Wednesday, March 18, 2009

"The Back's on The Front." Moby Dickery







Moby Dick!

This week, for Jon Foster's cover-to-cover class, we got to bring a sketch of Moby Dick to finish. I brought a bunch of thumbnails in last week for him to peruse...many types and kinds, and found myself once again in the predicament of choosing whether or not to go with what the teacher recommended. I kind of always am tempted to go with the action shot...something epic and sweeping. It's what I like, and I assume it's what people like to see as well. However, he liked the ever so slightly more conceptual approach of the back-sketch.
(for those not in the know, one of the main characters in Moby Dick is Queequeg...a cannibal harpooner with tattoos all over his body) So I decided he was right, in the end, and I did the back piece. I was less interested in painting a dude's back than I was in painting the whale-in-the-air-jaws-wide-flailing-Ahab picture, and the beginning of the piece was rough. Overall, though, I'm actually really jazzed with how it came out!
I'm particularly suprised because I started out so unenthused about this idea...and the lineart was really lame, but once the painting went down I was really into it. So here are the fruits of my labor. We'll see how it goes over in crit tomorrow!
And while you can't see it all right now, you'll have to trust me that this is the least of my work at present. The MIT gig is going well...although the work is strictly under-wraps...the art-team brought the pain this week and our bosses actually had to ask us to do less work (which is an odd thing to be asked, really...especially coming from RISD). But I am happy to oblige and really excited about SPRING BREAK. Which is, like, now. (well, it starts Friday)
I am going to see a friend in Virginia and intend to chillax to the absolute max.

Also: I have been unable to drive this song and it's video from my brain recently. If you haven't seen it yet, I encourage you to take a look. It's hilarious...I'm on a Boat.

Oh, and here's my doofy lineart for this piece. I'm posting this partiularly because I think the contrast between the lineart and the finish is kind of hilarious. :p



6 comments:

Agnes Salek said...

This is gorgeous i have to agree with your teachers choice. It's such an interesting idea, love how you chose to tackle it with line and color <3 Beautiful.

Anonymous said...

I love it! I knew immediately whose back it was! I still remember reading you Moby Dick over and over again! Well done, Nick.

Timmy said...

i love this for numerous reasons:
1. it has a whale
2. it is awesome
3. it is really awesome
4. (see point 2)
oh the places you'll go :)

Anonymous said...

This is so well put together! What an original idea. And as usual your colors are ace. Also: I would totally get this tattoo.

You're coming to my state ehh?

Martin Plsko said...

This idea has more impact than any other action shot. Jon Foster kix ass and u kick too :)

Eduardo Vieira said...

Great work, Nicholas! Can i ask if you did the lineart traditionally or digitally?