Ill 660 Digital Painting: Project 3 Final

My final project is called, "Embrace".  I began this as a present to my wife 8 years ago as a traditional oil painting but I never finished it.  As our daughter grew the more difficulty I had finishing it as well and busy with work didn't help either.  Anyway, I was able to resurrect it for my MFA Digital Painting class.

The concept is simply a prayer that our daughter will one day not be enamored by the veneer of childhood fantasies and embrace the truth found in Jesus Christ.  This is also a commitment to my wife that I will lead our family in a loving relationship under our Sovereign Lord.  This is also based on Proverbs 22:6, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

So this depicts my daughter as an elf reaching out for Jesus as she turns her back on the magic and fantasies of youth that easily ensnares girls as they grow into womanhood.  I used my hand in the painting since Jesus needed working man's hands as a carpenter.

Project 3: Final WIP

Okay, I began laying in the grass this morning and here is the update.  I've been waiting on this thing for a bit and sort of procrastinating about it because it's such a large space.  Most of it is going to be in shadow anyway but at least here is the beginning of the end of the major painted areas.  I also added in the pixie/magic orbs.  It gives it a nice touch and I'll be able to put some reflected light on her and the grass.

Project 3: Changes

I decided to make my daughter an elf like I had originally planned years back.  So here is the change: pointed ears.  She actually does have one pointed ear but not to this extreme.  I wanted to keep it somewhat ambiguous, too.

Project 3 WIP #3

Here is the state of my final as it is right now.  It's due on Monday, December 17th @ midnight.  I still have a lot to do so I need to spare no expense to get this thing done.  After I get everything modeled and painted I need to do some special effects to create more depth and focus on the Messiah's hands and Emma.  I need to work on getting some softer edges, ambient light/glow, etc.  Here's a detail of her face, too.  I didn't need to detail her face this much and primarily did it for my wife.  I'll post another WIP as I get closer to the finish.

Project 3 WIP

Here is the WIP for my daughter.  There is still much to do for this project but here's an update to this painting.

Digital Painting: Project 2 Final (sort of)

This painting isn't quite as final as it is shown.  I will be doing additional embellishments to the wings for a better grade.  I received an A- on it however my instructor did point out that the wings are underpainted which I thoroughly agree with.  So, if time permits I will work on it some more.

Project 3: WIP

Here is my Project 3 for my digital painting class.  I have a series of sketches including color comps and the actual WIP as it stands today.  It's due on December 17th.  The concept is one that I've been working on for the past 7 years since my daughter was 3.  It's a prayer really that my wife and I have about our daughter not giving in to the "princess" mentality of happily ever after with a Prince Charming and a fairytale romance but rather embracing a true faith and a true love found in Jesus Christ.  So she is portrayed ready to embrace Christ's hands as he invites her with hands extended down to her.

ILL660 Digital Painting: Project 1 DONE!

I am so glad this is done and I'm 3 hours under the deadline.  It's not perfect but this is as far as my skill set can take this for now.  So, here's my version of The Bride of Frankenstein:

Digital Painting: Project 1 Final WIP

I'm almost there.  I have a few more details, in particular the wrappings, locks of hair popping through by her temples and behind her ear, and the background. I have to stop messing with details just so I can finish my midnight tonight.  I'm surprising myself that it's turning out as good as it is and calling my wife in every hour so she can see the progress.  I was never going to put the halo of electricity until yesterday and even then I wasn't sold on it until I figured out how to make it glow.  I have to remember to put violet highlights on her skin, too:

Digital Painting: Project 2 WIP

I'm using this sketch that I've always liked and even completed a finished drawing on it however there was something always bothering me about it and could never put my finger on it.  My instructor gave me her perspective on it and asked if I wanted a paint-over and this is what she gave me.  This gave me a whole new appreciation for her because as a teacher she really sucks but she's a damn good illustrator who writes for ImagineFX Magazine.

          Original                                Paint Over

Here is my WIP for the last week before I turn in my final on 10/29.  I added the brow furrow and allowed the skull to show through the right side of her face as if she herself is a "work in progress" by Dr. Frankenstein.  There is much I need to finish but at least a got great responses from my classmates.  One dude said its one of his favorites out of the entire class.  I'm not trying to impress my classmates but that's a great compliment...and its not even completed yet.

Digital Painting: Project 1 WIP

Here's where I'm at so far.  I had to revamp what I previously had since there were some fundamental things wrong with the shadows on her face.  Her face is still a little too flat but I needed to get the general structure working first.  It's much brighter and cleaner than I want.  Over the weekend I'm going to dirty her up and try to still keep her elegant.....elegant but dirty....and scabby.  I want her to be elegant but have a yuck element, too.  "Yuck Element"....I think I just invented a new term.

