WIP: Anomalocarid Girl

A work-in-progress.  Anomalocarid Girl is a character and foil for Trilobite Boy.  Painting this one in ArtRage, similar to Trilobite Boy and gargoyles.

Screen capture of my process in ArtRage.

The sketch below has changed a bit since.  Not a lot of people know what an anomalocaris is, so I've added two leaping out of the water, one on either side of the character. One leaping so the dorsal side is visible, the other so its ventral side is showing. Hopefully that will help to identify the similarity of her dress and gloves to this extinct animal.

I also think I'll be basing the face off of a real person and at 300 dpi, I'll be able to get in there and work on some nice detail. 

Sketch loosely based on Bottecelli's Birth of Venus. 

Below is the first colour-pass, a kind of under-layer so future layers of transparent colour (or missed spots) will have a foundation.

Happy with the clouds on the right, I think.

I've got a rough story outline for Trilobite Boy which I hope to debut in the new year. 

There have been other failed attempts at painting this character in the past, but I'm really excited about how the story and this image are coming along.  Criticisms and questions welcome though!

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wip - Anomalocarid Girl intro

Work-in-progress on an introduction to Anomalocarid Girl, a foil for Trilobite Boy.  

Unsure what an anomalocaris is?  There's a great post over at Why Evolution is True by Matthew Cobb.  

The idea that they might not have preyed on trilobites actually works out great: I kind of want Anomalocarid Girl to be a villain and love interest for Trilobite Boy.  Sorta. 

Here's another look at the sketch on my desk, done after dinner one night.  I based the pose on Bottecelli's Birth of Venus, and that's an oil rig burning in the background that she's blown up with her guns. 

On another note, thanks to everyone who offered advice on my last post - it's very much appreciated, and while I'm still thinking things over, I think I may try and limit myself to 2 personal art projects at a time for the time being. Above, is part of one of them!

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Trilobite Boy - gargoyle progress #3

Took a bit of time this morning to work on my Trilobite Boy - gargoyle piece.  I may not end up calling it that.

Click to enlarge a bit.

Played with some gradient stencils in ArtRage, and I think it came out okay.  Still need to finish his combat boots, the gargoyles, rooftop, building across the street.  Originally I wanted to leave the wings unfinished and ghostly, since Trilobite Boy doesn't typically have them.  But I like the sky/horizon and maybe they do need a bit of colour. 

I like this close-up. 

It's kind of a depressing piece, which I wanted.  Lots of blues, and Trilobite Boy just ruminating.

This morning I read this piece by Jonah Lehrer about depression and creativity.  And then I watched this.

More on this painting here.
More about Trilobite Boy here.

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Pink Parasaurolophus Painting Progress

Mentioned in yesterday's important post.

Pencil drawing.

Click to hugeify.

Progress so far.  

Click to enlargetate.

Just laying in basic colours and a background.  

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Oil rig fire painting progress

Still practicing with ArtRage 2.5.

Here's a background that I think may be completed.  This is for Trilobite Boy Saves the Day, which I've previously posted about here and here. More Trilobite Boy posts here.

Click to enlarge.

Nasty oil rig fire.  Perhaps it's time for our hero to make an appearance.

Here's an up-close shot of what the clouds look like.

Click to enlarge. 

ArtRage is a painting program that attempts to mimic a variety of real art media, with the advantages that digital painting has to offer (layers, ctrl-z).  What do you think of this cloud detail?  I left it this jpeg at 95% resolution and zoomed way in.

Another thing that would be great if ArtRage could do, would be to somehow splatter ink.  I tried for that affect along the lower edge of the smoke-cloud, near the right side.  I used a tiny tube of paint and palette knife to scrape the squirted tube.  The new ArtRage can do a lot of new fancy things.  Maybe it has options.  For now, I may try a custom brush in Photoshop.

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Trilobite Boy - gargoyle progress

Continuing the work I showed in Monday's post, of Trilobite Boy sitting on a rooftop near some gargoyles.

Found a bit of time to start laying down colour.

Below, you can see the colour under the sketch layer with the sketch rendered invisible.  The bits of wings and buildings are on another layer entirely.

Here's the original sketch overlayed on top of the colour, below. 

Once I build up enough colour, I'll erase the sketch.  Although...maybe I'll leave some of the bluish lines on top of Trilobite Boy, or just his wings, to give it a ghostly appearance.

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Trilobite Boy - gargoyle sketch

Still working on other Trilobite Boy pieces, but I was in a mood to work on this darker sketch last night. 

Trilobite Boy - Gargoyle.

