Screenplay Process: Part Three

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The second painting for the Screenplay series is about the Editor. In the first post about Screenplay, you can see the sketch of an "editing machine" by clicking here:  

Screenplay part one

I'm not one for sticking to factual representations of anything, machinery or otherwise*. 

Here is the new version, penciled, then inked onto watercolor paper. I used a brush and ink for the outline; for the the crosshatching a Crow Quill 102 nib.

I tried out a lot of heads before settling on the one I wanted.

Here's my original composition sketch, but the expression pretty much came from...

...this selfie. Eeesh.

Penciled in and adding ink outline (sorry for the poor quality photo).

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More ink with the prelim sketch as reference. The final piece will be 12" x 12".

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And a cropped detail of the nearly finished ink drawing. There are more layers of cross-hatching to go than I want to think about. Watercolor washes will follow, and that'll be faster.

Thanks, as always, for reading!

Next up: The third painting in the series; the Projectionist.

*My resource for the editing machine

Screenplay Process: Part One

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I'm charged up to be part of an upcoming show at Helikon Gallery & Studios. The theme is film, and I was struggling to find a subject for the three, 12" paintings requested by the gallery. Luckily my wonderful muse gave me time to verbalize my difficulty.  She listened carefully, and then said "What about paintings that cover the the people and equipment involved in the process of film making; camera man, film editor, and projectionist? In your style of course." Perfect!

The thumbnail sketch above was the first idea for the camera man piece--along with a ghost...

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...then I tried out some characters and equipment. This part of the process--besides getting the idea--is often the most trying for me. The idea's there, but hasn't congealed. It's just an amorphous cloud in my head. Somehow I have to give the idea-cloud form, while researching the actual details. Do I do it this way every time I approach a project? No. My process is all over the board every time.

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 This time around I did more, mostly pathetic thumbnails...

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...and then landed this one. Frankenstein's creature has always fascinated me, so he (and his bride in this case) became the film's subject. Along with some anachronistic Victoriana of course.

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Then I got distracted by the sweet machinery involved with film editing, and worked this sketch up to a finish, just because it was pretty enjoyable. So much for a logical sequence.

Next time, more progress!

 I appreciate your interest--thanks for the visit. Check out Helikon Gallery's site here 

Helikon Gallery

and if you are in Denver, check out the actual gallery!

The terrible Itch

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Landscape thumbnail one

The two greatest things about my job (or maybe they're the worst?) are that the quest for ideas and images, and the prospects for improvement, are endless. So I keep searching for new approaches to art, and continuing my efforts to improve.

A commission has gotten me back on the landscape track. I love painting landscapes, but also enjoy drawing goofy illustrations. And I'm always fishing for a way to combine them. In fact, I want it so bad it kind of hurts.

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Landscape thumbnail two
 

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 Landscape thumbnail three

I like doing works like the two above, and am most often happy with the resulting paintings, but they are not what I need, deep down inside.

While the majority of the art-buying public seems drawn to realism and/or impressionism, I'm not there, either in my buying or my creating taste. Yes the verisimilitudinous (?) aspects of light are fascinating and wonderful, but I'm getting a bit weary of it in art. Something different is needed to scratch my Terrible Itch.

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Thought I was almost there with this one, done a few years ago, then other ventures called and side-tracked the landscape efforts. It's okay--looking back, I was nowhere near the mark.

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 Landscape thumbnail four

Am after it again, and I am excited.

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Here's a whole sheet of the thumbnails. Lots of media combinations here, from graphite and prismacolor to mixtures of graphite, brushpen, pen and ink, and white ink.

Not even close to what I want/feel/need out of this, but

the quest endures, and I'm scratching. Wish me luck.

And thanks for the visit!

Wishes and Surprises

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Oliver Twist on the road to London; a thumbnail sketch, approx 3" x 4"

I wish that, along with drawing from life and other necessities for artists, doing thumbnail sketches had always been a favorite occupation. But it hasn't been, probably because I am a terribly undisciplined, lazy man.

