Jason & Medea Stealing the Golden Fleece

This week I wrapped up the second painting in the Argonautica series for my senior thesis. I call it, "Jason & Medea Stealing the Golden Fleece."

I've shared in previous posts my process for painting in oil, and this week I'm going to share how I paint in watercolor.

Every illustration begins as a sketch, or rather several of them. For this particular piece I had done over thirty thumbnails before settling on a composition. That was followed by 4 more sketches at half the size of a page in my sketchbook. After I had my composition worked out, I gathered photo reference and drew the final sketch at full size using that reference.

Once this sketch is complete, I transfer it to the watercolor paper by tracing my drawing. I'm using an Arches 140 lb Hot Press watercolor block. Here is the first work-in-progress shot. You can see my pencil lines as well as the beginning of my painting process. I began with the tree, and I start by laying in the color of the light source and the color of the shadow as a base (in this case yellow ochre for the light and a mix of viridian, french ultramarine blue and window blue green shade for the shadow).

Next I start to lay in the color of the object on top of what was previously there. I'm building up many layers of transparent color, working from larger shapes to smaller details and slowly going deeper in value. Dennis Nolan, one of my teachers at the University of Hartford, likens watercolor painting to working with marble, slowly chipping away. This is where watercolor truly shines as a transparent medium, when you can see through one layer of color into what's underneath. For example, notice the right side of the tree that is in shadow.

This is a good stage to simultaneously see what my painting looks like at a various stages of building up. Here the tree is fairly far along, but to know how far to push it I had to started blocking in the rest of the painting. The snake at this point is just blocked in with the colors of light and shadow as previously mentioned.

Here is another stage where you can compare the before and after. I've painted the light and shadow colors on the drapery of Medea, and glazed over it with the purple of her cloak. Afterwards there is more pushing and pulling to be done for the values and shifts in tone. I've also started to paint Medea's flesh. The face is nearly finished, and the forearms and hands have just begun. When painting flesh, I lay in green as the color of shadow, a technique from the Renaissance painters. Afterward, I lay various red hues over the green to neutralize both and darken the value. Thin glazes of yellow ochre unify the skin.

Here you can see I've now layer the object color of the snake (a similar blue-green as the atmosphere) over the form. I've also blocked in Jason. If you look now at Medea's arms you can see the difference from the previous stage. Here I've layed over that cool green some indian red, scarlet lake, and yellow ochre. I've also deepened the shadow by layering green and reds one after another. 

Final image, "Jason & Medea Stealing the Golden Fleece" watercolor, 9.5x13.5"  © 2015 Nicholas Elias
 

Here is a scan of the final illustration. I continued to layer warmer tones in the foreground coming from Medea's spell, and pushed the values darker around the edges of the piece. I went back into the tree and pushed the overall level of detail, saturation, and value a bit further. I did the same for both Jason & Medea. Once the snake's form was sufficiently blocked in, I went on top with a dry brush and painted the scales. The head of the snake took me the better part of a day to paint, but those are my favorite moments of painting - when you enter into a meditative zone and your hand sort of moves on it's own. 

I'm moving right along onto another illustration in the series. Up next is Jason yoking the fire breathing bulls! Follow me on Facebook to keep up with what I'm doing throughout the week.

Steady as She Goes!

This week's post is going to be a light one, as I've been working hard on my senior thesis project. On Tuesday, I wrapped up my first illustration for the project, which I introduced here two weeks ago. The first piece was the book cover for The Argonautica.

The Argonautica, Book cover for the greek epic. Watercolor, 9.5x13.5", February 2015.© 2015 Nicholas Elias

When painting a book cover, it's important to convey the feeling of the text, an overall sense of what the book is about, without giving anything away. The Argonautica is a greek epic, an adventure spanning the mediterranean, with moments of joy and wonder as well as despair when all hope seems lost. It reflects the mortality of mankind, and emphasizes the roles of friends and family. Jason, the lead hero and merely a man, is never alone on his quest. He is supported by his band of heroes, his powerful lover Medea, and the will of the goddesses Athena and Hera. His great vessel, the Argonautica, is a physical manifestation of that support, and only with it can Jason triumph. For me, the choice of imagery was clear. I used a low and dramatic perspective, with the Argonautica headed towards it's great quest!

Next up is my first interior scene for the epic. I finished the drawing on Friday, and just started painting this weekend. This one took me a while to find my footing with, as it's a more complicated scene and a key one at that. It depicts Medea, Jason, and the serpent who guards the Golden Fleece. I'll be talking much more in depth about this piece in next week's post when it's finished!

This time around I'm taking work-in-progress photos so you can see my process of taking an illustration from a thumbnail to a larger sketch, to a full sized final sketch, and finally the painting. I've shared how I paint in oil when in my posts about figure painting here and here, but the Argonautica paintings are in watercolor, a process which I have yet to share!

