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| David-McCamant
David-McCamant
♂️
[10371827]
[2009-04-29 18:22:01 +0000 UTC]
"davidmccamant.com"
(United States)
# Statistics
Favourites: 4; Deviations: 87; Watchers: 2413
Watching: 29; Pageviews: 84775; Comments Made: 1503; Friends: 29
# Interests
Favorite visual artist: William BougeuereauFavorite movies: Comedies, Science Fiction, Adventure, Biographies, Mystery's... Anything that has a good story.
Tools of the Trade: Oil paint, brushes, canvas and sight
Other Interests: Painting and Teaching
# About me
Not much to say, really. Since I can remember, I've been busy doing art. I’ve had a long successful career as a commercial artist, illustrator, art director, creative director, animator, animation producer and director. After 30 years as a professional, I’m very familiar with all aspects of both 2D and 3D art.Being taught ‘on the job’ through most of my life by mentors has instilled in me the desire to become one myself. For many years I’ve been working on my fine art and most recently my training has been by master painters Brian Davis and David A. Leffel. I have sincere gratitude for the joy in creating beauty through my work and to share the insights it brings with my students and other artists.
I love to teach the fundamentals that have been overlooked for so long here in the US. Teaching for the past six years at the Nevada Museum of Art classrooms has been a honor. My classes include, Learning Color and Color Theory, Painting 1 - Oils, Painting 2 - Oils, Composition: the basics through Dynamic Symmetry, Plein Air - Capturing the light, Perspective Drawing and Learning to Draw.
As a new artist at ACME Archives, I'm developing a series of works for Disney based on the animated features and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
I'm represented by ACME Archives - Burbank California and New Masters Gallery in Carmel California.
Current Residence: Reno, Nevada
Favourite genre of music: Anything that is uplifting for the moment.
Favourite style of art: Impressionist
Operating System: Windows
Personal Quote: Those who are skilled know Art is rarely made. To the unskilled anything can be Art.
# Comments
Comments: 457
I have just started my painting adventure, And I'm in awe of your mastery.
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Your work is absolutely breath taking! Do you listen to music while you draw/paint?
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You just got a watch dude. (A DA watch, not a real watch) I am in love with your work.
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Wow I really love your scenery pictures, dusky landing in particular.
Id love to see a cartoon movie with those kind of scenes, really have a good adventure feel to them.
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Thank you very much. I'm glad you like my work.
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Hi David,
I'm Elsa, the founder of TheFavouriteShowcase .
I'm here to invite you to take a little time to visit the group
Currently we have a Thematic Folder open to all members with the possibility to win 130, 80, 50 or 25 points. Check it here thefavouriteshowcase.deviantar…
This month the theme is FANTASY.
I hope you enjoy being with us, thank you for being a member.
We love to your work!
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Your art is so colorful, and the paintings are exact but not too harsh around the edges. I really like your style! It reminds me very much of California, I was so glad to see the piece with the sequoia trees
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Thank you for your kind and generous comments. I live in Reno, Nevada and spend as much time as permitted in the Sierra Nevada range. The sequoias are truly spectacular for sure.
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I have been following your work for 4 years now, and I keep returning to it. I recently started doing some acrylic painting , to practice my observational skills and your paintings are a great inspiration!
It's really rare that I feel so connected to a person's work. Whenever I see the nature studies you do I can really feel the atmosphere, weather and even the smell of leaves and nature around it. I hope you will be posting more later on!
Have a great day
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It is a very rare honor to be of positive influence in your artistic journey. Thank you for taking the time to post such a moving letter. I will of course, be continuing on posting my work as time allows. Please let me know if I can help you further.
In Gratitude,
David
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You're welcome 
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Thank you for sharing your work on dA, I really enjoy it!
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Thank you for taking the time to view my work and that you liked it.
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You are welcome, I often spend some time in your gallery if I am struggling on a background in one of my paintings. I love your environment work. Looking at your pieces helps me visualize space and better place figures and objects in my own work.
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It is so very gratifying that my work helps you. Thank you again.
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Thank you Robin. I very much enjoyed your gallery especially your silk paintings.
Warmest Regards,
David
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Your acrylic landscapes are really wonderfull. I just gaze on it.
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Thank you very much. I'm glad you enjoy them.
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Hi David, Welcome to Award Central. Thank you so much for accepting our invitation to the group.
We are very happy that you decided to join as a member and looking forward to seeing your wonderful artwork in the Art show Competitions.
Tricia
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It is an honor to be included, thank you.
David
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Your very welcome David
It is our honored and pleasure to have you as a member
Tricia
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At first, looking at your paintings previews, I thought you was another of those digital artists (light and color shades were too perfect). Then I carefully watched your works, and they lighted my day up ..stunning! Your painting style is one of those I would really like to achieve.
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Thank you, your kind comments made my day too! I'm so glad you enjoy my work.
David
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Thank you very much for the feature!!!
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No problem! I really adore your work
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You are a very skilled painter and your gallery is a pleasure to watch!
You tell about your teaching and I wonder what you mean with 'the oil painting fundamentals that are overlooked for so long', could you explain about that?
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Hi Zusse, It would be my pleasure to explain. The main issue is lack of brush training. Oil painting can be extremely enjoyable and the easiest of mediums. That is if you know how to hold and use an artist's brush properly. This single bit of training changes everything yet it has been completely omitted from the fundamentals since the 'self-expression' era. Brushwork has been mostly misunderstood or ignored so this very elemental communication tool is not at the artist's command. Without understanding painting mediums how can a person know the importance of paint quality. You see, much of the fundamentals are based around making sensitive artful brushstrokes, the understanding of edges and the craft of painting. So far, I have not had a student of any age with any real training in these disciplines from any art class they had taken.
