...they thirsted not...

[g.owen]

Thinking about making a present out of this one for my parents. Also, made a website out of it. It is a picture of Christ walking in the desert with old testament scripture. At the site I explain the connection:

www.theythirstednot.blogspot.com

If you are not into Theology, just check out the art. My pencil drawing is there as well - but it looks as though Christ is wandering a frozen winterland in the black & white one.

So, does my desert work - the painted one? I painted it in Corel-paint, as well as the Christ. I am just a hobbyist, but understand some color theory about warm colors in the foreground verses cool colors in the distance - but applying that in a desert where all colors are warm.... I tried.

Peace be with you.

[Jeff Lafferty]

Hope I don't offend you by commenting, but I'm very taken with this piece I think the drawing is really strong. The coloring fits in well. I like it a lot
Jeff

[Equality72521]

Hope I don't offend you by commenting


^haha nice, jeff


the face looks very well rendered, the mood of the hot desert really comes through with the colors, good job

[NathanLong]

Great looking piece. Really like the palette and mood. Anatomy and rendering are all solid. The only thing that jars a bit are the sandals, which look modern to me somehow.

[sourgasm]

Sandals look a little complicated for the time period. At that time, they were probably held on by no more than a single strap. The other thing is cane position. It wouldn't provide much stability putting it directly in front of your body. Plus, the cast shadow would be more interesting if it was to the side.

Desert looks fine to me. All colors are suitably subtle for such a bounce-light ridden environment. Good stuff, all in all.

[Commander Obvious]

The painting very much gives the feeling of warmth but I think it lacks the harshness of exposure that comes with such terrain. Look at the terrain the same way that you do with fabric of his robes or the leather of his sandals.

You've got the arridness and dry heat spot on, just a little push in the exposure department will really make this one I think.

As far as the previous poster's comment about the staff, I can see what he means but it doesn't detract for me. This is flat(-ish) ground and the staff is really not as used traversing that unless you're already very tired. His pose and posture do not give the impression that he'd be tired so I don't really think that his figure would be supported by the staff. I guess it does make this look more like a pose though. If you pick up a staff and walk around with it yourself, you might notice that you use it in balance with you opposite leg (i.e. it follows a similar path as your left foot if you hold it in your right hand).

All in all, it looks great.

[g.owen]

Hope I don't offend you by commenting, ....

Jeff

I am so offended by this… because it seems that you are implying that Christians are easily offended. Why would you do this? Give me some time to use my Bible and I am sure I can find something in there that clearly indicates that what you have just done is sin… though I may have to use some Obama -ology to derive at the interpretation.

Of course I’m kidding - and maybe my joke will fall flat because you are talking about me rather than Christians in general? Anyway, yeah, I noticed that about the sandals too and did some work on that. Using the lighter color of the desert, I did some loose touch-up in the area of the feet. This made it look dusty there. Also, I lightened the sandals so that more texture from the base pencil drawing comes through - making the sandals look more leathery, old and worn. In the version without the touch up, the shoes look too clean, new, modern. As many already know, I use photo reference and sometimes go by it too closely… which results in flaws like this.

Since there has been no comment about a flat and monotone desert, I guess my using cooler browns (purplish almost) in the distance worked OK? I do see a lack of exposure in the terrain, as commander obvious put it.

And I hope I did not offend any of my fellow Christians with my opening joke – because of our 2000 year old identity crisis and tendency to make the Bible an idol before God… misunderstandings pervade.

[Eric Gerhard]

Hey, pal!!!

Very beautiful work... as usual.

I'd like to see some other biblical moments of jesus too.

But this one just Rocks!!!

Cheers!

[Joshua Reimer]

I really like the painting. You really captured the mood. What kind of bugs me though is the dark outline you have going on a good portion of the piece. Kind of gives it that cartoony, flat feel.

It really is a shame, because the rest of it is well rendered and has a realistic quality.

Very nice.

[Rares Halmagean]

Very nice work here. There's a harmony to the colors although I do agree the background needs to be grittier and feel more unforgiving.

[LogicINK]

I love it. A beautiful narrative piece. I look forward to seeing what you create next :p

[Jelluh]

All I've gotta say : Nice piece dude !!!

[bestow]

NO SOLICITING,

rock me sexy jesus

[g.owen]

... What kind of bugs me though is the dark outline you have going on a good portion of the piece. Kind of gives it that cartoony, flat feel...


I have been thinking about this post a lot. Does anyone else agree? If so, I can work on that to an extent. I saved this piece in many, many layers. It makes for a very slow file, but allows me adjust things. I left a hint of the line work on Jesus because I thought the background was rather simplistic with linework showing through - if I made Jesus look more real (do away with the linework), then it may demand that I detail more the landscape.

I am "soliciting"... for opinions. I learn so much when I come here from the people that are kind enough to give me a few minutes of their time. Sincerely, thanks to each and everyone of you.

