Russian Edition of Imaginative Realism

Привет моим друзьям в России, спасибо. Это русское издание моей книги о живописи из воображения.

(Russian edition of my book Imaginative Realism)

200k on Instagram

 200k on Instagram! Thanks to everyone who follows me over there.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James Gurney (@jamesgurneyart)

This is my analog method for motion-graphic titles. 

Lighting Ratio

Setting up a maquette outdoors in the sunlight gives me clues about the placement of shadows and the lighting ratio. 

The term "lighting ratio" is defined as the comparison between the key light and the fill light. In outdoor sunlight, the key light is the sun and the fill light is the combination of the skylight and reflected sources. 

The higher the lighting ratio, the greater the contrast, and the lower the ratio the lesser the contrast. 

As I explain in my book "Color and Light," 

It’s easy to underestimate the tonal separation between the light side and the shadow side in sunlight. When lighting experts set up artificial lights for a movie shot, they call this separation the lighting ratio, and they usually try to reduce it to cancel the unflattering effect of harsh or dark shadows.

As artists we may want to do the same, depending on the feeling we want to create. But most often, beginning painters tend to ignore the dominance of direct illumination and play up secondary sources too much.

If you’re counting steps on a value scale from one to ten, you might typically see five steps of tone from sunlight to shadow, or two f-stops on a camera’s aperture setting. The separation would be reduced if there were high clouds, hazy atmosphere, or a light-colored ground surface.

---

Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter is also available signed from my website.

Tutorial videos: How I Paint Dinosaurs and Tyrannosaurs: Behind the Art

Painting Spinosaurus

Spinosaurus was a dinosaur adapted to life at the water's edge, hunting for fish like a heron. 
--

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James Gurney (@jamesgurneyart)

The maquette is set up in a plastic take-out dish, and the water is lightened with acrylic paint. 

The painting will be featured in the next issue of Ranger Rick magazine.

  

If you haven't seen it yet, here's the whole video that takes you behind the scenes. Link to YouTube video.

GUMROAD VIDEOS about dinosaur art: 

Tyrannosaurs: Behind the Art 

How I Paint Dinosaurs​ 

The Mammal That Ate Dinosaurs 

Australia's Age of Dinosaurs 

MATERIALS: 

Sculpey (Polymer clay: Sculpey) 

Magic Sculpt (Two-part epoxy clay)​ 

Model Magic (air dry sculpting material)​ 

Liquid Acrylic (transparent red oxide)​ 

Hot glue gun 

Illustration board 

John Singer Sargent at San Vigilio

When John Singer Sargent found a subject he liked, he often painted it from different angles in different media. In 1913, he was fascinated by the curved jetty on Lake Garda at San Vigilio in Italy. 

Above Lake Garda at San Vigilio, John Singer Sargent, 1913

This one shows the sailboat in the embrace of the jetty. It's painted in watercolor, with rich darks in the area of the boat and its reflection, and the light areas of the stone are kept uniformly light.

John Singer Sargent, Three Boats in Harbor, San Vigilio, 1913

In this oil, he includes two other boats and keeps them within a uniformly dark mass.

Here's an oil painting looking back toward the land from a high vantage point in the lake. I'm not sure how he got this angle, which would have to be from a boat, and from above the deck level of a small vessel.

John Sargent, San Vigilio. A Boat With Golden Sail, 

oil, 55.9 cm (22 in) x 71.1 cm (27.9 in)

One more oil painting shows a view back to the buildings around the harbor.

---

Book: Sargent: The Masterworks

Painting Patagotitan

Patagotitan, oil on board, 10x13”. Maquette is epoxy clay. 

This sauropod is called Patagotitan, one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered. When I make a maquette I want to control the overall size and the relative proportions of the sculpt. 

To do that, I use a photocopier to enlarge the scientist’s skeleton drawing to the actual size I want to make the maquette. 

I take the maquette (with additional maquettes by David Krentz) outdoors and photograph them in actual sunlight. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James Gurney (@jamesgurneyart)  

The relative scale and quality of light and shadows will look right regardless of the size of the object. I move the little dinosaurs around like chess pieces on the rough piece of rock, which looks like the bank of a little pond at the edge of the forest.

---

Watch the full video on YouTube

See the article in Ranger Rick Magazine

Amazon links: Model Magic, Magic Sculpt, acrylic.

Fees, Social Media, and Working with Clients

On YouTube, creekkidart asks: "I’d love to know how you quote for these kinds of projects. Do you include the time it takes to create the maquettes and sketch paintings, and do you tell your client that you’re making them?

Yes, I share the maquette building process with the writer, the art director and the scientist as I develop the illustration. 

Making maquettes is just part of my process. It seems like a lot of extra work, but it save me time in the long run and gives me better results. I don't get paid extra for making them. 

How do I quote fees? A small magazine like Ranger Rick pays relatively modest amounts compared to some other clients, but I still want to provide them with as much quality and extra value as I can. 

Keep in mind that a painting can have a life and a potential for earning you income beyond the initial commission. If you own the copyright, then a few months after it appears in print, you can use it in your own books, prints, tutorials or whatever, plus you can sell the original. 

I share the videos and social-media posts because it's just fun. More than that, the coverage raises awareness both for me and for the client, so it's a win/win all around. As long as the illustrator lets the client lead off and be the first to share, most print clients are grateful if you can generate social-media buzz, because very few clients could afford to pay a video team to produce content like that. I believe in the mission of a wildlife magazine for kids, and I want them to win.

---

On YouTube: Painting Realistic Dinosaurs

Dinosaur Hatchling Behind-the-Scenes

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James Gurney (@jamesgurneyart) 

Eggshell is made with epoxy sculpting clay formed over a light bulb. Baby titanosaur is polymer clay, with black beads for eyes. 

Full video on YouTube.  

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Imagining a Hatchling

Scientists found a skull of a baby sauropod dinosaur that was about to hatch out of its shell, and my job was to imagine the moment it was emerging from its shell. 

I made a quick maquette of the little hatchling out of Sculpey and made the two halves of the shell using Magic Sculpt, a two-part epoxy sculpting compound. Photographing the setup in a bed of moss gave me plenty of visual information to incorporate into the oil painting. 

If you haven't already watched it, here's the YouTube video about the whole process.

The painting appears in the April 2021 issue Ranger Rick magazine.

Creating a Maquette to Visualize Borealopelta

Having an actual three dimensional maquette, even if it’s crudely sculpted, allows me to determine viewpoint angles, foreshortening, cast shadows, and highlights—all of which can be difficult to imagine without references. 

I use a hot glue gun to piece together a cardboard base for the maquette, then surface it with Model Magic, a children’s air-dry modeling material. I add the spikes later with a two-part epoxy modeling compound called Magic Sculpt. Then I paint the maquette with acrylic so that it looks more real when I photograph it outside in the sun. 

Here's a video of the process for this painting.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James Gurney (@jamesgurneyart)

Link to Instagram 

Link to full YouTube video

Ranger Rick website