Rust Fail

Well as I suspected, I have not completed my painting for the "Rust" assignment. I am currently in the middle of a bunch of NDA work and those deadlines have forced me to turn my attention elsewhere. I promise to try and finish the rust painting soon!! 

Rust

This is my submission for the Rust Challenge on The Art Order blog.  I kinda went for the concept that although ones body may rust and deteriorate, ones thoughts should still survive.  Also you may notice that her rings are supposed to be in the shapes of a sword and a spade, and they are not rusted.  I used some acrylic Light Modeling Paste mixed with matte medium to create the texture of the hands and used a great impasto technique that James Gurney highlights in his Imaginative Realism book. 

Becca's "Rust" Final...and then some!

Here it is folks! In ahead of schedule, as Valentine's Day will be taking over my weekend :) I am pretty pleased with how this turned out. Making that model of the head was a huge help - I will definitely be making more models in the future!



Also, here is my loooong overdue Mother Nature painting. I have no good excuses outside of general busyness, but I'm glad it's finally finished!

Scott's "Rust" Drawing

Here's my final drawing! I'm looking forward to painting it....though it will certainly be a tight deadline for me. Hope I can get it in on time! Any crits and comments are welcome. Thanks!

Becca's "Rust" Sketch

Alright folks, here it is! The verdict was to draw the gnome-creature... he has industriously recycled an old sword to fix a broken spade, and now has a sprouting garden. His pet grasshopper looks on in admiration.

I have also included a couple of my reference photos (note the lovely model) and a sculpture I did for the gnome's face (his ear was later eaten off by my rabbit. Bad rabbit!)

Rust Drawing

This is the drawing for the "Rust" challenge.  I am on vacation this week so I'm movin along with this piece pretty quickly.  I will be staring this piece later today.  I can't wait to start. I'm doing this painting 13" x 14".

Becca's "Rust" Thumbs

Well, this turned out to be more of a mind-bender than I'd anticipated. I've got a whole bunch of thumbnails (click to view larger). The first couple seem like sort of cliche ideas - a guy with a sword with vines growing over him...meh. But I like my idea for an industrious gnome/dwarf character, who has taken an old sword and used it to fashion a spade (#5). My other faves are the last two, where the King of Spades is plotting to invade the other card suites' territories. Thoughts?

Scott's Rust Thumbs

Here's my lame attempt at creating lots of interesting thumbs for this project. Haha. But actually I've had quite a few other projects hop onto my table recently so in between drawings for those, this is what i've come up with for our current "Rust" assignment. I Liked the thumb on the top right with the lone armored figure and his trusty companion trudging through the aftermath of a snow covered battlefield. I am thinking of doing this in a very limited palette of black, white, and burnt umber, with hints of crimson. I've been wanting to do a piece with this color combination for a while after seeing it used in some of Howard Pyle's magnificent paintings. Feel free to give comments crits whathaveyou... 

Rust Thumbs

These are my thumbnails for the "Rust" challenge.  The girl will be covered in rust.  I have already taken pictures for the 4th one.  Thats the one I will be going with so I guess I am not taking suggestions at this stage... Sorry but I am really excited about the 4th one, the thumbnail doesn't look that interesting but her hand and the flower will be the only things in focus and the rest of her will be all fuzzy.  And by having the hand really close I can make some really nice rust texture.

New Year, New Challenge

Happy New Year everyone! As you may have noticed, it's been a while since we posted. We have all been quite busy over the last few months - two of us were working in Egypt for the Metropolitan Museum, and one of us had a book cover job and a number of exciting personal projects. But now it's a brand new year and we're going to kick it off with a super-cool challenge from ArtOrder, an awesome blog by John Schindehette, Senior Art Director at Dungeons & Dragons!

Title: "Rust"

Details: Illustrate the following quote using visual narrative to communicate the concept of the quote. Try not to be too literal.

Quote: "A Sword, a spade, and a thought should never be allowed to rust" - James Stephens

See the official challenge information here.

It's good to be back! Stay tuned for updates!

UPDATE: At Scott's request - Due dates!
Thumbs: Tuesday, 1/26/2010
Sketch: Tuesday, 2/2/2010
Final: Saturday 2/13/2010 (Final due to ArtOrder on the 14th - Valentine's Day!)