eightyeightteeth

Process of Chemical Warfare

thanec — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:20:40 +0000

Gasmasks are a great subject for artwork, reflecting an impersonal human quality and reflecting feelings of fear and aggression – plus they just look cool as steam-punk, retro-modern contraptions. A collaboration themed issue of DLA (Dead Letter Art – art collective) was the impetus for this drawing. Four separate gasmask creations were stitched together to form a drawing, similar in style to the Dadaist “exquisite corpse” recipe.

The original drawing was done after perusing the Internet for inspiring examples, although the photos were used only as a rough guideline – once the Sharpie ink starts spilling out on the paper, my imagination gets the best of me. What are the tubes in the helmet? Nobody knows – you go ask him!

After the image was used for the DLA zine cover, I felt like developing it a little further with some digital enhancements. First step, as it usually is, was making a selection (saving it!) and getting the image to its own layer. Experiments in color flow in after that.

The final image was composited of several separate layers:

Background with base colors and texture.
Image layer of of drawings blend together to form an ‘army’.
Copy of image layer colorized as a duotone.
Copy of image layer blurred and masked to form a chemical haze.

A mob of seemingly apathetic soldiers stares ominously from behind a cloud of poisonous gas, apparently unaffected and their crowded, looming presence seems to imply they are coming to get you, after all…

See the finished image:
Chemical Warfare

Logo: GreenMan Construction

thanec — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:15:44 +0000

Nectarine

thanec — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:14:49 +0000

Coffee Chain

thanec — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:00:21 +0000

DVD Cover: DLA Duku

thanec — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:21:02 +0000

Bonescape A02

thanec — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:14:52 +0000

Making Baby Fat

thanec — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:37:49 +0000

The original drawings, seen here, were spontaneous sketches created with a Pigma brushPen and twelve cups of coffee. When composing digitally i select images from my book which appeal to me and seem to be suitable for further composition. In this case, the two obese forms seem to share a bond that goes beyond their coincidental shared space in the book..

After scanning the drawings, i have decided on a composition that i like. The drawings are on separate layers and i save selection areas as i go, to make later work easier. Normally i would convert scanned sketches into ‘grayscale’, but the purple brushpen lines appeal to me.

When the sketches are situated, i begin work on a new layer (typically set to ‘Multiply’) to shade and play with the dimensional forms of the drawing. All the work done at this stage is in BW (Black&White) – using the saved selection areas to mask out portions of the art.

Beginning with the foreground and working back, an atmosphere begins to form about the figures and the lighting and mood of the scene begin to take shape.

A background layer is placed in and the final scene emerges in all its filthy glory. Final touches are added, such as shadows and some elements of texture mixed in to avoid a flat look. This could be a finished piece as is, but i decide on full-color – converting the purple lines to black before proceeding.

In the end, i have decided the image would look better in color. Although it would seem to be a tremendous amount of work, it is actually quite simple -
Using the saved selection areas, i adjust the hue using a selective color process which allows hue to be added to the white/grey/black color values (Image/Adjustments/Selective Color.. using Photoshop). After modifiying the muted tones a first time, there are more colors available for adjustment if a second tweak is necessary.

See the finished image:
BabyFat