Beauty & the Beast drawing/thumbnails ( SCROLL DOWN for finished painting)

With this piece, I had alot of big ideas and imagery that I wanted to use when taking my own spin on this classic fairy tale. I went to the library and checked out every book on fairy tales that I could find and read atleast ten versions of The Beauty and Beast. The scene in the book which seemed to portray the most emotion, was the scene where Beauty left to see her father, and returned only to see the Beast left for dead in the courtyard. The moments before the Beast awakes, in my vision would be the moments of high drama and suspense, the brass and drums begin, along with the tear on Beauty's face, music at its climax, and then he awakes.

Beauty & the Beast

I thought I would add some detail shots due to this being such a large piece. I am happy with the end result of this piece and think that it is a good addition to my portfolio. Fairy tales seem to draw my interest and I think its a genre that I will continue to investigate.

Dorothy and Munchkins Thumbnails/Drawing (Scroll Down for Finished Painting)

When starting a new piece, the thumbnail process is extremely important and is usually the most difficult for me. Getting set on a good composition and idea takes alot of thinking and sketching out all the possibilities. Because I am a perfectionist, I always think I can make a piece better, which causes me to explore to the max. Here are just a few of my thumbnails.
Also here are my final pencils of the characters from which I then transfer to my masonite board. I then draw my landscapes directly on to the board and begin to paint. I basically use a very traditional way of painting; tranparent shadows and opaque lights, topped off with some glazing to polish and finish. Finish is below!!

Latest Dorothy Piece

This was a very involved piece that took me through an extensive journey of photo referencing, costuming, and a soft glazing process in order to maintain the color palette intended. My models used for the characters in the painting had fun with the costuming and the idea of being munchkins which made shooting reference enjoyable. Throughout the developement of taking all the photos, we seemed to pull out all kinds of tricks using drapery, safety pins, pillow cases and whatever we could find to assemble an innovative wardrobe.