Todays agenda, after completely my quest to find some good monglian bbq, was to finish the lining for "The incredible Hulk" commissioned piece I've been working on. Completely designed from scratch, here's what the piece looks like after completing it on my desktop using #Autodesk #Sketchbook:
This piece was a lot of fun to draw. I've never really been much of a Hulk fan, but I really like doing comic book style art with hard black lines and stuff.
The story of how this commission came to be was a bit of a journey in itself. The original idea was moral a piece like this on the wall of a childs room for a friend of mine. Problem was that they lived in the midwest and I live in southern California. I really didn't want to have to take time out to go out there for a couple weeks to do a piece, so we had to think of another approach. I had the idea of marling a door for them (an idea i still plan on pursuing in the very near future for other pieces). That way i could paint something big and awesome, and since my friends rent their apartment, they could take the piece with them should they ever move. Good idea, right? Turns out they had doorframe of odd dimensions, and the pricing from #HomeDepot to have a door customer made was over $100. That was a little more trouble then they wanted to go thru, so they decided on having the piece done on a large piece of #claybord. So once the claybord arrived in the mail, with only a little bit of slight damage on the corners from shipping, it was time to get to work.
First thing to do was to print the image so it could be projected. I could have completely redrawn the piece from scratch on the board, something i've had to do in the past, but there really isn't much sense in taking more time with something when it really wasn't necessary, especially not when you're working on a commission where you get paid for the product, not for the time it takes to do it.... that's not entirely accurate, but you get the idea.
So here's what it looks like after lightly penciling in the image (30x36x1.5 inch clapboard):
Personally, I recommend using 2H graphite for laying out stuff prior to paint. 2H is a harder lead and tends to keep a finer point longer and doesn't smear and smudge as easily will still being dark enough to work with. Kind of a pain to do since I have to double line everything, meaning lining both sides of the thick black lines, but the results are worth it. Clean hands are always a must. This keeps from leaving unsightly smudges on the surface and (hopefully) minimizes bodily oil deposits which might effect the paint when you spray it on. It also helps to remember (if you're used to drawing small in a sketchbook or whatever) is to draw with your whole arm and not just with the wrist. It'll make the long sweeping lines come out smoother and cleaner and is an invaluable skill to master in doing anything large scale.
The Battle Begins!!
I usually do my lining with fine brushes and paint, then do final touchup with sharpie after its all said and done, but that process is really time consuming and a whole lot of work. I thought I'd try a new approach this time (new for me at least). I busted out the sharpie right from the get go. Actually, it was a sharpie and a couple #prismacolor black markers. I learned pretty quickly that the felt tips of those markers didn't really work as well as i was hoping on the relatively smooth surface of the claybord. So after struggling for a while, it dawned on me to try a brush pen. First one i reached for was a #MicronBrushPen:
It worked pretty good, but the the tip frayed a bit and made controlling the edges and sharp whiptail lines difficult, so i reached for my #CopicBrushPen:
This did the trick. The Micron pens are completely disposable. There are awesome pens that are great in their own right, but the Copics are refillable with ink cartridges and the tips are replaceable. The Copics are more expensive in the initial investment, but the refills and replacements offset the cost. Plus you can't argue with the quality.
So, sally forth.
With my big jug of ice water at the ready, a good audio book playing in the background (tonight, it was #CliveCusslers "Plague Ship" - #OregonFiles), and my supervisor overseeing my progress:
The lining was finally done:
*Whew*
At this point, i'm a little concerned about the possibility that the ink will effect the paint when i start airbrushing. Kinda like water beading on your cars finish, it's something that could happen when you try to put acrylic paint over a solvent based medium (like sharpie ink) or over really smooth surfaces, like ink itself. I'm hoping that a coat of matte finish clear coat will preserve the lines and give the paint something to grab on and stick to. Fingers crossed.
Next phase? Painting. Stay tuned. Same Bat time, Same Bat channel.... or whatever.
Next Episode:
Here's the colors done by my color guy:
I plan on using this as a color guide (i'm colorblind), but I think I have some ideas on how i want to actually paint this. Besides, doing the cel-shaded style is pretty hard to do in airbrush unless you cut a lot of frisket shields and i really don't want to have to do that. But that's a battle for another day.
