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We Meet, we talk, we publish and this is what are working on.

[ejbarnes]

Yah, it’s taken way too long to finish the color studies for this scene – I hope I’ll be faster with the next one. These are the completed color studies for pp4–9 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland, with the end of that scene finished on P10 and the initial tone washes (sans cast shadows) for the first panel of the next scene, where the séance finally begins. Any nitpicky advice is welcome at this point, since I’d rather get these things fixed before I do the final art on these pages.

[ejbarnes]

First pass watercolors on revision of Page 2 panel 1 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland. Hated how saturated the wall colors looked while I was working on them then stood back and said “Dayum, that looks like a white room!” I do need to darken the shadow on the wall behind the tent. I also hate how the lettering for “Tetragrammaton” came out, so I’ll have to go over it with Acryla-Gouache and try again. There’s a mirror on the side wall next to the door, so I’ll have to work on that, and punch up the glow around the candles. And, of course, letter the Tetragrammaton triangle in the middle of the banner, and paint the figures. I’m painting this bleed, so I can be sure I’ll have enough picture to fit over the old panel, both in the scan and in the original art when I physically paste it on with archival glue. I’ll probably have to move the caption, both in the digital version and the overlay for the framed original.

[ejbarnes]

Progress report on Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland:

A few weeks ago, I did something overdue (and posted about it): I sketched a conjectural floor plan for the second floor of the Mitau (Jelgava) mansion of Count Johann von Medem, Baroness Elisa von der Recke’s father. (Yesterday I revised this layout again, see top image. Absent an actual floor plan of Johann’s mansion turning up, that probably settles it. Johann’s mansion was destroyed in WWII and all that survives are photos, including some interiors that were clearly re-done in the 19th century.) I realized that what this meant was that a page I’d already painted of Spirits & Seekers had to change. The scripts says the blue canopy under which Elisa and her female relatives are initiated as Egyptian Freemasons by “Countess” Seraphina di Cagliostro is in the Great Hall at Johann’s house, but I just made something up and didn’t even think about how the tent would be oriented in what is the largest function room – in other words, the ballroom – in the mansion. Moreover, I completely overlooked the obvious fact about this room that is clear from photos of the exterior of the building: That the center window is actually a set of French doors exiting onto a small balcony facing the river. So I’m re-painting that panel, which is fortunately (so far) the only one of its kind. In the first (2017) version of this panel (2nd image above), I showed a doorway behind and showed part of the chandelier that illuminates the scene, in the 2018 version (3d image), not only are the colors deeper, but I’ve simplified the scenery. However, since there will be subsequent scenes in this space, I have returned to the busier rococo look I was trying for the first time around – and it’s clear that (a) the space is large enough to serve as a ballroom (Cagliostro’s first séance with the von Medems will be here), and (b) the tent is centered along the long axis of the room. I’ve also gone back to including sconces and bits of chandelier, which will help in keeping my focus on where the light sources are when I paint this.

[ejbarnes]

Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland is a historical graphic novel involving real people interacting in real places. I’ve gone to great lengths, including going to Latvia, to find information on these real people and places, including contemporary portraits of the people, and wherever possible, visiting the places in person. Unfortunately, most of Mitau (now Jelgava) was destroyed during World War II, so for many locations in the city, all that is left is photographs. So it is with the town house of Baroness Elisa von der Recke’s father, Count Johann von Medem. There are plenty of photos of the exterior (though not from the courtyard side), but only a handful from the interior. And no floor plans survive. I should note that much of the interior underwent fashionable remodeling in the 165 years between Cagliostro’s visit in 1779 and the bombing of Jelgava in 1944; thus many of the photos cannot entirely be trusted. Such are the lives of the rich. I was a dummkopf and set about drawing and painting scenes in Johann’s house, relying on the photos (taking them with a grain of salt) – but never thinking about how they were laid out. Thus, I started making stuff up without entirely considering where the rooms were in the house. I figured, of course, they were on the second floor, because of the “Upstairs/Downstairs” dynamic – borne out, at the very least, by my visit to Rundāle (Ruhenthal) Palace (belonging to the Duke of Courland), although the same cannot be said of the country manor of Elisa’s uncle Christoph von Medem.

Belatedly, yesterday, I sat down and sketched a conjectural floor plan of the second floor of Johann’s house, where some early scenes take place, including Elisa’s first meeting with Cagliostro. The result is not only that sketches I’ve already done of page layouts have to change, but a panel of Page 002 – which is already completed – may have to be redone. And the original art is already in a frame….

[ejbarnes]

Tone washes for color study for Page 006 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland. I haven’t done anything with the glasses of (dark-colored, like Riga Black Balsam-style) cordial, as I was unsure how to handle the reflection and refraction of the glass in this mostly fireplace-lit scenery; I’ll have to quiz my watercolor coach.

[ejbarnes]

Tone washes for color study of Page 005 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland. What does Cagliostro see that gives him pause?

[ejbarnes]

Finally getting back (again) to Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland. These are the revised tone washes for the color study for Page 004 – with lettering. Omitting the pointers for now, as positioning of balloons will probably change in the final art. Elisa meets Cagliostro for the first time, at the Mitau (Jelgava) home of her father, Johann von Medem.

