Thursday, July 30, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Steampunk Wizard of Oz #3: Underpainting
Underpainting
Oil on Masonite
18x24
A few years ago, some friends (who shall remain nameless) and I broke into an abandoned chemical plant that had been damaged by a fire. It was huge complex, that stretched over the better part of a square mile, it had its on rail yards, depots and an underground labyrinths of pipes and crawl spaces. In the passage-ways there were hazard signs on rusted, pressurized-doors that read, CAUTION: DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT. Oily water dripped and pooled in the hallways. Everywhere we were surrounded by an atmosphere of latent deadly chemicals and the feeling that maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. We crept through this labyrinth in complete darkness using headlamps. Everything was dripping, dank, ruined, and everywhere lay twisted steel girders, collapsed ceiling tiles and rusting electronic equipment.
But in one burned out rooms, we saw something that didn't fit in with all the rusting, man-made structures and machines. As we came into the room we froze, stopped breathing, and backed out the way we had come. In the room, we had seen large colonies of fungus several feet high covering the ground. One of my friends had worked in water and smoke mitigation before told us not to breathe in the air anywhere near there. So we crept out of the room and back into the relative safety of rooms labeled, TOXIC CHEMICALS PRESENT with their friendly MSDS diamonds on them. This struck me as very strange. Here in the midst of this dangerous man-made place, was something organic that was more immediately dangerous to us.
When I began to think through possibilities for this particular scene, (which you have probably recognized by now) this experience of seeing organic decay creeping into the ruins of man-made industry inspired me a great deal. The idea of 'don't breathe the air' in this industrial decay fit the mood of the scene for me.
Tomorrow we begin glazing.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Steampunk Wizard of Oz: Color Comps
The Steampunk Wizard of Oz idea was such an appealing concept that I ended up doing several dozen conceptual sketches before arriving at the piece I did for the previous entries and the 2009 IMC.
There are 2 concepts in particular that I would like to do in oil, if you all will permit me.
I'll be finishing the previous watercolor and digital piece tomorrow, but I will also be posting a progression of these pieces in oil during the next few days leading up to Comicon.
For those of you who will be attending Comicon in San Diego, stop by and visit me at the Portland Studios booth. It is going to rock. For some shots of last years immaculate action, check out these shots of awesome people. This year, on top of being publicly awesome, Cory Godbey and I will be rocking the convention center's socks off by painting original pieces on site. On top of this, we have also caved to the overwhelming public pressure to deliver new limited edition prints of recent works. And I do mean limited. While they last, we will be selling them like it is our duty to mankind at the convention.
Catch the action in San Diego. Booth #1032.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Monday, July 06, 2009
Friday, July 03, 2009
IMC 2009: The Lady of the Lake
Conceptual Sketch
Tight Sketch
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
IMC 2009: Steam Punk Wizard of Oz
Drawing on Bristol
Underpainting
Note the difference in the two pieces. The composition works much better in the one on the left, and the image begins to make more visual sense. (click on image to see larger version)
This was after the advisement of the faculty who pointed out the dead spot there in the lower left and how knocking back the corner would improve the overall composition.
Final Underpainting
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