Over the last week, I have been doing research on the illustrator Sean Mahan in order to figure out how I would emulate his style and create my own illustration. Over the weekend, I started to paint my image. Though it does not look like Sean's work there are elements in my illustration which pays tribute to the concepts behind his images. Furthermore, I decided I would also work on the same support (wood) he uses. Though he uses acrylic I went with oil painting. Sean explained to me in an email that if his studio was not in him home he would be using oil too.
Besides the fact that this is a image for a school project, I do have to say it is one my strongest painting I have EVER done. I have been painting for 16 years always trying to find that sweet balance between realistic paintings and maintain the artist hand. With this image, I think I am one step closer to reaching that goal.
What made the biggest difference in this painting compared to my previous work are two things. First, I finally understand the value of a dead layer or a grisaille layer because it adds depth and form to the image. Typically, when I did my grisaille layer I would paint (I still want to do this) but for this painting I used pencil. I emailed Sean Mahan in order to find out more about his process and I give full credit to him for explaining to me he uses pencil for his dead layer. Without that feedback my painting would not be as strong. Furthermore, I taught myself how to use layers of glazes in order to build up a colour in the painting and to add dimension.
Anyways, here is my journey:
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| Day 1– Finished the drawing and the dead layer. Started painting the layers of glaze. The neck and the legs are further along. |
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| Start of Day 2– I did the white shirt at the beginning of day 2 before I took the photograph but everything else was done the first day. |
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| Day 2– This is the end of day 2. I finished everything but now I will be staring at it for the next week finding all my stupid mistakes and holding myself back from trying to fix them out of fear of messing up the painting. |
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| Detail of upper body |
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| Detail of face. The main element of the painting I am really proud of. |
