I wish that I'd have spent more time on the Artists Steal project. I really liked the result of the Old Spice Crossing the Alps painting , as it had a humorous and serious effect. There are so many paintings that I could have parodied, that I felt I could have done one more. Additionally, a different medium could be used, such as pen or prismacolor. With all the options of art to parody, I feel sorry that I didn't try and make fun of another art.
To get inspiration, I looked at Action Comics to get an idea of how the story flows and how character expression is utilized. Using the comic for reference, I took some ideas from it and put my own spin on it with original characters. This combination of ideas from a legitimate comic combined with my own ideas worked pretty well in the end. I definitely learned how to use pen better for this project. Pen is a great way to create dramatic lighting, and forced me to think about which parts should be dark and light to create the best effect. I feel that I have gotten better with pen and would like to continue using it in the future. It's hard to say what exactly the meaning of this painting is. The painting parodies "Napoleon Crossing the Alps" by replacing Napoleon with the Old Spice guy. By inserting the Old Spice guy in the painting with a heavenly light shining on him, it mockingly glorifies super-manliness.
The original "Napoleon Crossing the Alps" painting was a propaganda piece intended to get the French to rally behind Napoleon Bonaparte. To do this, David placed Napoleon's name along with other great historical leaders. The gesture of Napoleon's hand as well as his posture suggests a glorious cause with a great leader. The Old Spice advertisements do something similar, but with manliness rather than conquest. I wondered what it would be like if a deodorant brand were to try the conquer the world. How would they get people to rally with them? That is how I got my inspiration for this painting. One thing I've always wanted to do was draw comics. The action and the way it was used to tell a story. Comics are a medium with which you tell a story, so the images must flow right. A good comic has a good story, which was something I couldn't do on just one page. To make up for this, I had only part of a story on the page to create suspense. To get myself ready for this, I first practiced by doing the anatomy, then I did a practice comic involving knights. Afterwards, I did a rough draft of my final comic. The final comic was done with pen. Of course, I wanted to do more afterwards, but I didn't have time. The rough draft involves Superman. This was definitely one of my favorite projects, and I really liked drawing out a story and conveying the mood with body gestures and expressions. This will definitely be something I will continue in the future.
The idea behind artists steal was to either use another artwork and modify it or make a parody of it. If you want, you can add a different meaning to it, but it is what it is: the Old Spice guy riding a horse in the Alps. This painting was done in layers due to its complex lighting and background. First the background mountains were done, then the sky. After the sky was completed, the ground around the horse was painting. The soldiers were added later so that it would be easier to paint them. After everything had a basic layer, the little details such as lighting was added. This mainly applies to the foreground, as the Old Spice guy and his body wash should be the center of attention. In the end, the painting was very satisfying, and I think it does a good job of parodying "Napoleon Crossing the Alps."
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