Ok, I'm going to keep adding photos of the progress to this post and just re-edit this posted entry over the course of the painting til it's completed. So keep checking back daily for updated photos of the portrait, which will be added to the bottom, so if you don't see anything new, just scroll down and you'll see it.
The first pictures always look wonky and not neat. But for those who've always watched my paintings, you know that's how it always starts out. I lay down the base colors and then add details and shadows and highlights. It's late tonight and I've just started, so I'm leaving it in a pretty rough state. It's only temporary. So I'm going to turn in for the night. I just got The Deep Blue Sea in the mail today and haven't seen it yet. So I'm going to go watch Tom Hiddleston now. LATER!
It still looks rough but TRUST ME. lol It'll get better. They always do.
Tired. I've got some work to do to his face still. A lot of blending, I've got to even out his eyes. Though they don't look as bad in person as they seem to in the photos. I've just started the eyes and haven't gotten them matched yet. I know it looks a little goofy right now, but I'll pick it up this afternoon again and it'll look 100% beter then. I'm just so tired now I can't see straight. Night Loki..
Now! After some tweaking his eyes look the way they should.... Loki Lovely. lol I told ya he'd look better. Here he is so far now.
That's our boy so far. I have to of course do clean up on the shoulder armor. I haven't done that yet. I'm also not done with the city of Asgard either. I need to haze it up to push it back some, and I've got a bright reflection from the sun to do. It's like a bright star that streaks a bright white hazy blur through the city and towards Oden. Trust me. I got this. lol God, wouldn't it be cool if Tom Hiddleston ever saw this and was watching the progress? That would be too much. lol Just out of complete unnecessary information, while I'm painting this I'm listening to music on Itunes. I always have my music no matter whether it's over the computer or on my Ipod set to repeat song. I don't just randomly listen to various music. I listen to ONE song at a time and play it over and over again for hours on end. While I've been painting this portrait, I've been playing on repeat, Lana Del Ray's "Young and Beautiful" from The Great Gatsby soundtrack, "Summit" by Skrillex, "Loving The Alien" by David Bowie.. (LOL Now THAT was funny).. and a "Let's Dance" remix that some group did for a car commercial that I downloaded. I think it was the new KIA commercial or something. But it's a dance re-mix of "Let's Dance'. Very techno. Oh, and I've been listening also to "Who Did That To You" by John Legend from the Django Unchained soundtrack, though I don't think I played that one while painting this... I think I played it while drawing it out on canvas. Anyway. It's coming along nicely. ..I think.
So far so good. I've got Frigga's base color in, but just like with Loki, I have to go back and clean it up. Things are off a bit and it doesn't look enough like her. Rene Russo has a really definitive look and I'm having a hell of a time trying to find it. It's in her jawline and her bottom lip somewhere. Her eyebrows also. She's one of those people that has a very specific look and it's one of those things that if you get it a hair off, it looks nothing like her, but find that one tiny tiny little thing and Boom! Dead on. I haven't found it yet. I didn't have it in the drawing either which is really bugging me. I'll get it. But I'm done for the night. Hey, a little Thor 2 useless info. Did you notice that Anthony Hopkins (Odin) made a mistake in the film? And they left it in. Yes. When the dark elves invaded Asgard to take Jane (the eather) when they drew in for a closeup of Oden and he realized his wife was in trouble, he says "Freeda". Not Frigga, which is what her name is. It's pronounced FREE-GA. Anthony Hopkins clearly says FREEDA, and they didn't catch it. It went to tape. Movie Mistake Thor 2.. lol That ends our movie trivia for tonight.
I now need to smooth down Loki's face. Poor guy's got a complextion from hell. I'll soften it tomorrow. THEN I'm tackling that right arm of his. I may also work on the lower area of Frigga also. I need to stop skipping around so much and do more clean up on the areas that are rough that I've already painted.
Well, after several more hours, and a repeat of "Too Close" by Alex Clare, I've got Jodenhiem done. I wonder if that's how it's spelled? Oh well. here it is again. Moving right along.
Loki's finally got hands! lol And an upper torso! We're all so excited!
