Day to Night Photos

Unlike plein-air paintings, which take hours or even days to complete, photographs are usually the product of a fraction of a second. 

Paris. Photo by Stephen Wilkes

An exception among photographers is Stephen Wilkes, who has documented a series of famous destinations in what he calls "Day to Night" photos.

Coney Island, Photo by Stephen Wilkes

Locking the camera in a fixed position, he takes photos over a period as long as 30 hours, the light shifting gradually from nighttime to daytime illumination. He then combines them later digitally. The effect works best in urban environments, where artificial light defines the nightscape.

Link to the 'Day to Night' photos of Stephen Wilkes

Tips for Taping Off

When I do Dinotopia paintings on illustration board, I tape off the edge with blue low-tack painter's tape (from the hardware store). Then I cut a thin strip of white so-called "artist's tape" to put over that to preserve my perspective grid markings. Red marking is the eye level. I don't recommend using the white tape directly on the illustration board because the adhesion is too strong and it rips the board—and it's non-archival, as is almost all tape, really.

I seal the whole surface, including the edge where the tape meets the drawing, with clear acrylic matte medium so that the oil paint doesn't seep under the tape. 

When the painting is finished, I remove the tape. The image can be flapped with polyethylene coated paper while in production, and it has a safety margin of white board around the image. When it comes to framing it can either be cut down to the edge of the painting and framed without glass or matted and framed. 

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Previously on GJ:
Perspective Grid
Technique Notes

Want more insights? Pick up a signed copy of the new expanded edition of Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara at my website or on Amazon or Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist.

Did Medieval people walk the way we do?

Here's a video that's impossible to watch without walking around and trying it out. (Link to video)
Roland Warzecha proposes that Medieval people walked with different body mechanics, planting the toe first, rather than the heel first—or at least, softening the heel strike.

I've been trying it out, but it's hard to build up any speed and it seems like a lot of effort to maintain that mode. Maybe my tendons are too short. Anyway, I'd be interested in what you think after you try it out, especially what animators think about this.
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Further reading
The modern medical establishment regards "toe-walking" as an abnormality
New York magazine article on barefoot walking
Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks

New expanded edition of Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara

Dover Publications has just released a new expanded edition of Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara in their premier Calla line of illustrated books. (Link to book trailer video on YouTube)

This beautiful hardcover edition includes an exclusive peek behind the scenes, with 30 pages of sketches, storyboards, maquettes, photos of models, character designs, and models posing.

If you live in the USA (or can provide a domestic US shipping address), you can order a signed copy from my website store and it's also available from Amazon

Readings from Ruskin

(Link to YouTube) Here is a vintage recording of readings that I did from the Victorian art critic John Ruskin, excerpted from his famous works "Modern Painters" and "The Elements of Drawing."

The recording is from a cassette tape which circulated by mail in 1985 among a group of art friends called "The Golden Palm Tape Network."

Topics include:
1. Greetings to Ron Harris and James Warhola.
2. Discussion about audio line mixers
3. Readings from Ruskin:
• painting open water
• advice to students
• gradation
• atmospheric perspective.

Note his point at around 20 minutes in that cool colors don't necessarily recede, and warm colors don't necessarily advance.

You can still get copies of Modern Painters in print at Amazon. The other book I quoted from is The Elements of Drawing

Where are the most photos taken?

A while ago, Google released this heat map image showing the places in the world that are photographed the most, based on the geotagging metadata.

Tourist places in Europe get the most traffic, especially art capitals like Paris and Barcelona, coastal regions of Spain, and picturesque regions in the Alps.

Google's artificial intelligence systems no longer need geotagging to know where a photo was taken. After analyzing huge databases of more than 93 million images, they can now recognize where any photo was taken.

Is Mount Rushmore Unfinished?

The original design for Mount Rushmore showed far more of the figures, as suggested by this preliminary maquette. 

I have digitally superimposed the actual carvings of the faces over the maquette. Susan B. Anthony was supposed to be included, too.

But by 1941, federal funding was cut back, and the sculptor, Danish-American Gutzon Borglum, died of a heart attack while the work was still being carved.

This video has aerial shots that show more of the setting.

(Link to video) Video by Smithsonian.

Read more about the design history of the monument at Time.com.

A Conversation with Mel Birnkrant

Timothy J. Fitzmaurice created this video portrait of Mel Birnkrant and his unrivaled collection of vintage Mickey Mouse and other comic character toys. (Link to YouTube)

In the interview by Timothy's wife, Kelly McMullen, Mel talks about how he got started toy collecting, how the toys "speak" to him, and how his own toy-inventing career fueled his life as a collector and connoisseur.

Although Mel's private collection is not open for visitors, his extensive website offers anybody a grand tour of his infinite universe of comic characters.
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Mel Birnkrant website
View a playlist of my YouTube videos shot at Mel's "Mouse Heaven"

Feature in Illustrators Magazine (UK)

I'm very excited to receive advance copies of the next Illustrators Magazine, issue #19, where my work is the cover feature. This quarterly magazine, based in the UK, covers illustrators around the world, past and present. 

The article includes 35 images, many of which are reproduced in a double page spread, plus a newly written bio by Thomas Kintner.

The new issue also includes an article on Jacques Onfroy de Bréville (1858-1931), known as Job. His well-researched historical illustrations made their way into European children's books and comics.


There's also an article on the quirky horror comics by Dutch artist Erik Kriek.

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You can pick up a copy of Illustrators #19 at the publisher's website and it will soon be available at Stuart Ng books. (pub: The Book Palace, 2017. 98 page illustrated squarebound magazine. Price: £18.00 (UK), $21.99 (US). ISBN: 978-1-907081-41-5. ISSN: 2052-6520)

You can get back issues of Illustrators from Amazon

Book Palace also published the excellent book Drawing from History: The Forgotten Art of Fortunino Matania

Harryhausen at the Tate

Photo by Nate Chard

The Tate Museum in London is currently hosting an exhibition of the art of Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013).



The show includes some of the original stop motion models used in movies like Jason and the Argonauts and 7th Voyage of Sinbad.



Harryhausen did it all. He designed the creatures, constructed them out of wire and latex, and animated them. The show includes some of his drawings and paintings, as well as the puppets or models.

Joseph Gandy, Jupiter Pluvius, 1819

The show also features some of the artwork that inspired Harryhausen, including John Martin and Joseph Gandy, above, from Harryhausen's collection.

He said, ‘Gandy is a relatively unknown painter but for sheer spectacle there are few others who come anywhere near him. This painting is one of my most prized possessions and has been a huge inspiration to me throughout my career, teaching me to think big and give my inspiration free rein.’

It is noteworthy whenever a mainstream art museum spotlights an artist from the worlds of visual effects, animation, illustration, or comics.

The way we'll see more exhibitions like this is if we attend them, share them on social media, thank the curators in the guest book, and send notes of appreciation to sponsors, lenders, and staff.
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Tate website: The Art of Ray Harryhausen through November 19
Books: A Century of Stop-Motion Animation: From Melies to Aardman (Co-authored by Harryhausen, with an introduction by me)
The Art of Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life
Post on Muddy Colors: Two — Count 'Em — Two Ray Harryhausen Exhibits by Arnie Fenner