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Motive Force: Step 7

Motive Force

Here is the finished locomotive engine. After the basic colors and geometry were established I wend back in and added reflections and highlights to the painted surfaces. I based much of what I did on observations of reflections and highlights on high gloss automobile paint jobs. Once the painted surfaces of the engine were finished, I proceeded to paint the hardware: handles, headlights, steps, etc. I then added reflections to the windshield. I am still undecided about adding a logo to the front of the train. I have designed several that I really like, but will wait until the figure is finished to decide if a logo would be too distracting so close to the figure’s face.

Also in this image I have re-painted the sky to cover up the areas where the sketch was showing through. This allowed me to fine tune the outline of the engine. I touched up several areas on the railroad ties, the gravel and the rail as well. At this point all that remains is to paint the figure. I am beginning to feel a little pressed for time with the reception coming up on November sixth. In addition to painting the figure, I still need time for the paint to dry, a coat of retouch varnish, and a trip to the photographer before I ship the painting to the gallery.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 30th, 2004 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Motive Force. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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About Bryan Larsen ~

Bryan Larsen

"I was born on February 12, 1975, and have been drawing as long as I can remember. By the time I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be an artist, although at the time I didn't have a clear idea of how exactly I would use my talents to make a living.

"As I continued studying art, I began to suspect that fine visual art was dead. No one seemed interested in teaching students how to draw well, or paint well. More often than not, my own skills exceeded those of my instructors.

"The only field left that seemed to require good drawing, painting, and compositional skills was illustration, and therefore I began studying illustration at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. I became even more convinced that I had made the right decision in staying away from fine art as I endured course after course of required "drawing" and "painting" classes in which instructors required me to draw with "less focus", or use ridiculous materials such as shellac, glue, sand, salt, etc.

"My second year at Utah State, I met Damon Denys. In discussing Art with him I realized that there were other people who believed that technique and subject matter were indispensable components of any work of art. I then decided that I would work to develop my own painting skills with the purpose of creating artwork that I considered worthy of being called Fine Art.

"Since that time, I have studied on my own: Drawing from live models to learn the human form, studying proper painting techniques from any source I could find ample reason to trust, and developing a philosophy of Art based on reason, and life on earth.

"My goal is to portray the heroic and romantic in human nature and human achievement in a realistic style and a modern setting. I place particular emphasis on composition, technique, realistic detail, proper craftsmanship and consistency of style."