The Voyage of the Aeolus: A Process

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The Voyage of the Aeolus, detail

I really like pen and ink, crosshatching, costumed characters, and theater sets (the look of toy theaters in particular). And I like looking at other artist's processes. This post shows all of that, and my own methods for this type of colored ink artwork.

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For this piece, my interest centered around a voyage. The first thumbnail sketch was a rudimentary one featuring a top-hatted figure who quickly evolved into a pirate with his bird-buddy. I like to start these types of works with a red Verithin pencil, and then use a Pentel Brushpen for the varying width outline. My favorite paper is Kona Classic because its tough surface takes many layers of hatching without shredding, and is a great surface for water-media too.

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In this case, a Pilot High-Tec C pen was used for the crosshatching, and I'm never without a Uni-Ball Signo white pen for highlights.

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Sorry, this is the only photo I have of the initial pencil drawing (had to yank it off of a Facebook post).

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Obviously I changed the look of the pirate--a younger face better-suited the fantasy-like atmosphere, and for this final piece I used Acryla white gouache for the highlights.

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Once the highlights and values are finished, I give the piece a coating of UV blocking acrylic gloss spray. Then the color is added with watered-down, transparent acrylic inks. And that's about it!

It's a fun process--feel free to comment or email me with any questions you might have.

Thanks for checking this out!

Details!

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 A little fellow--a tiny detail from The Wizard.

Helikon Gallery's director and fellow illustrator Cayce Goldberg suggested we produce a book to go along with my exhibition, and I was blown away by his creative approach to book design. Filled with full color paintings, the book features many close-ups and details!

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 Bringing the reader's attention to the details within the artworks was only one of his ideas--and it was a lot of fun! As we worked on the book, Cayce searched the paintings for small, interesting components, which he then added to individual pages.

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Here's a shot of one of the interior pages. The skull is a detail from the painting, The Hermit.

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This is the back cover of Innate Tapestries: The Endless Stage, with cut-out details from The Hermit, and other complete paintings within the book.

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 Detail crop of The Owl and the Pussycat.

For me, a great deal of the enjoyment came from revisiting my own paintings in a new way. Studying the details close-up is not what I'm used to--often, painting is a process that's sort of unconscious working, so I'm not always totally aware of what's going into the artwork. That sounds strange, but it's true.

 

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Detail from The Voyage of the Aeolus.

 

Combing the works for details led to some pleasant surprises about how my hand works with the media, too.

 

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Here is a blown-up detail of the cricket from the painting, Pinocchio...

 

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 ...and the complete painting in the book.

 

I hope you found checking out the details enjoyable--thank you for visiting and supporting my art!

 The signed, 96 page, limited edition book is available here:

The Art of Tom Sarmo

 

Thanks again!

 

Two Big Nose Breaks (from painting)!

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 Preliminary sketches for The Man in the Moon sculpture (below).

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 After making all the pictures for Innate Tapestries, I needed a break from painting. Had a chance to be in a "Munny" show at a neat little shop/gallery called Cooper and Dash in Downtown Denver. They provided the blank white Munny doll (upper left).

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I really like the Commedia del Arte masks with their giant noses, so approached the Munny as a mask built out of Sculpey. Into the oven it went (top center). Had some glass eyes I didn't have use for, and then painted the fellow using acrylic washes and matte black acrylic to sort of hide the body (I'm not very fond of the way Munnys look).

The show featured 12 other sweet Munnys that were painted and sculpted by local artists and illustrators, and the reception was a lot of fun!

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The Man in the Moon 

A fellow artist at Helikon decided to decorate his studio by building a giant sculpture of a face using cardboard. It is amazing! Then he challenged me to do the same. Upper left shows my rudimentary armature. On top of that went instant papier mache, which I built up in layers. 

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I ordered more glass eyes and used Sculpey for the teeth; painted the whole thing with a greenish, acrylic wash, and then used successive acrylic washes (thinned with matte medium) for the color. Lower middle shows the moon-head paint prior to the final wash of sienna brown.

Thanks for checking it out!