Creative Play, Concept and Process: From Photos to Ink

After making a series of self-portrait narrative paintings, I wanted to make an artwork that addressed issues of the greater world. I decided on the characterization of society's apathy to the realities of war. The plastic form of the soldiers gave anonymity to their identities, allowing the ideas to function symbolically more than exist as a specific event. So, I started to do some playful experimentation in composition, arranging the figures, changing the lighting, changing the camera angle. These are some of the results.











As much as I enjoyed the drama of the charging soldiers in the heart of the action, I decided a more distanced viewpoint would emphasize my idea more effectively. Likewise, I wanted to add a more human element to the composition, so I enlisted a model to pose for me.

I Adobe Photoshopped the lady into the composition, then got to work. Using the digital photo collage as my sketch, I decided to work in Higgins India Ink and colored Acrylic Inks on water color paper. First I drew the design lightly in pencil. Next I used a variety of brushes and black ink, emphasizing the linear aspects of the composition to give the image form. I painted a series of washes by thinning down the black ink with water using an egg carton as my mixing tray, and carefully worked up value section by section.

Defining form through value is much like the glazing process used in grisaille paintings of the past. Artists would begin in grey scale, focusing on light and shadows, then carefully glaze and build up vibrant colors in oil paint to add color to the image. The grays helped me subdue vibrant colors and organize the image through shading.

I was pleased with my ink wash painting but decided I would take it one stage further with washes of Acrylic Inks. Using my mixing carton, I blended and thinned down colors, testing the results along the way on scrap paper, then began working on the final image.

This work is quite small so I was able to achieve a finished drawing in just a few days. I normally work in oil paint but I have had a great deal of fun working in ink and playing with ideas in this fluid and fast-paced medium. I appreciated the abstractions the birds-eye viewpoint and stylized map brought to the design as well as the dramatic use of lighting.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a part of my creative process. Let me know if you have any questions.