Erik’s 100 Day Challenge: Say More With Less

[Debbie H]

This is looking great Erik! I’m still impressed 🙂! Two thoughts – the bubbles seem quite opaque – can you integrate them into the environment so they look transparent and yet keep their strong identity/focal point? I assume also that the bubble will reflect the room it’s in, thus the background should be the same room depicted in the bubble. No idea how to do all of that, but I assume that if you can do 5/6 point perspective, you can do anything 😉!!! Keep up the good work!

[erikdennes]

Day 73

Thanks Deborah!  You are giving me way too much credit for the 5/6 point perspective work.  In some ways it is easier than 2 point because the vanishing points are not way off the picture frame.  To get the bubble to look more transparent, I can lower the opacity of the layer, but that brings down the value and you loose clarity, so it is a trade off.  I need to make it more obvious that the background is the same room as the bubble.  I think I can do that by creating a pattern in the wall design where the green meets the lighter tan of the wall and making that design more explicit in the background and in the bubble without having it be too obtrusive.  That is my plan anyway.

On to another mural.  This is a design sketch for a library wall.  I’ll have to be up on a scaffold, but the wall is smooth!  Their mascot is the shark.  You can not only see this wall when you come in the library entrance, but there is a large window on the second floor hall that overlooks this space as well.

[Debbie H]

Haha, no just take the praise! I actually think the bubble looks good as is, personally, I’d see what you can do to make the background work harder to support the illusion.

I love the new mural concept. They’ve got you working hard haven’t they!

[erikdennes]

Day 74

Thanks Deborah.  I’m waiting to hear back from the Principal to see if she likes the idea.  I hope she likes it too!

I did a little digital landscape using the concept of 5 point perspective for the sky.  We have a lot of horse farms here in Kentucky because the limestone in the soil gives the grass a lot of calcium which makes horses bones strong.  I think all of the edges are too sharp in this.  I worked on separate layers, and I need to combine the different layers and integrate them better.

[GordanKnezic]

It looks very interesting Erik! I love the atmosphere and horses look so peaceful!

[erikdennes]

Day 75

Thanks Gordon!

I did a small color study, acrylic on paper.  I think I need to do five, or ten of these little color studies and try different things.

[erikdennes]

Day 76

Another mural design.  I got the idea from someone’s instagram drawing.  It had a bird’s eye view of a bird looking down on a street with curvilinear perspective.  I was looking for something I could do with the Red Hawks (mascot), so I took the idea and ran with it.  Under the hawk’s beak is a girl holding up a diploma.

[erikdennes]

Day 77

I watched the Ben Fenske lesson on sky and clouds and repainted day 75 in oils.

[erikdennes]

Day 78

I got approval for the second mural sketch, so I worked on some refinement.

[erikdennes]

Day 79

I was very sick for a few days so I got nothing done, but I am up and running again.  I started the Red Hawks mural. Primed the wall, did the drawing and went over the line work with airbrush.

[Debbie H]

It’s looking good Erik! I hope you’re recovering 🙂.

[erikdennes]

Day 80

Thanks Deborah, I’m all better now.

The scissor lift got delivered at the other site, so I had to pack everything up and start the underwater mural.  I was dreading doing the gradients on such a huge wall, but I think I have it all figured out now.
Painting a shark jumping out of the water 25 feet in the air on a lift is fun!

[erikdennes]

Close up of shark

[GordanKnezic]

It looks great Erik! I can just imagine the challenges you have to face when painting such a large composition. Just curious what kind of paint is typically used for this kind of mural work?

[erikdennes]

Day 81

Thanks Gordan.  I usually use Golden artist acrylics.  In this case, because of the gradients in the background I needed something a little more spreadable.  I’m using Sherwin-Williams Acrylic latex house paint for the background, and my regular Golden artists acrylics for everything else.

I forgot to plug in the lift when I left yesterday and it was dead this morning.  I had to block in the head while it was charging and then paint the background around it.  One more pass on the gradient background should do it.  I hope to finish it before my hand falls off!

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