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| Last year's book, Spectrum 21 |
I will be entering a few of my paintings that I had done throughout the year for other projects, but in addition to those, I wanted to paint a new illustration specifically for Spectrum. I thought this would be a great opportunity to share my process, so you can follow me as I create this new piece from start to finish!
Spectrum is a collection of fantastical art. In short, scifi, fantasy & everything in between. I needed to choose what I wanted to paint. The freedom of a personal project can be overwhelming, and I needed to narrow it down. I began by brainstorming, writing a word association list for "Fantasy."
You can see I worked through many tropes & cliches until I started to get to something more specific, and hopefully more unique. I wrote down those cliches anyway, as to not inhibit my train of thought. After the flow of words stopped, I reread the list, circling whatever stood out to me. From there I started to see a pattern taking shape. I knew I wanted to paint a lone hero/explorer, in some sort of lost world (jungle, ancient city, etc.)
The first thing I thought of was Tarzan, so I did a quick google search & brushed up on some of the original Tarzan novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the answer sort of fell in my lap. The second book, The Return of Tarzan, featured a lone hero/explorer, Tarzan, and a lost city, Opar, in a jungle! Perfect!
Opar features a dangerous and lustful priestess, La, who attempts to sacrifice Tarzan & Jane to her sun god. The city is populated by human women and "frightful men", ape-like beast-men, who speak the ancient language of the Apes that Tarzan learned as a boy.
The book was first published in 1913, which meant it is now public domain and I was able to find a free ebook online. Burroughs is a wonderful author & the Tarzan books great fun to read, I tore through the novel and found what I needed in a few passages later in the book.
At this point I decided I was going to kill two birds with one stone. In addition to painting an illustration for Spectrum, I also want this piece to function as a mock book cover in my portfolio for future clients.
So now I have a story, a subject, and a format. I have a few thoughts at once, so I write them down first, and then I start sketching thumbnails. These are each about an inch tall.
The first three thumbnails are Tarzan standing in the trees, looking at Opar in the distance. I'm messing with angles and silhouettes here, attempting to frame the image with the foreground elements. In the other thumbnails, I'm attempting to capture an image I have in my head of Tarzan carrying Jane away from Opar, with La lurking in the shadows of the temple.
I work quickly with my thumbnails, scribbling with my pencil. Sometimes I start with line, other times I'm blocking in shapes right away. I don't spend more than a couple minutes on each.
Here you can see several stages of thumbnails on the same sheet, from quick lines to more tightly thought out value sketches. I am trying out a lot of ideas here, playing with a bow, with a movie poster style effect, etc. I'm looking at Frank Frazetta's Conan work and N.C. Wyeth's Robin Hood & Tarzan work for influence here.
Thumbnails are a great way to experiment, try out an idea visually, and see if it works. If it doesn't read as a thumbnail, it won't read any bigger either. I continue to explore the silhouette idea, but only because it reads so clearly. But for some reason, I'm really drawn to the idea of Tarzan holding Jane, with La in the temple behind them. See the top right thumbnail.
This stage, while liberating, can be very frustrating if you feel like you are starting to go in circles, which I started to feel halfway through this page. I couldn't escape that one scene, even though it didn't read as strongly as the silhouettes.
I knew the idea was good, but my composition that was weak. So I attempted to redesign it several times, playing with proportions, shapes, and where the horizon is, but nothing was making an interesting composition.
On the bottom left thumbnail you can see I began with an "S" curve, a common compositional device. I wanted the eye to move in that shape across the page, starting on the top left with a small figure, La, moving around the center to Tarzan and Jane's heads on the right, back across the bottom left to where the title might go at the bottom. To get the eye to follow that movement, I needed to control my values.
The thumbnail boxed in red is the composition I chose. I used the light of La's dress which can be shaped however I need, to lead into a spot of light on the steps of the temple, which lead to the brights on Tarzan & Jane's faces, across the light of their bodies to a spot of light on Jane's leg. I incorporate some foreground foliage to frame the image and really push the S shape.
