Exercise In Lightness

June 2, 2009 at 12:51 am (Book Art, Drawings)

I have a very heavy painting style, so, every now and then, I have to do exercises to keep myself from getting too dark.  I paint with so many layers that exercises that limit my layers is good for me.

With that in mind, I am thinking about doing a short series of faerie animals.  The criteria will be that they all must have wings, they all must have horns of some sort, and that they all must have some part of them that is only one layer.  This means that there probably won’t  be any horses, since wings and horns on horses is nothing new.  I might do a zebra, though, and a zonkey.  I have a great photo of a zonkey that I took at Scarborough Faire one year.  This is also going to be a hard project as I HATE doing just one layer.  It will be good to prepare for the painting of mermaids, though, because I will need to play more with light and reflection as opposed to layers and heavy textures, or else it will look like the mermaids are trying to swim through murk instead of water.

Here is a quick sketch of one of the faerie animals that I did while waiting to be interviewed for a job (which turned out to be a completely different job than what I was thinking it was).

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For those interested, this was done in my camel hide book with a 0.7 mechanical pencil.

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More Corset Angels

May 8, 2009 at 3:38 pm (Book Art, Drawings, Sketchbook Fridays, Thumbnails)
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Here are the two latest:

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I am changing the idea, though, partially because the model for this one had such a FANTASTIC back that I didn’t want to cover it up with wings, but mostly because the new idea is so much stronger conceptually and visually, so now it is going to be a sort of Angel and Demon motif where some will have wings, some will have wing remnants, some won’t have wings, and they are all going to be wearing masks with Angelic, Demonic, and Human characteristics.  The thought behind it is there is a little of each in everyone so it will be up to the viewers to decide who Fell, who hasn’t and who is just a mere mortal masquerading.  I, of course, will know, but I am not telling. :)

Here are some details:

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There are legs, but this paper is not very forgiving, so those will be detailed in the finished piece.

And, below, you will find the second of today’s installment.  She is going to be laying on her wings.

I am thinking of giving her head horns, but not the big curling ones like the guy.  I am thinking MAYBE more like little stubby ones, like a goat.  I am still pondering that one.  Also, I haven’t decided if I should give them actual backgrounds in which to interact, or if that will just take away from them and make them seem lost.  I may just do color washes, or, really faint, nondescript landscapes that have just hints of having objects in them.  I don’t know about that one yet, I’ll have to play with it.  Backgrounds tend to be my bane.  I am good with concept, just not where to stick them and I don’t want to ALWAYS just rely on color washes to save the day.

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016017 For those interested, all of these are done in my camel hide journal with a 0.7 mm Bic mechanical pencil.

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First Portrait In A Long Time

March 31, 2009 at 10:16 pm (Drawings)

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I haven’t drawn a portrait in twelve years, so while I am not real thrilled with the way this one came out, considering how long it’s been since I actually drew a portrait instead of just drawing an impression of one or painting one, it isn’t super awful.  That is to say, it doesn’t make me want to retch.  Cringe, yes, but not retch.

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