Oil painting update and sketch

Just a quick update of that oil painting I started this month and also a sketch I did last night.

JP

Sketching again

Ahhh! feels good to hit the graphite again, I missed you old friend. The one thing I always answer to those who ask me what is my fav medium to use? "Graphite baby all the way". I started drawing with pencil at age 4 it's never let me down. Drawing and sketching are the essence and foundations that hold a painting together. Never give up on your sketching.

Whats on my Easel 2 "da oils"

There's nothing like the smell of oil paints and painting medium in da mornin. Aside from killing a few brain cells with the fumes it brings me back to my youth when photoshop was non-existent and illustrators had to actually lift a paintbrush up and dip it into real paint and apply it to a canvas. The age of photoshop is here but there are still a good number of illustrators who prefer analog over digital. I dwell between both digital and analog, digital for speed and ease of use (no messy paints to clean up) analog I use for archiving and exposition of the original and selling to collectors. For me I still do an original oil painting from time to time it's important to leave a legacy of art for my sons.

Here is the start of oils on the "Dominator" piece. As you can see the more muted muddy color is the under-painting and under-drawing. In order to create very detail oils you must have a tight under-drawing or under-painting. You can achieve higher levels of detail quicker with a tight drawing before you start painting instead of going straight to painting with no base drawing.

Whats on my Easel

On May 10 the fantasy art world lost a living legend Frank Frazetta. His work influenced me greatly as a youth and continues today. The thing that made him special was that he created his own defining archetypes. Whether it was a battle worn Barbarian or a beautiful Martian princess, he created these visual archetypes that will stay with us for a long time. When people say "That's a Frazetta girl" you don't think of Kate Moss you think of Jennifer Lopez, you know exactly what they are talking about, that's the impact of the mans work on the genre.

I never had the chance to meet him regretfully, but through his visions I could see his raw passion for life and art in general. Without sounding melo-dramatic I will never forget the first time I laid my eyes on a Frazetta painting it ignited my imagination into overdrive and my desire to cut my own artistic path.

I created a Frazetta tribute piece and if you saw my webpage splash page you can see the BW version and here is the under-drawing in Charcoal and white pastels for the oils I will be painting.

I'm having tons of fun with this. How can you not enjoy a battle scene with an out of his mind charging warrior, sub-human baddies and beautiful tied up women?.