Post #357747 by bigbrotiki on Mon, Jan 28, 2008 8:01 PM

Very amusink. Unfortunately, both of the above subjects are not really ideal for being rendered on black velvet, and I will explain why.

But let me first say that, unlike with Tiki carving, there is no black velvet painting revival to speak off yet, and that's a darn shame! So I am in support of all and any efforts to revive the art form, and here is my contribution:

Unfortunately, I did not have a live nude vahine handy, so Crazy Al's classic bobber will have to do. As in all great painting the LIGHT is of critical importance. The flat light that is thrown on the two subjects above is very undramatic. Here is the same light used on our model, creating a generic, matter of fact look:

Below is a much better lighting concept, a modeling key light from the left, and a cross light from the right, sculpting the body and separating it from the background. This lighting is best for photography, to make the subject as three dimensional as possible:

Looking much better, but we want to paint with light like Caravaggio did on canvas, but for our black velvet medium. For that, part of the figure has to melt with the black velvet, the shadow parts have to be pitch black with no fill light, so it looks like the nude is emerging out of the darkness. That is what creates the glow and mystery of a good velvet painting:

For this effect, I used just one key light, slightly diffused, no fill, no back light. This one here is from below, but a top light can look good too, especially with men.

Problem is, you usually won't find this type of look in snapshots that people have lying around. But you are on the right track asking for "moody" photographs. I hope this will give you further guidance to what to look out for.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-01-28 20:52 ]