the monkey and cat [which both measure a little smaller than the final pieces] were both primed with gesso before i laid the gouache on. i don't really like how the paint just sits on tops of the gesso though, so decided to paint straight onto the wood [like i did with the bunny] and let a bit of the wood grain show through.
because i got a little anxious, i ended up painting a few of the pieces before cutting. because of the high likelihood of completely f'ing the piece with the saw though, i've decided to gesso just the halo around the pieces to help nail down the shap before cutting [and again afterwards].oh! and the lines- i debated between black gouache and indian ink [both using a brush], but i think i'll be going with the ink because of how smoothly it lays down. there are some issue with it bleeding into the wood, but that should end up being solved with a proper sealant [debatin between crystal clear, modge podge (which may yellow:(), and a varnish (which seems to be eating away at the paint a bit)].
with the monkey [which i'm a little disappointed with] i experimented with a spiral blade [because i wasn't afraid of ruining him;)], which ended up being a bit too much control for large pieces, so decided to stick with the straight blade to help control the lines a bit more. although i think the spiral blades might come in handy if i end up doing smaller more intricate work in the future.
oh! and if you're curious, to get the pieces onto the wood, i ended up printing the characters in sections [between 4-6] on 8.5X11" paper [didn't want to waste of of the big paper in the nice printer;)], taping them all together with the help of a light table to line them up *breath*, and then tracing them down onto the wood with graphite paper.so. with the process "pretty much" figured out, it' time to head to the art store for more graphits paper, and good ol' home depot for a few more sheets of bass wood!
ps. apologies for the scattered nature of the post- hopefully you understood at least some of it... or at least enjoyed the photos;)
... patenaude
2 comments:
These are so cute...especially the bunny! What a sweet gift you are giving to your daughter. She is a lucky little girl to have such a talented Daddy!
WOW!!! This is totally different from what I was picturing. These are insanely cool - I love the big red cat especially.
Some of the coolest stuff I've seen from you since high school, hehehe. I miss your art from that era.
I love how you hate it when I say that, hehe.
But man these are cool and big!
Post a Comment