It is the year 2291, and Dr. Scott Van Foschessantos has unearthed a trove of paintings long buried in the frozen ruins of Old New York. Having already carefully excavated the site and transported the findings to his lab, the Doctor is using state of the art technology to restore these artifacts to their former glory. As if peeling away time itself, each painting has been examined, layer by layer, in order to deduce the exact materials each artist implemented. A small sampling of his finding are listed below.
A member of Van Foschessantos’ team inspects a painting on the vacuum table.
Upper most layer: Final picture varnish
Painting: Oil paint, consisting of varying formulas, mostly Old Holland, slight amounts of Galkyd and Alkyd White detected.
Underpainting: Acrylic wash, a mixture of Ultramarine Blue & Burnt Umber
Preliminary drawing: 2B Graphite, applied directly to surface
Primer: 2 layers of Acrylic gesso
Substrate: Belgian linen
Known for his colorful paintings, most often depicting strong women, Dan's work spans a variety of genres including novels, comics and film. He has worked for clients such as Disney, Universal Studios, Saatchi & Saatchi, Scholastic Books, The Greenwich Workshop, Penguin Books, Random House, Tor books, UpperDeck, Wizards of the Coast, and DC Comics.
Dan has been the recipient of many awards, including the 2007 Jack Gaughan Award for Best Emerging Artist, the Chesley Award winner for Best Paperback Cover of 2007, and Gold and Silver Medals from Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art. His illustrations have graced the #1 spot on the New York Times Best Seller list numerous times.
Aside from freelance illustration, Dan also enjoys teaching. He has lectured all over the country at various workshops, and is the founder of Muddy Colors. He currently resides in Greensboro, NC where he lives with his Wife and two sons.
GREAT to understand the mechanical process, that can be of great help for us. The intelectual process of these artists are theirs – we just need to apply some of these “physical” processes into our experiments, and see what our own creative mechanisms will do with that.
Fantastic Post! I love the format. Thanks for giving me a good laugh at the start of the day, Dan!
And thanks Scott Brundage for giving me a chuckle at 'Petar Mxyzptlk'. A fantastic artist who sounds like an equally nice guy…one that will probably get a chuckle at your post as well. For those wondering, I'm sure it's really Petar Meseldžija (a name that I also cannot spell…I have to cut and paste from dr. google).
Luck789onBook Cover Trends thru Time (via DUNE)Pilihlah jenis taruhan yang sesuai dengan pengetahuan dan pengalaman Anda. Jika Anda masih pemula, sebaiknya mulai dengan taruhan yang lebih sederhana…
Really cool post; I'm a sucker for anything that gives insight to someone's process, and it's fun to see what brands folks prefer.
By the by, great name for the Doc who's conducting these studies.. took me a sec to figure out where I read that before;
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/igallo/Collab.gif
awesome post.
i find it kinda amusing to see no gloves or hand protection on the person inspecting the painting on a vacuum table.
fantastic post!
so much info, so much insightinto to questions like “how the hell does he do that?!?!”
thanks.
Great post!
I'm surprised though to read so many use graphite for the drawing. Thanks for posting!
Great great post ! thanks for sharing these cooking secrets.
What kind of varnish do you guys recommend on top of watercolors + colored pencils ?
I need a t-shirt that reads:
I like my preliminary drawings mechanically integrated with substrate
I love the format of this post, there's a lot of good info here. Any chance of Sam Weber writing something for the blog?
Great post, Dan. Anyone dissecting my current painting would say, “did this clown have any idea what he was doing?”
I'm with John D. on a Weber request.
While I'm at it, I'd toss in the following names for consideration (based solely on my personal and selfish preferences)…
Lars Grant-West
Omar Rayyan
Petar Mxyzptlk
Jon Foster
Paul Bonner
Chris Rahn
Great post!
Another Weber request here.
GREAT to understand the mechanical process, that can be of great help for us. The intelectual process of these artists are theirs – we just need to apply some of these “physical” processes into our experiments, and see what our own creative mechanisms will do with that.
Thanks a lot for the post Dan!!!
Fantastic Post! I love the format. Thanks for giving me a good laugh at the start of the day, Dan!
And thanks Scott Brundage for giving me a chuckle at 'Petar Mxyzptlk'. A fantastic artist who sounds like an equally nice guy…one that will probably get a chuckle at your post as well. For those wondering, I'm sure it's really Petar Meseldžija (a name that I also cannot spell…I have to cut and paste from dr. google).
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Both Weber and Bonner posts are in the works.
Echoing the chorus. But what a cool way to present this info, and I'm very much looking forward to the Weber and Bonner pieces.
Keep up the great work.
I loved this. So much information about how you all work and such a fun presentation of it!
OMG~! thank you!
I love this site!
This really is the best blog I have ever found. Thank you so much for sharing this. 😀 <3
Dear God… Awesome
Does Dan Dos Santos really use Winton Titanium White? Why student grade? Just Curious.