Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Nexus Church Sketch
I needed to knock out a graphic to be used as presentation fodder for our Nexus Church Service last Sunday. The sermon series is based on the characteristics of Christ, a very broad subject with many possibilities. Needless to say I found it extremely difficult to sum up Christ’s character into a single image so I began to research icons of the early church to help generate some ideas.
The dove beat the fish by about 2 to 1.
Just drawing an ascending dove wasn’t enough for me though I felt I needed to also communicate the infinite dynamics and the immeasurability of Christ’s personality. Paul said we now only see “as if we are looking through a smoky mirror” meaning, I think, our understanding of Christ here on earth will be somewhat transcendental and ephemeral.
I chose to draw in a real loose fashion almost a scribbling allowing the density of the lines to define the image so you are never quite sure where the edge is.
A little hard camera angle and a slight bit of Photoshop trickery adds to the ambiance, enjoy.
The dove beat the fish by about 2 to 1.
Just drawing an ascending dove wasn’t enough for me though I felt I needed to also communicate the infinite dynamics and the immeasurability of Christ’s personality. Paul said we now only see “as if we are looking through a smoky mirror” meaning, I think, our understanding of Christ here on earth will be somewhat transcendental and ephemeral.
I chose to draw in a real loose fashion almost a scribbling allowing the density of the lines to define the image so you are never quite sure where the edge is.
A little hard camera angle and a slight bit of Photoshop trickery adds to the ambiance, enjoy.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Babel Close Up 2
I just finished the Tower Of Babel painting. It took a couple of weeks to get my bearings on how I wanted to finish it. The painting started off looking a little too illustrative and playful almost like a Dr. Sues illustration. So after a bit of contemplation I built up the reds and the blacks to give it more of an edgy dark look. The lime green is intended to make the tower itself feel a little creepy or eerie looking.
I was completely surprised when I was finished because the dark eerie qualities really happened in the last hour or so of painting. I had reached a point of frustration and had to choose either to give up or do something drastic that might trash the painting. As I first started adding the black I thought I had ruined the whole painting so I just got aggressive with the color and brush strokes which really brought the painting to life.
The tower leans slightly to the left because of how the drawing was constructed to achieve the upward winding movement. Though this was not intentional it adds to the mystery of the painting...I hope.
You can view the whole painting here and some more close-ups here.
I was completely surprised when I was finished because the dark eerie qualities really happened in the last hour or so of painting. I had reached a point of frustration and had to choose either to give up or do something drastic that might trash the painting. As I first started adding the black I thought I had ruined the whole painting so I just got aggressive with the color and brush strokes which really brought the painting to life.
The tower leans slightly to the left because of how the drawing was constructed to achieve the upward winding movement. Though this was not intentional it adds to the mystery of the painting...I hope.
You can view the whole painting here and some more close-ups here.
