Rodney @ 10

Happy birthday to The Rots!

The Rots turn 10 years old today, and every five years I plan on painting a new version of Rodney in the style I’m currently using when their birthday rolls around. Rodney was the very first Rot I ever drew on June 29, 2006, and has come to symbolize the birth of The Rots.

Here’s the painting of Rodney I did for his 10th birthday:

Rodney @ 10

I changed the table to a round one and tweaked all the colors one more time. I tried adding a clown pattern on the table, but ended up painting over it; it just made things a little too busy.

So have yourself a piece of cake (or a snifter of cognac, if that’s your celebration of choice) to celebrate with The Rots today!

In case you missed it, I’ve been posting in-progress reports on this painting, and here are the links to those:
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress1
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress2
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress3
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress4
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress5

For access to a hi-res version of Rodney and real-time progress reports (among other rewards), please consider becoming a patron of The Rots on Patreon. I absolutely love creating for everyone, but creators really do need financial support to keep creating. Thanks!

Rodney @ 10 (in progress 5)

I think Rodney is starting to cooperate now that he knows I’m going to paint him no matter how much he protests.

Rodney (orange)

I also think I figured out the warm color I’ve been looking for in the orange mixture I messed with today. I added it to his shirt (you can see that in the bottom photo), in his face (in the top photo), and in the candle glow. Most of the cake is finished, but I want to make sure I add the new orange and table yellowish to it so it looks like they’re all part of the same light and belong in the same painting.

I’m not satisfied with the line of the table edge, but I’ll save that repair for tomorrow, along with the platter and the table itself.

If you missed it, here are the other progress posts on Rodney:
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress1
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress2
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress3
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress4

For real-time progress reports (among other rewards), please consider becoming a patron of The Rots on Patreon. I absolutely love creating for everyone, but creators really do need financial support to keep creating. Thanks!

Rodney @ 10 (in progress 4)

Back at it.

Rodney progress 3

I messed with his hair (I grew him some), and the middle image shows a close-up. It’s subtle, but I think it’s (mostly) finished. I also gave him the start of a shirt. I’m not sure yet what color I’m going for, but I hope I’ll know when I find it. In the meantime I’m painting the cake which has been a pain, and I don’t really know why. I do like the stripes on the candles though.

By the way, the top photo shows a kind of glow at the right and left edges because I was able to open the studio door and drink in the sunshine while I worked! When I took the photo, all that light seeped in and gave the edge a purple haze.

If you missed it, here are the other progress posts on Rodney:
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress1
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress2
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress3

For real-time progress reports (among other rewards), please consider becoming a patron of The Rots on Patreon. I absolutely love creating for everyone, but creators really do need financial support to keep creating. Thanks!

Rodney @ 10 (in progress 3)

I got some more painting done on Rodney:

02-eyes-background-flames
The top image shows the dark underpainting I did to start his eyes, and I cropped everything to give you a better look at the details. In the second image I started lightening up his eyes and also painted a bit more in the background. In the bottom image, his eyes are finished along with the flames and smoke of the birthday candles.

Still a lot left to do, but I’m pretty satisfied so far.

If you missed it, here are the other progress posts on Rodney:
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress1
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress2

For real-time progress reports (among other rewards), please consider becoming a patron of The Rots on Patreon. I absolutely love creating for everyone, but creators really do need financial support to keep creating. Thanks!

Rodney @ 10 (in progress 2)

I transferred the sketch of Rodney to a piece of 18″x24″ plywood using graphite paper. The top image shows the plywood with the transferred sketch.

In the middle photo below I put some basic color down on the background and some preliminary shadows on his face to get an idea of how I want the lighting.

In the bottom photo the shadows and highlights on his face and arms are a little farther along, but still have a long way to go.

Rodney transfer

If you missed it, here’s the first progress post on Rodney:
http://www.the-rots.com/rodney-progress1.

For real-time progress reports (among other rewards), please consider becoming a patron of The Rots on Patreon. I absolutely love creating for everyone, but creators really do need financial support to keep creating. Thanks!

Rodney @ 10 (in progress)

The Rots turn 10 years old this month (they grow up so fast!), and every five years I plan on painting a new version of Rodney in the style I’m currently using when their birthday rolls around. Rodney was the very first Rot I ever drew on June 29, 2006, and has come to symbolize the birth of The Rots:

Rodney

He was a little raw back then, but the initial concept was there. This is the rest of the page of Rots I drew that first night:

Rots page 1

By the time The Rots hit their fifth birthday they were giving me a better idea of what they wanted to look like. Here’s the one I painted to celebrate their fifth in June 2011:

Rodney @ 5

And here’s a close-up of the little clown at the bottom:

Rodney's clown

For Rodney’s 10th birthday I’ll paint him on a ¼” thick piece of plywood that I already have cleaned and primed (I have no idea what it was for originally), 18″ wide x 24″ high. Here’s the sketch:

Rodney sketch

 

I want to make the lighting just from the candles on this one so it’s reflecting from below. Kind of give that eerie look to him since he seems a little benign at the moment.

I’ll get to the transfer and start painting in my next post.

For real-time progress reports (among other rewards), please consider becoming a patron of The Rots on Patreon. I absolutely love creating for everyone, but creators really do need financial support to keep creating. Thanks!

Emma

Emma

Here she is!

Since the last update I’ve added even more color to her hair and face, painted the stick bird thingy, finished her dress and brooch, and added some orangy cadmium red light to parts of the background toward the bottom.

She took about 21 hours to complete, which is much longer than it normally takes me on a painting this size. She’s 16″x20″, acrylic and colored pencil on Ampersand Hardbord.

For access to a hi-res version of Emma and real-time progress reports (among other rewards), please consider becoming a patron of The Rots on Patreon. I absolutely love creating for everyone, but creators really do need financial support to keep creating. Thanks!