Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Digital+Traditional Media and How I Experiment


Above is an example of a technique experiment. As many of you know, I am a big fan of Douglas Fairbanks and his silent adventure films. This vintage poster for his film "The Black Pirate" is a fun image that shows the aesthetic of the time, but I want ted to try painting into it to strengthen its value and color, and above is the original poster with my first attempt of working into a printout of the poster with traditional media.

The poster was printed onto a 11 inch by 14 inch sheet of Canson Bristol Paper on the textured surface side using an Epson Stylus 1280 printer. The color is being applied using Pelikan opaque watercolors.

This initial phase of work is not too precise and is largely about reigning in the value and color. The background work was done in order to lower the contrasts and make the overall value lighter, while the foreground elements were darkened to try to add to the depth. The color, specifically the bright reds and warm notes in the background have been cancelled out with less vibrant colors to allow for the distant ship to appear farther away.

The key elements to notice are the figure's darkened back arm and tattered fabric against the water with less contrast. The color of the arm has also been made a warmer reddish hue that allows for it to pop off the greener water.

I was also able to track down the original promotional photo used to create the poster that I will use when I work into the figure with more detail.


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