Illustration Master Class: Working on Concept

Well, the Illustration Master Class (2011) is now less than 3 weeks away and I am still working on my concept sketch. It's getting there. I finally figured out what I'm going to do and how plan to do it. The rules that I have to work within are: 1) One Dragon (at least) that is showing some sort of human emotion, 2) 2 - 4 people with one person being detailed, 3) Sized for a hardcover book (front and back is optional).

So, I came up with the following image:

In this story, we have the main character destroying an egg. There'll be another person in front of the egg that will be on their hands and knees with the outstretched hand to try to stop the person. The egg will have a bright glow on the inside and clouds will be coming out of the egg top (The egg is sitting in a bed of rocks). From the clouds, you'll see the two dragons above the guy being emitted (They are part of what he has released within the egg that he is destroying). They also are angry about him destroying it and are trying to prevent him from destroying it.

So, there's still a lot of drawing to do on this. Once the drawing is done, I'll then decide the color scheme and value structure.

So, to get the posing right, here I am outside in my duster. Since I'm not very good about drawing out of my head, I decided that I needed some action/reference shots to see how the clothing flows and the body position. This was a bit weird, but kind of fun to do. My wife, Melissa, just kept shooting lots and lots of pictures while I hopped around on the deck.

You can also see the dinosaur toy that I used for the basic head structure. On the final drawing, I'll need to elongate the head, add some quills, and change the facial structure a bit so that it looks like a dragon, as opposed to the dinosaur.

Plein Air (Lilac Festival)

Here's my plein air attempt from the Lilac Festival at the Shelburne Museum. Cloudy, rainy and not a very nice day. This was the view from under a porch.

Crouching Dragon

Tonight's drawing of a dragon is based on another painting by Boris Vallejo. The reason that I like his paintings are due to the volume that he gives his creatures and people. The edges are not flat.

Studio Dog

Here's a picture of my "studio" dog: Willow. Willow is a (almost) 2-year old Bedlington Terrier. Whenever I start working on a painting, she props herself on the loveseat to the right. This way she can get the occasional belly scratch when I'm stepping back and looking at the painting.

What a life she has. ;-)

Dragons and More Dragons

Dragons and more dragons. So, the Illustratioon Master Class is coming up in 3 weeks and I need to have a sketch of a scene with some dragons in it. The only problem is... I don't know how to draw dragons out of my head. So, I figure that, if I did a bunch of drawings of dragons from the internet, I could figure out the muscle structure and shapes to be able to create my own dragons (before the three weeks is up).

Here are my first two drawings. The first drawing is based on a painting by Boris Vallejo. I love his work and am very excited that he will be one of the instructors at the workshop. The second drawing is based on a picture that I found on the internet. I don't know who did it, but it represents a typical dragon pose/shape.

These were fun drawings to do and more will be on the way.

Latest Painting: A Tree Stands Among Them

"A Tree Stands Among Them" is an original 16" x 22" oil painting created on a 1" stretched, high-quality canvas. The painting is presented as unframed (Sides are painted).

While viewing this particular tree on my way to work, I realized that it seems to be totally surrounded by all manner of buildings, parking lots, etc. In many cases, you'll see a lone tree that stands out in its surroundings. Sometimes, it's the shape or color of the tree. Sometimes, it's just the fact that there is nothing non-made surrounding it.

All Artwork is copyrighted to Doug Hoppes Studio and is not to be copied or reproduced in any form without the permission of the artist. Sale of this item does not transfer its copyright.

Still Life: Bottle

Tough study. The hardest part about this painting was the simulation of glass and getting the drawing correct. The glass seemed to turn out okay, but the drawing was another matter.

This means that I just need to spend more time on my drawing skills. Drawing is one of those skills where, if you don't practice it constantly, it deteriorates extremely quickly. This is where still life studies of man-made objects comes in. There are definite shapes that are symmetrical and, if the drawing is wrong, it's pretty noticeable.

Lilac Festival

Ahhh... painting outdoors. It's fun. It really is. Some days, it's more fun than others. Yesterday, it was fun... but, cold and rainy.

So, at the Shelburne Museum (Shelburne, Vermont), I was one of the participants of the Lilac Festival. For those interested, I would be talking about plein-air painting and how I go from the studies to a final studio painting. I could show people my setup, talk about my artwork, pass out some studio information, etc.

The only problem with yesterday was that it was extremely cold and rainy. So, rather than an average attendance of 3000 people, I think that I saw around 20 - 40 people (if that). Instead of painting lilacs, I painted a lot of green trees and started working on a building. Instead of being out in the open air sun, I was underneath a porch (had to keep continuously moving my easel due to the fact that the wind kept blowing the rain farther and farther in under the porch).

Would I go out and paint outdoors again? Absolutely. The only time that I really really don't like painting outdoors is when the mosquitoes and bugs start "bugging" me. No chance of that, yesterday. :-)

Latest Painting: Cloud Generator

"Cloud Generator" is an original 9" x 12" oil painting created on a 1" stretched, high-quality canvas. The painting is presented as unframed (Sides are painted).

When watching some storm clouds, I am always curious about how they are created. About the dirt that is brought up and the moisture in the air. In the clouds, I sometimes imagine that there is a little factory that takes all of the surrounding material and creates the storm clouds.

All Artwork is copyrighted to Doug Hoppes Studio and is not to be copied or reproduced in any form without the permission of the artist. Sale of this item does not transfer its copyright.

Latest Painting: Cloudy With A Chance

"Cloudy With A Chance" is an original 14" x 18" oil painting created on a 1" stretched, high-quality canvas. The painting is presented as unframed (Sides are painted).

No matter how bright things seem to be, for some, there always seems to be a cloud. I was watching some basic clouds on a bright and sunny day and realized, after looking at them for a while, there each had a dark underlayer. However, that's not what I first noticed. I always noticed the bright spots. So, this is the enhanced concept that ran through my mind when studying the clouds.

All Artwork is copyrighted to Doug Hoppes Studio and is not to be copied or reproduced in any form without the permission of the artist. Sale of this item does not transfer its copyright.