Old Work...New Lessons

This was my first stab at a 'proper' painting! it's of a robber baron/nightclub owner called Gileese and his two doormen Jachin and Boaz. i think the wide-angle, forced perspective and underwater lighting were a bit too ambitious for my abilities, but i was pretty chuffed with it at the time!!

this was the second (and one of my favorite in the series), of the blind shaman Borlese and his army of Gelada baboons. i tried to focus on the balance of composition in this one, and tried to improve my understanding of how cloth hangs and folds (what a shame i didn't try to improve my understanding of simple rim-lighting!?). i think this was an easier painting for me as it's pretty monochrome. But what it lacks in colour, it makes up for in fist-pumping monkey!! ..."AWOOOGA!!!"

Baroness Kruesmark and her loyal soldiers, atop a decommissioned train in London's underground system. here i was trying to handle different textures, like bitumen on the train carriage and the leather of her catsuit. i liked the curve of the dogs' shadows on the subway tunnel ceiling (but it was a total cop-out, as i'm not a natural at environments!)

here is the story's anti-hero Joseph Hellenbach and the red kite that serves as his visual aide and companion. i wanted this painting to be much lighter than that of the barons, and felt it was a good opportunity to have a crack at painting some rocks and a sky scape! i look back at these paintings and really notice things like how dead and flat the skin tones are; things like the ear have no light shining through them with a nice orange glow! (or sub-surface scattering for the texture artists out there!)

Baron Palencarr. i really enjoyed painting this, but again feel like the absence of finishing touches like bear drool and shiny gums give the painting a stale and lifeless quality. it's only looking back at these after several years that i realise how such simple things can really bring an image to life! maybe I'll revisit these with a quick pass on each to add some much needed atmosphere!

this is where things started to get surreal! the conjoined barons Burnett, at their sacrificial alter...it was little more than an interesting anatomy study (although i shudder more at the obvious mistakes than the subject matter!)

this was the big daddy Lu Yueh, whose webbed fingers suggest the start of a transformation into the demon in the background. great fun to paint, but very much lacking in life and atmosphere! i really needed to study lighting (and still do now!!).  if anything, posting these images was a nice trip down memory lane, and highlights the areas i need to push to bring more energy to my artwork.