There is some real talent amongst the RAT community. I am always impressed with Patrick's work and Alan I love your carvings. There is also some wonderful illustrations....well done to all who have posted and shared their artwork...great stuff!
Here are some of my illustrations I have completed over the years, these days I mainly concentrate on Biblical themes. Hopefully next year I will undertake some work with a Roman theme illustrated from the new testament....like Christs' trial, the Centurion at the cross, Cornelius and Paul's travels etc.
Sorry Evan...just read your introduction post (properly) on the historical aspect, therefore my wildlife images don't fit the description. Remove them if it is a problem.
After a career of rodmaking, scrimshaw, and decoy-making, I took a long period off, working on the water as a wire-man and charter boat captain. Then, in 2007, I created a number of some-what "off-color" fantasy paintings based on historical info. Those were in the deleted original post on this thread.
However, here is "PG-13 Safe" one. It's titled "Tomyris Removes her Jewelry." The medium is colored ink and colored pencil on vellum. A tough medium, because you can't erase any mistakes.
[attachment=8239]Tomyris02.jpg[/attachment]
Alan J. Campbell
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
Quote:Here are a few of my works. "Fare Thee Well" and "Farewell" are two deep relief carvings that I was commissioned to do for the 50th Anniversary of the Launching of the S. S. Edmunds Fitzgerald. This is the largest shipwreck in the Great Lakes. At the time of her sinking she was the largest ship on the lakes.
[attachment=8204]FareTheeWellSized.jpg[/attachment]
"Fare Thee Well" commemorates the Maiden Voyage in June of 1958
[attachment=8205]FarewellSized.jpg[/attachment]
"Farewell" depicts the final night before she went down in one of the worst storms on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975.
My son and I created a special workbench that I can put at any angle. When I carve a deep relief carving like this, It is in the same upright position that a painters easel. I put one light source on it and the lighting never changes. As I carve, I am carving both a shadow and a highlight at the same time.
Pavel, the birds are traditionally painted as was all of my work up until about 5 years ago. These days I paint/illustrate on a Wacom Cintiq display and use Corel painter and Photoshop. I still do the painting the same as I would traditionally, like starting with a white canvas and building up the paint and detail etc. Only instead of paint and brushes it is pixels and a interactive pen. There are really no shortcuts or magic filter effect to make a painting with digital media.....the main benefit is the time factor as it is so much quicker than traditional methods.