Saturday, October 21, 2006

Illustration Friday: Ghost...



This is my first submission for Illustration Friday in a long while. I've been ridiculously busy with school and work, but I couldn't pass up making something for this week's theme.

I started off applying gesso to several different sheets of large paper. I really like the way the paint takes to the surface when it's six or seven coats deep. I then did some drawings with colored pencils of a skull. I then put gesso over that, building up the surface even more and literally creating an "image ghost" from the drawing beneath. I then collaged that drawing/painting together with some figure drawings I had done earlier in the week. Later, I went back and painted the white stripes and adjusted the colors with some quick washes. This piece is roughly 3.5 feet by 4 feet.

14 comments:

Michelle Lana said...

Cool image! cool collage!

steve said...

Wow man, this is huge, and looks awesome! Wonderful job!

Jana Bouc said...

Fascinating description of how you did this huge artwork. It's very interesting and definitely ghostly and spooky. I'm so intrigued by the not-skull vertical stripes' images. It looks like people and I wish I could see more of what they are. It's hard seeing a 4' wide picture in 4" size but it's beautiful!

Heartful said...

Great work.

Tiger Mouse said...

Wow, great collage. Like Jana I wish I could see the not-skull stripes better, but it makes it intriguing.

Michael R Fudge Jr said...

Very nice, and very good. I like how you added the work in progress. People see this and become more pulled into what it is that started it. I like putting in prelayouts and design sketches to let people see what it was in my mind come to life. Great job!!

Cynthia Thornton said...

Very creepy, but such pretty colors! Good work.

Anonymous said...

very nice. i am glad you took the time to post.

zombie said...

Same situation here, between family, school and work, it leaves little time for anything else.

Welcome back and amazing work.

Anonymous said...

this is really fascinating. great work

Peggi Meyer Graminski said...

A truly awesome piece! I especially love the colors you used & your description of the creation process... Super job!

Jaimie said...

wow.this piece is so unique and thanks so much for sharing your process.

carla said...

Wow! This looks great here, but it must be very striking in person. That's quite a large piece. I enjoyed reading about your process...a wonderful story of construction with a beautiful result. Although the skull is ghostly and seems to be behind bars, thee's so much color that it isn't really all sad and scary. Well done! (and i hear you about being busy... it is hard to keep up with the blogging!)

Unknown said...

coool design!