This idea was sparked in the car when driving back from Gent comicon. We saw some hot air balloons flying by and that's when I thought of a kind of inventor-robot developing some wings for him to fly. A bit like Da Vinci's flying machines. For the design of my inventor-hero, I looked at Da Vinci's drawings of his 'flying machines'. I didn't want a pose with both wings spread out, because I felt it might be a little too static. The wings are obviously too small for such a heavy robot, but that's something he will no doubt discover later on today! :) To give it the Da Vinci-feel, I worked out a sepia background with some 'technical' sketches in pencil as a backdrop for the main character. I also added some details to give it a bit more life.
I remembered that Da Vinci used a secret code in his research note-books, just in case they fell into the wrong hands (because some of his research was cutting edge, but sometimes flirting with what was legal or acceptabe at the time-period). I used the same secret code in this painting: I mirrored the lettering done on a computer and then copied the mirrored text by hand. If you look at the illustration in a mirror, you'll be able to read a part of the adventures of our robot-inventor :). I'm quite happy with the result. I like his goofy face, maybe he'll invent a time machine in a delorian next! :)
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To kick-start this blog: a tutorial about a white dragon.
Painting a white creature is generally quite difficult. The biggest challenge is to mix the main character in with its background. Since a few years I've been using a collage technique. In this particular painting it made blending the dragon in with the background even more of a challenge! I first painted the background so I could plan the shadowing and highlights of the dragon. In the first few layers of the creature I painted the shadows roughly and made sure that the lightest part (e.g. the head) stayed the center of focus. I also added contrasting colors, like pinks and purples, because oddly enough it makes the white look more like white in the final painting. When I was happy with the balance of the shadows and highlights, I added a few layers of detail. I cut out the dragon and put it on the background to make the final adjustments before glueing it onto the background. Hope you like the end result! |
4MINIgeeks
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January 2020
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