Journal52 2015 Week 5 - Television #Journal52 #SaveConstantine #ArtJournal

You know how I'm always jabbering on about not planning my work?  Well, this week I did.  I also got more complex than usual. It just goes to show--you can't trust anyone, lol!

I've long been a fan of the Hellblazer graphic novels, and when the new show 'Constantine' (the title character of Hellblazer) premiered, it immediately became my favorite.  When I saw that this week's Journal52 prompt was television, I thought it would be fun to have graphic novel John watching himself.

A little about my process has been written below.

Even though I planned and went more complex I still did a couple of things to keep this project from getting out of hand.  Instead of painting the TV screen, I printed out a copy of it, rotated it to fit a bit closer to the correct angle and taped it to the page (my final step).  I also gave myself a limit of 45 minutes to paint.  I went over that a little, but not by much.

Supplies

Stillman & Birn Wirebound Alpha 7 x 10 inches

Watercolor paint-Perylene Maroon, Ultramarine Blue, Green Gold, Quinacridone Gold, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Pyrrol Red Light, Cobalt Teal

Brushes-1/2 inch flat, #2 round, #6 round

It's rather difficult to do a step by step, especially when I've given myself a time limit, but essentially it went like this-- I:

1. looked up two reference photos from the show that had the angle I wanted.  
2. printed out a copy of the TV reference, and called up the other on my laptop for viewing.
3. drew Constantine in with pencil and traced around the copy of the TV screen shot
4. painted his face and arms with the Perylene Maroon.  Used with lots of water, it's a great color for flesh tones. 
5. painted the shadows on his shirt, face and arms, alternating between Ultramarine Blue, Green Gold, Cobalt Teal & Pyrrol Red Light.  At this time, I also discovered I had a problem.  Evidently I'd got something on the page at some point, because my paint was beading up in places.  I thought about starting over, but decided to try using it instead. 
6. let everything dry for about 10 minutes
7. painted the background around John, using the same color
8. painted the beer and table using Quinacridone gold with green gold for shadows
9. painted the TV, using a mix of Ultramarine Blue and Permanent Alizarin Crimson
10. painted the shadows around the TV using the same colors
11. let everything dry about 10 minutes
12. now I started fussing, deepening the colors.  Where the paint had beaded up, I tried to suggest ghostly faces (in Hellblazer, John is often haunted by ghosts).  I kept going until my 45 minutes was up.
13. I used two sided tape to adhere the TV screen shot

I made a couple of decisions based on the genre and storyline from Hellblazer that aren't necessarily ones I make based on value, tone and layout.  This has to do with the dark red of Constantine's tie and the reddish outline of his arms and hands.  Constantine's story is a bloody one, and I felt the red here was symbolic.  Normally, I would have softened the lines and diluted the color to be in keeping with the values around it.