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All of my paintings come together much in the same way once an idea is decided upon (my ideas are influenced at times by the music of David Arkenstone). After I do some quick sketches I move on to the photo shoot and the selection of the model. Once a model is selected, I then begin to “stage” the photo shoot positioning her as she will be in the finished painting, making sure that any elements around her are also positioned so that shadows and light are cast accurately.

I do all my own costuming, creating the models outfit from scratch or by altering and re-using costumes from other paintings. I have my own wardrobe filled with costumes, and it really pays off. I acquired this technique a couple of years ago when I met with Boris Vallejo in New York. I owe him a lot. He assisted me considerably with valuable instructions and I would like to take this opportunity to send him a “Thank you!”

1) First things first. I start with the photo session, positioning the model, as she will be in the finished painting. I will usually shoot quite a few pictures and pick maybe three or four as reference. With this painting I did a session outside as well as inside to compare lighting.

2) Next I will draw the image fairly lightly with a 9H pencil and then paint it with acrylic paint and conventional brush using a burnt umber. This is where I will spend some time concentrating on the light and dark areas.

3) As you can see I work in as much detail as possible.

4) I switch to oil paints and start with the background. Always work from the background to the front. This gives the illusion of depth– lighter colors in the background and the darker colors in the foreground.

5) Objects in the distance, such as the mountains, have a shade of the sky color, most of the time a grey-blue. In Hawaii, the colors are very intense and I try to capture some of those colors in the mountains.

6) Painting the water can also be a challenge. I took a lot of pictures while I was in Hawaii. [I tried to get] shots both from the beach and from the water looking back to the beach to get different views. Also different times of the day will result in quite a color change, so the days can be quite long if you want to cover all the possibilities. But, hey… can that be so bad? After all you are in Hawaii!

7) Here you can see my other reference picture, an outside shot to get the right lighting.

8) On figures I always start with the face. An enlarged copy of the photograph turns out to be very helpful! This after all is the “soul” of the painting and is very important to get right. The expression is everything and if you don’t get this right the rest of the paint is going to look like crap overall. The viewer will judge your finished piece on the figure and how good it is.

9) The skin tones. This is a very important step. It’s all in the color values you use and how you “paint” the skin. You can paint a figure all green if you like and it [can] look real. For “Kokaki”, I used plenty of warm colors in my palette. Keep in mind the surroundings of your main figure, as that will determine what colors will reflect in the skin. This can be very technical but lots of fun when it works.

For more information about Paul Butvila, his limited edition prints, originals or commission work, visit his website at www.butvilaillustrations.com.

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