Process Shots

Normally, I don't photograph works in progress.  Often it's because I'm not happy with what I've done by the time I'm done for the day up until the day I'm putting on the last strokes.  Other times it's to keep subjects from getting self-conscious, or clients from getting worried...not because I'm bad, but because not everyone gets the process.  Or, I might nail some spot that I love, but because the rest is underdeveloped, it doesn't feel right to document it.

But this time, I've got a commission, and it's requiring me to try something new...well, not entirely new since most people have played with watercolors as kids.  But over the years, working in acrylic and gouache, I've gotten used to direct painting, and watercolor is a whole other thing.  So I've been hitting up the web blogs and tutorials to get a grasp on how to achieve what I want, but let's face it, as with most creative endeavors, trial and error is the best way to learn.

Now what I'm shooting for is a sort of classic style in the school of Arthur Rackham or Edmund Dulac, two of the Victorian era's greatest illustrators.  Their works were typified by pen and ink drawings colored with washes of watercolor.  Dulac tended to be richer in color where Arthur had more of a washed out sepia look. I sort of plan to split the difference.  So, I made my drawing from an old photograph, and started by staining the paper (I chose 185 lb paper...which actually turned out to be too thin for all the washing I was doing, that was Lesson 1).  Then, I had to let it dry.  Now, I could get a hair dryer, but some feel it changes the tone of the paint and fortunately I had another small project to work on between glazes.

I wanted it dark, with a lot of contrast between the figure and the background.  I didn't bother with masking fluid and later just lifted the spillage with a brush and water. Also, a little color seeping helps to keep the the figure and background looking unified.  But I have to admit, I get bored and frustrated working this way.  I usually end up causing a lot of the bleeding myself because I keep wanting to jump into working other areas, but you can't add more of a water media next to a wet area and not expect to see the tendrils of color worming their way over.

And the thing about watercolor and washes is that you have to do tests or swatches because what it looks like fresh and wet isn't always what it looks like once it dries.  Some colors stay bright or seem brighter, others wash out really easily.  The one that seems most obvious, but is somehow easily forgotten, is that it's not likely to have much of that gloss (without mediums) that you may or may not like.  And so on.

Once I had the background down, I went back in to work the figure, but I still didn't directly paint any of the tones.  I'd wet an area, drop in the tone then give it some mild working with either a brush or small make-up sponge, or both.  The buckling of the paper caused some pooling that made for some matte effects in the thicker paint that I wasn't crazy about, but over all, she turned out ok.  However, my final pieces are going to be a helluva lot more complicated...haha...it might be another couple of tests until I can jump in.

Painting Water in Watercolor

No real series for this week.  In fact, this one should've been the wrap-up for last week.  This week's material are tests for a new project and commission I'm working on.  It's taken some getting used to to get back into watercolor after being so used to direct painting, either in acrylic or with the gouache.  Anyhow, that's what I'm doing...and the above is how it's going so far: not terrible...but not great either..

The Tides of Fashion

The second in a series of originals finds another strange bather in the surf.

The Tides of War...

It's a series of originals this week.  The sun, the surf and the strange have infiltrated my sketchbook this week. Enjoy!

A Bath in the Sun

A final look at the bathing beauties for this week...Have a good weekend...

Another time...Another seaside...

As the temperature continues to climb...our second lovely lady by the seaside.

By the Sea...

As it's summer, and things are apparently hot all over, though I'd do a series of bathing beauties this week.  The first is of one of those swimsuits that always had me wondering why there weren't more reports of drowning.

Death Laid an Egg

The final Screen Siren of the Sixties is Sweden's own Ewa Aulin.  Aulin, a teen beauty pageant winner, starred in a slate of European and American films.  She's perhaps best known for her lead role in...oh...I did it again, didn't I? More Terry Southern, I guess...she was the lead in the film adaptation of Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg's Candy (1967), which garnered her a nomination at the Golden Globes.  Personally, she first caught my eye in the surreal Italian thriller Death Laid an Egg (La Morte ha Fatto L'uovo, 1968) by Giulio Questi, director of the equally bizarre Spaghetti Western Django Kill...If You Live Shoot! (Se Sei Vivo Spara!, 1967).