The wings are intended to be bony and floating above him. You can see a number of arm+hand positions I'm playing with. In ArtRage, I increased the thinners a lot, so the pressure sensitivity of my Wacom tablet will feel more like a wash.

I'm aiming for this to be monochromatic, bluish grey, Payne's gray, shiny streets below.   A melancholy feel.  I just realized, this reminds me a bit of Batty in Blade Runner. But trilobite-ish.


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I really love ArtRage 2.5 - I'm hoping to treat myself to 3.0 sometime soon.  It has watercolours, which I used to paint in before university.  I miss them.  ArtRage will be less expensive than buying physical watercolours.  One day...

Art Monday: our hero so far

Click to enlarge.

In-process work for Trilobite Boy Saves the Day. Above, a screenshot of what my desktop looks like while using ArtRage, a digital painting program (I'm using 2.5, and would love to buy 3.0).  I need to add smoke and fire coming from the oil rig. Art Rage feels a lot like real paint, and I may still go into Photoshop and add some atmospheric effects and blurring to the horizon, as well as some texture to the waves. 

Below, an initial sketch of our hero.  His legs will be dripping with Gulf oil. 

I might make him slimmer and less muscular to match other images of the character.  Originally, this whole concept was going to have Trilobite Boy standing on a rooftop with a towel around his neck.  I'm also not sure about the costume logo I whipped up: maybe just the flying trilobite design, instead?

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iForgot

Yesterday, I put up a "making of" post about Trilobite Boy Rocks Out.

I forgot to include the original colour sketch idea that had those crazy colour lights/bubbles in the first place!

It was made on my iPod Touch using Autodesk's Sketchbook Mobile while I was walking to work through Trinity-Bellwoods Park.  The iPod is a great took for quickly putting down rough ideas when inspiration strikes.  The two best apps in my opinion are Sketchbook Mobile and Brushes.  

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Making of Trilobite Boy Rocks Out

Last spring, I was contacted by Karen about a commission. Her boyfriend is Mike Haubrich of Quiche Moraine, one of my favourite bloggers and a supporter of my artwork since the beginning of this blog.  I've met a lot of people so far in my blogging, but Mike and Karen are somewhere at the top of the list of people I haven't shaken hands with yet.

Karen wanted to get Mike a painting of mine for his birthday this past August.  I was thrilled, and honoured.  Contract stuff out of the way, we discussed what sort of thing he might like.

I suggested possibly something with a young Darwin and barnacles, and drew a bit in pencil.  I also had this idea for my Trilobite Boy character playing guitar or bass onstage:  I knew Mike has worked in radio and is a rock fan, so it seemed appropriate. (I also had a sketch of Trilobite Boy naked on a fur rug by the fire, but that seemed more appropriate for LouFCD. )

I sent Karen this hastily scrawled image done in ArtRage, a realistic computer painting program:

 Karen loved it, and I got to work.

Next, I did some sketches using my plastic Art S Buck male model.  These generic super-heroically proportioned models (there's a female one too) have about as many points of articulation as the average GI Joe or Star Wars action figure and make a great starting point for life drawing if you don't have a real human handy. Sketches below:

Click to enlarge my scribbles.

I liked the thumbnail sketch near the bottom, and decided not to do another looking-over-the-shoulder pose, like this one.

I selected a beechwood cradleboard to paint on, 12"x18".  I gessoed it black while listening to Debaser and Die Antwoord. Next, I cartooned in the image using white chalk. I find the chalk disperses nicely in the oil paint and it won't slowly rise to the surface of the paint film like graphite can after a number of years.

As oil paintings age, they darken and become more transparent, so it really matters what colour your ground and drawn outlines are. 

Look close and you can see a bandana around his right arm, and bracelet on his right wrist. 

Started painting.  The trilobite fossil and ammonite shell (seen below) were there for colour and texture reference and maybe as superstitiousy talismans, I suspect.  Safety blanket.  Or I just like looking sciencey when I post pictures of my process.

You can see this is what I call the "Ugly Phase". Lots of splotchy unblended colour laid down. Originally, I planned to have spotlights on the edge of the stage, but I decided to paint over them.  They competed too much with the bright circles of light.

This was getting later one evening, so I was listening to Massive Attack.  Still some fast beats for me to time my brushstrokes to, but mellow enough not to bother my wife while she works on the computer. 




Below, a partially finished head compared with the completed head. 

