Tag: Oil Painting

The Making of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey by Taschen Books

 

Howdy Folks!

Well here it is.. Coming soon from Taschen Books is the epic book box set titled The Making of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Written by Piers Bizony. This will be one gorgeous book collection and I cannot wait to see it in the flesh.

I was invited to paint the box artwork by Taschen based on the layout design by M/M Design of Paris. The idea was to capture some of the traditional look of illustration yet also have a clean simple design.

The image was painted in oils and scanned by the chaps at Cie-Elle Digital Imaging. I made all other adjustments digitally.

The black areas were easily cleaned up by re-painting them digitally. Stars were added on a separate layer digitally rather than me painting them in by flicking oil paint around with a tooth brush! We had some placement adjustments to make and a format change right at the end which necessitated some major digital work to the final image but all in all it came out pretty much as per the layout.

Before I got to the final large format painting, I did knock out a study of HAL’s red eye. I was hoping to go looser with the painting as can be seen with the study but the final version works as a clean design.

Many thanks to Taschen Books and M/M Paris for the opportunity to contribute to such a wonderful project.

 

Enjoy!

Study of HAL 9000 eye.
Taschen Books, Making of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey
54″ x 24″, Oil on Linen, Final Painting.
Taschen Books, Making of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey
Final Artwork for the box set.

Troll Mountain Book Covers

Howdy Folks!

Momentum Books have launched Matthew Reilly’s latest novella, Troll Mountain. I painted three covers for three parts and recently finished the omnibus cover, which I’ve just updated below.

The cover painting for Book 1 also made it into this years Spectrum Annual, 21.

 

Enjoy!

Pencil sketches for Troll Mountain covers
Pencil sketches.
Cover painting for Troll Mountain Book 1
Cover painting for Troll Mountain Book 2
Cover painting for Troll Mountain Book 3
Cover painting for Troll Mountain Omnibus edition.

 

And a couple of detail images..

Detail of painting for book 1
Detail of painting for book 2

Interzone Cover #251 – Levitation

Howdy Folks!

Another update with the next Interzone cover for issue 251.

This painting started life as a small watercolour sketch, became a small oil painting study (as seen in Spectrum 20) and has progressed here as the cover painting for Interzone’s next issue and doubles as larger study for a final painting that is currently in progress. The format may be different but I wanted to see the structure at full size and alter the colour and lighting a bit for more air.

The final Levitation painting will be in my favorite wide format at 46″ x 18″ (116cm x 46cm).

Enjoy!

Original watercolour sketch..

Oil painting study..

Pencils sketches..

Final painting.

18″ x 13.5″, Oil on paper. SOLD

And some detail pictures.

 

Update: Hot off the press, the actual cover.

 

 

Two New Oil Paintings

Howdy Folks,

 

Couple of new, old paintings to show. Old in that I painted them more than a year ago but have finally got them scanned.

These are two of my favorite places in the world.

 

The first is my sister rowing a single scull on the Maribyrnong River, just outside the Essendon Rowing Club in Victoria.

26″ x 12″ Oil on Linen

 

The second is a landscape painting of Tilbury Cove at Culburra Beach, NSW and the headland of Crookhaven Heads with the old lighthouse at the end.

30″ x 12″ Oil on Linen

 

Enjoy!

Painting Palette

Howdy folks!

Thought I’d share my new painting palette with you all. It is one of the last things I needed to re-build in order to get painting again on a larger scale.

It’s pretty basic, 18mm marine ply as a base with thin 9mm strips around the edges, basic hinges in back for the lid, mid grey paper under cut glass for the palette section. The palette top is screwed to an Ikea table base which I had to cut down for my particular circumstances.

If I have paint mixtures sitting there from a painting session, the lid closes to keep dust, dirt and insects off.

Here are some pics. Enjoy!

 

ImagineFX, Fantasy Illustrator Tutorial – Derelict

Howdy folks,

ImagineFX magazine have just published a new specialty magazine, or bookazine as they call them titled, Fantasy Illustrator. The mag is dedicated to traditional Fantasy/SF illustration and I was asked to contribute a short tutorial. I choose to paint a simple oil painting study outlining the basics of value control and how you can use your smart phone or tablet to shoot the painting in progress in B/W. This helps you keep track of your values without colour confusing the issue!

The painting is based on one of my sketches set within the Sky Burial series.

Here is a look at the magazine cover.

 

I created four small thumbnails for variations in mood, contrast and atmosphere.

 

Using the iPad to check relative values in B/W without being distracted by colour.

 

The final painting in B/W..

 

..and in colour.

Many thanks to Ian Dean at ImagineFX. Head out and pick up a copy as it should be out now.

Enjoy!

The Machinehouse Worker’s Song Illustration

Howdy folks,

I’d like to share my new illustration for the Interzone magazine story, The Machinehouse Worker’s Song by Steven J Dines. I thoroughly recommend getting your hands on this magazine for some excellent SF stories. Steve’s story and my artwork will be out in issue 246.

Many thanks to Andy Cox of TTA Press for the opportunity to paint for such a great publication.

The original painting is 18″ x 13″, oil on Canson paper.

Here is a preview of the page and the beginning of Steve’s story. Enjoy!