Fantasy New York Scene
The Client
Fantasy New York Scene
My client is one Eric Posman, a producer for ESPN and a sports writer. Posman came to me with a photograph of his children looking out a window of a high rise hotel in NYC. His request? He wanted a piece of work showing his children looking out into a fantastic world that reflects today’s culture with a twist towards the children and the incredible possibilities of their futures. Sounds fun! Sounds hard…
The Process
Mind Mapping Technique
Brainstorming
I started this project with my trusty mind-mapping technique (fig A). I fist made a list of nouns that refer to New York, today’s children, movies, books, and cultural icons. I then did a free drawing that I am, quite honestly a little embarrassed to post here as it is very infantile, but it was so much fun to draw! It also allowed my mind a chance to think visually. I really enjoyed it as a brainstorming activity, and I think I will incorporate it more often into my planning stages.
Reference Collecting
From there, I began to collect references of New York and other characters and images that crept into my brainstorming sessions. All-in-all, I collected over 60 different photo references some of which added to the ideas already conceived and some of them changed my ideas completely.
Thumbnails
My next step was to devise a composition or layout plan for the piece (figs B, C, D, E). I completed several different thumbnail sketches that would have made my grad school professors cringe… Thank goodness I wasn’t grade.
-
- Fantasy New York Scene
-
- Mind Mapping Technique
-
- Preliminary Drawing
-
- Color Comp – The Full Plan for Execution
Preliminary Drawing
Preliminary Drawing
After choosing the thumbnail I liked the best, I began my preliminary drawing incorporating the thumbnail, the references, and the results from the brainstorming sessions. I drafted the drawing to size at 20″ x 16″. I then made a few modifications with overlapping tracing paper. It was at the point I was ready to meet with Posman again. I wanted to get his take on the direction I was heading. I also wanted to pick his brain about his children’s likes and dislikes. Eric Posman was able to help draft the drawing in it’s final stages.
The Final Piece
Color Comp - The Full Plan for Execution
Finally I was able to mock up the final piece in a digital collage combining my drawings, my references, and digital painting with my Wacom tablet. This step is not one that I often use, but it made sense with the amount of information and imagery going on within this one piece. I used this step as well to prepare a color plan for the final painting.
Now for the final Art!! Wooo Hooo!
After all of these steps, I finally get to paint the picture. I first redraw the entire scene on Clayboard in pencil and then I inked the board. After allowing the ink to dry, I sprayed the board with a healthy dose of Krylon Crystal Clear to seal the ink. I painted the images with many different painting techniques, including wet-on-wet, glazing and dry brush. After the paint dried, I reinked some of the areas. The piece was finished with a protective coating.
Drum roll please….
Fantasy New York Scene
Thank you for the challenge, Mr Posman. Let’s do it again sometime!
