I've started work on a new large project. Unlike some of my stuff, there is little to no secrecy about this one. I've decided to do a nature piece. What you see now is a crop out of a larger canvas, the only part of the picture that remotely looks like anything at this point.
The first phase is called "underpainting". I need to put down blocks of colour to represent the various elements of the piece. Now that I've incorporated digital technology, underpainting goes by quickly. I've composited the image using several snapshots and amalgamated them into a rough large master shot. Using digital media speeds up the foundation steps. I can worry less about colour, proportion, and perspective, and concentrate on getting decent brush art.
That master shot is broken down into colour regions as you see above. Next, I will use paint strokes to refine each area individually by hand. I've got to be careful to get in good paint and avoid the look that I've merely scrubbed a digital photograph.
As I work on the piece, I will throw updates onto JSVB. I hope to be done in a couple of weeks or less.
Posts
