From the cold and icy land of Hoth, we take a trip back to the Star Wars universe. This creature is the Wampa. It looks like he just had a snack but this big guy is always hungry for more.
This was originally a drawing that I had finished a couple of months ago but wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with it. I was thinking that I would do oil paint on top of the drawing but I was never really excited with the thought of it. My next choice was to paint it digitally. Which is what we have here. While still a Photoshop newbie, I went through a lot of procrastination with doing this piece. But today I decided it was time to give it a shot.
Wrapping up this week of X-Men, with our fourth character, Apocalypse. He is the big baddie of the new film, X-Men: Apocalypse. He is a time travelling Egyptian God who wants to take over the world. Just another day at the office for the X-Men. In the movie he is played by Oscar Isaac. The final version of this piece was drawn with ink and painted in Photoshop.
Day 3 of X-Men characters from the movie universe brings us to good guy/bad guy, the master of magnetism, Magneto. He is portrayed by Michael Fassbender in the last 3 films. His constant flip flopping from evil to good is not just a movie thing, this is also the way he has been portrayed in the comic books. To me, Magneto will always be on the side of evil and I think he works best that way. He is such a good bad guy because his reasons for doing the “wrong” things is completely understandable. You can empathize with his way of thinking. And I never felt the movies gave us a Magneto who you believe really wanted to make the world pay for the ways humans treat the mutant population. That aside, I think Michael Fassbender does a great job.
Here is X-men number 2 for this week, Mystique. While she was a bit player in the world of mutants, in the comics, the movie universe has changed that. The other big change was her look. While always blue, she was not so naked or scaley. This is a painting on illustration board and with gouache paint. For the next X-Men character we will be going away from the traditional painting and go into the digital paint world.
March is upon us and at the end of the month Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is coming to the movie theaters. This is a film I’m very excited for and I figure this would be a good time to do some art based on the characters that will be in the movie for this month. Today features the Michael Keaton version of Batman from the 1989 Tim Burton film. When this movie came out, it was a big deal to me. At that point I was a huge Marvel Comics fan and had not paid a lot of attention to the Dark Knight. To be honest, I did not pay much attention to DC’s characters. Like most kids I knew who the big players were. I watched the Super Powers cartoon and the Batman tv show. But that was about it. This movie was very eye opening for me.
I can still remember reading the movie novelization, playing with the action figures, I had a cool Batman shirt and then going straight to the music store to get the Prince soundtrack right after the movie.
This movie is not perfect but I do still enjoy it. Michael Keaton’s performance was great. He played Bruce Wayne perfectly. His Batman was intense. I also enjoyed Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale. But, I’m torn by Jack Nicholson as Joker. I think the make up they did on him was great and of course his acting was just as good. I always felt he was a bit too old and he does some pretty lame things, like pulling a 5 foot long hand gun out of his pants to shoot down the Batwing plane with one shot. Ugh. The mood of the film itself is perfect for Gotham City. Tim Burton’s vision of the film is excellent. And a completely different version of the setting and characters that we were previously used to from the Batman tv show of the 60’s.
The painting itself was something kind of new for me also. I usually do not paint on a canvas textured surface. I typically go for a smooth surface to paint on like the paintings I did in January. And, I haven’t played around with oil paints since I had my last art show. Technique was also a new thing for me on this painting. I have been recently studying a new painting instructional book and also watching some dvds about painting. So, this is a new way of thinking when I paint.
We will have to see how this painting technique pans out for me in the future.
Here is the under painting before I started laying on the oil paint.
Next up we shall see who challenges Batman in the new film, Superman.
This is the last week of the month of love theme, and possibly my last piece for this theme. The drawing is from a scene from the movie, Casablanca. It’s a complete classic and made to perfection. I love everything about it. It has some great quotes and amazing music. I named this piece after the song, As Time Goes By, which is a song that has a big impact on the characters in the film. It’s about the joy and pain that love can bring and the hard choices that you have to make. And it’s got Nazis ruining everything. I know people might have problems watching a black and white movie from the 40’s, but to me it’s a must see.
Here is a little 5″x7″ gouache painting that I did last night. I felt like doing a little study of this scene from the first Spider-Man movie for this Month of Love. It’s been a while since I’ve done a completely gouache paint painting and I figured I would give it a shot. I also tried to give the under drawing a loose feeling by not using my normal mechanical pencils.
Here is a portrait of Vlad Dracula and Mina from 1992’s, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This movie, I find, is a bit polarizing to to many horror movie fans. I think the fact that the movie is more romance than horror is probably the big hurdle. Well, that and Keanu Reeves’ performance. Bad acting aside I do enjoy this film. I think it’s visually stunning. And, I do enjoy the romance between Mina and Dracula. As a monster movie fan I can’t say this is my favorite version of Dracula. I will always pick the original Bela Lugossi film as my favorite Dracula flick. But, the 1992 version is still an enjoyable addition to the Dracula film catalog.
Mina: I want to be what you are, see what you see, love what you love.
Dracula: Mina, to walk with me you must die to your breathing life and be reborn to mine.
Dracula: Then, I give you life eternal. Everlasting love. The power of the storm. And the beasts of the earth. Walk with me to be my loving wife, forever.
11″x16″ ink and water color painting on toned paper.
“AS YOU WISH”
Week two of February is upon us and here is my second “love” themed piece for the month. This is a painting based on the movie, The Princess Bride. This is one of those cult classic type movies that has a big following. I must admit that I am new to this movie. I saw it for the first time only recently, in the last two years. And after hearing how great this movie is for so long, I was pretty confident that I would be underwhelmed by it. But, I gave it a shot and I’m glad I did because I did enjoy it. It’s a nice fantasy movie with interesting characters and a fun story. Best of all it has Andre The Giant in it. Since the movie, at it’s heart, is a love story, I figured it would be a fun subject to paint for this month’s theme.
This painting is for sale for $50.00
Check out my Etsy store to purchase it: https://www.etsy.com/listing/267463785/the-princess-bride?ref=shop_home_active_1