A Very Grand Guy

Our Screen Siren of the Sixties series couldn't be complete without an appearance by Raquel Welch.  Welch, née Jo Raquel Tejada, had a string of bit parts before becoming a star with Fantastic Voyage in 1966, but she's probably best known for the endless reproductions as the cavewoman in the fur bikini from One Million Years B.C. (1966).  I'm partial to her (apart from the obvious reasons) for starring in two of my favorite comedies: Bedazzled (1967) and The Magic Christian (1969)...though I shouldn't say starred in The Magic Christian as she's one of a dozen hilarious cameos from the film from which I drew the above image.  My drawing of Terry Southern from a week or two back helped influence the choice.

Secret Agent Super Dragon

This weeks it's Screen Sirens of the Sixties, starting with Marisa Mell. Born in Austria as Marlies Theres Moitzi, Marisa was a sexy staple of the European genre cinema of the 60's and 70's.  She is perhaps best known for playing Diabolik's sultry squeeze Eva in Mario Bava's fantastic Danger: Diabolik! (1968). This quickie was from an onset photo...I'm particularly proud of the li'l black kitty she's holding.

Have a Good Funeral, My Friends! Sartana is Paying!

Our final Spagetti Western drawing for this week is a quiet moment out on the porch with Sartana, one of Euro-cinema's gunslinging legends.  The character originated with and was played four out of five times in the official canon by the great Gianni Garko (and once by smiling George Hilton...who's still not my favorite, but for whom my opinion has softened over time).  While he started out as a more standard hero, Sartana soon became a seemingly omniscient angel of vengeance as the films rolled out, and his arsenal of bizarre weaponry developed with him. (Some genre critics claim similarity to Bond, but I saw it more like the makeshift weaponry of the Lone Wolf and Cub series.)  Naturally, like Django, Sartana was also featured in a host of knock-offs and the usual character dub-jobs (ie. since all Spaghettis were shot without sound, when they dubbed in the voice, they'd just call the lead "Django" or "Sartana" whether they had any similarity to Nero or Garko or not).  If you can track them down, the series is an awfully good time...though don't save George's lone outing for last...stick with Garko.

WARLOCK: The Movie (1975)

This is my poster for a would-be Adam Warlock movie that I had hoped was going to be included in a Comic-con themed group art show.  I accidentally jumped the gun putting this together, and the event didn't happen.  Remember that Warlock test piece I put up a few weeks back?

The cosmic characters have long been some of my favorites in the Marvel Universe, particularly those penned by Jim Starlin.  Thanos is a fantastic villain (and apparently going to be in the next Avengers movie...). Adam makes for a bizarre hero with a cigar-chomping troll, Pip, as a best friend.  Then there's Drax the Destroyer, who was created to destroy Thanos, but I guess only recently, forty years after his creation.  And the deadly assassin Gamora, who, in her slinky fishnet outfit, was twenty years ahead of the superhero sexpots that would really begin to dominate in the 90's.

Now some may criticize me for lifting these poses and whatnot from others work...but in my mind, those old movie posters were made from set photos, so wouldn't the comics I was referencing be the same?  Anyhow, it certainly owes a debt to the aforementioned Starlin, Ron Marz, Al Milgrom, and many others who brought these cosmic stories to life.

"...But don't touch my coffin."

The second entry to Spaghetti Western Week is Franco Nero in perhaps his best known gunslinging role in Sergio Corbucci's Django (1966).  Perhaps one of the grimiest Westerns ever made, it opens with the hero dragging an old coffin through muck into a sad and seemingly abandoned town.  From there, it turns into a wild shootout between Django, the Mexican Bandits, and crazy Major Jackson who runs a personal army of klansmen.  Fans of Reservoir Dogs will perhaps appreciate the ear-slicing scene that was one of the elements that earned the film a banning in many countries.  Dark, violent, and enjoyable, it's one of the classics of the genre. (Side Note: In the Jamaican film, The Harder They Come (1972), it's a screening of Django that inspires Jimmy Cliff's later rampage.)