But I'm doing them. In part because I must (for an upcoming project not related to Charles Dickens); but mostly because they have suddenly become entertaining. A nice surprise.

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The Artful Dodger finds Oliver Twist; another thumbnail sketch, approx. 2.5" x 3"

Thumbnails are supposed to be for working out--and I mean Working out--compositional ideas. Wish I could say I did that, but no--just sat on the couch like a schlub and drew these, nearly without being conscious. Suppose it shows, but a very good time was had nonetheless.

Where'd they come from and why? I was looking through a book about Harry Clarke--an illustrator-god--and saw this...

...very weird illustration. (Um, find me an  illustration by Harry Clarke that isn't weird.)
It caught my eye--the yellow and black a surprise--and it's been on my mind all week.

Wish I could tell you why Oliver Twist ended up the subject of my yellow, (er orange--another surprise) thumbnails. Oliver Twist was not on my mind at all, but it is a favorite book (Charles Dickens being an author-god).

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Fagin, Sikes, and Nancy; yet another thumbnail, approx. 4" x 5"

Wish I did more life drawing, worked harder at composition, and made millions of thumbnails. And probably would if I was goal-oriented, immortal, or something else that I'll never be. Unless I get surprised someday.

 And last, thanks very much to all of you who read my blog. The follows and comments are great too but mostly I appreciate that you take the time to come by.

Inktober Landscapes

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I very much like landscapes. Someday hope to visit Europe--not just in this lifetime, but also in the next--when I'm hoping time means nothing, and that accessing 18th and 19th century views will be easier (and much more interesting) than strumming a harp on a cloud.

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 I also like buildings, preferably very old ones. These three sketches were done for Jake Parker's Inktober Initiative http://mrjakeparker.com/inktober They are all tiny--approximately 2.5" x 2.5", and were lots of fun to draw. I used ballpoint pen and micron pen, with watercolor and white ink added.

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I like to mess about with black outlines, experimental perspective, and especially, proportion. A fellow recently complimented my works by saying that they "have a timeless quality, as if they came out of the pages of a fairy tale or legend." If that is true, it makes me one happy person.

Thanks for reading!

Pen and Ink (Plus a Franken-Creature Sequence)

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Frank-in-Progress.

I'm smitten with pen and ink. Always have been. Nothing gets me to the state of 

total creative awareness like the zen act of making repetitive lines with pen and ink. 

Time stops, the outside world disappears, and I don't care that my studio is in chaos.

Really, most times the studio is pretty neat, 

but working towards a show deadline has me more 

concerned with production than clutter. Plus, it's not fair that in some 

past posts, the studio has appeared mostly organized.  

This messed up work-space brings me to the real point of this post: Pen and ink!

On the drawing table is this book:

This version, published in 1930, was found it in a used book store a few months ago, and it is stunning! My go-to volume when I want to explore and revitalize my pen-work. I've owned the newer edition of it (titled Rendering in Pen and Ink) since art school, but this old fellow trumps that one with more illustrations and thorough discussion.

Sorry about the phone pics, but I wasn't about to cram this onto my scanner.

Here are the end papers. Yes, admittedly, I am an old-book nerd. 

As a kid, fascinated with line, I studied Tenniel's illustrations for the Alice books, Dore's illustrations--especially those from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and the works of John Leech. Like Franklin Booth, I mistakenly thought those engravings were pen and ink drawings. Unlike Franklin Booth's beautiful renderings, my resulting works are far from elegant and controlled. Random and spontaneous they are, and quickly drawn...

 ...like this detail shows.

Still, revisiting Arthur Guptill's book put me in the mood to explore, so the following 

Frankenstein's Creature-sequence shows a bit more self-control. Not that I like it any better, it's just different.

The extent of my thumbnail output for this one.

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An in-progress detail.

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Same detail with a warm acrylic wash and some highlight-lifting...

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...and some strengthened highlights with white gouache.

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Finally, a bit of acrylic ink for color.

Granted, the ink-line application is only slightly less random and unruly than usual, but it was a blast to do, 

and I learned a lot.

Thanks--as always-- for reading!