Painting Rocky Jordan: Process

Continued from yesterday's post on the pencil process, here we are in the paint. Part 2:

I transferred my drawing to a heavy weight illustration board prepared with gesso using a graphite pencil and sharpened up the drawing using Prismacolor pencils: Burnt Ochre, Light Umber, Terra Cotta, and Black.


I also tinted the overall board with a light coat of Raw Umber acrylic paint and blocked in the dark's with Payne's Grey or Raw Umber.

I cut some masks using a clear acetate and started on the background colors, keeping the two main figures covered up. I glazed acrylic color with the airbrush into the overall background, working light to dark, and enjoying the process of the colors working together; warm and cool. At this point I was creating a dance between the blue sky at dusk (Cobalt Blue) and the warm glow and shadows of the buildings (Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Green, and Dioxazine Purple).


Examining the hue of the sky against the buildings:

After I've laid down the background colors, I remove the masks to take a look at what's going on. Total time is approximately 5 hours. Background is not complete but it's time to move onto the figures before I work on the background anymore. I'll complete the background and figures pretty much together as the painting starts to fall into place.

I start with the flesh tone of both figures (Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Light Portrait Pink) and shadows in the face and hands (Viridian Hue Perm., Cerulean Blue).


A short break and call to my friend Anthony Schiavino. He and I collaborated on my Knuckles, Tough Guy for Hire painting for his publication, "Episodes From The Zero Hour". Anthony knows pulp and I've trusted him for many years. I'd been tossing around ideas for both Rocky's coat and the femme fatale's dress but I wanted Anthony's opinion. Even though I knew which way I was leaning - I wanted to be absolutely sure. White coat and deep blue dress. Got it, thanks Anthony.

I bit of Dioxazine Purple and Raw Umber next to some Cadmium Yellow Medium areas, then Ultramarine Blue glazed over the dress.

Stay tuned.

Sketching Rocky Jordan

I had another wonderful pulp opportunity of illustrating the cover collection for the old time radio show “Rocky Jordan” available from Radio Archives this year. A  quick introduction for anyone who isn’t familiar with the show can be found on RA’s website; "Rocky Jordan" is very reminiscent of the classic movie "Casablanca." You'll remember that, at the end of the 1942 movie, nightclub owner Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Police Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains) walk off into the night, leaving Casablanca to join the Free French garrison across the desert. The settings of both stories are nearly identical: the desert sands, the fez, the turbans, the robes, the underworld lowlifes who visit the cafe. In "Casablanca," 'everyone comes to Rick's'. Not so in "Rocky Jordan;" the Cafe Tambourine is a lower-class establishment (in Cairo). It's more a waterfront dive, filled with forgotten men. And, unlike "Casablanca," the war is over -- but not the mystery or the intrigue. I really like the characters and stories - and enjoy working while listening to the shows.
The project presented some interesting ideas, but I felt I had a rough start pin pointing something special for the client. So I started diving into my sketchbook.
I originally was creating thumbnail sketches that were inspired by paperback covers by David Grove and/or Kazu Sano. I was interested in more of a montage of characters and setting with mood lighting and colors. I thought it would fit the right emotion that I got out of listening to the programs.

But, after looking at the quick thumbnails, I realized it just wasn’t going to work for the OTR audience and packaging. At least I crossed off one option and time to keep moving forward. So, I decided on a doing a scene reminiscent of noir film, or vintage pulp imagery with a femme fatale confronting Rocky. In the background I’d want the policeman Sam Sabaaya to be seen coming out of, perhaps, the Cafe Tambourine, just in time to help the situation and solve the case. That’s what I was thinking here and it was enough to get me going.

I sketched out a tense scene in the Cafe Tambourine and liked what was going on with the action and composition. Good story illustration but I felt it wasn't working yet. It would be a nice sequential panel but with Rocky's back to us wasn't good for a cover. The best solution was to turn him around and get the viewer involved, and I did a quick rough sketch to see what I thought. 

The more I left this idea alone, the more it kept growing on me. I decided to move forward with this for the moment and see what I can do with it. Once I shot my model for Rocky Jordan and collected my other references, I pulled together a tight drawing - and I ended up really being pleased with the results. I pulled back on the composition to see more of the figures, especially Rocky in front. Tom Brown at Radio Archives agreed and approved the drawing right away and I was thrilled to begin painting this one.

Star Struck: Process

For my painting STAR STRUCK, I grabbed a rough thumbnail that was sitting in my sketchbook and quickly developed a concept and design influenced by the black and white illustrations from artist Virgil Finlay. I admire Finlay’s imagination, design and craftsmanship, especially with the female form.

My space heroine is so awe struck (or star struck) by the alien world around her that she has innocently fallen into danger - and without a ray gun at her side! While working on the composition and my drawing, I started to think about dramatic and effective color. That’s when a palette reminiscent of pulp covers by Hubert Rogers seemed like a good choice to me. Rogers has a wonderful sensibility of his subject matter with an attachment to art deco. My color choice made the image more romantic and dream like, which set a nice mood against the ensuing danger. Pulp covers are full of excitement with dramatic colors, pretty dames, cool costumes and ugly monsters. My alien world draws our victim close enough to be dragged into an unknown world or… to her doom.



SKETCH: After roughing out a design and composition on paper based on my thumbnail, I gathered my photo references and spent time focusing on my star struck girl, designing her art deco space suit and dramatic lighting from the stars that surround her. I then transfer the drawing and develop a tighter drawing directly on the illustration board.

