Boy, it’s been a few days since I last posted about the Frankenstein piece. I’ve been able to jump back into it this weekend. Most of today was spent finishing the painting part of it. I’ll be collecting my thoughts on that along with the images for a Monday morning post. However, to tide you over ’til then, perhaps you’d like a small peek at my working environment.
I sit at a beautiful six foot wide desk I purchased from Disney Feature Animation back in the early ’00s when they made the decision to dump some furniture as they switched to become a computerized studio. It’s a gorgeous layout desk (used by the artists that designed the backgrounds) that has a four foot wide drawing surface that is also a light table. It has pencil trays along the top and bottom (as well as animation peg bars), and a mechanism that allows for easy control of tilt. It has a built in taboret with drawers, shelves on the left side, etc. This is my favorite piece of furniture in the whole joint, which it should be for all the hours I spend at it.
So you can see that I have the painting out, along with some palette trays, and some Marie Calendar pie tins that haven’t been returned for the 50¢ deposit yet. One is water that I use to dip clean brushes in to wet the paper down with. You can see my Mona and Iggy reference material there, and yes, that is a whoopie cushion sitting there, too. Doesn’t every artist have one of those at their desk?
Just thought I’d tilt the camera up a little so you can see a little of what I look at while I draw – you know, all the typical artistic inspiration most artists have a version of in their studios. I have The Greatest American Hero, Muppet toys, a Stan Lee bust, Lilo & Stitch toys, and even a replica of the Disney Animation building I used to work in. (That one makes me feel big and powerful as I tower over it.)
When painting, another tool I can’t live without are those little plastic condiment cups you get at restaurants. No, I don’t swipe a stack when I’m there. You can buy them in places like Sam’s Club or Smart & Final here in CA. Our Costco stopped carrying them. Get the cups and the lids. They’ll keep the paint from drying out no problem! This side tray is also where I keep my water for rinsing brushes and my drink – a dangerous practice. I have been known to occasionally and inadvertently rinse my brushes in my drink.
Here’s my taboret with a top compartment for my pencils that some of my watercolors have found their way into as well.
Ok, that’s it for now. Back to Frankie art comments in the next post. Part 6 still promises to finish our chat about the painting portion of our program.