Another Whiteboard - Scamper (commission) WIP

[DocBoots]

This is the commission I'm working on - the underpainting is done and I should be starting scratching tomorrow (and get out of the ugly stage, phew!).

Reference shot (which wasn't my favorite of the ones I took but it's the one the client liked.. but I got another shot that's really neat that I'm thinking I might do on a big board).

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/24-May-2010/153799-Pose9sm1.25-sm.jpg

And the underpainting so far (8x10 on Whiteboard) in the 'zombie-horse' stage....
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/24-May-2010/153799-WIP-6-sm.jpg

~~ Boots ~~

[lorna12]

:lol:You'll make it less zombie like I'm sure. Actually it doesn't look as bad as you imagine.

[Garbonzo]

Good start, whiteboards are always weird looking at first.

[PatrickHedges]

I've never done a white board that didn't start out weird. This is already good!!

[03ahmed]

I am looking forward to you unzombifying this!:D

[SueR]

I admire all of you who have figured out this wb stuff...I've yet to do one I'm happy with. Looking forward to seeing what you do.

[birdlover]

Should be interesting. I have yet to master a white board.

[Maxime Thiffault]

Nice start and congratulation for the commission.

[RSchafe]

Good start Boots! You already have a lot of form in the muzzle - looking forward to the scratching stage.

Rich

[tanianault]

...And the underpainting so far (8x10 on Whiteboard) in the 'zombie-horse' stage....

:lol:

Well, at least he's a handsome zombie...

- Tania

[Harry Seymour]

A great beginning.

[DocBoots]

Thanks all!

Here's an update - just a detail of the part I've started scratching. I'm still tweaking. I painted that eye way too big, luckily it's easy to reshape with whiteboard...I do love this medium, even if it takes me forever!

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/29-May-2010/153799-Scamper_WIP-8-detail.jpeg

^^ Larger than life

~~ Boots ~~

[SueR]

Looking good... :)

[PatrickHedges]

The detail on its own would make a good crop :thumbsup:

[annamelia]

I'm sure this will be fabulous when finished.

I've never done a whiteboard, don't have any to try so will have to get one sometime to give it a go.

[lorna12]

Looking really good even that closeup!

[Diana Lee]

Great start! I miss white boards. You help me by doing these WIP, and doing them so incredibly well!!!!

Diana

[pamelalbd]

I love watching your white board WIP'esesss Looks great so far!

[03ahmed]

Wonderful wonderful work!

[DocBoots]

An update....

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/03-Jun-2010/153799-ScamperWIP11-sm.jpg

Need a bit more scratching on the muzzle then I'll do some reinking and fibreglass brushing...
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/03-Jun-2010/153799-ScamperWIP11-detail1.jpg

Update on the eye:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/03-Jun-2010/153799-ScamperWIP11-detail2.jpg

^^ After a bit of re-inking.
I'm learning how to tone down without actually obliterating my previous scratches (yes, I have a tendency to over-ink).

I'd forgotten how thin the ink is on these whiteboards... great practice for trying to get that light touch of yours Lorna!

~ Boots ~

[lorna12]

Looking so good:thumbsup:...except...can you give that poor beggar an eye...it looks freaky.:lol:

[DocBoots]

http://bp1.blogger.com/_SgwuxOy_7l0/RklnnIUO-pI/AAAAAAAAADU/0fA-W7HHY8E/s1600-h/zombiehest.gifhttp://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/03-Jun-2010/153799-zombiehest.gif

(c) Snarf (http://sketchism.blogspot.com/2007/05/zombie-horse.html)

[objectivistartist]

Sure have the hide down good! :thumbsup:

[PatrickHedges]

Great update Pam. The fur is coming along beautifully, and that eye is perfect for zombies :lol: That's the goal..right? :lol:
I'd forgotten how thin the ink is on these whiteboards...
Is it ink or do they just leave the clay on white boards?

[Harry Seymour]

Great ink work and fur effect.

[lorna12]

http://bp1.blogger.com/_SgwuxOy_7l0/RklnnIUO-pI/AAAAAAAAADU/0fA-W7HHY8E/s1600-h/zombiehest.gifhttp://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/03-Jun-2010/153799-zombiehest.gif

(c) Snarf (http://sketchism.blogspot.com/2007/05/zombie-horse.html)

Now THAT's freaky!! :lol::lol:

[aaces]

Lookin GOOOOOOD Doc!
Love the added cartoon.....Looks like me before coffee!!!!!!!

