Beyond Imagination
It's Imagination that brings me back to reality.
Over the last few years I have been retraining my art style to meet the needs of the art community. I wanted so hard to show that I belonged in the professional world. Growing up when ever someone would introduce me as an artist they would say yeah this is Derrick he draws monsters and characters and stuff. I have heard the phrases weird, odd, strange, goofy, and all I heard was limited. I really felt off because I didn't want to be limited. In a business sense people buy art based on the artist's name. My name was synonymous with the words listed above, and I felt if I was going to sell anything I thought I had to get out of that cage.
I started to draw the large animal pieces like Bird in Bloom, and The Flight of the Macaw using reference shots, and composing them originally. These pieces really hit big with the community, and got my name out. I won my first art show with the Bird in Bloom as best in show, and I was saying to myself, maybe they were right all along. I really limited myself by drawing things I loved all the time. Do I really have to draw from life, and make the images look real to get noticed? Over time I drew more realistic pieces like the Dolphins in the Reef, and I started to feel chained up. It didn't feel like drawing anymore, and I didn't want to do it. I took a good month off of drawing, until I had a vote on my site about what animal I should draw next. The results came in as a horse. As we all know there are millions of horse art all over the web. I was kind of reserved about drawing one, until I had a thought. In my mind I found a glimpse of the image I was going to draw, and I was energized again. I had drawn horses many times before. In my animation class we had to draw hundreds running, and jumping, flying you name it. For my horse I wanted power so I drew Hraunkot a horse born from the lava enriched ground. It was this moment that it dawned on me, I missed my imagination.
I put my foot down with this next piece, and gave myself some rules. Other than looking at my hands and drawing them on the paper, I would draw random images without looking at anything. This piece would be called "Beyond Imagination."
DAY 1: Today I charged in and set up the paper with the border, and the outline placement of the hands. In my head I envisioned an image coming to live born from the paper. To show this I did something a bit different and drew the picture in both pencil sketch, and colored pencils. The first thing that came to mind was a dragon. Something that could be large and small at once just setting the tone for the picture. I drew the dragon climbing off the paper using my arm as a stepping stone, almost like it's getting ready to fly off the paper. To blend the two worlds of art and reality I added a yellow & red burn effect ass the color and grey-scale start to blend together.
Day 2: Each day I like to add just one more subject to the drawing so I can focus on one at a time like each part is it's own piece. Today I decided to throw in a flying witch, who also resembles a sorceress. In my character designs I like to add detail. But it has to be detail that makes since. In this case I added small but intricate designs on her outfit that you may see, and purple is my little three year old's favorite color so that worked out too. I think this part of the picture works nicely because she adds movement to the dragon. Almost saying charge.
Day 3: This is probably my favorite part of the picture. The rising phoenix that comes off the page. Originally I drew the phoenix much different. It was all flames that came out of the clouds in the form of a bird. I looked at it, and said nah it just wasn't me. So I imagined what I thought a phoenix may look like in my imagination and the result is what you see below. You can see the heat coming off the ancient bird, and at the same time the magic. I had the markings look as if they are illuminating, and the feathers glowing on fire. And at the same time it looks like it could fly. You can't see it yet, but I have him flying out of the border as well. It just ties everything together.
Day 4: As I was drawing the left side of the page, I couldn't stop saying "Release the Krakken!" I remember drawing a Krakken as a kid, and it looked something like this, of course a lot less detail then. I wanted to add some adventure to the drawing, something like that of pirate adventure story. In this adventure the Krakken was so big it folded the drawing paper creating a tidal wave. It started to look like a drawing, inside of a drawing....coming alive out of a drawing..while I was drawing...yeah something like that. ( I think I hurt myself.)
Day 5: I love it when a drawing just comes together towards the end. At this point it's really hard not to pull an all-nighter and blaze through it. But that is when you begin to rush and make mistakes. Today I started drawing the paper.on the paper (not that again.) and really defining the stylish clouds. We have all been told to get our heads out of the clouds, and that is why I drew everything in the clouds. From the volcano exploding swirled smoke, to the ocean splashing the cloudy waves against the rocks. It was all dreams and imagination coming to life. And what are clouds without the sky, and a rainbow shooting across the sky. I added a rainbow forming into shooting stars to merge the waves and the night sky. The final touches are all sketched out, and ready for tomorrow.
Day 6: And it's the final day. A good six day project that was a whole lot of fun. Not only did I complete my challenge but I found a lot of me that I lost in the process of creating this drawing. Have you ever had that moment where you were worried about messing up a part of your drawing, and turns out to be the best part? I did, and I am very happy with the hands. You can't see it in this picture, but I got all the little hairs on my arm, and the ring metal was spot on. I even cast the shadow onto the paper using my desk light as a guide. Once finished I moved onto the space area, and the paper. I wanted to make the paper..on the paper (here I go again..) look like parchment. So I used browns and golds in with the grey color. With that final touch it all came together for me, and I am very happy with it. Once I get a better picture of it, I will add it to my shop, and have it ready for prints for all who are interested.
I am really glad to have you all here reading this as I share my thoughts with you all. Each drawing is an extension of you as an artist. A poet writes her thoughts, and puts it all out there. A Photographer uses their camera to show the world how they view it, and writers can pull you into their world. We use pencils, and brushes to build and shape the paper into the world as we see fit. And that's why I came up with the saying, "A World Beyond Imagination is Only a Sketch Away."
I am glad you enjoy my work, and my world of imagination, and I would like to do more pieces like this, as well as commissions, and real life studies. A good balance makes an artist happy. do what you love, and don't get caught up with your love for art becoming work. It can hurt your artwork, and limit your abilities.
This Piece is currently on display during the
Location: Riverside County Administration Center
4080 Lemon St.
Riverside, California 92501
You can find my artwork on the Fifth Floor in the Board Room.
Hours: 8:00am - 6:00pm
Have a great day,
Derrick Rathgeber
Derrick the Artist
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