Hi guys! My my, it's been quite some time, huh? Can you believe we're entering the 4th month of the year already!!? Hope you've all been well?
So the past month or so (since my last post), as usual, I've been busy freelancing & working on some pretty cool projects; one of which was directing/ animating a commercial for a particular clothing retailer based over in the US, which I'll post a link to once it's all signed off...
Commercial work aside though, I have been working away on a few new personal projects; as well as some unfinished ones from last year. The latest being having a sudden urge to get back to doing some traditional artwork, & in the process, peel my eyes away from staring at a computer monitor... Mainly also to improve my skills in the areas of colour theory & better understanding how to control it. As with any form of digital media, there are many advantageous features & opportunities that are at our disposal, which we do not have as luxuries in the traditional world. On saying that, these "advantages" do at times also become handicaps in our creative lives, leaving us so dependent upon them, we can't even imagine how we ever lived without them... Obviously, when you think about it, this inevitably hinders our growth as artists or more generally, problem solvers/ thinkers...
More & more I've been seeing some AMAZING digital artists going down this route too (I guess maybe for the same reasons) & producing some brilliant traditional art! Which reminds me, I have to give a shout-out to these two talented young ladies,
Eli & Oli [twin sisters in fact] who are two of such artists. 17yrs old & they're already more prolific than a lot of professional artists I know (myself included).
Check out their stuff & show some support if you have a few mins.
... So yeah, with all the above in mind, over the past week or two, I've been raiding Art stores like a crazed hoarder! Picked me up some acrylics, a good quality set of paintbrushes, an easel, palette knife & a few other essentials. Below are just a few rough poses I did for this first traditional painted piece [in over a decade!]. I'm not planning to spend too much time on these, nor put too much pressure on myself; at this start-up stage I just want to have fun with it.
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Fig: 01) Wanted to go for some sort of Noir-type
"crime scene" feel; perhaps a character backed up into a
corner making his last stand & going down fighting!
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Fig: 02) Decided to throw a female in there to
dramatise the scene up a little more... Yep, I'm a
sucker for the archetypal damsel in distress situation...
what red-blooded man isn't!!?
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Fig: 03) At this point [in fig 02] I could now visualise
the scene/ setup I wanted, & so decided to hop onto
my comp [above] to tighten up the pose, body
language of both characters & small details such as
facial expressions, clothing & creases etc... I figured
it'd be faster to do this on the comp than sketching
it out on paper, feeling my way through till I go it
right & wasting a few pages in my sketch book [as
I said, I don't plan on spending too long on these pieces].
So now, TENSIONS are high, SUSPENSE is excruciating
& ANXIETY is the name of the game... I name this
piece in advance with the fitting title of,
"Dead End Alley!!!".
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Fig: 04) Light under-drawing transferred, & ready to
begin!
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... I'll keep you guys posted as I go. Have a fun weekend all!
-M-
