Plant things, Hawaiian Frenchies and an ugly lady.

I've been absent from the blog, but trust me, it's because I've been doodling up a storm for a large project I can't show just yet.

But here is the current state of my desk...

 I promise I'll share more soon.

But it hasn't been all sketching, I did a quickie black and white painting (when does THAT ever happen?) for The Milken Institute. They were goofing on the Obama birth certificate debacle, and made the joke that even though the document is real, it's irrelevant since Hawaii was under French rule when he was born. Hence, the following....

Majestic.

And, in the first job that my rollovers ever directly produced, my old pal Eric Seidman at AARP Bulletin had me try my hand at creating an icon for them. The project ended up going in another direction, but it was a fun gig.

And in Baba Yaga news... she is very ugly.

 -S

Creepin Baba.

Continuing with my infatuation of the Russian hag, I've been compelled to keep playing with the design and feel of Baba herself. This piece was part experimentation in atmosphere and texture, part development of character. Honestly, I wanted to paint a creepy piece.

I had an idea in mind of an image of Baba Yaga, out in the woods in the snow (NYC had quite a bit recently, I was in the mood) in overcast conditions. I wanted to capture the feeling you get when you realize you aren't alone in a room and someone has been looking at you the whole time you've been there.

Some of the more coherent thumbnails I generated.

Rough value study and tightened drawing

The final painting was a blast. I think I did more variations in texture than any previous painting, and had no idea I'd enjoy it that much. Messed up dried brushes, salt, lifts, the works. I'm pretty stoked to do more of its like.

Oh, didn't see you there.

-SB

Baba Yaga, continued.

A while back I flirted with the idea of starting a Baba Yaga project that got to the level of doodles, then I was distracted by a stray butterfly or something and it fell by the wayside. Well it's a new year, and while there are plenty of distracting insects flitting around me, I've set myself to keep the story of Vasilisa The Beautiful (Baba Yaga's story) on my plate irregardless of airborne bugs.

I've been very inspired by artists who commit themselves to developing a giant body of work on, or simply committing themselves to, a single story. Mark Summers created a beautiful series on Moby Dick that, aside from the jaw-dropping finishes, has a completely full sketchbook of research to accompany it (check out a similar sketchbook on Abe Lincoln here). Justin Gerard and Sam Bosma have both explored Tolkein's The Hobbit in depth, with some truly gorgeous results. And, probably the most amazing example, Petar Mezeldzija's Legend of Steel Bashaw shows the very top tier of whats possible when you work for years on a project you truly care about.
     Anywho, now that I've compared myself to some badasses, I can comfortably underwhelm you with my own work. In a true eat-the-dessert-first fashion, I've been playing with Baba Yaga studies, knowing full well that, while she may be the most intriguing character in the story, she's definitely not the main one. Vasilisa will come later. First, I want to play with the gnarled knuckles, wilted skin and bad teeth of a Russian witch.
      I gathered reference from a bunch of places, but the absolute best resource I found for scary old ladies is thesmokinggun.com's mugshot gallery. You can even narrow the search just "fogeys' to get a great gallery of disheveled grammas. Add a bit of meth-addict and you are 90% there.

Not your gramma's gramma.

Baba Yaga had to be menacingly inhuman but still female. I learned quickly that when you draw the extremely elderly, it's a fine line between the sexes. And, while the one dead eye look may be a bit cliché, I dig it.

Check back soon for some more wrinkly goodness.

Editor's Note: When finding links for Petar Meseldzija's work, I noticed that Steel Bashaw took 15 years to finish. See you all in 15 years, when this project wraps up.

 

Baba Yaga doodles

Been shooting around ideas for a Baba Yaga painting. I knew nothing about her or her story aside from being a witch, Russian and living in the forest in a hut on chicken legs. So before doing any research I started going off that to see what happened, then slowly adding more educated images from looking up her folklore.

I figure posting this will get me to actually follow through with the painting in a somewhat timely fashion.

Also, after reading Sam Bosma's blog and seeing how much prelim exploration he does... I feel so damn lazy for doing just these so far.