Peace be with you... especially at this time when the media seems to be playing up how bad things are!!! Hope all the professionals here are finding work.

[Jason Rainville]

Hey G, this is probably my favorite piece by you so far. I remember one of your earlier pieces (I think it was yours?) of near a river, maybe having to do with John the baptist and the environment was pretty weak. It looked like a photoshop job or something. If this wasn't you I apologize.

Anyways this one has absolutely none of the issues mentioned before and it's really nice. I'm not sure about the line; I was getting sort of used to your 'style' and this is definitely the one that is more 'pure' in the sense that the style doesn't show through too much.

Sorry for no real advice on that, there may be a happy medium between the two, but if I were you I'd try for something like this in the future. Either make it so that it's real or stylized. In the middle leads to the earlier problems of people calling shenanigans and saying it's 'shopped.

Anyways nice stuff :)

EDIT: as for warm vs cool and the desert, I think I have a tip; don't quote me on it, but in areas with very little moisture or atmospheric density like deserts or high altitudes there's much less 'stuff' for the ambient blue light of the sky to bounce off of, so atmospheric perspective is reduced and things look much more crisp further back. Even so, you can still add a little bit of blue to the desert far back to give a cool vs warm, but I also don't think cool recedes ALL the time and warm advances ALL the time, I'd say it's more about whatever is the most intense and vibrant will advance, while the more muted and less intense will recede.

Fact check that maybe, but it's some advice.

EDIT again (I'm chatty today) : I also wanted to comment about art with christian subject matter. It seems to a lot of people for some reason that it's not "cool" or it's not worth doing, but I'm still interested in it as an atheist. Even though I regard it as mythology, it's still part of our shared history, a part of my heritage and a good story. I don't see what makes Jesus the realm of Christian artists only while everyone draws thor or indian deities etc. I mean, if I draw Jesus it doesn't automatically make me a Christian, the same way drawing Odin doesn't make me want to die in battle so the Valkyries haul my ass to Valhalla. Anyways, there seems to be some taboo about Christian art and I think it's silly. Whatever it means to you you're not forced to believe in what you draw. If that were the case, I'd be believing in some crazy ass things.

Anyways peace.

[g.owen]

Yeah, that was me that did the John the Baptist picture. In case you forgot, when I made the comic Tempt the Messiah (www.temptthemessiah-part1.blogspot.com), I did the characters in pencil & colored them in Corel – but my backgrounds were often Photoshop type tricks. I received criticism for that and was determined to do some work where I did it all, without any such tricks. That John the Baptist was my first go at that… and it still looked, as you said, like a Photoshop job. A bit discouraging.

EDIT: you can click below to see the picture again; had the picture showing but decided that I did want it up on this thread. I finally have a piece some people think is OK - don't want to mess it up with a picture that people dislike!

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p136/g-owen/whydoyou-sample.jpg

I did not know you are an atheist, Jason Rainville. What I can truly admire is this: you are respectful and kind without the motivation of perceived eternal consequence or blessings on earth from a deity for good deeds done. I went through a long 7-year period in my life where at times I was an atheist. Looking back, I now call that season of my life a “wandering in the desert”. Perhaps that is why I find the theme so tantalizing. Using science I attempted to establish a better worldview – you know, evolution, the big bang, etc. Yet, in the end, I reached those key points where I still… I still had to make a… leap of faith. Wow, all that reading and research… and time… just to bring me to pretty much to the same frustrating point I was with Christianity. Indeed, I was wandering the desert – the spiritual wastelands. But that secular/atheist worldview just did not set right with me – maybe it’s in my DNA. Yet, Rainville, you seem to make it work just fine. You have my respect.

Back to something you mentioned in your post – I think that artists that are not believers shy away from uncritical and serious art with a Christian theme mainly because of the flak they receive. The secular folks scorn it because they may dislike anything to do with the bible, and the faithers scorn it because… the non-believer artist just did not get it right. The faithers may say, “hey, if you are going to do it, do it right… be accurate with it… that is wrong… blasphemy!” So, why would a secular artist bother? It only gets him drama – not worth it. Now, you can do something about Greek or Norse mythology without these problems. There are not Odin worshippers that would say, “Hey, you can’t do it like that… that’s blasphemy!”

It is an interesting point that you bring up. Taboo, or not – I don’t know, maybe we are over complicating the issue. People may just find the subject… boring. :yawn:

Thanks everybody!!!
:yayca:

[misael]

I dig it. I think the outline is fine. You're developing a signature style. I do agree with some of the critiques. But as for depth, you could add some sand blowing in the background and a rock or hill in the foreground. This way it will give the illusion of depth.

I'm a believer, and I find that peoples major beef with Christian theemed art is that it has to resemble what they have seen before. This is why it tends to be boring. For example the image of Jesus, he "must" have long hair and beard. When historicaly, Jewish men in that era had short hair and beards. But the europeans gave him the image we all know now. So my point is that people have preconceved notions about it from the beginning.