Yes, really, it is finished!
This painting has been so much more simple to do than the last one - it's mainly blocks of colour for the background, with just a little detail.
I'll be parcelling it up in the morning to send to Seattle in time for the Child's Play charity dinner/auction.
The whole thing:
Close-up left:
Close-up right:
My next painting will be for my Secret Santee in Penny Arcade's Games and Technology - I won't be able to post images of that one, as they may guess it's for them, so I'll post abut another painting I've been working on.
I've finished the background - all the sand dunes blocked in and I'm now ready to start on the detail of the foreground, and the detailed background bits. Here's what I've done:
I still have to do the light coming out of the top of the mountain, that will be the last thing I do I think:
Close-up left:
Close-up right:
I'm really enjoying doing this one!
I'm happier with it now - I think I'd not mixed enough of the paint at one time, so it was a bit uneven, and it just jarred when I looked at it.
I've done the dust clouds as well, I'm quite pleased with how they look.
I'll do some more tomorrow.
Whole thing:
Close-up left:
Close-up right:
Dust cloud close-up left:
Dust cloud close-up right:
I'll aim to get some more done tomorrow.
Oh I love this image!
The colours are just beautiful, the game is excellent. My apologies if you ever find yourself playing alongside me - you'll be able to tell its me by my very slow progress!
Here's what I've done so far:
The sky started:
Sky and mountain done:
Close-up left:
Close-up right:
On reflection, I'm not happy with this, I think I'll start again - bits of the sky are decidedly murky and uneven. I could have just not posted, but it's only when I've had some time to look at it that I've decided it's not good enough as it stands.
It will get better.
Every year I aim to do 3 paintings for Child's Play - Penny Arcade's charity that buys toys, consoles and video games for children's hospitals, including Manchester Children's Hospital, about 9 miles from where I live.
As a small child, I spent 6-7 weeks at a time in Newcastle City General hospital (sadly, closed down now) undergoing a range of surgeries aimed at giving me a usable thumb on my left hand. My family lived in West Cumbria; I only saw my parents at the weekend, when they would travel across country on my dad's BSA 650 Gold Star, and I didn't see my little brother for weeks and weeks.
I remember being sad, lonely and quite miserable at times; the high point of my week was when some school work would arrive in the post! When I found out about Child's Play, it just made sense for me to paint to raise money for it.
This year I took the Assassin's Creed painting with me to PAX, and handed it over to Kristen; I've also decided to paint an image from Journey - an incredibly beautiful game from ThatGameCompany,, who also made Flow and Flower, all games I love.
Here's the source image I'm using:
and here's the pencil outline:
I'll start painting it later on this week.
At last I've finished it! This must go down as the longest time I've ever taken to complete a painting - a combination of holidays, trips to cons, illness and the detailed nature of this painting means its taken a super-long time!
Thank you to Jessie for putting up with the length of time it's taken me.
Here it is:
Close-up left:
Close-up right:
Four years ago, I would never have attempted something this complicated and detailed, I'd have run away screaming! It just shows what you can do if you try and are given great support, encouragement and positive criticism. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to my development!
Wooo! I've painted for most of today, and I've almost finished!!
I love it when a painting is almost there, I think I just need a couple of hours tomorrow and I may be saying the "F" word - as in "finished"!
Here's where I'm up to:
I've started the inking in on the left hand side - I've found I didn't draw all of the detail in, and so by inking in what I've done, I'm finding I can spot the missing bits more easily. (and I want to see what it looks like!
This painting is taking a loooong time to do - its very detailed, all over.
I'm planning to spend another day on this, then I'm hoping it will be close to being finished. Once I have all the background painted in I'll start inking the outline in. If you've checked out my blog in the past you'll know I prefer to use ink for any outlining, as I'm not steady enough to use a very fine paintbrush.
Once the ink has dried, I'll then colourwash the background with very dilute white paint, to tone the background back a bit.
Here's where I'm up to:
I always forget to factor in the impact going to video games events has on me - a couple of weeks ago we went to GameCity in Nottingham - a week long games fest. Its excellent! While I was there I was taught how to build a level using GameMaker 8.1 - I'll make my Bee game one day!
I played lots of games; Mega GIRP, Just Like Real Life (shameless plug here, that's Lewie's game, available as a free download here, you should try it!), I watched an amazing mod of Proteus - Proteus Frog God Mod, where you travel around Proteus as a frog by bouncing on a trampoline; went to various talks - I had a really good time there.
I've spent today painting, and have got most of the blue painted now - I say most, as I've bound to have missed some of it. I also discovered I'd missed a knee off, so I'll fix than when I finish the faces off.
Here's where I'm up to:
It's taking longer than I expected because of all the detail, but I'm hoping to have it finished soon!
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