Here's some reference images I used for those:
And here's the one I decided to work up, 9x12 on Bristol Vellum. Got brave and used ink and a brush, as well as my copic liners, and Liquitex marker pens. I was interested in popping out the blood by doing it in a different medium than the rest of the image, and in bringing foreward his face by having it contain the only whitespace in the composition.
Here's the reference for this image:
I chose to extend the spread of his blood, to enhance the rhythm of an otherwise provocative but pretty flat shot from the show.
Wow, that's great work Heidi! Wonderful choices on your thumbnail explorations. For thumbnails, you definitely shouldn't worry too much about likeness. Just simplify and yes, I mean simplify even more than what you have. Your 3rd, 5th, and 8th are the most clear and simplified thumbs. Good job on these!
ReplyDeleteYour leather texture rendering with ink is beautiful on the final sketch. Good call on using the blood as an additional visual design element.
One of the things that I don't hear artists talk about enough is building a visual vocabulary. This is exactly how we build it! With studies. It's not enough to just look at images and say "cool, I like that." When we write about it with notes, when we sketch the image, there is a persistence of vision. The image burns into a part of our minds and we'll remember it better because we thought about it and spent more time with it.
As time pass with more studies, we have more to recall from. This develops our taste and it is what builds our style. Our tastes will show and we form solid opinions on what is good and why we like pieces. It also makes talking about specifics with other artists easier if we share similar tastes. :)