Issue #70 of Art Scene International presents the following articles.
News from the world of art
Interview: A Fantasy World. Jerry Vanderstelt
Workshop: Homeward by Jerry Vanderstelt (see the below for a sample of this article)
Book Review: Expose 4 – Finest Digital Art in the known Universe
Cover Art: What is it that makes a good book cover?
Art Scene International & Epilogue present: Matt Stawicki
Workshop: The Beat Machine. A BMW gets its hip hop look
Showroom: Our readers show their art
Workshop: Three Kinds of an illustration by Oliver Paaß
Interview: Femme Fatale by Jörg Warder
Kustom Art: The Iwata Hi-Line Kustom series
Tips and tricks: The Shinning Neon effect in Adobe Photoshop
Workshop: Hush. A digital elf by Benita Winckler
Digital Arts: part 4, Simple Tricks for Difficult Light
Review: World-Bodypainting Festival 2006
To give you a feel for the quality of ASI magazine, we present a sample workshop article. You can find the full article with tons more detailed photographs by picking up issue #70 of Art Scene International.
Homeward
By Jerry Vanderstelt
Medium: Airbrush
Size: 25 x 35 inches
Support: Strathmore 500 Hot press Illustration board
Airbrushes: Iwata Eclipse, Iwata Custom Micron C
Paint: Aeroflash by Holbein
Sketches
To start off, I have a few rough sketches. This is where you need to take your time and really think out all the ideas you have in your head, and try to translate them into some sort of visual representation in sketch form.
1
Here we have the painting all laid out in pencil with all the elements in place. In this step especially, you need to take your time to get all your geometry, perspective and depth of field elements worked out before you begin with color.
Once that is done, I usually frisk off the main character, or any other item(s) that should not get paint overspray on it until the last stage.
Once done, I will use a copy machine to make several copies of key items (such as the Fairy) at 100% size. This way, I can make custom masks or shields to help create the Fairy image with the airbrush. I believe artist Dru Blair first used this technique, but I cannot be sure exactly where or when it was first conceived of.
2 A
Ok, now that the frisket film has protected all, we can start in with color. This is where it is up to you how you build up your colors; because your own color scheme will dictate what color you lay down first. In my case, I wanted a golden glow amidst the green light of this subterranean world, so I laid down the gold – green / bronze-ish colors first, as shown here.
2 B
Right now I am establishing some details in the wall before I get too involved in the color scheme. Remember those “copies” I told you about? Using a cutting board, here is where I used an X-acto knife and cut out my own custom stencils to get the basic outlines of the sculptures in the wall laid down. What’s nice about these stencils is you can knock these areas down with the airbrush, and re-establish those details with the stencil. But watch out! You need to be absolutely certain you are lined up; otherwise it can turn into a real mess!!
2 C
Here is one example of my custom stencil. Basically, if you have several copies of any given area of the original pencil layout, you can create any shape with your x-acto knife to fit your preferences.
3
Now we are starting to add some greens and grey blues to the distant wall in the painting. As a side note, the diamond-shaped window was also frisked off. I wanted to keep the Window as white as possible, and I knew that the window area was going to be subject to a lot of airbrushing as I made color decisions along the way. Here you will notice that I incorporated some sculptured figures inlaid in the wall. Items such as these need to be painted in now, because we are going to try and build up the depth of field in this scene. Don’t worry about painting all the details here; you want to leave some room for objects or scenery that is much closer. Too much detail on far away objects can quickly destroy any depth of field effects you are trying to create.
4
At this stage I am slowly getting comfortable with the color scheme, building up my depth of color, utilizing mostly the airbrush. I happen to prefer the Iwata Eclipse and the Custom Micron C. There are several paints available, but my preference is Areoflash by Holbein.
5
In this painting I decided to do something different. I made it look as if the mountains were built after the wall. It gives the scene a sort of Eternal quality to the architecture in the distance. At this stage, I started airbrushing an aqua colored layer for my base coloring of the hills. This basic color ( Turquoise- ish ) was pre- mixed and added in heavier layers as I built up the hills and trees as I came forward with my scenery.
This is where you can play with warm and cool colors. The light source from that massive window has a warm light emanating from it. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to create a cooler, secondary light source where the light from the window does not reach.
6
Now we are starting to get into deep water. For every move you make at this phase, keep in mind that you are trying to build up the details as you come forward. If you want detail, go ahead and put it in. But if you do paint it in, you might want to consider “dusting ” it with the airbrush, just to knock it back a bit. Remember, for every level of detail that goes in at this point, you will have to almost double the amount of details in nearer objects such as trees rocks, flowers, etc.
This is also where I am starting to play with the waterfall. This will be detailed and tweaked as I come forward with the falls that are closer, building them up with the details in conjunction with the other scenery. If you’re not comfortable “making it up” you can always go to the Internet and Google a waterfall for reference.
7
Here some days have gone by, but I have been using the same basic Turquoise mix I made from the beginning. If you are using custom colors, and not “out of the bottle” then make sure you make enough, because it’s a real bugger to try and match that custom color right in the middle of trying to establish a background.
Notice that the rock the Fairy is sitting on has been airbrushed in freehand. This was mostly done to get used to having it there, and to test what color approach I was trying for.
The only addition here is I have been adding some yellow greens where I think that some light from the Window hits the hillsides. Also this stage is where your shadows start to get darker. This is where I am really mixing the airbrush along with some serious brushwork. The lighting is not 100% accurate of course, but here is where visual appeal overrides complete realism. Who knows, maybe there is an unseen window to the left somewhere. It’s Fantasy; we can bend some rules, right?