In the past, I enjoyed the process of working out very finished pencil drawings where I was solving all obstacles, putting all my thoughts down on paper and spending an average of 3 -5 hours working on studies before even thinking about painting. Recently, I have decided to spend more time working and drawing directly on the board. I gain more time against a deadline and enjoying the immediacy of painting.



ON THE BOARD: Working on a gessoed illustration board, I developed a detailed drawing using color pencils; light umber, terra cotta, indigo blue and light violet. I start painting with Liquitex acrylics by blocking in darks (Payne’s Grey) with flat brushes and introduce some more color (Raw Umber and Burnt Sienna). Once I start usinig a #4 round for details I know I’m about to broadly apply glazes with the Iwata HP-C air brush. I quickly cut some acetate masks with an x-acto blade around the figure, the alien, the red planet above, and the planet below.





COLOR: I lay masks over the figure, the alien at her legs, the planet above and the planet below and paint the background of stars and outer space, which allows me to establish the overall darks and lights. I then move onto the alien world and tentacles. While applying the acrylics with the airbrush I play with watercolor texture effects using rags and sponges.




FINISH: Once I add the strong yellow dramatic light on the figure and paint her space suit with Payne’s Grey and Brilliant Purple, I set the mood for a warm red planet at the top by applying Indo Orange Red and then Naphthol Red Light with the air brush. I wrap everything up by painting her flesh tone on her face and tying details together with a little more color pencil work and opaque paint and brushes. I spent approximately three 10 hour days on this project. Another day and a half pulling the article together and selecting photos.




Cover art and color inspiration by Hubert Rogers

(The original concise article was featured in the January 2011 issue of ImagineFX magazine. This post adds more insight and more photos into the step-by-step process.)

Sci-Fi A-Z: Pulp

"Capture the essence of space pulp". That's the title given to the step by step feature written by me explaining the inspiration and process behind my new painting, "Starstruck". I owe a world of thanks to Ian Dean at ImagineFX magazine for contacting me back in October. I was able to pull a concept of mine out of my sketchbook and fine tune it to his needs and paint it for their upcoming Ultimate Guide To Sci-Fi Art issue. And now in the January 2011 issue sporting a TRON cover, there's a wonderful feature that is titled, "A-Z Of Sci-Fi Art". You'll find "Starstruck" under the letter "P" for Pulp on page 64. It's an incredible magazine filled with amazing images. As well as an interview with one of my favorite artists, Moebius. Run out and buy issue 65, available now. And check back later because I plan on posting the "director's cut" of my step by step process.

In issue 65:

Pyroman: Origin

A recent addition to the Origins for Project Superpowers... Pyroman! I was not very familiar with the character. I really didn't connect with him in the PSP series as much as some of my favorites, aside from a cool looking costume design. But I was really inspired by the origin details, time period and a wonderful layout to work from. And with a busy month of deadlines, this was a nice project to focus on during the hectic work days. The final grey panels were converted to a green/blue hue in Photoshop. Please pick up issue #10 of Project Superpowers Chapter 2 to see the final printed piece!

To Be Continued...

My obsession with comic strips, comic books, spaceships and science fiction started with watching the reruns of the Flash Gordon serials (starring Buster Crabbe) on television. I can still remember being captivated as I watched them early Saturday or Sunday mornings with my Father and brother. As a young artist, the serials made an incredible impression on me and my imagination took off.

I have a good friend who is a huge vintage sci-fi and rocketship collector. He has an amazing collection and awhile back we got on the topic of Flash Gordon collectibles. He remarked that, in his opinion, there wasn't an ultimate Flash Gordon painting out there that truly captured the verve of the beloved serial or Buster Crabbe. Everything was nostalgic and not contemporary. We talked about all the great moments of the serial, the visuals and how it would be a great personal project for me. He then talked me into doing this as a commission for him (as well as using it as a promotional piece).



We started to discuss what it should look like and all the elements that it needed in the homage. I've saved you from viewing some of the awful scribbles that I did while we originally chatted about the scope of the piece. Instead I've selected some of the early thumbnails that came out of the discussions and then you'll see how I progressed and narrowed down the elements and design.


I thought that I had it with this one, so I started to focus on the details. Notes were written and I began looking for good reference.


Then I roughed this one out, one day while looking at the development. Something about it felt "right". Even though you probably can't tell by looking at this rough. The design and composition fell into place. So I started to focus on this one:




And from here I narrowed down my references and started to work on individual studies:


The Buster Crabbe study really didn't capture his likeness very well. But, from here I realized what my mistakes were when I began working on the painting.

Everything developed directly on the board. I don't usually start a painting without doing tight pencil drawings and studies to get my homework done. This way I feel like I worked out my problems ahead of time and then I can concentrate on just painting. This one was an exception. Simply, because I was running behind on my self imposed deadline and I wanted to finish it for the upcoming Pulp Show and start showing friends what I'd been working on for the last three - four months (in between assignments).



I started to draw directly on the board, putting all the elements in place and any problems that arose I simply solved them as they occurred.
Once that I completed the drawing (which took about 5 days), I blocked in my darks with Acrylics and started the painting.


The painting took a good week of 10 to 12 hour days. Fortunately, I found a break in my schedule and was able to paint it within that weeks time with some fine tuning of minor details here and there the following week.


Please view the finished painting at my website: www.douglasklauba.com