Sci-Fi Fantasy, Toy and Product Illustrator. All art work and text is copyrighted John Zeleznik, unless otherwise attributed to the respective copyright owner, it is illegal to publish or print any such artwork or text without written permission by the artist or copyright owners.

September 23, 2010

thundercloud Galaxy™ cover art in progress:Details


now it's a matter of detailing out the image and slightly adjusting values

September 20, 2010

Thundercloud Galaxy™ cover art in progress:Turning forms


(Ignore the color shift in the middle image. Must have been the time of day I took the pic). With all major elements blocked in, I slowly start turning forms. I still use the acrylic very watery in some area, but I am mostly mixing semi-opaque colors and work back over the initial washes (and adding a few details) to the main figure and creatures. Not happy with the stiff pose of the 2nd background character, I leave him and his surrounding unfinished for now.

September 16, 2010

Thundercloud Galaxy™ cover art in progress:Building value & color


Slowly washing in watery acrylic paint, building value & color. I have been studying with a wonderful instructor, Rick Morris, who emphasizes keeping shadows transparent and lights opaque. Washing in the color allows me to keep the shadows transparent and darken them slowly. Seems to be working and I feel a lot more in control of the whole painting than in the past.

September 11, 2010

Thundercloud Galaxy™ cover art in progress: Transfer-FigureWash



Enlarged drawing (in pieces) via copy machine.

Tracing the drawing with carbon paper between enlargement and illustraion board transfers the image to the board.

Acrylic washes to develop general values and basic rendering of the main figure. All of this will be painted over several times to achieve the desired color, value and detail