Airship in a Bottle - The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia

I am thrilled to share another new piece from The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia! This illustration is for Book Two: The Completed Circle. This is one of the numerous pieces of spot art throughout the book. This supporting image is for the Dashing Vagabond section of the book. Depicted here are the results of the craft and hard work of some nameless members of an airship crew. When those working an airship, downtime is often spent singing, drinking, or, in this case, making a tiny replica of an airship in an empty spirits bottle. I present an Airship in a Bottle.

Airship in a Bottle
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle
12 x 9 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper
Original - SOLD
© 2024 Christopher Burdett

Airship in a Bottle - Drawing 

12 x 9 - Pencil on paper
© 2024 Christopher Burdett

 

This is one of the many pieces I completed so far this year. It has been a blur of pencil and paint. Nice to finally be sharing them. Here is a look at the sketch for the Airship in a Bottle to show where it began.

Airship in a Bottle - Sketch 

 Digital 

 © 2024 Christopher Burdett 

As a bonus, I have some images of the rendering process of this piece so that you can get a better idea of it taking shape. Additional fun fact: While this is the same paper I have used for my work on the Grand Bazaar, this sheet and several others recently used was from a larger piece of Rives BFK that I have had since college, so over twenty years old. I am not sure if it is the age of the paper or if the paper is made differently now, but water does not go down on this paper the same way as all the others of the same type I use. So there was a lot more drying time and a lot of impatient waiting to see if the washes went down correctly and if the pencil was blending the way I desired. In the end, there was no deviation from the image I was able to achieve, just some uncertain moments of waiting for things to dry.

Airship in a Bottle - Process

© 2024 Christopher Burdett

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com