Gehenna - getting started

Prepping the painting/ first steps 

By the end of the second academic year, I had finalised the thumbnail for Gehenna and drawn a grid over the image (with an ABC and 123 horizontal and vertical axis) that would assist me in the process of transferring the thumbnail image from my computer screen to a three dimensional reality on paper. After carefully measuring each square within the grid, I drew the same grid with identical proportions only larger, onto the piece of paper I was planning to paint Gehenna onto. This means that I could look at square B3 on the digital thumbnail and know what to draw within those same dimensions on the larger grid on the piece of paper I was going to paint on. 

Once the time had arrived to begin sketching out the initial outlines of 'Gehenna' onto the piece of paper, I had abandoned the plan to transfer the image using the grid method. By this time, I had invested in a projector that I could use to project my thumbnail onto the paper to use as a stencil to trace from, leaving me with the basic outlines of the features within Gehenna, which I could then use as a guide to add pigment to. Making this change saved me a lot of valuable time in the drawing process and worked just as successfully as using the grid method, however there are draw backs to using this technique. Using a projector means the angle and distance from which you project the image onto your surface must be consistent the entire time through out the sketching process or you'll lose orientation and have to start from the beginning. This delicate and conditional way of working creates a lot of scope for human error as one nudge of the projector can send your entire image off balance in regards orientation to the surface it's being projected onto. This method of working also requires that you work only once the sun has gone down so you are able to see the projection in the appropriate lighting, this also harbours limitations. Luckily I was able to get the image mapped out onto paper relatively easily and quickly and found this method to be rather successful despite its rigid conditions. I would happily use the grid method on a future painting when I have limitless time to render the final result, however I was mindful of trying to complete this piece in comfortable time within the time bracket of the deadlines and considering I'd never worked to this scale before and I'm experimenting with new mediums, I wanted to give myself as much time as possible to account for inevitable errors and artistic tangents.

Because the thumbnail I'd created to work from as a reference was digital, I only had copies of the image to look at on either my phone or laptop screen. I have worked from digital reference images when painting in the past and found it to be a somewhat frustrating experience, the screen from which you're working tends to reflect the lights facing it, which creates a glare that disrupts the true colour and tonal values of the image on the screen. In addition to this, working from a screen also means you have to consider keeping the device charged and you must maintain identical saturation and hue settings on the device through-out the entire painting process to ensure your reference image is consistent. To overcome these limitations, I had two large scale high resolution colour copy images printed out of both the finalised thumbnail and the red nude reference from which to work.

I have opted to work on paper to create this piece as working on paper allows me to be less restrained with the mediums I choose to work in. When working on canvas, for instance, mediums such as coloured pencils, oil pastels and inks don't sit very well on the surface and would therefore dilute the overall impact of the piece. After conducting several medium experiments on paper over the last few years at uni, I have found a way to work that allows me to incorporate a variety of mediums within the same piece, ensuring that the mediums all take well to the surface. Working on 400gsm watercolour paper has been the most successful of these experiments and is therefore my chosen surface to work on for Gehenna. To ensure the surface I work on is sturdy and secure, I have taped the paper to a large piece of MDF board, meaning I can relocate the board around the studio if need be and stop the paper rolling into itself or getting damaged.