Things are changing.
More good Atelier's and Salons that actually lean heavily on training are showing up all over.
Thank you for your question,
David
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Well thank you for explaining!
This is also new to me, so I am not an exeption haha! Could you tell me where I can find more information about that (books, videos or online painting lessons for example?) since I don't live in your area but I would really like to learn more about that.
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You are more than welcome. The master painter I learned most of my technique from was David A. Leffel. You can find his videos on-line or YouTube. They are well worth the price, time and effort. Let me know if I can be of further assistance in your journey.
All the Best,
David
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Thank you very much I am gonna take a look at that!!
And you ask if you can be of futher assistance; I would love it if you would comment my use of color, if you have the time and it is not to much to ask for.
If so, it's ok and thanks for you help!
Jennifer.
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Hi Jennifer, It is an honor to help you. Your work is very good. You've got a good handle on proportion, line and value. You might consider pushing your darks a bit further to gain more contrast thus making the light passages pop. I'm a huge proponent of limited palettes. The Zorn palette is good yet it's a difficult one to master. You need to place the warms against the cools to get 'blues' to read correctly. As I remember he did adapt his palette to suit the subject.
Here is the palette I use: Titanium White, YELLOW (Cadmium Lemon, Windsor Yellow, Hansa Yellow Medium or Cadmium Yellow Light) RED (Cadmium Red Hue, Cadmium Red Medium or Cadmium Berium Red (not deep) BLUE (French Ultramarine Blue or Ultramarine Blue) Ivory Black MAGENTA (Permanent Rose or Quinacridone Red) CYAN (Thalo Blue or Phthalo Blue) I don't know what painting medium you are using if any but it makes a huge difference with oils. A painting medium is different than simply linseed or walnut oil. I like the gel mediums like Maroger. I currently use Neo Megilp by Gamblin. It imparts a wonderful buttery quality to the paint. This gives you amazing edge control. It lets the paint release from the brush wonderfully.
If you learn David Leffel's methods with the brush you'll be amazed at how much easier oils become.
All the Best,
David
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Hello David,
Thank you very much for your feedback, I appreciate that very much!! And it's amazing what you tell me about using more darks; just this evening I made a photograph of the portrait I am currently working on and turned it into a black/white and did the same with my reference to compare and see what parts needed more attention and it was very obvious that the dark parts weren't dark enough!
Also you are so right about the cool/warm contrast that is missing especially in the cantering horse/zorn palette! I really regret it that I live too far away from you to take your lessons...
I do use (very little) medium; liquin from winsor/newton but I have just started painting with oils so this is all new to me. I will take a look at the gamblin medium you use and see if there is anything similar that I can find in holland because as far as I'm aware they don't sell any gamblin products here.
And.. an honor to help me?! I think it's the other way around!
Again thank you very much for you help and if there is anything I can do for you to help, just let me know.
All the best,
Jennifer.
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Hi Jennifer, I'm always happy to help other artists. I tried Liquin and found it to be too sticky, much like honey. It's very hard to get your brush out of and you have to use too much pressure. Try to find a gel medium like Maroger or Megilp (which is another word for Maroger) if you can. Below is text from my brushwork class that I hope will be of some use for you as well.
Brushwork is the structure of the painting language much like musical notes are to song. To understand the eloquence of the brush we need to begin by looking at it differently than has been taught for the past sixty or more years. There have been many books art instruction books written about brushwork yet most of them fail to begin with the most important single thing, how to hold and use an artist brush.
First we need to have some basic understandings of what painting is all about. Painting is completely different than drawing. Drawing as a discipline involves the training of the hand to follow the eye. When you draw you are using a tool that supplies a very great supply of medium, graphite or charcoal. One uses the fingers for most of the work.
Painting is more akin to sculpture than to drawing. An artist brush is more like a trowel or spade than a pencil in that it picks up medium and places it, and then picks up more. After just a few strokes, you are out of paint, sometimes just one. The point is that we are placing bits of paint to describe something using the brush.
The easiest way to get the ‘feel’ for holding a brush is to understand why the handle is so long. The handle of a artist brush is long to allow the artist the greatest control and sensitivity at the head or the very tips of the bristles. So, you hold the brush at the end of the handle. The best way to find your ‘fit’ is to hold the brush in you hand palm up. Relax you fingers a bit and let the end of the handle poke you in the palm between the first and second fingers. Where your fingers rest on the handle is the pivot point for most of the ways you will use the brush. Think Chopsticks.
There are several different positions to hold and use the brush from this position. The first one is much like holding a chopstick. You simply rotate the brush to more or less a horizontal placement. Lightly holding the handle between the thumb and ring finger, you use the index finger with the thumb to control the very tip. A brushstroke uses the whole arm not the wrist or the fingers. This is contrary to what we have been taught for decades yet this is what the masters taught for centuries.
By simply rotating the brush there are several other ways to use the brush. Each position is designed to make the task of placing paint easier for a variety of angles and marks.
Remember to Have Fun,
David
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Thank you very much again!
I will absolutely follow up your brushwork advice and am very curious how this will turn out!
One last question; is this Megilp medium also suitable for more detailed work?
Have a great christmas!
Jennifer
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Hi Jennifer, My pleasure to help. Sensitive brushwork takes a gentle hand and a equally malleable medium which is why I love the gel mediums. If you admire the detail work of the Dutch masters, then look no further for your answer about Megilp or Maroger; they invented the stuff. Happy Christmas.
David
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David, I logged into dA today to see if I could remove some artists from my deviant watch and instead I ended up watching you.
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Just wanted to let you know how awesome your work is! Really great stuff. Keep doing what you're doing!
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Thank you very much for that!
David
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Thank you! More coming...
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