You know, painting faces...Ok. Painting clothing and objects..Fine. But painting space scapes.. pain in the royal ass! I didn't think I was ever going to get through this. And I'm still not done yet. My God! It's just emptiness and stars. Who'd have thought...right?
Oh, and I've decided I'm going to improvise and put Thor at the bottom of the stairs in front of Odin. There's a poster of him kneeling before Odin, presumably where he's supposed to be recieving the crown. I think it's from the first Thor movie. But anyway. It's fitting to have him really small with his red cape showing kneeling before Odin, because that also symbolizes Loki not getting the thrown and instead Thor being crowned, so I am going to just add Thor to the bottom when I get there. And plus, he'll be so small it really wont take away from Loki as the main subject and it will also include him which I really do need to at some point.
Well we're in the home stretch now! I've done the staircasr and the thrown is done, and I've gone ahead and added Thor to the bottom. It really pops more with him in the painting at the bottom of the stairs. I've also been cleaning up Loki's outfit....uniform...costume.. whatever you call it. His clothes! I've been trying to tidy it up and clean up the mess. I finished his other sleeve, and boy did I do a major screw up. I never even noticed. I'm sitting here painting this thing and had no idea what I was doing. lol This is what a moron I am. Get this. I used photo shop to create this image. I used the main picture (I'm sorry if I've explained this already) but I used the main face from the image of him from Avengers where he was in the suit in Germany before the fight with Captain America. Anyway, I cropped the eyes off of another picture of Tom , signing an autograph I think. He was looking down. I spliced several suits on top of one another because I was trying to find the right one at the right angle i needed. I used a seperate right arm. A seperate left arm from other pictures. I used a seperate hand from another. I basically cut and pasted the whole thing. I used transparencies and layered images and ghost images. There's a ocean picture at sunset. A space scape. I used a couple pastes from that. A picture of Jodenheim, and two of Asgard, the thrown picture was seperate. Anyway, I know I explained this before. Well, anyway, I had so many blurs and transparencies hangin and over lapping, I never noticed that I had some of this left arm showing through underneith of "another" left arm. You could see a piece of sleeve just floating there next to his real left arm and sleeve. lol So Me like an idiot, I draw it in and literally paint the damn thing. I thought it was part of his sleeve. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with this thing. So I painted an extra piece of arm. And painted it well I might add. lol I had the shadows perfect! So oh well, I've just expanded the spacescape a little bit and am covering that extra arm piece of sleeve with the spacescape. But for crying out loud, there was lime green in it. You'd think I'd notice that the green isn't supposed to be repeating right there. lol Nope. Just paint what you see idiot. So I'm correcting it. I've started drawing the border pattern. You talk about a pain in the ass. I'm thinking this is going to be a major one. I'll tackle it tomorrow. I do need to work on the spacescape above Frigga's head some more and I finally really need to soften Loki's face and blend it. I need to clean up Asgard a little more also. But here it is in all it's glory for tonight.
Okay, Now I've got the top border done. (sigh). I dread the bottom one. This was so confusing. I HATE celtic knots I think. Ok, the pictures I have to say look a little wierd because the canvas is propped up against some cardboard boxes and although I tried to hold the camera straight, some of the pictures turned out kind of lopsided. But the border isn't crooked like that. It's straight across and even. I've still got some cleanup to do on it still. I also have to go and clean up Asgard a bit more and add more blending to the sky above Frigga and behind her head. Loki's face still needs that blending yet but I will get to it.
Well, been working a little more on the bottom border. It's taking a while to do. but it's worth it in the end. I need to look for some crown moulding from lowes or some baseboard trim to make a frame for it. I doubt I would be able to afford it to buy one from a store. One that size at the cheapest would be nearly $70 to $80. I'm going to finish the border and even it up then retouch up everything else.
By the way, It's now July 16, 2014. Just to let everyone know how long I've been painting this and working on it. I started the thread on July 1st was it? I wish i had remembered to date each update. Damn. Oh well. Forgot. I'll do it next time. I can't believe how many images I've loaded of this project in the making. I think I can have it complete by the 100th picture update. I'll make that a goal. I'll be done on 100.
It is now July 19th, 2014 and "Prisoner Of Asgard" is complete. Hope it was entertaining to watch me bring it to life.
