Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Dan Dos Santos, Painting Fast

Massive Black released this way-cool trailer for their upcoming instructional DVD, Book Cover Illustration with Dan Dos Santos. The cover in question is, Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker.

12 comments:

Dorian said...

Suuweeeet!!

Unknown said...

Always impressed by these videos.

Untutored in the ways of illustration, painting, drawing, and even doodling as I am, lots of that seemed unnecessary.

Is the build up part of the process? Why can't you just go paint what we see in the first place?

Kurt Ankeny-Beauchamp said...

Partially it's personal working preference, Douglas. The other part of it is that building up thin layers in oil paints gives a glowing look to the color that alla prima can't often match.

Congrats, Dan! I'm sure this'll be a big seller.

Eric Braddock said...

I caught this on Dan's webpage last night, so good, always awesome to see how an artist works and Dan's work is always impressive. I know this is sped up, but what's the actual time duration? Can't help but be a bit curious..

Tracy Flynn Art said...

Very impressive.

So speed painting is in.......wheres the coffee?????

Tracy

Ray Lederer said...

Oh hell yeah!

Unknown said...

Very cool.

Irene Gallo said...

Hi Douglas,

Kurt is right, it really depends on the artist’s style and what kind of painting they want to have in the end.

Dan paints in a highly rendered, layered fashion. It's impossible to see in the video but when you see it in person, and to some degree in good quality printing, all that layering adds a life to a painting that would just look flat and listless otherwise. Image the way your blood effects the way your skin looks. (Maxfeild Parrish is an extreme example of this layering technique.)

There are other artists that like to paint more opaquely. I'll soon have another time-lapse video of Greg Manchess painting. He paints in fewer layers without blending the colors as much — he’s relying on getting the values just right, and having the colors interact _next_ to each other rather than one on top of another.

Whichever method an artists or viewer likes is a personal preference, but either way the color and value need to interact to breath life into the work.

Unknown said...

@irene @kurt Thanks for the explanations. I figured the effort was purposeful.

I've seen others where the artist blocked out whole areas in one color then painted over in another. It's very strange for a non-artist to realize how much depth and, sometimes, apparent repetition goes into the creation.

@irene I think you turned me on to Gorilla Artfare. Thanks! It's been a great source of writing inspiration.

Melissa said...

Will the DVD cover the basics of working in oils to do book covers? Or will it tackle more elements of cover illustration as well?

Since I first found Dan's work he's really been an inspiration for me and I would very much enjoy a DVD that focuses on his techniques. It's been a long time since I worked in oil, but watching that makes me want to pick up a brush again and put away the Cintiq for a bit.

Irene Gallo said...

Melissa - I belive it's intended to be a real nuts-and-bolts techniques demo. But at this point you;ve seen as much of it as I have. I'll ask him next time I see him.

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