Join me on Facebook if you haven't already, because I will be sharing some of those progress photos during the week!

Looking Back, Looking Forward

"Terminator 2", by Mike Wimmer. Universal Studios. Oil on board. You know his work, even if you didn't know you knew it!

Last Friday, my senior illustration class had the privilege of an hour long video chat with the incredible Mike Wimmer. His paintings are beyond inspiring, and he himself was exuberant in his speech about painting. He spoke with such passion and reverence, and nearly everything he said was profound, and yet he was very grounded and easy to talk to. One of the things he spoke about was passion for what it is we do, for painting. He spoke of a passion that burns so deep within you, you have to do it, whatever it may be. One line stood out to me in particular and inspired this week's post, “You just can't quit doing this thing.”

As I begin my senior thesis project, I can't help but reflect a bit on how I got to where I am today. It's the story of a passion that simply wouldn't go away, no matter how much I neglected it. I loved to draw, and now I love to paint, and I just can't quit doing this thing!

Like most artists, or rather most kids, I've been drawing since I could hold a pencil. I just never “grew out of it”. There have been a few periods of time in my life that drawing went on the back burner as I explored other interests, but time and time again, I kept coming back to art. I could never get away for too long. There was an itch that needed to be scratched, I just had to draw something!

As a kid, I remember looking at picture books and saying, “I want to do that! I want to be an illustrator!” In fact, there's a home video of little 8 year old Nick being interviewed by his father. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” “An artist!” I proclaimed!

My way of celebrating my interests as a kid was to draw them. Favorite TV shows and movie characters, video games, books, everything. In second grade I drew an illustrated version of the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, my favorite video game. In fifth grade I wrote my own “book” and drew all the characters, designed weapons, and drew a book cover. In sixth grade I drew a bunch of characters for a comic book idea. This is the norm for almost every artist I know.

But in middle school, I started to shift focuses. All of my electives were music instead, as I got serious about playing percussion in the school ensembles. By high school, I was set on being a musician. But all the while I was doodling in my notebooks and on desks, and every now and then I'd do an actual drawing. Just for fun.

My junior year of high school, I decided to take an art class again. The first day in the freshmen level studio art class, my teacher, Mr. Ganes, pulled me aside and switched me into the sophomore level “Drawing and Painting” class. Halfway through the year he switched me into the junior level, “Drawing and Painting 2”, and by my senior year I was caught up with the AP Drawing & Painting students. As I was applying to colleges, I looked for schools with great programs for both music and art, because I was still set on being a musician. Art was just for fun.

My first day at the University of Hartford I tried to declare an art minor, but for a few reasons it didn't work out. I went a year and a half without doing any artwork as practicing music took over all of my time. Then, the winter break of my sophomore year, I enrolled in Doug Anderson's Figure Drawing class. I loved it! I learned so much in just two weeks, and I was drawing again!

Another semester came and went. In the fall of my third year in college, I signed up for the “Introduction to Illustration” class taught by Bill Thomson. Hook, line, and sinker. I couldn't resist anymore. I talked to Bill about what he thought of the prospect of me being an illustrator, and after his encouragement I switched majors.

So halfway through my junior year of college, I entered the illustration program as a sophomore.

I've crammed a four year program into two and a half years, and I've loved every second of it. 

A "Throwback Thursday" picture I shared on Facebook. The drawing on left is from that first figure drawing class with Doug Anderson. The painting on the right is from the figure painting class I took with Doug last month. It's the same model in both pictures. It puts things in perspective to see how far I've come in three short years and keeps me looking forward to see how much further I want to go!

I just couldn't not do this thing. I can't quit doing this thing. This thing is drawing. It's painting. It's creating. It's telling stories. Who knows why it is that we each have our own special something that we have to do - that something that burns so deeply inside of you, you literally have to do it. But it's such a beautiful thing to have.

Another great piece of humbling advice from Mr. Wimmer, though, was to not forget that no one stumbles up a mountain. So take your passion, and work. Hard.

And now that we've looked back, we can take a look forward. Here's a progress shot on the first painting in the Argonautica series for my senior thesis. It's my first watercolor painting in a few months, and every time I return to the medium I fall more in love with it! Follow me on Facebook to check it out when it's finished in a few days!

The Argonautica

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”
-Pablo Picasso"

Hello everyone! Today, I want to finally introduce my senior thesis project. Recently I was tasked in defining what type of work I do, and my best answer is what work am I going to do this semester. As I was considering my senior thesis, it dawned on me that the answer has been staring at me in the face for nearly 20 years. I want to illustrate books!

Over the past two years I've been slowly finding what I'm passionate about, and a few things continue to surface. I'm drawn to mythology, folk and fairy tales, fantasy, science fiction, adventure stories, and history. Work that really tells stories. First and foremost is mythology.