La Resa Dei Conti

With the sun shining bright and summer in full force, it's well nigh time for Spaghetti Western Week!

We kick things off with a drawing of Tomas Milian as Cuchillo. The character appeared in two films by Sergio Sollima: The Big Gundown (aka. La resa dei conti, 1966) and Run Man Run! (Corri uomo corri!, 1968).  Gundown is easily considered one of the tops of the genre (if you're gonna watch it, you gotta track down the uncut version), although all three of Sollima's westerns are very well regarded (Face to Face (Faccia a Faccia) 1967, is probably my personal favorite.).  I believe the above was drawn from a publicity still for Run Man Run!

Even Bad Wolves Can Be Good...

Our final musician this week is one Domingo Zamudio...better known as Sam the Sham of Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.  Born in Dallas, Texas (1937), Sam took on his trademark loungey robe and turban and named his band the Pharaohs after Yul Brynner's character in The Ten Commandments.  In '65, the band had it's biggest hit with "Wooly Bully", which managed to climb the charts in an otherwise British Invasion dominated period.  And while "Wooly" remains a bar song classic, it was their other hit, "Li'l Red Riding Hood" that first captured my imagination.  On one hand, it's a sort of cute song full of innuendo...but on the other, Sam's method of growling out the lyrics (he adopted the moniker "Sham" as indicative of his vocal ability) along that fat bass line turns it in something creepy and almost otherworldly.

Cause Now You Set My Soul on Fire....

Our second musician for the weak is the fantastic LaVern Baker (1929-1997). A fantastic R&B singer with a string of hits through the 1950's and 60's, most might recognize LaVern for the fun and bouncy "Tweedle Dee". I first fell in love with her work when her single "Soul on Fire" was featured in Alan Parker's controversial horror-mystery Angel Heart.  Granted, that was the soundtrack for the over-the-top sex scene that reportedly got Lisa Bonet ousted from The Cosby Show. (Am I dating myself?)  Nevertheless it remains a sultry and steamy classic.  Enjoy.

We Interrupt This Broadcast...

I had forgotten that I had not posted my latest painting to my sites.  Obviously, with this post, I've remedied this gap in post related art communication.  I only wish the photo better communicated the details of the background...in all that murk, there is some, I swear.

A Candy-colored Clown They Call the Sandman...

Another week in music for this round of drawings, starting with the darkly spectacled, angelic-voiced Roy Orbison.  A favorite of my dad (Happy Father's Day, dad!), I've been listening to Roy's tunes since I was a lad.  Born in Vernon, Texas, Roy would first record for the legendary Sun Records before becoming a regular hit-maker in the 1960's.  Personal tragedy and difficulty adjusting to the changing sounds, Roy  faded from the limelight for much of the 70's and 80's before experiencing a revival as the 90's rolled around. After success with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne as the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys and a final hit album with Mystery Girl, Roy passed away in 1988 at only 52. Though the use of "In Dreams" as a favorite of the psychotic Frank Booth in David Lynch's Blue Velvet added a disturbing lilt to the song, it remains perhaps my favorite of Roy Orbison's catalog.

Another Weekend Oddity...

Nothing particular in mind, just goofing off on a placemat.

"The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock - shock is a worn-out word - but astonish."

The final author of the week is literary wild man Terry Southern (1924-1995).  Born in Alvarado, Texas, Southern would serve in WWII, hit the Sorbonne on the G.I. Bill, become part of the both the Greenwich scene of the 50's as well as the Swinging Sixties in London before working as a prominent screenwriter in the 70's.  I first became aware of Terry as a screenwriter, particularly with Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964) (He also wrote the scripts for Easy Rider and Barbarella, among others.) The first book of Terry's that I tracked down was The Magic Christian (1959) due to my love of the uneven but wonderfully bizarre film of the same name, starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr.  I've since read and seen the majority of this master satirist's work.