8
Here the tree is getting its first leaves. This is where there is no reverse, really. Make sure the leaves you put down are the ones you want. If you mess up, you will need to re-establish that far-distant background you built way in the beginning. Take your time, and think it out, especially as you come forward with more details. I know I keep repeating this, but you don’t want to go back and re-establish the background all over again. Getting it right helps make the wall look far away against the leaves.
9
Here the tree is pretty much finished, with some moss hanging off the branches as a final touch.
10
The mossy rock the Fairy is sitting on is now done. This was almost all brushwork. Again, the rock against the distant waterfalls and trees has to punch out hard to get that depth of field I was aiming for. The closer the object is, the longer you need to spend on the details. Remember the wall in the beginning? Now you can see where it was necessary to keep the details of the wall at a minimum. In my mind, the wall is close to a mile away. So any details that wall may have will be washed in more monochromatic colors.
11
OK. Our background is now at a satisfactory stage of completion. Right now, I am using “drafting” tape and scrap paper to mask off the entire background. This will keep any overspray from ruining all our hard work!
Before I mask off the background, I usually apply a clear coat to protect all but the main figure in the painting. I used Krylon 1311 matte finish. Let it dry overnight to make sure it is cured before you use the drafting tape. Drafting tape is the safest way to do this, because it is a low-tack tape.
12
The Fairy is now protected and ready for paint. This may be a little overkill, but it’s always better to make sure you have everything covered so you can concentrate on the figure.
13
The Fairy now gets a coat of my base flesh color, which is a custom mix of a sort of peachy -yellow, keeping in mind the light from the Window above.
14
Here the base coat laid down. Work from light to dark when it comes to layering your flesh colors.
15
Here is the first stencil airbrushed through. It’s very rough, but it gives you a guide as you blend your nearby colors with the airbrush freehand.
16
I am now starting to get some basics established, such as a flat spray of the Fairy’s clothing.
17
As you can see, I have my reference taped next to the actual Fairy to be painted. In this case, the Fairy reference was generated in the computer with some off the shelf 3-d software you can buy. At this point, I am starting to blend the colors of the flesh according to my reference. After each spray-through with the stencil, I will then blend the colors with the airbrush very carefully to soften the hard lines that the stencil leaves behind. Remember, with these self made stencils, you have to choose what elements are to be cut out with the x-acto knife. In this picture I made a stencil for the greenish colors in the general shaded areas. Some stencils are for blacks some for whites some for reds, greens or any other critical colors you find in the flesh reference. It’s up to you how many you want to make. This process is tedious, but it’s an accurate guide as you blend and layer each flesh color. Remember, a general rule of thumb is to work from light to dark.
18
A new stencil with darker flesh tones.
19
There are several more of the same steps but the process is basically the same. As you get closer to the very darkest flesh colors, you need to take extreme caution not to overspray the lighter areas with the darker paints!! This will give you a color shift, which is a lot of work to fix. If you are not seasoned with the airbrush, it may be better to get out your brushes sooner. The airbrush is a quick way to get a lot done, but sooner or later you will want to put the airbrush down, and finish up with brushwork.
20
Here is the Fairy after one of the darkest flesh colors are airbrushed through the stencil, then blended together just like all the other layers.
21
Here are more details like the Fairy’s headpiece. Now this is an area where you can apply light colors over the darks and get away with it. I applied white or very light fleshy yellows to the highlighted areas. The reason I do not get a radical color shift is because I am laying down my whites or light yellows over an already very light flesh color. If you do spray light colors over medium to darker colors you will get a shift which makes the color difficult to bring back to its original state, which would need another article to try and explain!
22
This is what the Fairy looks like airbrushed, and fully blended. Don’t move on to the next phase until you are fully satisfied with the look of the flesh.
23
Now it’s time to play. This step should be all brushwork. Take your time here and try to find all the subtle nuances you can find. This is where you can make a good painting a great painting by paying attention to details like the face, hair, hands, (an important detail with the female form) and clothing.
24
More details with the wings painted in. Almost done!
25
After the Fairy is finally complete, I then put another coat of the Krylon 1311 over the top of her. After it is cured (overnight) I begin the last step by adding the doves that are flying out of the Window. The doves were completely painted by hand; some close by and others very small to show the scale of the Window. Once that is done, I wanted to create what I call “shadow beams”.
This effect can be seen when a very strong light source is cast upon an object in mid-air like our doves. To create this effect, we are going to get out our drafting tape again. This type of tape is low tack, so it should not pull up any paint. Just use common sense here, and don’t press the tape down on the board too hard. Make sure you lay it down just enough to keep the airbrush from lifting it up. All we want to do is to create a shield.
26
Before I get out the airbrush for this final step, I use the extra copies I made in the beginning and cut out a general shape of the Fairy to keep the overspray to a minimum.
27
Here I slightly water down some of my light yellows and airbrush them over the tape which shields the doves and the area where the “shadow beams” will be. After this, I take a mixture of an orangish color and dust some paint down further from the widow area where the light is not as bright. When you do effects like this always remember that you really need a lot less paint than you think! These effects can be a nice touch, but you can also ruin it if you add too much paint here. If you’re not sure how much paint to use, you can always dust a little on then peel the tape way and take a peek, the re-apply the tape (be sure to get it in the exact same place). Once the tape is peeled, I then put my final coat of Krylon over the top.
28
And here we are. All done!
For further information on Jerry Vanderstelt and his amazing artwork make sure to visit www.vandersteltstudio.com
You can find the full article with tons more detailed photographs by picking up issue #70 of Art Scene International.
