These charcoal-on-vellum line drawings are half the size of the final painting of Waterfall City.
Here are more preliminary sketches:
Eloise Scherrer asks: "Do you always do so much preparatory work for such paintings ? Was it a personal work or part of an editorial project/command ? (the underlying interrogation is how do you keep balance between the artistic necessities - lots of sketches - and the financial necessities - can't spend that much time in proportion of how I am paid ?)"
I've never done this much preliminary work on any picture. This one stuck in the back of my brain for many years. I did the sketches in my spare time after a day's work on paying assignments. This was the sandbox for playing in.
The emerging print market gave me an avenue for monetizing this dream. The whole concept of Dinotopia came later.
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Hey James! Thanks as usual for letting us see your work and work habits from your eyes.
ReplyDeleteCan you tell me if International Artist Msg actually published issue #133? I think it was the June 2020 issue, and it had an article of yours in it...I'm in Texas, and was able to look for it at my local Barnes and Noble, while many other states were still locked down. They didn't have it, and there are no back issues available from International Artist May. Any insight on this? Thanks.
Hey James! Thanks for showing us how you work in this blog and in videos! You mentioned last Spring that you would have an article associated with your most recent teaching video in issue 133 of International Artist Magazine. I looked for it, but was unable to find it at the time,and now the magazine has no back issues available for sale. Do you know if they actually published a paper copy of this issue? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteDid International Artist come out with issue 133? I've been looking for one to get your article.... did they print that issue?
ReplyDeleteAs a Wanna Be artist I am appreciative of the effort you put into this blog. My biggest hurdle when starting painting is getting a complete picture of what the painting will look like at the end. Could you comment on the process you use to do a "sketch" or a more complete still life.
ReplyDeleteThanks from a big longtime fan.
RW
As a wanna be artist I struggle when starting a painting. Could you comment on what you do when planning a sketch or a more complete still life that does not have the same requirements as this one.
ReplyDeleteLongtime fan. RW
CatBlogger, I've got some extra copies of some back issues, but not #133. Just have one archive copy of that, sorry.
ReplyDeleteSo it did come out in print....I'm sure one will surface somewhere...tks for info.
DeleteAs a wanna be artist I struggle when starting a painting. Could you comment on what you do when planning a sketch or a more complete still life that does not have the same requirements as this one.
ReplyDeleteLongtime fan. RW
Hi James,
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled over some press coverage of a British "super face recognizer" that might fit into the topics of this blog.
He's a policeman that can recognize suspects with phenomenal accuracy.
Here's a link to BBC coverage, but I think there's more out there - maybe this is interesting for you/the readers that think about likeness and face recognition.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-55458847
Thank you for mainting the blog with such consistency! I especially enjoy to get every single day something interesting to read/see.
I think Waterfall City was born when James Gurney asked himself, "What if Hugh Ferriss designed Hoover Dam?" Thank you, Jim, for inspiring us all to dream big!
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Ferriss
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam