First New Painting of 2010

"Evil," pencil drawing on canvas

So I'm kicking off 2010 with a visual bang! I've been slugging it out with a couple self-written comic projects, making new freelance moves, and digging deeper into my latest series of "Dangerous Women" fine art pieces. In line with the latter, the above pic is the sealed pencil drawing for my first painting of 2010 -- "Evil."

The piece is a tribute to Evil-Lyn, and will be on exhibit at Gallery1988LA's "Under The Influence: He-Man & The Masters of the Universe," which opens Friday, January 8th. Evil-Lyn was always such a badass bitch on the He-Man cartoons, and even in the movie. I mean, remember that whole Dolph Lundgren whipping scene?! So I wanted to show her at her finest, rocking the mad witchcraft she's known for. I'm pulling lots of musical (and I guess visual) influence from Miles Davis' Bitches Brew. And I'm also feeling very inspired by the works of the American Impressionist, John Singer Sargent. Check the pic below, to see what I mean.

At this point, I've done the drawing in a soft pencil on a pre-stretched canvas. Then I've sealed it in with an acrylic matte medium. The sealing in is where the uber-fun begins, because that's where I start to build up my tones and shading.

Unfinished version of Madame Pierre Gautreau
by John Singer Sargent

I'll be posting more step-by-step shots of this throughout the week, so stay tuned.

Happy New Year!
- Dave Crosland aka King Gum