Icarus Step 3
The main point of the study may be resolving lighting and design issues with the wings, but it is also a good excuse to do a little figure painting. Besides, the better the rendering of the lighting and color on the figure, the better correlation I can achieve with the lighting and color on the wings.
I started with the face and left arm, since it’s easier for a lefty like me to work from top to bottom and right to left whenever possible. My main goal here is to sculpt the figure, paying special attention to their orientation to the light source, to achieve the illusion of the shapes and forms curving away in space. The model for Icarus was particularly fit. When setting up to shoot the scrap, I had him pull against a wooden pole behind his back to activate the correct muscles in his chest and arms. After a minute or two, the amount of detail visible in the striations of muscle and network of veins was incredible. When painting from such highly detailed reference material, the trick is always to pull out just enough information to get the point across without allowing the details to become more important than the overall form.
I have had many questions about Icarus’ facial expression while working on this painting. To answer a few of the most common, Icarus is looking down because he is negotiating a landing. While it may not be completely apparent in this smaller, more quickly painted version, his expression is one of concentration, and he is breathing out with the strain of hauling against the wings to stop his forward momentum as he touches down. The expression is actually very well represented in the scrap, since by the end of the photo shoot the model was breathing harder with the strain of pulling against the dowel and holding his weight on his bent right leg.
