Mini-Paint: Admiral Ackbar Action Figure

Action Figure Painting:

Admiral Ackbar

Hey, it's another Action Figure Mini-Paint!  This time, it's everyone's favorite Mon Calamari (to paraphrase Homer Simpson: "Mmmmmm, Calamari"), Admiral Ackbar.

I have a small art show along with my daughter coming up in September 2019 at the Middleton Library in Middleton, WI.  It will be a mix of about five-to-six pen-and-ink drawings based on monsters and characters from Greek Myth, and about five-to-six paintings of action figures in the Children's section.  So, there will be at least a couple more Action Figure Quick Paints in the near future posted on the Blog.

Oh, and of course: "IT'S A TRAP!"

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STEP ONE:  I used a mixture of light-blue casein (sort of like an acrylic paint, except it uses a milk-based protein as the binder) and matte medium on a 6" x 9" piece of Canson XL (#140) watercolor paper.  I then used a colored pencil to draw out the image.

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STEP TWO:  Here is about the halfway point--just a quick laying down of the colors to give a sense of what it will vaguely look like, and also to give the gouache paint something to "stick" to.  It helps to have a thin layer of paint down, then it allows you to paint more opaquely over top.  Otherwise, it can become something of a streaky mess--um, just like the painting above, in fact.

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STEP THREE:  And, after lots and LOTS of back-and-forth, painting and re-painting, here's the finished effort.  An Admiral Ackbar action figure painting, done after about 5-6 hours.

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Done with gouache on 6" x 9" Canson XL (#140) watercolor paper.

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Dark Tower - There Are Other Worlds Than These.

The Dark Tower:

"There Are Other Worlds Than These."

This was a commission of sorts.  A friend of mine is a HUGE "The Dark Tower" fan and wanted me to do a painting of the Tower.  I've read "The Dark Tower" and was a fan of the series.

Being a sucker for alternate universe stories, I happened to mention the line "There are other worlds than these", one of the lines from "The Gunslinger" which always stuck with me (and, in the context of the story, was a bit of a cheat, IMHO).  That turned out to be her favorite line in the whole series--so that nailed down the theme right away.

I went with a more graphical image for "The Dark Tower", rather than something more literal; she was super-please with it, while I'm slightly more ambivalent.  I'm not sure if I will do more with this or not.  I am half-tempted to go go further with it and do it up as a giant, digital print.  Then  again, maybe in an other world.

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STEP ONE:  The pencils were done digitally in Clip Studio Paint EX using the Symmetry Tool.  I found a reference to groups of roses and drew it freehand from there.  And, I admit to cheating a little bit by typing out the lettering in non-photo blue and then inking over it.  (Yeah, I still **HATE** lettering... :-)

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STEP TWO:  I printed out the digital drawing in non-photo blue.  I used painter's tape to keep the sharp edge for the banner across the upper-half of the drawing; it did a remarkable job of keeping a sharp edge when I inked/watercolored over top of it.

I did a layer of Cadmium Red for the roses, and a mixture of light-red near to the tower.  I then used a mixture of the Cadmium Red, Ultramarine, and Burnt Umber to paint the lines for the roses, thinning it out with water to make it lighter.  I painted the watercolor/gouache over the Dark Tower inks.  And, decided to leave Roland in white silhouette, with a slight nod to the doorways in "The Drawing of the Three".

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Done with digital pencils and ink with watercolor/gouache on 8" x 10" Arches Hot-Press paper.

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