Frustrations With Dry Media

June 13, 2009 at 2:09 am (Thumbnails)

So, after watching the sun come up this morning, or, I guess, if I am going to be accurate, yesterday morning, now, I figured that I would be able to have a good night’s sleep.  Finally.

No such luck.  I went to bed around 8:30 and was exhausted.  And then, about 10:45, I was wide awake with a painting beating a pattern onto the insides of my eyelids.

There are two different types of painting ideas that I get when I am laying in bed in the almost asleep state: the first is the kind that come in like a gentle breeze, softly planting the seeds of ideas into my brain.  Sometimes they flourish, sometimes they don’t, but it is always a subtle sort of way.  Then there is the second type that crashes in like a mack truck and dumps the idea AND all the painting techniques that I need to pull it off in such a loud and insistent pile that there really isn’t any other choice but to get up and, depending on the time, either start painting or, at least, sketch it out for the next day.

Since it is getting on 1 in the morning AND I have a room mate, and since I like to play with music, I figure that sketching this one out was the best bet.  Herein lies the problem.  This particular painting is going to be a lot of wet work.  Because of this, the sketch, while true to the idea of what the painting is going to be, is less than satisfactory for me.  Colored pencils, while great for certain things, are just not up to rendering the effects of wet work in watercolor.  Especially given that, when I am trying to sketch it out quickly so that I don’t lose the idea, I really don’t have the time to painstakingly render the wet effects (and, really, I HAVE tried, and they aren’t BAD, per se, they are just lacking that nice watercolor feel, because, well, as a dry medium, they will never be as fluid as a wet medium.  Just not possible).

When I am done with the painting, and I really think it will be a quick one, it will be titled “Into”.  Right now, all I have is a thumbnail sketch done with some cheap colored pencils, and a whole bunch of notes scribbled out on the facing page.

For anyone who is interested, the thumbnail is below.  The painting should be up later today.

007

008

Leave a Comment

More Corset Angels

May 8, 2009 at 3:38 pm (Book Art, Drawings, Sketchbook Fridays, Thumbnails)
Tags: ,

Here are the two latest:

007

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:

011012

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.

014

015

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

4 Comments

Live Action BatKat…Sorta

April 29, 2009 at 11:11 pm (Book Art, Thumbnails)

I am thinking of doing BatKat as an actual creature instead of a cute little doodle.  Here is the preliminary drawing:

0027

2 Comments

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

April 25, 2009 at 10:10 pm (Book Art, Thumbnails)

As stated on Little Weaver’s Home Of Insanity, I really like the lyrics to Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Waters (go here for the original post and lyrics) and want to do a painting inspired by it.

So, I went to work doing a sketch.  But I didn’t want to do it in black and white, I wanted it to be in color, but not the same old dry watercolor cakes that I usually use when I am working in sketchbooks.  And so I broke out some old (and I mean OLD) colored pencils.

0018

This is done in my handmade camel hide book with a blue conte pencil, and Crayola and Gallery brand colored pencils.  The entire under drawing was done with a red-orange Crayola pencil and then I went back in with ink.  I haven’t used colored pencils since my freshman year of college (mostly to spite a teacher, but also because I like the fluidity of watercolor and inks) and so it was nice to work with a medium that I don’t usually work with and hadn’t used in a while.  And, what is even better is that the sketch came out pretty much how I wanted it.  Now all I have to do is decide whether I want to use colored pencil for the finished piece or if I want to exclusively paint it.

I also have to finish cleaning up the art area (it is almost ready to paint in, yay) so I can lay down the paint board and start on some of these ideas.  That would be fantastic.

Leave a Comment

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.