This week I bought some new tubes of acrylics and watercolours that were on special. The Winsor & Newton acrylics are an upgrade to their Finity line. Improvements include no colour shift from wet to dry and a longer open time. So far they handle really well and feel similar to the Golden acrylics I have used previously.

The watercolours are the Japanese brand Holbein. These paints are gorgeous. High quality watercolours at a great price. After much research on Handprint and Wet Canvas here are the colours I chose:

Winsor & Newton Artist Acrylics

Primaries
Cadmium Yellow Light PY35 Opaque
Permanent Rose PV19 Transparent
Phthalo Blue GS PB15.1 Transparent

Ultramarine Blue PB29 Transparent

Secondaries
Cadmium Red light PR108 Opaque
Chromium Oxide Green PG17 Opaque

Earth colours
Yellow Iron oxide PY42 Opaque
Burnt Umber PBr7 Transparent
Burnt Sienna PR101 Transparent
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Holbein Artist Watercolours

Primaries
Cadmium Yellow Light PY37
Permanent Magenta PV19
Manganese Blue Nova PB15

Ultramarine Deep PB29

Secondaries
Cadmium Red light PR108

Earth colours
Yellow Ochre PY42
Burnt Umber PBr7
Burnt Sienna PBr7

These roughs were done without any preliminary drawing and painted very quickly with opaque acrylic.
Acrylic on gessoed 300 gsm watercolour paper. A3 size.

Digital painting (Photoshop).

Final inked version. A4 size.
FW ink, sable brush, copic sketch marker, canson paper.Rough sketch on detail paper.

Drawings of wacky monsters inspired by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. These were drawn at A6 size.

This is my entry for the Paper Wings Wacom Challenge.

Title: Weird Austen Tales
The brief was to create a piece inspired by a quote from a famous artist. There were three quotes to choose from and I went with “Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery” by Jane Austen.
You can now see my entry on the Paper Wings website where you can begin voting on it in a few hours. If you like it and want to vote just click the Facebook “Like” button. I appreciate your support.

Check it out here:
http://www.paperwingspodcast.com/2011/07/weird-austen-tales-by-crosby/

Development Process

My first idea was to have Jane Austen surrounded by ghouls and monsters. The Elivra lookalike is trying to interest Jane in her manuscript. I scrapped this idea once I thought about doing it has a 1950′s horror comic inspired by titles such as EC’s Weird Fantasy and Tales from the Crypt.

Here’s my first attempt at inking it, using sable brush, brush pen on bristol paper (and plenty of white out). I tried to show the severed hand writing her name but it didn’t fit into the space.

The final inked drawing cleaned up in Photoshop and converted to a bitmap.

Played around with various colour schemes and eventually went for cool colours in the background with warmer colours up front. Then used this excellent tutorial to achieve the mis-registered old comic look.
http://jonnycrossbones.com/tutorials/how-to-color-like-a-little-old-lady/

For the worn paper texture I made my own “black paper” on my laser printer, then repeatedly creased and crushed it and scanned it back in.

Various logos and type I recreated for the cover. All the elements were then assembled in Photoshop.

Just completed these two paintings for a local art show. The inspiration came from those kitsch prints and postcards popular in the 1960′s and 1970′s. They often feature cutesy girls and boys with huge eyes. In fact this type of painting is now know as Big Eyed Art and original prints sell for a premium on Ebay.
You can check out some of the reference I used here. Both paintings are acrylic on canvas and measure 8″ X 16″.

Here’s a more painterly version.

Final artwork. Colour added in Photoshop.
Light boxed the final sketch onto bleed proof paper with blue pencil. Inked with Pentel brush pen. Scanned in at 300ppi, Removed blue lines and cleaned up in Photoshop.
Placed detail paper over my original sketch and redrew it.
My first rough sketch using blue Col-Erase pencil then refined with marker. A4 size. (Above)

Now in it’s 2nd year California Screamin’ Down Under II at the Kustom Lane Gallery is a wonderful opportunity for Aussie artists to show off their stuff. The top three artworks are shipped off to rub shoulders with the best at the Screamin’ 6 Exhibition at Gasoline Gallery in California.

For my entry I wanted to try something different and inject a bit of story. Not sure where the inspiration came from but I have always loved the moody images from Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” video. So I went for Daddy’s poor little rich girl taking a pit stop at her favorite gas station on the edge of town.

Below you can see how it progressed from thumbnails to colour sketch to canvas to gallery wall. If you are in the area don’t forget to check out the exhibition at Kustom Lane. Its runs until 17th April 2011.

Here’s the finished painting.
“The Pick Up” Acrylic on canvas. W400mm X H300mm. March 2011.

Drawing transferred on canvas with a rough wash of Burnt Umber (Above).

My first digital colour sketch (Above).

My first thumbnails and rough sketches. All these were drawn with pencil and fine liner then I played around with the composition in Photoshop.

Hand drawn illustration. Digital colour.

The Lady in White
Acrylic on canvas 16″ x 12″ (40cm x 30.5cm).

This piece was completed for the big end of year art sale at Kustom Lane gallery in Hawthorn. The show runs form 28th November – 19th December and is a great chance to pick up some cool art before Christmas. There’s no opening night event but a bbq at the gallery on the 19th December.
Check out all the details here http://www.kustomlane.com/

My main inspiration came from pulp paperback covers from the 1960′s (particularly artists like Robert Bonfils). Many of those covers not only had provocative imagery and titles but were painted in a rough dry brush that gave the artwork real energy.

In regards to the lady’s appearance I was inspired by two animated movie characters. Ginormica from Monsters vs Aliens and Mirage from The Incredibles. Both have white hair that contrasted strikingly against their skin and i wanted a similar effect here.

In my first sketch i had her holding a wine glass but a gun seems more appropriate and in keeping with the pulp theme. It also creates a greater sense of intrigue. As you can see in my development sketches below i had a lot of trouble with her face. Eventually went for cute younger look rather than a sultry appearance.

Art nerd stuff
For the texture I used heavy modeling paste over the pre primed canvas. This was spread with a palette knife and then created the texture with various toothbrushes and combs.

After the drawing was transferred with carbon paper I began painting with Golden Acrylics. The darks in the curtain is a mix of Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue. The gray/green shadows in the dress is a mix of white, a tiny bit of Thalo Blue and a touch of Burnt Umber.

Heres the completed painting with a first coat of acrylic sealer. Gave it three coats sealer and two coats removable varnish.

Development sketches (Below)
Sketches were drawn at A3 size. Revised parts were redrawn on tracing paper. Eventually it was scanned into Photoshop where sizes were adjusted. It was printed out and then transferred by carbon paper to the canvas.