Sunday, October 23, 2011

Inner Workings Sketch

A sneak peak at a piece in progress (partial scan of the full size).

I had so much fun with the sketches and designing for Claire's halloween wings, that I got inspired to do a painting along those lines. I've been in a bit of an idea-rut lately, so I'm pretty excited about this because it sprang to mind as a full-fledged concept, along composition, colors and title, which will be "The Inner Workings of Life".

I think I'll be trying some fixative layering on this too, on a larger scale now than the experimental pieces I've been toying with in the past couple months. It will be interesting to see how it works for a more ambitiously sized piece.

The sketch is taking forever though, on the illustration board. All the little gears and cogs are making my drawing hand ache!


5 comments:

  1. Interesting concept... the trouble with a circle is, that it is finite, in composition, and nature, naturally evolving. It`s inferior to the spiral... which has always been the mainstay of your compositions. Maybe... since nature is far more sophisticated that steam punk, the tree should be cogs and wheels and the roots drawn naturally.
    lovely work ...

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  2. Stephanie: Honestly, this composition does not work for me at all. I think the cut-away is too obvious and lends to an overall imbalance. It just feels forced. I would much rather see everything more integrated. I don't see the purpose of the steampunk elements when your straight organics are so lovely, but I can appreciate your exploration of new creative territory. Just my opinion, of course and maybe it will work better as a painting.

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  3. I disagree. In nature everything happens like clockwork all year round every single year. I think the composition is rather balanced and depicts an almost symbiotic relationship between nature and man-made.
    Also it sort of reminds me of one of your earlier works, an illustration you made for The Hotel Under the Sand.
    Love it, can't wait to see the color scheme. :)

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  4. Andrea, you hit on what I was trying to do. I posted a new update at the same time that you wrote that with very similar thoughts!

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  5. Holy crap! How do you draw circles so... circular and perfect?! How long did it take you to do the sketch?

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