I worked and re-worked the head and spine of the trilobite body parts over and over.  Still worry the front looks like a big ol' mustache from this angle.  
You can see there's a lot of glare in the photo on the left.   Photos of wet oil paintings are tricky.  What you need to do is have two light sources waaaayy out at the sides, and take the photo.  Or, if you live in a small apartment, take a picture on an angle in diffuse fluorescent light, and use Photoshop to mess with the perspective afterwards. 

For the musicians out there, note how wrong I have the shape of the bass.  I only noticed after everything was almost done.  I wiped it down with tissue dabbed in solvent and re-did the area.  Throughout this painting, I kept returning to the Toronto band Debaser as inspiration.  My good friend Nevin is/was the guitarist, and I love the way he played.  Mind you, he's never done devil horn's on stage that I can recall.

When I paint, I tend to work on one element at a time, bringing it all up in detail before moving on.  This is contrary to how painting is supposed to work:  you really should rough-in everything then refine, going around all the elements.

I like to see the figure emerging from the darkness whole: first an arm, then an eye, then the neck and back, and so on. It feels more like pulling something out of the blackness than painting a picture. 

The finished painting.

I sent images of the final to Karen and waited.  That can be the toughest wait of the job, seeing how the client will react. I try to keep people I'm working for in the loop throughout the process so if there's a major concern we can spot it early, but the suspense when I send that last photo or the final in the mail is still tough.  Karen loved it!  And importantly, thought Mike would to.  She was right.

Rock on Karen, and Happy Birthday Mike!

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What freelance illustration will look like

Studio mostly set-up. I like to have a lot of past + present sketches on the walls where I work, so there's that to do.

Those of you who know Michelle and I are expecting are probably aghast at the pointy, unsecured and strange pigments visible in this photo.  It's okay really, I plan on painting every painting I ever wanted to do ever in the next 4 months.  Then I'll pack this stuff up and replace it with a ball pit.

Nuthin' safer than a ball pit.

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Moving

...Not moving urls like all the cool sciblogging kids seem to be doing these days.  Michelle and I are packed, and moving over the next two days to a nice shiny new apartment.  (A yard!  Wooo!)  Moving about a 100 pixels north on Google Maps from where we are now.

You may recall my studio is currently in a large closet:

Can you spot Trilobite Boy?

The studio is packed.  I realized how many unused supplies I actually have.  This is gonna be great after settling in. I shouldn't have too much lost bloggy time (he says now) since the wireless internet will only be offline for part of Saturday. Time to paint and such may take longer. It's like a vacation where I lift heavy objects at Michelle's every whim.

I also found Darwin Took Steps in an unexpected spot - I hadn't remembered it was taken out of its frame some months back. "Staircase Charlie" is safe and sound.

Awright. Time to crank The Prodigy and finish packing.

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Making of The Last Refuge

Earlier this month I debuted a new painting, commissioned by Kevin Zelnio of Deep Sea News and The Other 95%.  You can see Kevin's post about The Last Refuge here, and who it was for. 

Here's a little about the process of making that painting. 

Kevin had mentioned it to me quite a while earlier, the first time we met in person.  The idea rattled around in my head quite a bit, so there wasn't a lot of prep work needed for this one. 

I started with the sketch above, done using my Faber-Castell Pitt pens.  It's a typical type of starting sketch for me, not a lot of stuff that may make sense to someone else.  I'll try to explain it after the jump.


First of all, it's two sketches side by side.  Let's look at the right one: the little "x" marks all around are a typical comic book notation for all black background. I knew I wanted heavy black shadows, and the light source coming from behind. 

You can see the original composition was quite symmetrical:  I wanted almost a reverent feel, almost like a religious landscape.  It's an easier feeling to invoke with obvious geometry and I thought black smoker thermal vents on either side would evoke that. 

Turned on Die Antwoord  and Massive Attack videos on my 'puter, made some coffee (mocha java) and got started painting.  Used black acrylic for a base in the background. As oil paints age, they become darker and more transparent, so a dark ground will prevent the painting from bleaching over time. 

But at the last second I changed the composition.

Something about all that indanthrene blue...I needed to give the ocean itself more space.  I jettisoned the symmetrical composition for a more natural one.  Also, I wanted a series of lines of light that would direct the eye around the painting in a trangular way, and the submersible hiding behind a smoker wouldn't have helped.

I stayed with a classical compositions with three distances.  The first distance, is the rock at the bottom left with the big standard trilobite (Elrathia kingi is one of my favourites).  This typically gives the viewer an entryway into the painting, and since we're in the West, starting on the left is typical.  The trilobite kind of gazes and points into the rest of the painting. The 2nd, or middle distance, brings in more detail, and shows the "story" of the painting.

