Thursday, January 7, 2010

Hurley

I began work on this painting today at about 4pm. 


Backstory:
A few weeks of 2009 was spent watching every episode of LOST.  I just didn't catch it when it first came on, I was teaching at the time, and I just didn't get to it, though many of my friends at the time loved it. So, at some point I added the first season onto my Netflix and I watched the first two episodes and thought it was ho-hum. And then I watched two more and I was hooked.  Through a bout of illness I spent all day in bed for several days watching ALL of the seasons online on Netflix in rapid succession.

And now, I am waiting for the final season... and I read about it and think about it, and generally, I am obsessed. Not like, scary obsessed, but man, I enjoy a good mystery.

So, of all the characters, I am most drawn to Hugo "Hurley" Reyes. Firstly, I like fat boys. I really do! And his freckles are so darned cute. But, also, his personality seems much like mine and I enjoy his interactions with the rest of the LOST kids.  I really think if I were a fictional character as well, stuck on a crazy island, we would really hit it off.

So I captured an image from the second episode (where he is talking to Sayid) opened Painter 11, decked out with Painter Classic brushes, and did a cheaty trace to get his features in the right place. After that, I painted his face first, which is how I usually work, then did his hair and clothes, and then the background.  After things get where I want them in the entire composition, I zoom in and get details on the face done. Mostly it is adding corrected highlights and shadows.  In the background are little nods to Hurley's storyline. Cookie if you get them all.

Of course, a few hours into it, while working on the background, my paint program FREAKED out and closed (AUGH-- save early and often! I didn't). And then I lost my brushes... but I overcame it all.  I actually think losing the background work I had done turned out better for it.  The leaves were much better the second time, if I do say so myself (I do!). And so, after 4+ hours of work, revising and showing my friends to gain a bit of perspective, I finished. And I am very happy with it. 

And I contacted Jorge Garcia (the actor who plays my imaginary bf) and gave him a link to it, 'cause that's just how I roll. =P

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