"Fantasy in the Wild" Coming Wednesday

The reason I'm at the police station talking to officers in yesterday's post is that I'm painting their police car (below right), and I want to talk to them to understand how they might deal with a situation like this. 

Aftermath, casein, 12 x 16 inches, by James Gurney

They tell me their first concern is to make sure all the people are accounted for and to see if there are any injuries. They also need to control the scene to prevent further injury or damage and they have to call in fire, ambulance, and utility first responders to deal with the downed power lines, fire hazards, and the traffic. 

The painting is part of a new video called "Fantasy in the Wild," which will be released this Wednesday, December 16. We'll take the easel to the streets to paint two imaginative scenes entirely outdoors. 

The robot painting takes me to several locations, including a construction site and a fast-food streetscape. I spend some time doing gouache studies of the excavators to understand the mechanics.

The video thoroughly documents two imaginative paintings all the way from the first sketches to the final paintings, using a practical and entertaining “driver’s seat” perspective. 

 

You’ll learn how to:

• Sketch thumbnails and comprehensives.
• Build a flexible maquette from construction foam.
• Get maximum inspiration from the location.
• Recognize when an idea isn’t working and how to fix it.
• Create a viewing grid for an accurate line drawing.
• Imply a backstory with selective details.
• Use casein paint for fast-drying opaque rendering.

John-Paul Balmet, Concept Artist at Lucasfilm describes it as a “fascinating look into a master illustrator's creative and technical process.”

The 71-minute video will be available both as an HD download ($14.95) and a DVD ($24.50). On the release date, Wednesday, December 16, they'll both be 10% off. Tomorrow I'll talk about the other painting.