When painting the submersible, originally I hadn't add much in the way of light.  I knew I wanted to make some dramatic beams, and a halo, but if I did that and it looked awful, I wouldn't be able to get that smooth deep blue of the surrounding water without starting completely over in the background.

Had to go for it. I was happy with the result, but I still miss that deep mysterious blue cutting down the left hand side.  The light is more dramatic, less tranquil.  

The shape of the light beam is actually inspired by comics. I still pick up Marvel or Dark Horse comics now and then, (love New Avengers) and the shape of the light beams is roughly the same as when a ninja throws multiple stars: the arc of their hand intercut with the path of the throwing stars. If you read comics, you probably know what I mean. 

For the title, I kicked around names like "Deep Discovery" and suchlike, but Kevn supplied the perfect one:  The Last Refuge.

My aim for The Last Refuge was to create a painting the recipient could sit still and look at, and notice little details in the edges.  The cluster of trilobites on the right. The tubeworms rising out of the dark. The shape and texture of the sulpherous smoke. 

It's about a dream, isn't it?  Richard Fortey in Trilobite!  Eyewitness to Evolution said, "Hope has faded that, when today's mid-ocean ridges were explored by bathyscape, in some dimly-known abyss there might still dwell a solitary trilobite to bring Paleozoic virtues into the age of the soundbite..,". 

I hope Kevin and the painting's recipient enjoy The Last Refuge for many years to come. 
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The Last Refuge is also available in a variety of prints from my online print shop. I recommend the laminated print (shown below) or the charcoal frame with dark mat. 

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Art Monday: sketches of Richard Dawkins

Various dates, pencil on bristol.

I haven't been able to fully capture a decent portrait of Richard Dawkins -yet- despite a few attempts. With the top drawing, I tried a technique I had read about and accidentally killed the whole thing. I drew the image on paper able to take oil (Fabriano's Pittura) and coated it in clear gesso, so that if I made an error, I could scrape and wipe with solvent and start over (2nd image). Didn't work.

Instead, these days I scan the pencil image, and print it out on Fredrix canvas paper (which takes ink jet so well, I wish they'd advertise that it does!). Then if I muck up the painting, I can just print out a fresh one.

No other author about evolutionary biology has fired my imagination than Richard Dawkins, starting with when I first read River Out of Eden.

Hopefully when I go freelance at the end of the summer, this could be one of my side projects. Now, I'm kind of seeing a combination of these drawings as a painted portrait: 3/4 view, DNA-Candle on his head, looking down, open-smile.

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New Painting: The Last Refuge

At ScienceOnline'09, a few minutes after arriving and meeting Kevin Zelnio of Deep Sea News (and Miriam and Southern Fried and Karen James - I was barely there two minutes and all these cool bloggers were talking out loud), Kevin pitched an idea for a painting he wanted to give as a gift.

He found the occasion, and commissioned the painting. He also came up with a great title: The Last Refuge.

I should have a "making of" up over the next couple of days. In the meantime, head over to Deep Sea News and see the emotional and personal investment Kevin has wrapped up in the gesture of giving art in awe of science.

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I felt like I was taking a real chance with the halo and beams of light.
But it was so Symbolist, and so perfect for finding creatures long

thought gone, huddled in the dark around stygian heat...

Medium overriding the message?

When presenting the final project of my undergrad here on The Flying Trilobite, (see the process here: one, two, three, four and five) some excellent points have been raised in the comments of the last post.

My Art Evolved peeps Craig and Peter have been discussing whether or not unconventional mediums (like a wooden cube with busted slate tiles painted and hanging from wire) end up muddying the message more than conventional, easier to read forms.

Here are a couple of more photos, different from the the last post in that they show off the individual paintings more:

Click to enlarge.

This picture was taken on a weird angle. Sorry.

It was an interesting experience for me to have some of my artwork turn off someone for being post-modern and medium-focused. Typically, I am a painter in love with creating representational, realistic paintings.

As Craig pointed out, the medium is the message. We see here not only a 3D series of paintings hanging in a cube, we see them through the lens of a camera and displayed on a computer screen. It's very removed from say, Darwin Took Steps, a much more 2D picture which translates better through scanning and being online.

How much can the presentation enhance or interfere? Would video of a 3D object present better online, panning, zooming and with soft techno music in the background? Would it be clearer to scan individual pieces and present them as head-on photos?

Is this presentation in the immortal words of Mo the bartender, "po-mo; postmodern; weird for the sake of weird" or is something more getting across?

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Next time on The Flying Trilobite: my interpretive dance fossil project!