[ejbarnes]

Final versions of the Nightshade Seed Company series. Despite the same top and bottom banner color for the entire series, there were differences in how these came out in the scans, even before I added the color profile and made any adjustments. And the way these look as JPEGs make them redder than they look in Photoshop, let alone on the originals.

[ejbarnes]

Here are the watercolor studies of the series I showed the pencils for last week. One of the most frustrating things for me when scanning color work is adjusting the colors after applying the current color profile for the monitor I work on. Scanning even from different scanners will yield an image that looks almost identical to the original…UNTIL I apply the color profile, after which I have to knock back the saturation, adjust the levels, and tweak the hues. In this series, the hues that most consistently needed tweaking were the yellows.

I experimented with a couple of different background colors for the labels identifying the seeds: The lighter, yellower ones are gamboge nova, while the deeper gold ones are ochre.

I also tried a couple of different approaches with the “Nightshade Seed Co.” lettering, which is modeled on the Algerian font in Adobe Illustrator. To get the graphics as consistent as possible, I used Illustrator to lay out the graphics portions, including the curved top banner, the seed name label, and bottom banner, as well as all the lettering. Lettering for the seed name label and bottom banner are based on Calibri. In the version of Illustrator I have (CS4), once you bend the lettering you can no longer edit it as text. Once I printed out the graphics I transferred them to the watercolor paper (90lb. cold pressed for the studies) on my lightbox. All originals are 6″x4″ – although these are studies, these are the same size as the final art will be, or at least that’s the current plan. By the way, the Fungi of Yuggoth are really Annuals, so that’s what the bottom banner will say in the final art.

I used waterproof ink for the lettering. The Triffid study took the brunt of shaking up an ink bottle I hadn’t used in months – if it wasn’t “just” a study before, it sure as heck is now. One thing that I’m reminded of every time I paint over ink is that waterproof ink tends to repel watercolor (and ink wash, for which I use non-waterproof ink), creating an undesirable halo effect. I should experiment a bit with using non-waterproof ink for the lettering before going over with watercolor, but it’s probably easier just to wash over the lettering a second time while the first wash is still damp. That does seem to work.

In the post-adjustment scans, the background colors for the top and bottom banners have come out less consistent than they do in real life. There are definitely variations, which I will endeavor to overcome in the final artwork.

Any suggestions or advice are welcome. I guess this is fan art, something I don’t do a lot of because of copyright concerns. I’m sure the estate of Saint-Éxupéry will come after me for the damages involved.

[ejbarnes]

Pencils for the color studies for a series I’m painting for my application for Arisia science-fiction convention’s art show. Deadline 8/15.

[ejbarnes]

Pencils for watercolor thumbnails for Page 015 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland. The party arrives at Christoph’s house – and finds that, indeed, his adult son Charles is home from his military exercises, his company having been released early before the spring thaw made the roads too muddy to travel. (This was a serious problem in the days of dirt roads. It’s why in Russia, these conditions were considered a defensive advantage, nicknamed “General Mud”.) Peter runs to his mother, Anna, saying the angels told him that Charles had come home. Cagliostro says that he can teach others to communicate with Spirits. That’s Elisa’s reaction in the last panel. I’m going to start painting this sequence of thumbnails, pp 004-015. It might be a bit before any of them are ready to show, though I hope to show some while in progress.

[ejbarnes]

Pencils for color thumbnails of Page 014 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland. The séance is over; Cagliostro suggests going over to Christoph’s house to see whether any of what little Peter von Medem said about his older brother coming home was true.

[ejbarnes]

Pencils for color thumbnails for Page 013 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland. The séance; on the previous page, Cagliostro has asked Peter von Medem a question suggested by his father Christoph: What are his mother and sister (who are not at the séance) doing right now? Finally, Peter says: They are greeting my (older) brother Charles! But Christoph says this cannot be so: Charles is off on military exercises and won’t be home for several weeks.

[ejbarnes]

Pencils for color thumbnails of Page 12 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland. During the séance, Cagliostro asks Christioph von Medem for a question to ask his son Peter (as the medium). The question: What Peter’s mother and sister (who are not at Johann’s house witnessing the séance) are doing right now.

[ejbarnes]

Pencils for color thumbnails for Page 011 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagiostro in Courland. Cagliostro begins the séance, using Christoph’s 5-year-old son Peter as a medium, gazing into a pool of oil in his hand.

[ejbarnes]

Christoph von Medem’s son, 5-year-old Peter von Medem, arrives on the scene! The séance is about to begin! Pencils for Page 010 of the color thumbnails for Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland. That’s Cagliostro’s manservant/assistant William, a Fleming. (Peter’s governess is French, the better to teach conversational French from the beginning.)

[ejbarnes]

Color study/thumbnails pencils for Page 009 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland. Cagliostro calls his wife, “Countess” Seraphina, over to talk to Elisa about being initiated in the Egyptian Masonic “lodge of adoption” (women’s rite). Meanwhile, Elisa’s father Johann von Medem, and stepmother Agnes, give background on Elisa’s troubled recent life.