Post #714564 by tigertail777 on Wed, Apr 23, 2014 4:11 AM

Things are a poppi'n in Tiki Tiger Studios. I have been invited to be a part of a gallery show, but the piece has to be done and arrive to the gallery by May 8th. I am excited because this is the first show I have been invited to that isn't some old ladies auxiliary, a show where my work will fit right in instead of being the single odd one out. The theme of the show is "Godzilla", so I thought with how much that big lizard keeps coming back from the grave, why not make it a zombie Godzilla? Then I thought what fun it would be to tie in the tiki zombie drink and the idea of "ZombZilla" was born. Plus you know how much I like to paint the Wahines. :wink:

I am finally figuring out how to do my paintings faster and more accurate. I tried this technique with the Egyptian painting and it worked out very well, so I thought I would try it again; making a quick down and dirty collage of how I envisioned the general layout. A tip of the hat to Brad "Tiki Shark" Parker for providing a photo of one of his Godzilla figures in just the right pose for me after I frantically searched all over the internet in vain.

I ended up going with a different running Wahine pose, but overall I followed the collage fairly closely.

I generally don't do much sketching beforehand. I tend to do composition "sketches" in my head for weeks before I start, tossing out one idea after another until I arrive at something I like. Then the sketching is done directly on the canvas. Sometimes as in the case of the running pose I have to try and erase and start over, and it may take several times to get there.

What I do composition wise on the canvas is a sort of vague gridding off with a ruler exactly where to place something, and to make sure there is a clear path for the eye to follow. For instance at the very beginning I tried to make sure all object shapes pointed towards the focal point: Godzilla. The serving trays that the waitresses drop, the A frame building, the umbrellas more or less all point towards the big guy.

Another technique I tried for the first time on the Egyptian painting, I used again: outlining in umber so I can actually see what I penciled in clearly. I know, it's a no-brainer concept, but I never thought to do it before the last painting.

Yes, I am up to my amusing story telling tricks again... note the poor guy in the grass skirt bending down to pick up his glasses...is it right that I create characters to be destroyed in this manner? :wink: He is of course gonna get squished to paste by Zombzilla. I didn't finish the running Wahine's foot because I had to pause and think... what on earth kind of footwear do they make themed employees like this wear? Or do they go barefoot? Sandals? Hmmm...

At this point I decided to try something new. I wanted to work out a bit of where the light and shadow would be before I laid down the color so I did a wash of umber, a bit like watercolor painting over the lines to give some idea.

And I decided to call it a night there since I have a large majority of the groundwork laid.

And, I'll leave you this time with a shot of the studio with Godzilla references scattered about...

Until next time... Go, go, Godzilla!