Digital Painting Project 1: WIP

I've decided to use Natalie Portman as my base model for the Bride (thanks Christian).  I'm little less than 50% done and will finish the rest by the 15th.  The WIP is due on 10/8/12.

Here are my color comps for Module 2.  I will post my WIP on Monday the 8th after I get started on the final.  I'll try and do a periodic step-by-step of my process.  I'm unsure of which color comp I'm going to use.

Project 1: Chosen Thumbnails

My instructor finally critiqued my thumbnail sketches after 4 friggen days of waiting on her...the class is big though.  Anyway, here are the one's she chose, her comments and my cleaned up thumbnail I already started.....

New Sketch: Bride

I'm taking my first Digital Painting class at AAU.  We got to choose the theme of Project 1 so, I decided to do a reiteration of The Bride of Frankenstein since I will be doing Conceptual Storytelling next quarter and for the love of classic horror movies.  So, here is my initial sketch.  Unfortunately, this is not the approved thumbnail I sent in as my instructor is extremely slow at critiquing thumbnails and we have to complete 10 color comps of the approved sketch.  I'll be pissed off if she lets it go another day.  Anyway, here are my thumbnail sketches and a color comp (not to be confused with a speed painting):

 I wanted her to appear that she is suspended by the very feeding tubes and wires that are supporting her life. 

At a certain point I'll get the speed painting thing down.  This took a couple hours....unfortunately.

ILL612 Sustained Figure Concepts Week 5 Revision

I had to complete a revision for my Week 5 homework.  Here is the side-by-side:

ILL612 Sustained Figure Concepts Final

Hopefully my instructor will like the improvements I made to my drawing.  She gave me a B+ and told me I did a good job, BUT my value structure was off and that I made it monochromatic (even though "it works").  So, I modified the sucker for 1.5 hours until I hit gold.  I hope she feels the same.  At this point, its about pleasing my instructor.  I want my A or A-.

ILL612 Week 12

I did these with a huge allergy/sinus attack yesterday. It almost didn't get done and today I'm wiped out.

ILL612 Week 11

Its been a few weeks since my last posting. I've been crazy busy but here is my latest homework assignment from this past week.

Assignment 6.2

I'm tired. These were done much faster than last week's. I didn't spend as much time on the details as I usually do but now it's done. I'm already working on Project 2 - Head Drawing and it's halfway completed. My problem is I generally take Monday's off to recuperate but I've learned the past couple of weeks this slows down my performance and puts my schedule upside down if I don't do my homework everyday.

Project 1

Here is Project 1 that marks the end of the 5th week of class. No, that's not dirt on her ass....it's the paper showing through as I didn't make good enough coverage with the pastel.

Week 3 & 4 Homework Done!!!

Here are my Weeks 3 and 4 Homework assignments. The first set are Week 3 which are preliminary sketches that were 50% completed and then Week 4 are the finishes to 3 of them. I'm glad we had 2 weeks to do them because it really shows what I can do given enough time to live with them for a bit.

On a side note, I'm going to do what I can to keep my blog updated as my Mom has been following my progress. It came as a surprise to me when she told me a couple of weeks ago.

How much anatomy is necessary to draw representational figures? Does this information interfere with the creative expression of the artist?

In representational figures it's highly important to know as much as possible about the surface anatomy (skeletal and musculature system that affects the surfaces of the skin. For instance in my Sustained Figure Concepts class, Week 3's lecture talks about the flexors and extensors of the forearm that are generally grouped together for all intents and purposes of drawing. With that said knowing each individual muscle of each group is not necessary.

I believe the creative expression of the artist in drawing representational figures is contingent on the gesture of the pose....since it is the embraced as the story or the essence of the pose and movement of the pose. Without solid knowledge of the anatomy (proportions and muscular/skeletal structure, male and female differences) I would find it difficult to exaggerate the pose or create something more dynamic than what is presented by the model.

In each drawing we had to do the past 2 weeks everyone in my class drew specific areas of tendons whether they knew it or not. In some models and poses tendons are even more pronounce and if the artist has limited knowledge of the anatomy this can give their drawing a funny appearance (I know this from experience):

The entire top of the hands and feet are a system of tendons from the extensors and the knee joint itself is a system of tendons all the way around.

I've spent many years learning about the anatomy of the figure and will most likely spend the rest of my life doing just that.

