"Lost" Underground Art Project Progess

Here's a little insight into the process I went through for this "Lost" piece. My original idea was a rather quick sketch with a marker to put down the essence of the piece before I forget it as I'm constantly being distracted. The good thing about sketching with a marker is that I'm not committing to anything too early. I know that things tend to change a lot from my sketch stage to the final drawing after reference is taken. At this stage I'm concerned with concept and composition mostly.

After refining the sketch a bit I then had my neighbor(great guy) pose for me. Using my photo ref and trying to keep the freshness of my original sketch I produce the final drawing onto watercolor paper.

Note about photo ref. If you are trying to produce a more realistic painting. Good reference is key.........Good reference is key. However, and you'll hear this again, you don't want to become a slave to your reference. You do want to refer to it, try to understand it, and apply the information it gives you to your work. Also, using reference doesn't take away all the spontaneity of the piece at all. It enhances my work and I feel I can still be as stylized as I want and yet have unlimited spontaneous opportunities.

At this point I can use my final drawing to make some value or color studies using photoshop. I produced one shown here that I thought I liked but decided to change. After having a little paint thrown down I'm able to produce a more refined color study(also shown above). This can be very helpful if I find myself not quite sure where exactly I want the piece to go.

Having a good sense of value and color saves a lot of time. I tend to build up these structures slowly with the acrylic. If I know something is going to be black from the get go. I can be more aggressive with my painting. I also gives you a good frame of reference for the rest of the piece.

You can view the final here.

From what I heard people where camping outside of Gallery 1988 the day before the opening! Wow. You can view the show in it's entirety here.

The Lost Underground Art Project Tues Dec 15th

Ronie Midfew Arts and DamonCarltonAndAPolarBear.com are proud to announce the LOST Underground Art Project, an art show at Gallery1988:LA celebrating one of the greatest television programs of all-time. This event will mark the first time that all 16 prints will be seen in one room! In addition to the prints, over 20 artists will be creating original, LOST-inspired paintings and sculptures (all available for purchase!) to commemorate the event.

These artists are:

Alex Pardee - Ben Strawn - Carlos Ramos - Chris Ryniak - Dan Lydersen - Dan May - Danielle Buerli - Edwin Ushiro - Eric Fortune - Jeff McMillan - Jeremy Asher Lynch - Julian Callos - Ken Garduno - Kirk Demarais - Lauren Gregg - Leontine Greenberg - Luke Berliner - Mark Bodnar - Mark Brown - Martin Wittfooth - Misha (from the mind of Paul Scheer) - Ralph Cosentino - Scott Campbell - Wade Schin - 64 Colors - Brent Nolasco - Dave Pressler - Jason Limon - Jeremiah Ketner - Jesse Hernandez - Jon Burgerman - KaNo - Leah Palmer - Lunabee - Motorbot - Nathan Spoor - Nemo - Pocketwookie - Reactor 88 - Scribe - Pretty in Plastic

The show opens Tuesday, December 15th from 7-10PM and the creators of LOST are attending the event. This night will also have MANY surprises.

You might want to line up early for this one!

(This show runs through Dec. 24th, and the Los Angeles gallery will be open on Sundays through the rest of December from 12-5PM, in addition to our normal business hours of Tues. - Sat. from 11AM-6PM.)

15% off Prints

If you're interested in a Print now would be a good time to buy.

Holiday Sale
December 9-28, 2009

All items in the store: 15% OFF

This Christmas, why not give someone you love a gift that will last forever.In the spirit of the holidays, from now until Christmas day, we are offering15% off all items in our store. Order as many prints as you want the discount applies to everything in our inventory.

Choose from a great selection of limited edition prints at www.apapertiger.com and type in the coupon code, "HOLIDAY" during checkout.

"Under a Tree"

Transferring aka The Devil

Back in the day I would make a sketch. If I liked it enough I would take photo reference and do a final drawing. Then I would transfer it on to watercolor paper( via light table, graphite transfer, projector). With all the details worked out it could be tricky and not uncommon to completely leave out parts of the drawing. If you've done this you know it sucks and it's still not ready to be painted at this point. Because it's now the worst drawing you've ever seen in your life. It, again, must be redrawn and refined to make look clean, fresh, and natural looking again. Transferring tends to suck the life from a drawing and the artist as well. Ahhhh, now we were ready to paint:)

So over the years. I've learned a few things to speed up the process and keep things fresh. This may not be for everybody. Probably not even my younger self. But I've grown into it and I'm comfortable with it now.

As shown above, I have scanned and enlarged my sketches. I pieced them together with as little overlap as possible to cut down on dark overlappy areas while using the light table (an old window pane and a lamp works fine) or if you're working away from your studio a window during the day works as well.

I basically make sure I'm happy with the composition and basic anatomy of my sketch before enlarging it. I want it refined enough to communicate the idea or concept. However,I don't want to commit too much detail to the drawing at this point. Because I know when I take my reference it's going to give me tons of great info and random goodness (ie folds, drapery, anatomy etc)

Because the sketch is so loose I don't have to worry about losing vital information. Esp if I'm transferring onto heavier 300lb paper where lines become diffused as it's projected through the paper. I then loosely and softly transfer the sketch with a 2b or 3b pencil. It's dark and soft so it's easy to see and easy to erase. (take about 5 minutes tops) So without much detail thus far I've made a sketch and basically transferred my sketch. I don't think the method of transfer will make any difference.

I'm saving time by doing my final drawing directly onto the surface I work on. In my case it's watercolor paper. So it's fresh and I don't have to transfer it again once I have it worked out and all the details are plugged in.

Something to consider. Because I paint so thin I depend on the surface of my paper. I'm very conscious of my drawing and erasing. I do not want to disrupt the surface too much. Not at all if possible. So don't carve in your drawing with your pencil and don't erase with one of those hard ass pen erasers(do they even make those anymore?). This can be scary so if interested you may want to try it on a smaller piece before committing a lot of time and energy on a larger painting.

Vinyl and Plush

Some cool things going on if you're into toys. On the West Cizzoast a new toy shop TAG(ToyArt Gallery) opened up. And for all the locals here in Columbus I saw a really cool Plush show at Rivet Gallery. Def worth checking out:)