’ video, and now as promised I have five sources where you can get copyright free photos for your artwork. Yay!

Finding free good quality reference photos is not as hard as you would think if you know where to look and sometimes who to ask. It can be easy to fall in the habit of just finding images through google searches and using those for your paintings, but taking from other artists without permission will not get you or your artwork very far in this life so better to go ahead and source ethically.

Let me know in the comments if you can think of any other great reference photo sources!

Here are the ones I've found:

https://onairvideo.com/

https://vimeo.com/croquiscafe

https://www.nma.art/

https://line-of-action.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/

https://www.pexels.com/

https://www.pixabay.com/

https://www.imagesource.com/

https://freephotos.cc/

7.12.2020