Reconsidering Week 2 Drawings

I'm reconsidering liking these drawings. When you live with some drawings in close proximity for a short amount of time you tend to be disappointed in how you interpret it. I'm beginning to like them more and more each day. I even had a dream about them and in the dream they were worse then they really are. So, I woke up this morning, took another look and realized they aren't as bad as I thought but I'm looking really forward to next week's drawings. We are drawing a fairly dark model. It's going to be a great challenge and I'm going to begin tonight. Whew! What a week!

Homework Week 2

I'm not crazy about these two but they are better than last week's homework. I'm trying something I've never done before in pastel and that is using a subtractive technique I use for charcoal and graphite. First, a lay-in the gesture and proportions with my chamois, powdered drawing medium and drawing medium. Second, I pull out highlights and shadow shapes with my kneaded eraser and enhance the mid-tones and core shadows. Third, I tie everything together and by using a combination of my drawing medium, eraser, chamois (w/powdered drawing medium) and drawing medium. These two are pastel. The technique was more time consuming than I planned but it was the first time I had done it like this.

Imagine 10 Years From Now...

Discussion Topic Week 2:

Imagine life in 10 years. Artistically, what do you imagine for yourself?

Imagining my artistic life in 10 years is a strange thing because I never know where my interests will lie. For the longest time I've wanted to do book covers like Donato Giancola, Tom Kidd (Genmo) or Gary Gianni. N.C. Wyeth has always been an influence on me for narrative illustration so if you know these artists you can see the lineage from Wyeth. Ideally, I would be able to live out the dream of making a living as an illustrator/artist doing narrative illustration like this. I also imagine myself doing commission work, too in the same vein as narrative illustration. I'm not sure if I will ever get to do this but I can see myself living doing this in 10 years.

A colleague of mine a couple years back began encouraging me to create my own graphic novels. I've always been a huge comic book fan but ever since doing my undergraduate degree I became fascinated with graphic novels....especially the painterly ones. Sequential storytelling is a direct link to narrative illustration so I imagine myself doing this, too.

Spiritually speaking (this is where it gets deep so read on if you dare), a few years ago I began doing performance art/illustration for my church during the worship services. As many of us are visual learners, it helped drive home the core teaching of the sermon dictated by the lead pastor and the dividends being involved artistically continues to this day. I imagine myself continuing to serve with my artistic gifts in 10 years.

I see myself still teaching college life drawing classes, too.

ILL612 Sustained Figure Concepts: Module 1

I am not completely happy with this submission. These are so overworked and it pisses me off however, this is my first homework assignment. I know my skill set will improve. ARGH!!!

These SUCK!!!

I got a B+ on these. Like I said they suck!!!

Graduate School Week 1

Things are going well so far but I don't have my routine down between home, school and work. There are many things I'm doing throughout the week and I want to be able to do all of them effectively. This is going to be a huge adjustment. One of my friends does 2 all-nighters per week and I simply don't have the energy to do that. Somehow I need to fit exercise in there, too.

I'm taking ILL612 Sustained Figure Concepts (long pose life drawing class) and Week 1 Assignment is to take the Quiz (got an 80% on it, argh! I have issue with it) and complete 2 full figure drawings using a limited palette. I'm all for using a limited palette but I don't like these particular hues.

Reinvisioning

Hi Folks,

Here is a revision of a previous post I did for an old sketch. On the left is the original and on the right is a newer version of it. I still need to add some highlights and clean it up but all in all my Warrior Angel is done. My vision of this creature was a type of angel we haven't seen yet with animal-like paws or dare to think could exist. I didn't want to give it a demonic feel to it but something more courageous and powerful that adheres to similar themes I've been drawn to (no pun intended). The fact of the matter is would you what kind of angel would you want guarding your family....the one in the middle or the one on the far right?

Graduate School

I just got accepted to Graduate School today at Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA. Its part of their online program which I'm not very fond of....online that is but as an educator there aren't many options for us. Only a few of us can do on-ground classes but it puts a strain on your entire life. Anyway, I'm extremely happy, elated and blessed to begin this new adventure. Thanks to the Lord that I'm finally on my way again to fulfill another dream! First my wife, daughter, our new home and now this! The Lord is Good is all I can really say right now!

I will continue to post here as much as possible especially when classes begin.

Updated Drawings

Here are some stuff I don't believe anyone has seen before....or at least has seen to the extent that they are now. Enjoy....

New and Old Sketches

Here is a collection of sketches I put together for my graduate school submission portfolio. I forgot I had these in my stuff after we moved. The one on the left was a preliminary sketch for a larger charcoal drawing of a homeless man called "Creation Care" and the other two were 10 minute warm-up drawings for a performance art piece I did.