The next step is to draw this composition again (or a few more times) around twice this size, to really flesh out the emotions, body language, and smaller details in the composition. Afterwards, I'll take reference photos with models that I can then do a final drawing based on. I'll then transfer that drawing to board and proceed to paint! I'll be covering these next steps in two more posts to chronicle my first entry into Spectrum. Wish me luck!
You can see I worked through many tropes & cliches until I started to get to something more specific, and hopefully more unique. I wrote down those cliches anyway, as to not inhibit my train of thought. After the flow of words stopped, I reread the list, circling whatever stood out to me. From there I started to see a pattern taking shape. I knew I wanted to paint a lone hero/explorer, in some sort of lost world (jungle, ancient city, etc.)
The first thing I thought of was Tarzan, so I did a quick google search & brushed up on some of the original Tarzan novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the answer sort of fell in my lap. The second book, The Return of Tarzan, featured a lone hero/explorer, Tarzan, and a lost city, Opar, in a jungle! Perfect!
Opar features a dangerous and lustful priestess, La, who attempts to sacrifice Tarzan & Jane to her sun god. The city is populated by human women and "frightful men", ape-like beast-men, who speak the ancient language of the Apes that Tarzan learned as a boy.
The book was first published in 1913, which meant it is now public domain and I was able to find a free ebook online. Burroughs is a wonderful author & the Tarzan books great fun to read, I tore through the novel and found what I needed in a few passages later in the book.
At this point I decided I was going to kill two birds with one stone. In addition to painting an illustration for Spectrum, I also want this piece to function as a mock book cover in my portfolio for future clients.
So now I have a story, a subject, and a format. I have a few thoughts at once, so I write them down first, and then I start sketching thumbnails. These are each about an inch tall.
The first three thumbnails are Tarzan standing in the trees, looking at Opar in the distance. I'm messing with angles and silhouettes here, attempting to frame the image with the foreground elements. In the other thumbnails, I'm attempting to capture an image I have in my head of Tarzan carrying Jane away from Opar, with La lurking in the shadows of the temple.
I work quickly with my thumbnails, scribbling with my pencil. Sometimes I start with line, other times I'm blocking in shapes right away. I don't spend more than a couple minutes on each.
Here you can see several stages of thumbnails on the same sheet, from quick lines to more tightly thought out value sketches. I am trying out a lot of ideas here, playing with a bow, with a movie poster style effect, etc. I'm looking at Frank Frazetta's Conan work and N.C. Wyeth's Robin Hood & Tarzan work for influence here.
Thumbnails are a great way to experiment, try out an idea visually, and see if it works. If it doesn't read as a thumbnail, it won't read any bigger either. I continue to explore the silhouette idea, but only because it reads so clearly. But for some reason, I'm really drawn to the idea of Tarzan holding Jane, with La in the temple behind them. See the top right thumbnail.
This stage, while liberating, can be very frustrating if you feel like you are starting to go in circles, which I started to feel halfway through this page. I couldn't escape that one scene, even though it didn't read as strongly as the silhouettes.
I knew the idea was good, but my composition that was weak. So I attempted to redesign it several times, playing with proportions, shapes, and where the horizon is, but nothing was making an interesting composition.
On the bottom left thumbnail you can see I began with an "S" curve, a common compositional device. I wanted the eye to move in that shape across the page, starting on the top left with a small figure, La, moving around the center to Tarzan and Jane's heads on the right, back across the bottom left to where the title might go at the bottom. To get the eye to follow that movement, I needed to control my values.
The thumbnail boxed in red is the composition I chose. I used the light of La's dress which can be shaped however I need, to lead into a spot of light on the steps of the temple, which lead to the brights on Tarzan & Jane's faces, across the light of their bodies to a spot of light on Jane's leg. I incorporate some foreground foliage to frame the image and really push the S shape.
The next step is to draw this composition again (or a few more times) around twice this size, to really flesh out the emotions, body language, and smaller details in the composition. Afterwards, I'll take reference photos with models that I can then do a final drawing based on. I'll then transfer that drawing to board and proceed to paint! I'll be covering these next steps in two more posts to chronicle my first entry into Spectrum. Wish me luck!
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