A Simple Tryst of Fates (Part 4)

As trios go, this is somewhat of a motley crew, although there is a sense of more intelligence there than the Stooges (Moe's, not Iggy's), and a bit less flippancy than the Marxes. If they sing after a long day's labor, I bet they chant and trill in the same octave range as the Bee Gees; maybe not as high, but I'm sure they do it with less urgency. The Bee Gees were always a bit on the desperate side; ...but I digress. Although I intend to have their faces remain a bit less defined than Mr. Fellow's, I will likely add a a bit more specifics to each.
















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Here they all are in action. Nona and Morta have been fleshed out... well certainly Nona has been fleshed out. Next step is to finalize their facial features, somewhat. And I'm considering a wardrobe change for Mr. Fellow. Morta's hands were quite fun to draw. They're big. I don't mean to say necessarily that as life goes on your hands get bigger, but the proof seems to be in the pudding here. Certainly MY hands are bigger than when I was a child; I don't know about what my senior hands will look like... I'll keep an eye on them. Evidently clothes become a premium as one ages as well.


















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A Simple Tryst of Fates (Part 3)

Decima now has more of the gesture I was aiming at with her arms pulling us up and around the top of the image, and the life cord dropping us back down to Nona and then across bottom... Hopes are that Decima herself is not following this blog, as the extended arm length, while rhythmically vital to the flow of the piece, implies that she is more simian in stature than she may want. (we'll need to check her knuckles for callouses)...word gets out and she may cajole Morta to cut MY cord earlier than planned. [ shhhhh ] I changed the angle on Morta's hand/scissors to make more sense, and have started exploring the specifics on Mr. Fellow... Value structure will need pushing, and more details to come.


















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A Simple Tryst of Fates (Part 2)

Head lice and dandruff are kid's play when compared to our poor fellow here, but according to any run of the mill oracle, this process was not only necessary, but de rigueur in classical antiquity... you couldn't be seen without it. Here we have our three fates busily fashioning out yet another lifespan: Morta is now cutting at a more appropriate spot while maintaining her far-right staging. Decima measures away on top, and Nona spins on. I can't help but wonder exactly what Decima does with the life cord after Morta has made her cut (?) one assumes that she continues to measure and pull, and ends up with the other end. Does the fellow keel over once the cord is cut? Will she then coil it up like a garden hose and place it neatly on his face? Does it get used as a belt for their gowns? Perhaps when no one is watching the three of them jump rope with it...? These are serious concerns of which I shan't do a thing about.














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The gesture of Decima's arms and posture below will likely be adapted to the final as it pulls the viewer up and through the composition better than the more finished image. This was a prelim to the prelim above.













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A Simple Tryst of Fates (Part 1)

The Fates have always straddled that spooky cum intriguing place in my imagination. While the Yankees and Santa are in the final inking process, I will be simultaneously hashing out a new composition. The first drawings below were started earlier in the year and abandoned as I was not completely satisfied with where they were going, below are two of the better incarnations: There's a slight problem, I realize, with the order of of the action. Atropos, the cutter, (I do not mean to imply that she takes a razor to her veins here) is doing the cutting at what would be in fact the beginning of the life cord... which makes Lachesis, the measurer, rather pointless. (I find this problem in many traditional renderings of these three) Atropos will need to reach in and cut closer to the distaff, and Clotho's spinning. However, she should remain on the right side as she is the end of the story, and I expect the reader to read from left to right.












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Earlier prelim for what became above. The Roman equivalent of their names are Nona, Decima, and Morta. I think I'll use these as they feel more comfortable to my ear. I'm more Latin than I am Greek. You can tell by my palliditity. Here the visual weight was too equally spread among the three fates. A better balance was achieved above.












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In some more recent explorations below, I am considering incorporating a head of supposedly the person whose lifespan is being determined. There much more to hash out here, but it may add a needed complexity missing from the earlier studies.






















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Below are even more unsuccessful forays into making a palatable image of the threesome:

This one's downright ugly.


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The two images below are various patching together of vague compositional ideas which may take you a bit of time to sort out what's happening. The process of concluding this will be more rewarding than the images themselves, so if that doesn't work for you, then just skip this part.













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Very early on are my beginning meanderings in this vein. I was playing with various directions and rhythms. I may revert to some aspects of these.















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Holiday Account

It's been a couple of years since I've produced the family holiday card. (it happens) Below is my return to the genre, as we have Santa the proprietor et unrelenting boss trying to get his proletarian artisan back on the job. (Damn elves! --their labor is cheap, but oh the headaches --always hiding and slacking off!) The drawing below is fairly near the final. Problems needing adjusting include his hand/arm which unfortunately reads more like a salute than the searching gesture I was intending. As we all know, Santa salutes no one --(except Rudolph of course). So in order to avoid Kringlesque litigation, I will have to void out those fingers I've grown fond of, and flatten out the hand pose. The elf needs to move back a tad, and perhaps be a bit overlapped by the lower part of Santa's girth... I'll have to see how it goes.
O-U-T spells out.





















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Here's how the the hand may read in the final.

















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Some of the first few sketches made in the exploratory stages of the concept. At first sleeping was the elf's wont, but TV seemed more annoying.












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DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 13

Specs and sizing. Not the most exciting aspect of this process, but one CAN get into all that math... for a bit. A little bit. a little tiny bit. I was pleased to find that my recap thumbnail, used for the value studies, was nearly exact in terms of proportion for the individual pieces, and down the road, the final art. This seems to be a skill that one acquires with years of drawing, much like when one wears no wristwatch for an extended period -you become fairly good at guesstimating the time of day. I forgot to bring a ruler with me to Peet's and had to then fashion my own from a bookmark...(I didn't forget to bring the book I was reading --just the necessary tools... what does that tell you about me? ...never mind.)
This way of going from prelim to final is a bit on the rigid side, but most art directors love it... No surprises! Give an art director who loves and promotes spontaneity any time! So few and far between.
Jackson may vary in his final size, as space will allow. Next step will be transfer and then inking.

















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Below is Mach two of the value study. Same thing just further exploration & wider value range. I will need to flesh out what little there is of Traveller once all the images are placed. His mane is mainly dark. Near as I can tell he has two 'L's in his name; which I believe is the British spelling of our 'traveler'... I assume the general chose this to match the two 'E's in his own surname: Lee... Otherwise tidiness would dictate he abbreviate his family name to Le. Robert E. Le. Making him Asian. That would require some leap of faith.












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DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 12

Value study! Below is an unofficial re-comp of the entire illustration based on the current working character drawings and positionings. There will be some shifting and other alterations as the pieces are sewn together; Traveler will need to be finalized even if he has been for the most part cropped out of the image at the bottom. I am fighting the urge to draw Babe holding a platter on high with a big ol' hamburger on it, along with the attendant checker overalls... This would undoubtedly confuse the original concept, and cause a shift in one's confidence in me as a professional. Still, the inanity of it all would be funnier than all get-out, and may be well worth the trouble. I'll think about it. ...(maybe I've already drawn it but am not showing it to you...ha!)










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