Friday, September 9, 2016

Anatomy of an Angel

I just presented my new Doctor Who design on social media last night, one of my favorite of the new era of villains... a Weeping Angel. Today I will discuss the design process and show the original final pencil design. Below is the finished piece.

 
When I first considered the design, my initial concerns were dimension and color. Dynamically, I decided that I wanted an action pose, one that felt as if the angel was actually coming out of the portrait. To achieve depth, I felt it was necessary to construct the piece in layers by creating the wing and hand as individual forms separate from the main portrait. On the TV show, the angels are statues of only one color so in order to make the piece POP, I had to manipulate the color to give it the dimension that I wanted. I decided to use subtle color manipulations to push the tongue and wing into the depths of the piece as well as punch the hand into the foreground. I specifically used the position of the hand to frame the face in order to draw the viewer's eye into the angel's gaze. I used a muted purple on the shadowed side of the face to both connect the image to the background and further push the hand into the viewer's perspective. When I was finished with the initial color choices, I felt that the face was still missing an integral dynamic so I decided to lighten the left eye with the same color as the hand to give it the final touch it needed.
 
 
This is my final pencil design. I've been asked if I do all my design work in the computer and the answer is absolutely not; I'm still somewhat old school when it comes to my art. I design everything by hand with mechanical pencil on paper; I've never gotten used to doing my design work in the computer. I do like to have an original sketch when I'm finished as well. After completion of my pencils, I scan my design into the computer, open an Adobe Illustrator file, and then finish it using the pen tool. For any of you aspiring artists out there, mastering the pen tool is essential to creating modern, dynamic design.
 
The Weeping Angel is one of my personal favorite designs. I hope you enjoy it as well and learned something from my anatomy lesson. Thanks for following my blog!!
 

3 comments:

  1. Very insightful, and amazing work.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, Sicko. I appreciate the support. Maybe we can discuss a collaboration in the future.

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  2. Looking forward to following your postings . Great art & I enjoy your informative comments !!!

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