impressionism Archives - Liron Yanconsky

Realistic Painting & Auto-Pilot Impressionism | Liron’s Podcast Episode 96

Why do I want to experiment with realistic painting? How will it benefit my impressionism?

This is some of what I talk about in today’s podcast episode.

Realistic Painting for Better Impressionism

Lately I’ve been feeling like my impressionism has a couple of weaknesses. Mainly – I sometimes go into “auto-pilot” mode when painting.

And so, I decided to try and mix up some realistic painting into my routine. I believe this will help me further develop my accuracy and observation skills.

I hope this will allow me to better read the reference, and CHOOSE when to simplify and change, rather than “do what I already know”.

By the way – here’s my first attempt art cranking up the realism. A self-portrait based on a pic I took in the mirror, haha!

Tips for Realistic Painting

I also provide a few tips for tackling painting more realistically. Here is the gist of it:

PATIENCE. I cannot stress that enough. That’s, funny enough, the most important component in realistic painting.
Working in sections. In other words, focusing on small areas at any given time, and trying to get them to look as close to the reference as possible.
Working from black and white photo reference! This makes things SO MUCH EASIER.

I hope you enjoyed this one! Here’s how to connect with me…

Reach out to me

Here’s how to contact me:

YouTube – Liron Yanconsky Art

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Twitter – @LironYan

Let Vision Lead Your Technique

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In today’s episode I want to share with you a concept I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and that is of vision.

Vision is how we see the world. Every artist (and person for that matter) probably has a different vision of what they see.

That is why different artists create in different ways and notice different things.

Vision Leading Technique

My premise here is that there’s a way to create very clearly. To make the gap between your vision and your result as small as possible.

That is – to allow your vision lead the painting process rather then technique.

When you let technique lead the way, you may approach every painting the same way.

But every painting is different, and every scene is different.

So if you allow VISION to lead instead, you may end up with a better result.

Unique & Highly Personalized Art Style

The coolest part is this – it will probably also be more unique. Because you effectively “cleaned” your representation of reality.

This applies, by the way, to abstract art too! The reality I’m referring to can be a real physical scene, or the vision you have in your head.

I hope you found this helpful. The next time you create, try forgetting about technique, or the “correct” way of doing something. Instead – try to represent what you see as clearly as you wish, regardless of process.

And let me know how it goes!

Artist Corner

Today I talked about Wendy Artin. I was recommended by a follower to check her work out. And I must say – it’s incredible!

She does lots of figurative work, and has some very unique processes and approach.

I actually covered her in my Painting Masters series. You can check that episode out here (:

And Here’s where you can find me

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

I hope you enjoyed this one. Take care, and we’ll talk again really soon,

— Liron

Impressionism Painting | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 20

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In the picture above is an Edward Seago study I did a while ago

Impressionism Painting

Impressionistic paintings have always attracted me, from the moment I discovered the genre.

I always loved the ability to represent what you see on paper, with the added value of your own interpretive skills, and your special flare.

The Zbukvices and the Castagnets

Immediately after discovering Joseph Zbukvic and Alvaro castagnet I was HOOKED.

I started seeking out similar artists, and paintings in that loose impressionistic style.

I also attempted painting in this style, which was a huge challenge (and still is!).

Edward Seago

Another artist I recently discovered that does impressionism in both OILS and watercolor, is Edward Seago.

He will probably be responsible for me getting into oils in some point in the not-so-far future (;

What Makes Good Impressionistic Art

I have my own opinion about what makes a good impressionistic painting.

This is my opinion, and I could be wrong about some things, or missing others. This is by no means a conclusive list.

Here are some things I noticed so far:

Accurate drawing – This is a must. This is the basis for creating a realistic impression of what you see.

Good sense of light and shadow – This is the second most-important item on my list. I believe this is as important as an accurate drawing.

We see the world in the form of light and shadow, and portraying accurate values is the key for creating realism.

Simplification and abstraction – Here shines the true spirit of impressionism. We are not trying to include every single detail we see.

We simplify things for the viewer, including only what’s ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. And the levels to which we simplify is a personal / style-related choice, but the impression we create still resembles the subject to a high degree.

Colorful / harmonious palette – To me color is secondary, but in some ways it can significantly enhance a painting.

When the colors work well together the good painting turns into a fantastic celebration of mood, atmosphere and temperature.

How to learn impressionism painting & how to improve

This is a question I don’t really have an answer for. I’m still learning this myself. However – there are some habits I noticed have been helping me with this.

Painting from live reference – This means either painting real objects inside, or real scenery outside. It means NOT working from photos.

I cannot stress enough how important field work is. It is an integral part of improving your visual language, which is what we are doing here, after all.

I also think it’s important, from time to time, to work from photos. The reason is that you can be more relaxed, well-organized, and practice the techniques.

Outside you have to hurry, the light is constantly moving and changing, and things are dynamic. Inside you don’t have that issue.

Learning from others – The way I approached learning this is by constantly alternating between two mindsets – inspiration and isolation.

What I practically do is focus for a while on learning from one specific artist who’s work I enjoy. The time-frame for this can range from two weeks to two months. I call this the inspiration period.

Then, I shift into isolation. I ONLY focus on painting what I see, as I see it. I don’t watch YouTube videos. I don’t look at other peoples’ art. I only focus on MY OWN WORK.

And then I go back to inspiration for a while, and the cycle begins again.

I find this REALLY helps me to soak up inspiration and knowledge, and then internalize everything and combine it with MY OWN style.

Conclusion

And this is everything I wanted to share!

Like every new skill, it can be a bit of a challenge. But with enough consistency you get the ball rolling and before you know it – you are an expert!

I hope you enjoyed this one (:

Artist Corner

Today we talked about Edward Seago. He was an amazing English painter who worked in both oils and watercolor.

He lived from 1910 to 1974, and led an interesting life. He was quite close to the royal family, and was even invited on a tour to the Antarctic with prince Phillip.

He produced there what is considered his best work. I personally love both his oil paintings and his watercolors. He had an amazing way of simplifying what he sees.

You can read more about him on Wikipedia – Edward Seago

And here is a Google Images search for you to browse and enjoy

And here’s where you can find me (:

You can support me on Patreon

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3