27 November 2003

"Usurper of the Dragon Throne" is the most ambitious painting I've done so far. It's 20 x 30 inches. The sketching went quickly, as did the painting on the Usurper, but I ground to a halt when it came time to paint the dragon. I'm trying to work up the courage to take on his scales.

8 December 2003

I began with very rough thumbnails (which I won't show here, 'cause they're so messy!), and then began to sketch out the final drawing. Sometimes I skip this step, but since this painting is such a big project, I thought I'd better be more disciplined than usual. I like to do roughs on tracing paper, because it allows me to make corrections without erasing, and lets me try out new ideas. I drew three different dragons, and this was the one I chose to use.

11 April 2004

I used an opaque projector to throw the image up on the illustration board, and drew in the final drawing. I decided to change the dragon's head again, trying to make him more dynamic, and I got rid of the original "celtic" throne, to use a more "gothic" chair instead. After a day of reading shojo manga ("Under a Glass Moon"), I went back in and drew whispy smoke all over the background. Do you think this means I can write my manga purchases off on my taxes?

I usually start with the background, but on this painting, I started with the usurper herself. Sometimes I do color roughs before painting, but on this painting, I can see in my head how it should look. After I finished painting the Usurper, I got pulled into several other paintings, and didn't pick this one back up again until August.

16 August 2004

I call this "Usurper of MY throne" :) Although I have a nice big art room, I really prefer painting in the living room, where my family and all the good electronics are. Whenever I get up off my 'art chair,' my dog, Sukoshi, jumps up to claim my spot.

Ahem. On a more serious note... this weekend, I took a deep breath and dived into (finally) painting the dragon. I can only do about two or three inches of him at a time (which takes about two hours), because I do positively nuts after that. Painting every single scale is very tedious. I fear that if I try to press through my tedium, I'll get sloppy. With the World Con deadline looming, I doubt I will get this finished in time. :(

27 August 2004

...And two weeks later, I've only managed to finish the body and start the wings.

2 September 2004

I took another break, to paint a smaller painting ("Lupine") and get up the guts to take on the dragon's head. Then, yesterday, I worked on the painting all day. I finished the dragon yesterday, and today I intend to finish the background.