I decided it would be a nice idea to do a few small paintings of some of the lunchbox drawings for my family for Christmas presents.  I sat them down and we sorted through the pack, picking out some of their favorites and then I chose from those which ones I wanted most to work on.  We ended up with the Aristocratic Owl for my 5 year old, the Karate Space Pilgrim for my wife, and Duck Duck the Goose for my 1 year old.  They did not get finished for Christmas as I couldn’t find time away from everyone to paint them (thus keeping the surprise)  Now it looks like they will have to be birthday gifts.

As always, in keeping with my process, I worked charcoal on canvas to lay down my values. The Karate Space Pilgrim had an issue where there was a spot on my triple primed canvas (triple primed by the company, not by me) where the charcoal wasn’t seating right and I ended up with an interesting texture which I am going to try to incorporate into the work.  At worst I can paint a little heavier over it.  Note to self… do all your priming yourself and don’t trust the company.

It was interesting working up value pieces from the line-work, deciding how to approach the lighting.  I though for the Karate Space Pilgrim it would be cool to go with a creepy underlit face, like he has a light source in his helmet, to push that 70’s sci-fi/horror movie feeling.

So here are the charcoals and the original line drawings.  The paintings hopefully will follow soon (if I can find time around getting the Ruby June book ready for print.)