Today I have for you a process post for a recent Call of Cthulhu
piece. This time around is the Frenzied Ghoul from
The Thousand Young! I first shared this piece to you in February when it was first spoiled. The set has come out and now I am overdue in sharing the process. Here is how the final Frenzied Ghoul turned out...
Frenzied Ghoul
Call of Cthulhu: The Thousand Young
11 x 14 - Acrylic, pencil, and gouache on board
© 2015 Fantasy Flight Games
The Frenzied Ghoul was one of the first pieces that I completed last year after deciding to switch from digital to traditional paint. While this offered certain challenges with handling the paint and completing the assignment, the steps I took to reach the final painting remained consistent. I started off everything with a reference photo shoot and a series of thumbnails. This assignment called for a snarling blood coated Lovecraftian Ghoul (which meant it appeared as a hairless canine biped) running around in a cave, and I was ready to make that happen. Here are how the thumbnails turned out...
Frenzied Ghoul - Thumbnails
© 2015 Fantasy Flight Games
I liked all of these directions, but I liked some more then others. They would all offer a lot of fun with lighting and shadow and loads of blood. Option "A" was the winner with a couple of notes. While production liked the the in your face grabbing nature of the Ghoul there was some concern that the Ghoul read "recoiling in fear" rather than "about to eat your face". They also wanted a little more spin on the POV. All of these things were easy to address and I sent off a new thumbnail that Incorporated the revision notes...
Frenzied Ghoul - Revised thumbnail
© 2015 Fantasy Flight Games
This new thumbnail hit the mark and I was given the go ahead to move along. This of course meant it was time for me to work up a finalized drawing. Now that I am working traditionally I wanted to create my final drawings at 100% the intended size. This allowed me to become comfortable with the image at the size I would be painting it as well to insure that I was including enough detail in the drawing. In the past I have drawn larger then the final painting size and shrunk the drawing down to paint on. This allows for a nice dense drawing to work from. In contrast, I am not a fan of enlarging my drawings to then paint on. I don't like what happens with the line weight of the drawing and the density of the detail is never to my liking. This all meant I needed to start drawing larger then I typically did when working digital. Since the painting is 11x14 I am now drawing on 14x17 paper. Here is how the final drawing turned out...
Frenzied Ghoul
Call of Cthulhu: The Thousand Young
14 x 17 - Pencil on paper
© 2015 Fantasy Flight Games
The drawing was approved without comment and it was time to paint! I think this was my fourth or fifth painting last year after switching media. Not that I am still figuring some things out even today, a year ago I was very much exploring new and frightening territory. Each painting felt my my first. Here is a look at the painting coming together in all its glory...
Frenzied Ghoul - Process Progression
© 2015 Fantasy Flight Games
The photos might not give the best representation of what is actually happening on the image due to the lighting and glare, but hopefully it gives a good impression of how the image took shape.
A year ago one of the first things I would do is lay down some tonal values with marker on the mounted paper to start working up some major forms. I have since stopped doing this step. These days I just jump in with paint. You might notice a lot of pencil work once the detail begins to take shape. Up until recently I was still relying heavily on pencil in my paintings. Colored pencils are still a part of my work, there are marks I like in my work that only a pencil can provide. As my confidence with the paint has increased my reliance on the pencil to make the desired marked has lessened. The same goes with gouache, I was using a bit of gouache at the end of the paintings as a last level of detail. I no longer am using gouache in my work, I have found it an unnecessary step and can achieve the desired effects with acrylic paint and pencil.
Not sure if it is strange or expected, but I find myself working traditionally in most of the same ways I worked digitally. I lay down colors early on in a rather sloppy manor with a lot of splatter with the hopes for happy accidents. I build up the image back to front with washes getting more opaque as the details tighten. I generally work the whole image up to a certain point then focus on the background followed by the figures and foreground elements. There is of course a push and pull of the entire image as it progresses to make sure that everything is working as a whole.
Here is an animated process progression of the painting coming together to better show how the image came together. You might notice an major edit to the eye placement at the very end...
Frenzied Ghoul - Animated Process Progression
© 2015 Fantasy Flight Games
When I decided to rock a red/green palette I really didn't give it too much thought. These are the colors I would have chosen to use if I had painted this digitally, so why not make those same choices traditionally? It definitely makes the image pop! I was concerned about making the blood read as blood. Blood is a funny liquid, it rather dark and opaque and does not offer up a lot of spectacular highlight. I looked at a lot of blood to make sure I was aiming it in the right visual direction. In the end I was really happy with it.
The final painting was approved by production without comment, which was a huge relief. I am not a huge fan of revisions on a final image, but now that it is in paint I am a little more nervous about possible edits to the final image. As time has gone on, making edits to the final painting has become easier, and there is always the computer to do the heavy lifting if the changes are to major. Here again is how the final image for the Frenzied Ghoul turned out as well the final production card....
Frenzied Ghoul
Call of Cthulhu: The Thousand Young
11 x 14 - Acrylic, pencil, and gouache on board
© 2015 Fantasy Flight Games
Frenzied Ghoul in handy dandy card form - RAWR!
I have definitely learned about about painting in the last year. I look forward to sharing the pieces I am finishing now, but as always, by the time I get to share these newest pieces I will wish I could share a whole different assortment of paintings. I am sure I will have a look at more of my paint journey very soon here on the blog!
That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday! Until then...
