C-3PO
Well, I realized that I had been pretty lazy last year and really need to start working harder if I am going to get anywhere. I thought I should set aside some time each week to do two or three short paintings--something in the range of 60-90 minutes or so at a maximum. Just a warm-up of sorts, so nothing too fancy.
Starting last week, I had set up a couple typical still life arrangements involving fruits and vegetables that were on the counter. Y'know, the usual artsy-fartsy stuff, and they turned out well enough.
In this case, I wanted to work on painting something shiny and thought C-3PO would fit that bill just fine and--BONUS!--would also work as something I could post on this Blog without it lookin' out of place. I grabbed a 5.5" x 8" piece of gessoed hardboard that I had randomly toned with some neutral colors.
For the palette: Titanium White, Ivory Black, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Naples Yellow (Red Lt.), Yellow Ochre, VanDyke Brown, Cadmium Red Deep, Permanent Blue Violet, and Ultramarine Blue. I also used a #10 Flat Brush and a #10 Round Brush for all the painting.
I think it turned out well enough that I'm not totally embarrassed by the results. I'm thinking I may post a series of other Sci-Fi/Horror/Comic Book oriented warm-ups in the future if there's enough interest. We'll see, I guess.
And this time I had enough foresight to scan in my progress a little bit. Yeah, I know, who'da thunk it?
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STEP ONE: First, I did a pencil layout with an ebony pencil I had laying around. I will be the first to admit that they are a little off for the shape of the head, but I just wanted to get a rough placement of the figure and planned on fixing anything in the painting stages. This was just a warm-up of sorts, after all.
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STEP TWO: I spent about 30 minutes using a #10 Flat brush to layout most of the form, lights and shadows, and the general color arrangement. In some ways, I sort of like the flattened, posterized look and thought about stopping here. It was done just enough that you can recognize who it is, but still abstract enough that it was visually interesting, IMHO.
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STEP THREE: I used the remaining hour I gave myself on this for tightening up the colors, adding more shadows and highlights, and a little bit more detail. At the end of the 90 minutes, I pretty much called it done, signed my name on it, and scanned it in. Good enough.
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This was done with acrylic paint on 5.5" x 8" gessoed hardbard.
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Nice looking. Fits the "shiny" bill.
ReplyDeleteHey, I finally got around to seeing The Force Awakens. I liked it a lot. I've got to admit, I'm glad C3PO had such a small part. He began to annoy me as I got older or the sequence of shows progressed or I don't know. For some reason. It drives me nuts that the Maker is Darth Vader. But that really didn't much come up.
So what do you think? Are Rey & Ren cousins? Becky was guessing siblings, but I'd bet Leia would have known about her missing daughter if that were the case. And if they are cousins, will Luke recognize his daughter? And how far into the film before the "I am your father" line?
Yo Jack! :-)
DeleteThanks for the flattery--it is ALWAYS appreciated. ;-) And you have only just now gotten around to seeing "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"? Oh, how far you have fallen from Nerd Grace, m'friend. Tsk, tsk.
While I'm not a Prequel hater, it also bothered me that Lucas felt he had to explain--and tie together--the origin of every hex nut and bolt of the original series. C-3P0 being created by Anakin/Darth Vader was just the most blatant example. (Although, it did give a pretty cool comic book scene: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ed/18/4c/ed184c58369cbd0f9d5cdecf4d4c3a2d.jpg )
That is part of the reason that I am hoping they don't tie Rey into the Skywalker/Solo family tree at all. I would prefer they just have her be a random person who happens to be sensitive to the Force. After all, I assume all the previous Jedi weren't related to the Skywalkers, he says, knowing the answer is "Yes". I mean, the galaxy is a BIG place, having everyone related to everyone else... what is this, Space-Kentucky? :-P
I agree that Leia's reaction just doesn't fit if she had a missing daughter, so I ruled that out, myself. They are definitely hinting that there is a connection to Luke, though. So, "I am your father" is probably in the future. Or, "I am your father's brother's nephew, twice removed!"
Sure, all the previous Jedi may not have been Skywalkers, but all future Jedi will be. Assuming there's a genetic component to passing on the force and if I'm remembering correctly that the Jedi purge left only Obi Wan, Yoda, Anakin and Palpatine as practitioners. And of those four, only Anakin had progeny.
DeleteOr maybe nature will find a way, right? If I can mix movie metaphors. Maybe the Skywalker line will be strong in the force, but it's somehow possible there could be others. I expect Finn to become a Jedi.