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Gurney Journey

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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Gericault's Prelims for 'Raft of the Medusa'

 Gericault's Prelims for 'Raft of the Medusa'

Gericault's famous painting Raft of the Medusa is a complex composition, with a lot of figures in dramatic poses. How did he get there?

Gericault's Prelims for 'Raft of the Medusa'

His early sketches show the seed of the idea, with the figures in the group going in and out of shadow. 

Gericault's Prelims for 'Raft of the Medusa'
Another sketch shows the stricken mariner's making a more direct appeal to the rescuers.


Gericault's Prelims for 'Raft of the Medusa'
Jean Louis Théodore Géricault (1791–1824), Study for The Raft of the Medusa (1819), 
oil on canvas, 36 x 48 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris. 

As he brought the idea along to a painted sketch stage he worked out some of the key figures, such as the man caring for the dead or dying figure in the lower left.

Gericault's Prelims for 'Raft of the Medusa'

Each figure needed careful study from models, and the ensemble had to work as a whole and parts.

Gericault's Prelims for 'Raft of the Medusa'
Finally, this drawing appears to be a record of the finished painting, made after the fact.
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Read more online about the story the painting illustrates and how he developed the composition.



A Dinosaur-Eating Mammal

A Dinosaur-Eating Mammal

Here are two concept sketches of the Cretaceous mammal Repenomamus.

A Dinosaur-Eating Mammal

It's an extinct badger sized animal who raided dinosaur nests.

A Dinosaur-Eating Mammal

I also made a maquette out of an air-dry craft foam.

A Dinosaur-Eating Mammal

The finished painting of is fully documented in a Gumroad tutorial called "The Mammal That Ate Dinosaurs."

A Dinosaur-Eating Mammal

The illustration appeared in an article on paleo mammals in Scientific American.

Lebedev's Oil Study

Klavdy Lebedev (1852-1916) did this oil study from a costumed model as a preparation for a larger painting. 

Lebedev's Oil Study

I'm just guessing, but he probably did study on an oil-primed surface, and that he must have done a preliminary pencil drawing and laid in the tones fairly thinly. 

Lebedev was a member of the Itinerants, and a student of Perov. 

Lebedev's Oil Study
Martha the Mayoress. Destruction of Novgorod by Ivan
by Klavdy Lebedev. 1889. Tretyakov Gallery.

The Destruction of Novgorod was "an act of vengeance against the perceived treason of the local Orthodox church, the massacre quickly became possibly the most vicious in the brutal legacy of the oprichnina, with casualties in the tens of thousands and innumerable acts of extreme violent cruelty."

More Etruscan Sketches

The sketches you saw yesterday are just the tip of the iceberg. 

More Etruscan Sketches
Most National Geographic illustration assignments go through a months-long exploratory process, going back and forth with the art director, editor, writer, and scientific consultants.

More Etruscan Sketches

My job is to digest all the information and to explore lots of variations in visual terms. 

How can we incorporate the caption and text in the design? What tells the story most effectively? How can we communicate what's known and unknown? 

More Etruscan Sketches

Many archaeologists don't want to veer too far into speculation. But on the other hand, we want the reader to be fully transported back to the heyday of this mysterious ancient culture.

In the case of this tomb, big sections of the wall mural were lost or damaged, and the contents of the tomb were missing, so we studied evidence from other tombs to guess what the full picture must have looked like.
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Gérôme Study of an Angel

Gérôme Study of an Angel
Here's a pencil study by Jean Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) of a model with drapery . 

The study is very carefully observed, but it's surely not a copy of what he saw. Instead he edited the forms to fit with his sense of flow and make it look right for an angel. Most academic studies were propelled by narrative choices away from literal truth.

He probably executed another study of the nude figure, and traced the hands, face, and feet from that study as a basis for this one.

The sketch was a gift to one of his students, illustrator André Castaigne.
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Books on Gerome
Jean-Leon Gerome 

Walter Shirlaw's Studies

Walter Shirlaw (1838-1909) was a Scottish-born American, a painter, banknote engraver and teacher. 

 Walter Shirlaw's Studies

His painting "Toning the Bell" (1874, Chicago Art Institute) shows the foreman striking the bell with a hammer, while the violinist plays a reference note. 

The faces, hands, and postures of the two main characters show that they have different personalities and that they come from different worlds.

This page of studies shows the construction of the violin, how the left hand needs to finger the strings, and a couple options for the bow hand. 

Walter Shirlaw's Studies

It looks like he contemplated having the foundry man rest his left hand on the bell, and then changed his mind and brought the hand back into the shadow in front of his stomach.

Walter Shirlaw's Studies

This appears to be another quick study to figure out the pose of the violinist. Studies like these are just a step in the process, but a very necessary step.
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Walter Shirlaw on Wikipedia

Saul Tepper Thumbnail


Saul Tepper Thumbnail
Here's a thumbnail sketch by American illustrator Saul Tepper (1899-1987). This has all the qualities a good thumbnail should have:
1. Basic story situation reads immediately. Guy comes into a disordered room and sees woman on bed.
2. Simple tonal organization. She's light, he's dark. Coats on wall behind her frame the curve of her hip.
3. Basic acting through body language is strong. He seems shocked or angry, she seems sick or weak.
4. All other less important details are barely suggested and subordinated.
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Illustration Art blog has a great post about Tepper's thumbnail sketches.
A lot of people don't know that Saul Tepper was also a songwriter. Here's one of his tunes.

Emil Hünten's Preliminaries

Emil Johann Hünten (1827 - 1902) was a German military painter who studied in Paris and Düsseldorf.
Emil Hünten's Preliminaries
Emil Hünten, Frederick the Great on horseback 
He produced his oil canvases only after careful preliminary study from life.


Emil Hünten's Preliminaries

Those studies were typically made from costumed models in three different media: 1) Oil studies... 

Emil Hünten's Preliminaries

2) Watercolor studies

Emil Hünten's Preliminaries

and 3) Tone paper with pencil and gouache. He probably also used lay figures and maquettes.
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More about Emil Hünten on Wikipedia

Studies for Dagnan Bouveret's "Breton Women at Pardon"

Studies for Dagnan Bouveret's
Study and finish for Breton Women at a Pardon by Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret.

Studies for Dagnan Bouveret's
"Study for Women at a Pardon, 1887. Black ink, pencil, charcoal. 
Sketch for the two women on conversation to the far right."

According to Wikipedia, "There are many known photographic studies and drawings both for the Breton series in general, and this work in particular. One photograph shows a grassy area in which the artist had a friend pose, another a view of the church seen here in the background, complete with the festival flags protruding from the lower spire."

Studies for Dagnan Bouveret's
Photograph of Dagnan at his easel while his wife
poses in Breton costume. Taken in 1886 
Studies for Dagnan Bouveret's
"Woman in Breton Costume Seated in a Meadow, c 1887,
an oil on canvas study for the central outward looking figure."

Studies for Dagnan Bouveret's
"1887 photographic study of the group, including the standing men"
Studies for Dagnan Bouveret's Previously:
Dagnan's easel on rails
Using photo reference
Learning by SketchingGericault's Prelims for 'Raft of the Medusa'A Dinosaur-Eating MammalLebedev's Oil StudyMore Etruscan SketchesGérôme Study of an AngelWalter Shirlaw's StudiesSaul Tepper ThumbnailEmil Hünten's PreliminariesStudies for Dagnan Bouveret's "Breton Women at Pardon"

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