Thursday, May 3, 2012

Painting Commission



Commissions are a tricky business for me. I don't do many of them, mainly because my work load from my "bread and butter" clients is usually full. I can't upset my regular clients by turning down work to complete a commission. They are a long term relationship that will hopefully provide an income for as long as I'm doing freelance illustration. So the opportunity to take on private commissions is slim. I just don't like to promise a collector that I'll get a painting done when it could take several months if not longer.
I was approached by a collector who was commissioning artists to produce paintings based on a specific idea he had. There were already several artists who had produced paintings for him- Donato, Matt Stewart, Julie Bell, Raoul Vitale, and others. I felt honored he would ask me to be a part of such an elite collection of artists. The only requirements the collector gave was that the painting needed to have 3-4 women, a companion dragon, and a dog. It could be any setting, any story, and any culture of people.
I went with a fantasy Mongolian-ish culture in a snow scene where they are caught out in the open by a hungry dragon. Their companion dragon fends off the much larger and more powerful dragon giving them time to escape. The original is 30x40 oil on masonite. I will have the painting on show at Spectrum Live. If you're at the show, please stop by and say hi.
Here are some detail shots:

13 comments:

  1. Awesome painting, Lucas! I do love your dragons so. If you don't mind the crit, I don't think the green reads as a companion. It looks like the two scenes are unrelated. Villagers on their way home are suddenly caught in a dragon fight. Something like a green stone medallion of a dragon around the lead girls neck would tell me they are related, like maybe from a tribe of dragon worshipers or something. But, that's just my opinion and may not be what you were going for. :)

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  2. Great piece man, I really like the way you handle dragons. They have a real substance to them and I really dig the way you handle scales.

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  3. Thanks everyone. Forest- I've been back and forth with that idea, though not a necklace. That probably would have solved the issue well. Originally I had a harness on the dragon, and then rings, and then painted design....in the end none of it really worked. I was hoping the greenish color of the girl in the foreground would have linked them better. Thanks for your input.

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  4. Damn that is insane, I think you have a new best painting ever!

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  5. Spectacular job Lucas! It has a great sense of movement and the expressions on the womens' faces really emote.

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  6. Nicely done Lucas,It seems like these commissions have somehow pushed every one that worked on them.

    Colors are very harmonious and work well with the mood!!

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    1. Thanks Raoul! You did one of these commissions, didn't you?

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  7. Yeah, I did one after Donato called Scouts, then a few more. Matt did Waterfall dragons and dragon forge. all in all there are probably about 13 of us that have done these commissions. I just saw Todd lockwood's last week and I'm not sure if Mark Zug has finished his.

    I'm not going to make it to Spectrum , but I hope to see it in person
    some day!

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  8. Dude Lucas I remember you from high school and had heard a couple years ago that your art was something else. I just found your blog the other day and I must say your work is inspiring as an artist. By the way my name is Josh Hagins and will be following your blog. Keep up the great work!

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  9. Hey Josh! I remember you. Thanks for the compliments. I checked out your photography blog. Some amazing work!

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