I've been interested in Greek mythology for as long as I can remember, mostly due to my heritage. Even in high school, my favorite assigned readings were the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Medea. I love the format of the epic poem, dripping in lyrical imagery, allegory, and stories within stories. When I went to Sicily last semester for a 10 day study abroad trip, I found a much stronger ancestral bond to the place then I would've ever imagined. On our last day in Sicily, we were told by our guide the creation myth of the island, which of course is Greek. When I came back from the trip, I knew I had to paint that myth.

"Trinacria," Watercolor, 24x10", April 2014. An illustration of Sicily's creation myth.

I've loved fantasy tales forever. As a young child I ate up the countless variations of the King Arthur stories, my introduction being the disney version of the Sword and the Stone. As a fourth grader I recall writing my own version of King Arthur. As I matured, so too did the versions of the story that I sought out. Last semester I drew these two character pieces for the Once and Future King by T.H. White. I've got reference and a sketch of Merlin waiting to be added to complete the triptych!

Illustrations based on T.H. White's "The Once and Future King". Graphite on Bristol Vellum, each 11x14", Feb. 2014

Fairy tales have always been an aesthetic influence for me. Last semester I painted an editorial piece using Rapunzel as a setting, serving as both a test for a slightly different style and a comedic setting to drive home the point of the article.

"Object of My Affections," Watercolor & graphite on watercolor paper 9.5x12", November 2014

I love books, I love the idea of books, and I think I found out just how true that is for me this past semester. Even painting a mock poster for the National Book festival, I found myself celebrating what I loved most about books; their ability to transport the reader to a different time, a different place, a different reality. Sufficed to say, all roads point towards the book market for me.

Proposed poster for the National Library of Congress annual Book Festival, Oil on illustration board, 12x18.5", September 2014

Over the past two years I've been working hard at improving technically in order to be able to paint whatever I want. I love to draw in pencil, and paint in oil and watercolor. I've spent the last seven months focused on improving my oil paintings, so for my final semester at the University I'll be focusing primarily on watercolor. Here are a few more of my oil paintings from the past few months.

"Resolution", Oil on board 16x20”, September 2014.

"Winter Logger," Beer label. Oil on board, 11x13", October 2014.

"Addicted to Adulation", Oil on board, 20x16", October 2014.

"University of Hartford Summer Course Catalog Cover," Oil on board, 14x20", December 2014.

"The Imprisoned," Personal piece. Oil on canvas board, 20x16", January 2015.

The pieces I've shared make up my current portfolio. You can see that I really only have maybe five pieces that can relate to the subject matter I am interested in. And out of those five, only the painting of the Trinacria (the sicilian creation myth) and the King Arthur drawings were designed for books. The Trinacria was designed as a double page spread, and the King Arthur drawings were designed as interior illustrations for a novel. That makes three portfolio pieces for the market I'm after. The Rapunzel piece is an editorial illustration, and although the setting is a fairy tale, the actual story being told isn't right for the book market. And finally, the painting the Imprisoned suggests a historical setting and a vaguely mysterious story, but given the nude figure, it isn't exactly right for any sort of younger audience. The rest of my work has been varied in terms of both subject and markets, they aren't designed to function as book illustrations or covers.

That being said, there are a number of holes my senior project will fill. I need to show that I can paint interior illustrations for a novel, aimed at young adults, perhaps ages 9 and up. I need to show that I can paint spreads for a children's book, and I need to show that I can design book covers.

So, in order to attain the book market, coupled with my passion for greek mythology, my project is going to focus primarily on the Greek epic poem, The Argonautica, which tells the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. My goal is to complete four single page interior illustrations, and a fifth illustration as a book cover. All pieces relating to The Argonautica will be done in watercolor in order to further my studies with the medium, and bring my abilities with watercolor up to par with where I've brought my oil paintings.

I'll also be painting one fairy tale illustration in watercolor that will be designed as a double page spread for a children's book. Finally, I will paint two book covers in oil; one science fiction and one fantastical, aimed at young adult readers, perhaps 10 and up. Currently I am leaning towards one of the 1001 Arabian Nights stories as the fairy tale, a Jules Verne or H.G. Wells book as the science fiction cover, and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Return of Tarzan as the fantastical cover.

 The end result will be a varied portfolio consisting of 3 book covers, 4 mythological single page book interiors, and one children's book double page spread. I'm extremely excited for this semester, as I've been wanting to launch into this project for a few months now. I've read the book, filled it with notes, have been thumbnailing like a mad man, and I'm set to start the first illustration this week. Wish me luck!

Also, I've launched the Fine Art section of my website for my figure paintings and plein air studies, and it features high quality reproductions of these paintings for the first time. Have a look!