Thursday, October 1, 2015

Levka Gambo of Dinotopia


This painting is from my 1992 book Dinotopia, A Land Apart from Time.  Will and Sylvia visit Levka Gambo in his Tibetan-inspired hideaway at the top of the Forbidden Mountains.


The technique is a thin, transparent wash of oil over illustration board that has been sealed with acrylic matte medium. To dramatize this scene, I set up a light source behind Levka to silhouette him against the background.
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Dinotopia, A Land Apart from Time: 20th Anniversary Edition

5 comments:

Fabio said...

I'm curious, how did you thin down the paint here? I've appreciated the effect in plenty of the illustrations in Dinotopia. Did you use liquin or similar? Or turpentine? Nice one anyway!

James Gurney said...

Thanks, Fabio. Usavo Liquin e Gamsol, tutti e due.

Fabio said...

Thanks for the reply James! Nice to know that. Oh, and you know Italian, amazing :D I have to try gamsol one of these days, I am not happy with my generic odorless turps

Chris Beaven said...

I was able to go solvent free with my oil paints. I just use refined linseed oil as a medium and I clean my brushes with Masters soap. But, if I have to use solvent for anything Gamsol is the most safe, I do keep a small can of it.

Krystal said...

you achieve such an atmosphere each time....