So How Would You Train Your Dragon?

Finally got to see How to Train You Dragon last night, and frankly it was amazing. I loved the story, the characters, the animation, the style, the music; I loved it all. It is definitely going on the DVD list. The best part though was that it was inspiring. I was currently fighting with some ideas on my Beowulf project, and all the issues I was wondering about, the movie helped me solve. So now I feel re-energized and ready to paint.

Also I am finished with the drawings to my Beowulf pieces and I am deep in the paintings. I do not really have the time to upload them all now but in a week or so expect to see a lot.

Rapture of a Maenad

This is a sketch I did to represent the Hellenistic god Dionysus. This piece depicts a maenad (or female devotee who was in a frenzy) of the god Dionysus as she is enthralled by his presence.

I wanted to show the sexual nature of the maenad via her gesture and her revealing outfit, as well as the sensual manner the wine is pouring on her.

I also wanted to convey the dualistic nature of Dionysus himself. One way I did this was by having him wear a split almost yin-yang like mask. However, the main way I wanted to convey his duality was in a more hermaphroditic way. While he is a man with broad shoulders, I added feminine features to him. You can see that he has not male pecs but female like breasts as well as very voluptuous hips.

This was a fun sketch, I normally don't do this kind of surrealistic imagery but I think I may do it more often.

Figure Painting in the New Age

A few weeks back I did something interesting with the digital painting class I teach. I had a model come in and we did some live digital painting from the model. I figured it was a nice relaxing class to have just before spring break.

The model was great, the students did a great job, and I think they really enjoyed it.

The REAL Beowulf

I know it has been a bit since my last post but I assure you I will have a lot to show you soon. I wanted to upload this to start off. It is from my reference shoot with my model Wil for the Beowulf project.

Since I generally like to show my process on this blog I figured I should show some of my reference shots for once, and I figured since this shoot turned out particularly well I would show something from it.

I am actually quite far on the project as of right now I am working on the third and final finish drawing for the project. Expect to see some finish drawings soon as well as some other posts.

The Cosmic Web

This is a simple sketch I did recently. It is based upon the meditations of Marcus Aurelius. Being a Stoic philosopher he had belief that everyone was connected via the celestial whole by a kind of cosmic web. Any slight change to the web affects everyone and everything in some form.

Simple drawing but I had fun playing with webs, I rarely get a chance to do that.

Now in COLOR

I have been a bit busy as of late so I have neglected my posting. I do however have many things to post. This one is the color studies for my Beowulf project.

I think I will end up going with the bottom ones for the first two projects and then a combination of the 2 for the third one, with it being dominantly the green one. It does seem to give a more eerie vibe which I like.

I have already shot my reference and even finished some of the drawings so expect to see those soon.

and........ FENCE!

This is a quick illustration I had done recently. After taking a fencing class I wanted to incorporate my new found knowledge of proper fencing stances into my sci-fi/fantasy work. The female fighter is striking at the male opponent with a lunge while he defends with parry #8.

I decided to apply this new knowledge to what the future Olympics would be like. Which obviously would be involve jet pack feet and matches in the sky. I also based their new full body armor upon the current fencing uniforms. While there are some significant changes you can see great similarities in the torso armor, as well as gloves and masks.

You may also notice that the fighters are from German and Italy respectively. I did this as homage to the 2008 Olympic games. For they represent the female individual epee winner Britta Heidemann and men's individual epee winner Matteo Tagliariol.

Just a simple painting, but more to come soon, expect some process on my Beowulf project.

BEOWULF value studies

Here is some WIP for my upcoming Beowulf project. Each image represents a battle Beowulf has. First the battle with Grendel, then Grendel's mother, and finally the dragon. I have some color studies in the work as well and will post those soon.

Also later today is the big photo shoot for this project. Perhaps I will show some of the shots as well.

The Salvation of Lucius

A quick drawing I did. It is the climactic scene from the story The Golden Ass by Apuleius. It is a Hellenistic story that depicts the adventures of Lucius who through his own stupidity gets turned into a donkey.

He then goes on a series of adventures until at the end he is visited by the goddess Isis. She then gives him the means to turn back to his former self just this time a bit more enlightened.

I threw in a lot of symbolism to this. Such as the ribbons of fabric around Isis which represent mummification fabric. This being symbolic of Isis' husband Osiris. This is important as it symbolized Lucius' rebirth as well as its shape reflects that of the roads. I did this to symbolize the wandering of Lucius as well as that of the goddess herself.

There are many more instances of symbolism but I won't bore you with all the details.

That is all for now, later.

Tweet Tweet ... Tweety Deet

Made a twitter account so everyone can follow all my activities there. Name of course Level20Atrist.