[Ltaniea]

Wow Boots - even in your 'ugly stage' I thought you had a fantastic resemblance going on. Coming along great!! I'm sure they're going to be really happy with this!!

[Rodman]

I don't see no zombies. Looks really good. Nice and rich.

[Garbonzo]

This is looking terrific. Thanks for the close ups.

[DocBoots]

Allan, Natalie, Rob, Harold.. thanks!!!

I've been DYING the past week. I was away at a conference (and got some work done... a testament to the portability of this medium!), but when I got home I found I'd contracted Disnebola (my conference was in Anaheim, CA). I get some cold/sore throat/cough every time I travel but this time really knocked my socks off - and I've been unable to do much but struggle through my work day and try to not die ever since. I finally got some antibiotics (when it was clear this was well beyond viral) and today is the first day I feel mostly human again.... erg.

I got some work done on Scamper before I got sick, and actually was trying to finish it while I was sick (I wasn't sleeping anyway so what the hey). I finally gave up - but I've showed it to the recipient (a gift from her step-mom) and she loved it. We're going to float mount it on a black background with a black frame (that was the excuse to show her - so she could pick the background colour).

Now I just need to finish it... but tonight I'll be able to work on it and I think with a couple more days of input I'll be done.

Here's the latest update -most of the remaining work is on the halter.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/24-Jun-2010/153799-Scamper-WIP19-sm.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/24-Jun-2010/153799-Scamper-WIP19-detail.jpg
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/24-Jun-2010/153799-Scamper-WIP19-detail2.jpg

Now.. I'm off to get some work done! Oh it's so nice to not be hacking up a lung or to have a throat so sore it's hard to swallow ice cream :D!

I :heart: azithromycin!!

~ Boots ~

[pamelalbd]

Awesome work! I can't wait to see the finished halter its gonna be a great bit of texture to a beautiful rendering of Scampers soft velveteen muzzle. Beautiful work Pam. Sure hope you get well soon!

[birdlover]

Looks great. I always have trouble with whiteboards. When you begin do you start with pretty thick ink so the scratches appear?

[jeniart]

This is coming along so nicely Boots - nice textures especially the mane/forelock.

[03ahmed]

Really looking forward to the finish!

[Garbonzo]

Boots, you do a great job on the white boards and this is no exception. It's really coming along nicely. I think what gave me the most difficulty with whiteboards, until I made my peace with it, was the edges of everything. With, say, fur on blackboards you can run off the edge of an arm and it looks like wild hair. On a whiteboard you have to keep the fur under control and on the colored area along the edge, if that makes sense. You do that very well.

[DocBoots]

Thanks folks! I got a little done last night.. had a bit of a coughing relapse (thanks for the health encouragement Pam!) but I'm determined to finish it this weekend.

Birdie - I don't lay the ink particularly thick, but what I will say is that I paint it intentionally very dark. If you have an area that will end up being grey I will paint it close to black. You can always go lighter, but it's awkward in later layers to go darker. Similar in reverse theory to overscratching a black board that you intend to use colour on, I guess :D

Harold - Edges are a pain. In this one they specifically wanted the white background which has made it easier because I just painted smooth edges, then scratched little hairs, then used the tiny fiberglass brush to clean up the ink outside my scratches and give it a softer edge.

When I have a coloured background I do spend more time on the initial painting making sure there is a fine, jagged fur edge to work with later and I have yet to do a long-haired type of critter on WB, on a white BG it would probably be okay (like working with this guy's mane) but on a coloured BG it would be pretty tricky!!


http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/25-Jun-2010/153799-Scamper-WIP21.jpeg


Here's an extreme close-up showing the feathered 'edge' (Need to clean up some areas... at the end I'll go over the entire white BG with the fibreglass brush). Also some detail on the in-progress halter. I need to get some shadows in there too.. it's tiny work, my eyes are getting too old for this! I'm going to have to invest in a magnifying lamp!

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/25-Jun-2010/153799-Scamper-WIP21-detail.jpeg

~ Boots ~

[SueR]

Looking mighty fine. I still envy those of you who have mastered whiteboard!

[PhilA]

Great work so far. What kind of ink are you using? I've never done a white board either, but your technique looks very appealing.

Phil

[Crias]

looking good. The texture around the muzzle/mouth is spot on! The close up shows just how much detail this has.

