Craig's Unicorn Painting

Owen's Troll Sketch

Here is my sketch for the Troll assignment.  It's a take on the tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.  The big bad Troll is holding onto the youngest goat as it pleads for it's life, and to eat his father, for he is more of a meal.  The goats father and grandfather look over the bridge wall in the upper left corner.  Let me know what you think!

Lis's Troll Sketch

Hi folks! So here is my troll sketch... I included a few rotation variations so it may not be as straight on... depending on what people think. I ended up making the troll less dumpy... I was getting annoyed by his dumpiness and I wanted him to be a little more scary looking. I had a lot of trouble trying to figure it all out, composition, looks etc. I think I'm finally satisfied though. Will be a good portfolio piece for Gencon! I'll probably post a color comp in a few days. I have a vision!

The first one is the original. The other two are tilted toward the right or left.

And click this to see an larger one for detail...

Owen's Troll Thumbnails

For my Troll piece I tried to come up with many different compositions and things for trolls to be doing, but I kept coming back to the 3 Billy Goats Gruff.  Oh and I hate myself because for the past 2 weeks I have been drawing trolls nonstop, I had pages and pages of trolls and I wanted to show my evolution of drawings to get to these 2 thumbnails.  Then of course I left my sketchbook at work and didn't realize it until I was way to far away to turn back and get it.  Anyway, essentially these are my 2 favorite ideas.  I think I personally like the one on the left.  Let me know what you think.

Lis's Troll Thumbs

Hey all! Here are my troll thumbs.

The first two - Troll shepherd with goats (if you think a troll being a shepherd is weird, I'm not the only one that thought of it! Google and you will see one of those popular troll statues as a shepherd with goats! haha. He eats them later :P), or a troll fishing with his hovel behind him. I'm going for the fishing scene I think. I want it to be kind of a portrait, a troll in his comfort zone.

This second thumbs are just a comical idea - giant troll with itty bitty sheep... in the left thumb he's bending down and picking one up delicately, and the others are running away. I think it's a cute idea, but I'm still leaning toward the fishing troll... maybe I'll do this later.

I will, of course, work on my troll character design more for the final. He's a bit boring right now.

New Project: TROLLS!!!!

Recently, a few of us went and saw TrollHunter, an amazing movie from Norway. A documentary style film, it follows film students who think they are making a documentary about bear poaches but it turns into so much more. It's hilarious, and the trolls are fantastic! It inspired our next project -  Trolls! This project is for Owen and Lis, as everyone else is busy on personal work at the moment. If anyone else would like to join in, feel free!

The due dates are as follows:
Thumbs - Friday July 8
Sketches - Wednesday July 13
Final - Wednesday July 27

Summer!

Hello everyone! As you can see, there hasn't been a post in a while. Everyone has been super busy this summer on various personal projects, commissions, and exciting travels. Becca is even getting ready to start her MFA! You should check out all our blogs and websites for updates.

I recently finished a painting that you can check out over at my own blog:


We may start up a new challenge again soon, those of us who aren't ridiculously busy. Until next time!

Becca's Unicorn

Hey all! Here's my unicorn! I had a great time working on this one. It was a challenge, but I got it to a place where I'm happy with it. I looked a lot at Charles Vess and James Jean's work (esp his Fables cover art) for color palette ideas and general inspiration on this piece.

Question - the colors look a bit dull on my monitor - how do they look to you?

Owen's Unicorn

Finally I have finished my Unicorn painting.  I really loved working on this piece, so I wanted it to be the best it could be, I reworked and repainted far more than I usual.  There should be a second layer to all my paintings, but I rarely have the time.  I hope this comes off as a good young adult or children's book type piece.

Lately I have been using a very limited palette of Raw Umber, Ult. Blue, Yellow Ochre, Naples Yellow,  a bit of Burnt Sienna, Titanium White and Ivory Black, and maybe a few other colors for the flowers.  The outcome feels very natural to me.  

If anyone looks at the Unicorn in Captivity Tapestry from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you can see that I modeled the flowers, unicorn, and pomegranate tree on that piece.  I still think that's probably the best, most sophisticated unicorn.  My fiance has a poster of it in our living room.  What a great piece.

The Unicorn, 21"x16", Oil on Paper on Masonite, 2011. 

Lis's Final: The Light in the Weald

Hey! Here is my unicorn final. I actually ended up using acrylic, and I really enjoyed it!! I printed the image on watercolor paper, put a green wash down, then covered it in a few layers of matte medium. I then worked with washes of acrylic (and some opaque acrylic in the light areas), before spraying it with varnish. Took a little longer than my watercolor work, but overall I am pleased. I want to work this way again! Unicorns <3...

It ended up quite different from my color comp... but that's how it goes with me. I always get more saturated with my colors than I intend. I guess that's my style? It's not as ominous in feeling... more Disney-esque. But I love Disney so it's cool. Tried color correcting in photoshop to make it more like my comp, but I like this.