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| Stage 1: Initial rough sketch from the idea. |
2nd Update: I've shared several different stages of the process at the end of the post and included the final version as well. If you double-click on one picture, it should allow you to go through the images alone in sequential order. The title of the final piece is Fluid Dynamics.
Update: Things are getting a bit inky up in here! Two more pics showing the progression; a final one of all the pencil work and the first stage of ink (that's my favorite part!).
I took a little break from painting the other day. Actually I've taken many breaks from doing anything productive or particularly good but that's besides the point, we'll just focus on making things here. I took a break from painting because I had a flash of insight several weeks ago that turned into a seed of an image that started to finally germinate. I'm posting three images here to illustrate how such an idea can come to be but in reality, this only captures a few of those moments where I actually took the time to snap a pic and not all of the stops and starts that go into bringing an entirely new idea to life.
I've always been fascinated with mechanical things. I was one of those kids who would take things apart to try and figure out how they worked and more often than not, break them in the process. That's okay and if you're a parent of a young one, I encourage you to encourage them to explore their curiosity. Unless of course it's something that's really expensive or can't risk losing. I always appreciated my dad for letting me use his workbench in the garage to tinker with stuff. Of course, he was usually at work when I did anything just in case. I still remember the one time I wanted to experiment with a wood-burner on a skateboard wheel on a day that he was home and let's just say it's pretty hard to get rid of the smell of burnt plastic very easily. But I digress.
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Stage 2: Frame set major pieces in place
and some minor details starting to form |
A vision came to me of a perpetual motion machine based on the concept of a water-wheel. I did a hasty sketch (the starting point of the first image) and then mulled on the idea a bit. This seemed like good poster material and I had a excess piece of large paper left from another failed experiment so I flipped it over an mapped out the beginnings with a straightedge and pencil. After placing the initial gears and drawing in a rough frame, I stopped. I was also working on some the paintings I've mentioned in past posts and the poster languished. Then, for good or bad, another round of inspiration struck. I notice in the local paper that the City was planning their annual Arts and Music festival and the theme was, "...the concepts of collaboration, inclusivity and community." Don't blame me for their lack of the Oxford comma. I considered the paintings I had worked recently but none of them really seemed to fit those themes. But then it hit me...water is certainly the lifeblood of the community not only it's definition as a necessity of life but also for a river-adjacent locale, it's hugely important for our local economy and way of life.
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Stage 3: More details added and small little
inspirations also added as I think of related
concepts that would be good to fill the space |
This inspired me to start working in earnest on the poster, putting the paintings on the backburner for a bit (please don't let me take a 'break' that lasts years!). After putting in a good few hours of effort, I snapped a picture of my progress so far and I thought this could be a good exercise in showing the progression and eventual (crossing fingers) completion of the poster. In my opinion, it's a bit easier than showing the progression of a painting because by time I finish spell at the easel, there's more clean-up to do and often times the progression looks miniscule (i.e. tiny little boathouses in the background). The one problem I'm really having with this poster though is that I get impatient with drafting everything in with pencil and I find myself wanting to go straight to ink. But I have to tell myself, "NO!!! NO!! Bad artist!" Once you ink it in, it's pretty tough to make corrections and even if no one else notices, YOU will always know where you screwed up. I hate that feeling. Anyway, enjoy the progression pics and I will provide an update soon.
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Stage 4: Final markup in pencil. This doesn't
include any shading, texturing, or some other
small details I may think of later. |
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Stage 5: Let the ink flow! I did add the parallel belts
to provide some functional purpose for the central gear
and act as separators to compartmentalize the two
opposing sides. There is definitely some more
complexity to this as I've had to keep in mind the
various layers and what you can visually 'see' first.
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| Stage 6 |
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Stage 7
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| Stage 8 |
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| Stage 9: Final Version (for now) |
