Geroge and the Dragon

Today I finished the painting over the first of the sketches from last week. George and the Dragon. This one is basically done then. I might get some feed back and make changes accordingly, find the places that need some polishing and ... well polish them. Its not quite the master piece I had in my head, but they rarely are. So you please feel free to comment with thoughts on the piece :)

Project Fables

A few weeks ago I made a little black and white illustration inspired by the book Till We Have Faces. At the time I was just doing this project as a sort of warm up. But it inspired me to do more other illustrations based on stories I like. I had originally planned on just doing books for this, then i decided to add fairytales.  But then that didn't seem like enough so I added poems, myths and folklore. Eventually I ended up with the beginnings of what I am calling "Project Fables". Is a working title. The by the end I expect the project to have over 100 full color painted illustrations from different stories, myths and poems. Below are rough outline sketches for the first 4 fables I intend to include.

I know all of the following images are rough at this point, as a mentioned before I intend to use these sketches as an outline to paint over later.

Annabel Lee

Something to get everyone in the Valentine's Day spirit. Based on the Poe's poem of a kingdom by the sea, and two children who loved with a love that was more then love. Is difficult to tell in this rough image, but the background is meant to be a rough sea bashing against to coast. Annabel's ghost is seen in the moonlight looking to her former love, who makes his bed within her sepulcher. Normally I would have the angel on the tomb in a more mournful posture, but in the poem the speaker blames the angels for killing his love, so I set the statue in a more triumphant stance.

 Pandora Box

The original "Dark Chest of Wonders". Based on the Greeks take on paradise lost and the problem of evil. I had a lot of fun planning this one. Every one of the evils jumping forth from the box is a creature from myths and folklore from all over the world. Everything from Celtic folklore of Banshees and the Nuckelavee to a Native American Wendigo to Hamlin plague rats. And of course my personal favorite Krampus. Pandora's face is one of mixed fear, wonder and gilt. In her hands her grasps Hope, the only good to be contained among evils.

 The Count of Monte Cristo

For those with a thirst for vengeance burning in their heart. Based on one of my favorite books of all time, we see Edmond Dantes here at his absolute low, locked deep in the dungeons of the Chateau D'if. I am mostly pleased with the overall composition of this image and the used of lights and darks, although I might add a little more in the floor, straw a bucket some rats that sort of thing. Something to emphasize his suffering while also filling up the blank edges o the image.

 St. George and the Dragon

The Red Cross Knight himself. This image doesn't have the same level of shadows on it as the others but that mostly because I don't expect light and darkness to play the same role in this as the others. As it is a think the image tells the story pretty well as it is. I wanted to make it original from the translational Christian paintings as well, while still maintaining the meaning. As such I decided to set the scene right before to actual battle begins, rather then at the end with the dragon already vanquished as most other images depict. As such, George is approaching sword and shield at the ready, and the maiden Alexandra chained to a tree (in a Christ like pose) ready to be sacrificed to the beast.

Looks like its Ladies Night!

Finally buckled down and finished the Scarlyn and Faeyd bar painting I have been working on for the past week or two. Doesn't look too different from the last one. More shading and detailing on the dudes in the foreground, tweaked contrast and darkness, better bottles plus smoke and blood splatter pretty much sums it up. It'll probably stay like it is now, but who knows I may change it up a bit once a get some constructive criticism from my other artist friends.

Till We Have Faces

 A few weeks ago I finished the book "Till We Have Faces". It was the first time I had returned to C.S. Lewis since I finished "The Space Trilogy" about 2 years ago. Anyway, I decided to do a few warm up sketches today, the first was going to be of the two main characters of Till We Have Faces, Psyche & Orual. Needless to say it was one of those days where a simple sketch kinda got away from me and turned into something pretty sweet after an hour or two. I originally planned on just having it be as shown below, however, I decided to make another version as well featuring the title. Something that could almost work as a cover of sorts. (See far below)

 

A Return to Form

Some might remember a while back I was working on a painting of Scarlyn in a shot up bar. I was also trying to achieve photo realism. The result was that I worked for a day or so and lost interest for almost a year. However within the last week I decided to reboot the project. Below you may recognize the first attempt from a while back.

Here however you may note the rebooted version (not quite complete). I returned a bit to my more classic style, but still tried to mix in a bit more realism then I usually use. I changed up the posses a bit to make it seem more playful, and added Faeyd next to Scarlyn. as I mentioned this post is more of an update and the piece is as yet incomplete. I hope to have it finished within the next few days.