[XQB]

Wow...watching this develop has been terrific fun, Boots. I, too have yet to tackle WB, but feel I have some great examples to follow when I do. Not being the painterly type, I thought your first underpainting was pretty darn good, but it truly developed into something beautiful. Very cool indeed.

[Rowey]

fantastic - all that detail!!!! i must try a whiteboard one day
thanks for sharing

[Maydayblue]

Wow! This is coming along great! i've never tried scrathboard or whiteboard but it sure looks fun! :) Great Job so far.

[DocBoots]

Thanks guys!

Phil - I'm using all Ampersand ink on this one.

Courtney - you'd better give it a try! (warning, scratchboard is highly addictive!)

I'm a little stuck though... it's close to finished, or at least I'm getting that warning feeling that it's starting to get overworked and if I don't stop soon I'm going to go just that little bit too far and ruin it!! *sigh*

But the halter is giving me fits. I had an idea with the texture initially but it's not working out the way I wanted. It was too 'clean' looking too so I've added some colour, more texture, more interest... but it's too light and just sits there. The problem is that I'm struggling with what to do to to fix it... if I do a more opaque wash over the whole thing I'm afraid of what will happen to the edges (not that I'm overly happy with them either). Erg... I should have pushed her to leave the halter out - here I was thinking the textiles would be fun... :rolleyes:.

Any help is appreciated!!

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/27-Jun-2010/153799-Scamper-WIP23.jpeg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/27-Jun-2010/153799-Scamper-WIP23-detail1.jpeg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/27-Jun-2010/153799-Scamper-WIP23-detail2.jpeg

I think I need to walk away from it for a little while. I'm also going to have to borrow my husbands loupes if I ever try to work this much detail into such a small piece again!!!

~ Boots ~

[PatrickHedges]

Boots, this is looking really good. With the halter, what if you washed transparent brown over the horse and halter to make them gel together a bit more? I'd try that but wait for a better answer first as I'm a risk taker and not always wise :lol: (well, often wise 'after' the event :lol: )

[RSchafe]

Boots, you make whiteboard look so easy! Wonderful work on the horse!! :clap: :clap:

For the halter, maybe you can practice Patrick's overinking suggestion on a practice board first. Playing around in photoshop with an airbrush tool, a little sepia on the two ends of the halter strap across the muzzle and then along the cheek seemed to blend it together.

Rich

[Rodman]

This is exciting for me to watch. ( & funny to read PATRICK!!! Your a nut case) I agree that a thin wash of the horses browns ON the thingy ma bob will work. ... Those browns would be effecting the green with there secondary lighting. Go for it!! Patrick is still a nut case. Lol

[GoldenArt]

I agree a light wash, sporatically over the halter might work. Instaed of the color of the horse, purhaps the complement of the halter.(very light) Take this for what it is , an idea from someone that is not sure, so sample board does apply. LOL Rick

[DocBoots]

Thanks for all the input guys... I did some light washing with sepia and some more scratching, more washing, and then brought out some of the highlights with a very lime green. I think I'm about done with it.

The glass arrived this morning (yeah, they want it framed under glass) so I'll need to spray it today... it's done whether I like it or not :/

(also the speck under his jaw is crud on the scanner - not there on the original)

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/07-Jul-2010/153799-Scamper-FIN3-web.jpg

Details:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/07-Jul-2010/153799-Scamper-FIN3-Detail1-web.jpg
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/07-Jul-2010/153799-Scamper-FIN3-Detail2-web.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/07-Jul-2010/153799-Scamper-FIN3-Detail3-web.jpg

I haven't actually sprayed it yet - will do so on my lunch break in about an hour - so any last minute comments are welcome!

~ Boots ~

[aaces]

My advice...skip lunch and spray this piece...then sit back and smile! :D

[aaces]

Oh....almost forgot....then take the rest of the day off :thumbsup::D

[DocBoots]

Haha... thanks Allan! It's sprayed and framed, but I have to work at the day job until 7pm :)

(Sorry for the crappy shot)

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/07-Jul-2010/153799-scamperFamed.jpg

[Maxime Thiffault]

That is so nice.

[Diana Lee]

So very impressive! I sure hope you are proud!

Diana

[PatrickHedges]

What a saga but what a result. This is brilliant!!!

[ARTMUTT]

Looks great I enjoyed following it! Thanks!!

[Frytha]

Wonderful result after all that hard work.

Cathy