L is for Larry MacDougall

Another fairy tale/children's book illustrator.  I don't appologize though- because we can all relate to this type of art and it tends to be pretty amazing.

Ok- so his blog is here Mythwood- as usual; go check it out! He has links to all the rest of his sites on the right hand side of his blog.

What attracted me to his work is the way he uses light.  Most of his paintings use pretty light nearly pastel colors which is a risky thing to do. Why? simple- our eyes see black and white first (cones and rods and things- remember science way back in the day? Holy cow- art uses that information :D) (I'm always excited when I can use science or math in art- makes me feel smart)  Ok so back on point- why does a pallet that uses mostly light or mostly dark hues run into a problem?  They blend and bleed together in our minds.  Our eyes just translate what is in front of us into an image- and the first thing they look for are points of contrast.  It is the way we are built.  Understanding this (in one way or another) helps an artist create interesting paintings.  

Someday I'll write a post that goes into this in a lot more detail- but for now remember light and dark are the most important thing in narrative and figurative art.  

So back to Larry- the way he uses light is pretty astounding- for instance in the fairy below you are attracted to her face because it is bordered by darker values of yellow.  None of the colors are really all that dark- BUT he paints in light in such a way that we can see what he wants us to see and we aren't lost in a bunch of pretty colors.

Today I tried something different- instead of just doing one sketch inspired by my artist I repeated what I did with Justin Gerard and actually sketched out copies of Larry's paintings (with a time limit- since I do have finals in 2 weeks and many sketches and drawings to do between now and then) So I have posted my armature sketch next to the professional work.  The last bit of art is my reference and then my own drawing based on his style. 

Enjoy!

It takes me a lot more time when I'm constructing the character completely on my own (even with reference) So my character isn't as done as his are

~Alicia

PS- I am trying to visit back everyone who has been kind enough to leave a comment- *hopefully* I'll have some time to come look at your blogs this weekend- thank you so much for coming and thank you for leaving your blog addresses so I can visit you back!