Victorian author at writing desk with giant cat - WIP stages

3 stages in the creation of the surreal author illustration.

Digitally painted in late winter 2021, this surreal illustration shows an author sitting at his writing desk while being spied upon by a large black cat.

In the picture above can be seen three stages of the completion of the illustration with the first stage showing the initial drawing using 'Auto Sketchbook Pro' software. The second panel presents the image with colour roughly indicated as well as tones and light values. At this stage the image is a small one, with a size of 1500px along the longest edge. After a time of development the image is then worked up to a final image as shown in the final panel. Here the image is now 6000px along the longest edge and the elements have largely been repainted with the earlier stage acting like a guide. More detail and finer painting is required at this larger size.

The finished surreal image of a author at his desk can be seen in greater detail on this link.

 

 closeup working progress 19

 A small snippet of a sci-fi image with a skull...

Victorian author at writing desk with giant cat - digital illustration

Completed digital illustration of the author at desk.

On an dark night a writer is busy working on his manuscript. He sits at a desk with a lamp on in his study. A very large cat looks on, spying on him during the evenings. As the author has some eyesight issues he now has a 'steampunk' like attachment to help with his writing. This was painted using 'Auto Sketchbook Pro' during spring 2021.

The illustration can be seen in better detail by following this external link.

 

 Plein air painting 18

A view of a path running through Southampton common painted during October 2020.

Tower Bridge as seen from Butler's Wharf - WIP stages

Stages of painting the image of Tower Bridge, London.

Tower Bridge, a world famous landmark is portrayed in this painting, created during late 2020. Tower bridge is situated in the city of London, UK and spans the river Thames, linking the north and south sides.

The painting is done in oils on mounting board, sized at 33” x 23”. The photograph above shows various stages of the work under progress. In the first panel the initial drawing can be seen, done in brown acrylic paint on top of a lighter brown wash. It is based on a photograph taken a number of years ago. The tug boat was repositioned to create a more pleasing composition. The second panel displays how colour paint has been applied to create a basic idea of tonal and colour placement within the composition. The paint is diluted with a special thinner for this task and is dry after a few days, and this becomes the underpainting. One part of the panel does show one of the towers partly painted with a further stage applied, which is the next stage as shown in panel 3, where the paint is applied thickly without being diluted. Details are painted in and the colours are more truer to the intended outcome. The final, fourth panel shows the final, finished artwork. Here all of the paint is applied thickly. In addition a glazing layer was applied on top of the paint to emphasize some colour and tonal adjustments, and to help create a more vibrant painting. Glazing is when a small amount of oil colour paint is added to a medium, in this case one which is like a thick, transparent oil to create something akin to stained glass. Basically the colour of something in the painting has its colour boosted or empathised to create extra depth.

The finished London landscape painting can be seen on this link.