Inner Cathedral City

This is some quick afternoon sketching, throwing a few ideas around.

The Gardens of Selene

Gardens of Selene

Some close-ups:

monks and swans detail

Here's a painting I just finished. A few people asked me about the process, so I wanted to show a few of the steps on here.



Step 0:

I basically wanted some huge archways overlooking the ocean, very open and plenty of plants. I got the idea of an inside gardens/ plants with big architecture from Biltmore after visiting a few years ago and have been thinking about it ever since. It slowly got more and more Roman. I started developing a story and a setting as I was working, so certain things began to make more sense than others.


Step 1:

Quick thumbnail sketches. I did a few more, but they're all just very sketchy.

Step 2.
After some research, I built a 3d model in Sketchup and played around with a few different viewpoints.

Step 3.

More sketching.  Playing around with lighting and color, also materials and decoration etc.

Step 4.

Rough drawing over the 3d model, just trying to start deciding on things.

Step 5.

Finished drawing over the rough drawing. Although even the finished drawing is pretty rough. I knew I would change a lot later. I didn't bother with people or plants yet because where I put those would probably depend more on color.



Step 6.
Quick black and white sketch to figure out lighting (again) I liked this lighting better than the soft lighting of my earlier sketches.



Step 7.
I built a little model out of cardboard, Sculpey, and some grill skewers (?) that I found, then painted it and brought it outside. Snapped a few pictures and just stared at it for a long time, also tried a few different angles.



 

Step 8.

Shadow perspective. Because I did the shadows with a real model, I had to map them out in perspective myself. I think most artists probably do this in the 3d model, because its much faster. I kind of just wanted to test myself and do it manually.



Step 9.

Gather tons of reference for everything. Although I had been doing this the whole time,  I like to try and have as much as I can ready so I don't have to keep stopping during the painting... of course that happens anyway though. This is my file in PureRef, a reference program.




Step 10.

Paint. Erase. Sketch. Paint. Delete. Edit. Paint. Paint. Rage Quit. Paint. Finish. Paint again. Paint. Edit. Finish. Sketch. Paint.

I like to just paint on one layer except for the greenery and people so I can move them around. So 3 layers, and I do that all under a slowly disappearing finished drawing. I turn on the perspective layers as needed too. Towards the end I added a couple other fancy layers.


Let me know if you have any other questions about the process in the comments.

Pumpkin Cabin Cutaway

Here's a cutaway view of a Pumpkin Cabin. I did a few small sketches of this a few years ago, and decided to see if I could do a finished painting out of it.

Pumpkin Cabin

detail

detail

Here are some of the initial sketches.

pumpkin seed chair

The School Bug

This started out as a goofy pun i had in my sketchbook, that I turned into a more finished painting just for fun.

School Bug

some early sketches

School Bus study

Cathedral City

Finally finished this painting, It's 20 x 30 in. on Illustration board painted in oil.

Cathedral City

close up

City Entrance

I've slowly been etching away at creating a new world and/or discovering an old one. So currently my sketchbook is getting filled with drawings of this sort, showing places that I've been thinking and daydreaming about.

One of the many abandoned entrances to Cathedral City.

Mars

This is a painting of Mars I just finished. It was a commission, and it's just the first of all 8 (or 9) planets.

Apparently on Mars, the sky can have a slight blue coloring during sunset and it can also have clouds that are similar to cirrus clouds on earth, so I made sure to include those in the painting. I really, really want to go to Mars.

Mars

Also check out my Mars Cornhole Board

Other Worlds, A Sea Creature

I keep thinking about other worlds. One's where maybe things could have evolved slightly differently, or in some super alien way.  It makes me a little sad that I'll never get to see any distant worlds with strange animals. And I'll be long gone before they ever find out about any other life-hosting worlds.  So that's kind of sad. 

But I've found that writing about, drawing, and painting them is really the next best thing I can do to actually seeing them in person.  In some ways it feels a lot like exploring. 

So here's a little oil painting I did of a sea creature I imagine is out there swimming around somewhere, in the deep, ancient waters of some strange alien planet. 

Walker

I imagine a few of these guys walking the perimeter of a controversial construction site, taking care of anyone trying to interfere with the construction (or destruction).