The Alchemist #4

The Alchemist

13"x19"

Watercolor on Sanford

Value Study

Color Study

Falcon 

This is another from the Alchemist series that I have been working on.  Above I have included the final painting, along with some images of the different steps that I  take on my way to arriving at a finished painting. The Falcon was painted separately and was later added to the finished painting using Photoshop. The value study shown above is when I will decide where the lights and darks will be within the painting and where the shadows will fall upon the figures. The color study, although much more abstract than the finished painting, helps provide me with some insight to how I want to lay in my washes and allows for experimentation with potential color palettes .

Alchemist #3

Alchemist opening illustration

13"x19"

Watercolor 

Here is the third painting in the Alchemist series.

Tangiers painting

Tangiers

13"x19"

watercolor

This is the second painting in a series of images that I am working on, inspired by the book "The Alchemist".  In efforts to finish this piece for the "Big Characters" show that opened this past saturday at Seven Arts Gallery I had to cut a few corners in my process.  Lately I like to complete a value study as well as a color study before jumping into the painting, but these steps were left out due to limited time. The result was that I ended up with some things that were a bit more spontaneous than if I had gone through my usual preliminary steps. Of course there were also some things that I struggled with by not having a few essential details sorted out in the beginning, but that is par for the course.

The Chieftans

 The Chieftans 

13"x19"

watercolor and acrylic

Here  is a nearly finished version of one of the paintings from the Alchemist series that I have been working on. This piece along with a number of other watercolor, acrylic, and digital paintings will be on display at the Seven Arts Gallery in Ridgefield, CT, as a part the "Big Characters" show. The opening is this saturday April 6th, from 6-8 pm. 

Tangiers edit

Tangiers overview

This is the final layout drawing for one of the pieces in the Alchemist series that I am working on. It has come quite a ways from the initial thumbnail in which I posted a few weeks ago, and at this point I am still unsure if the composition actually works better than the previous drawing. There are things I like about the previous version and there are things I like about this one. Either way I am hoping to have it ready for my show at Seven Arts Gallery on April 6th, guess we will see?

Alchemist layout #3

Tangiers layout

This is the third drawing for a series of paintings I am working on. There remains quite few things I would like to refine and possibly add to this one, but here it is for now.

Alchemist rough layout 2

The Magic Sycamore 

This is the second layout drawing for a series of paintings I am working on based on the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This is image depicts the opening scene where the young shepherd and his flock spend the night in the ruins of an old church that has sprouted a gigantic sycamore tree from within its walls.

 As always there are a few things I will go back and refine in this drawing. As time goes by, and the more and more I work on creating illustrations, I realize how important it is to push the design phase as far as you can. In most cases a composition can always be better, a character better designed, a hand better drawn, etc.  This composition was very much influenced by the Sagrada Familia in Spain, as well as the amazing Sycamore trees found growing in the temples of Angkor Wat.

Alchemist roughs

Tangiers concept sketch

Chieftan sketch

Santiago the shepherd character study

The Chieftans

  Many years ago on a flight from Connecticut to Denver I had the chance to read The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, a beautiful story about a young Spanish Shepherd that embarks on a journey to unlock the significance of his recurring dreams. The story is filled with captivating imagery, beautiful landscapes, and magical characters in which have inspired me to create a series of illustrations. This post contains an assortment of rough drawings in which I hope will result in finished watercolor paintings. The scene containing multiple figures is furthest along in its development, while the others are tiny thumbnails taken from my moleskin sketch book.