Hey everyone,
This is a kind of random post, but it ties in loosely with bonsai with a mix of art process so I thought that some of you might enjoy the story and photos...
In october 2009, Chris from Red Dragon Bonsai currumbin asked if I could create some artwork for his new nursery van. It was a great blank canvas to work with, being all white with some great panel space for artwork. I really wanted to do something special with this opportunity, so I was excited to get to work on it (and also a big bit scared that I might stuff the whole thing up, and waste a big spend on vehicle stickers!)
Here’s the brief Chris gave:
1. a red traditional chinese dragon
2. a huge bonsai in a pot
3. then have the dragon coil itself around the pot
4. add in the nursery name and contact details
So first off was doing some sketch layout of how a dragon and bonsai might combine. I took a photo of the van, and in photoshop combined the photo with hand drawn sketch layouts of possible dragon + bonsai combinations.
(I think at this point I was drawing on childhood memories of imaginating what smaug would look like, coiled in his cave of treasure as I read the hobbit. Oh what a book!).
Here’s the first round of sketches I created:
sketch one
sketch two
sketch three
sketch four
sketch five
Once we chose a dragon/bonsai combination, I then sent Chris some random bonsai pictures that I would then build the bonsai artwork on top of. He chose a powerful bonsai and I set to tracing it. I use photoshop and a lovely tool that my work bought me: a pen and tablet peripheral that allows me to draw and spin the artwork really precisely.
I had decided that I wanted to create the artwork for the van in a ode to traditional ink and watercolour paintings of japan. So in the tracing outline of the tree, the pen and tablet worked well with varying pressures of virtual ink to give it a clean brush line look.
I found a nice watercolour paper texture photo online, and selected the tree’s shape out of it. This would give a nice paper texture background. I then selected each foliage pad, trunk and pot section and colourized them separately to distinguish them.
Here’s the line layer placed on top of the paper/watercolour texture finished.
Now onto the dragon....
Chris mentioned a red traditional chinese dragon was something he was looking for, and I know that I had seen these before. But wow I didn’t know that they were so specific! A quick google search led me to the historical makeup of these dragons as follows:
"From its origins as totems or the stylized depiction of natural creatures, the Chinese dragon evolved to become a mythical animal. By the Han Dynasty, 206 BC - AD 220, the scholar Wang Fu recorded the anatomy of the Chinese dragon in extensive detail. The dragon's appearance is described as having the trunk of a snake; the scales of a carp ; the tail of a whale; the antlers of a stag; the face of a camel; the talons of eagles; the ears of a bull; the feet of a tiger and the eyes of a (dragon)lobster.
Chinese dragons are physically concise. Of the 117 scales, 81 are of the yang essence (positive) while 36 are of the yin essence (negative). This malevolent influence accounts for their destructive and aggressive side. Just as water destroys, so can the dragons in the form of floods, tidal waves and storms. Some of the worst floods were believed to have been the result of a mortal upsetting a dragon."
I found it really interesting that the parts of the dragon, even down to it’s yin and yang scale count, were so specific! And it’s great to now see why the dragon has for example: horns? I never knew. So for inspiration, I downloaded some chinese dragon paintings, sketches and artwork to get a good sense of how to sketch the final dragon for the artwork.
And here’s the final dragon sketch ready to be traced and coloured on the computer:
I traced the dragon with a similar painted brush attempted style, then set to making the scales. I created a simple scale ‘C’ shape, duplicated it and started to repeat it all over the dragon’s body.
Here’s the dragon fully lined in with a subtle fade to the belly edge of the scales.
Using the same watercolour/paper texture, I selected pieces of the dragon and coloured them varying shades of reds and oranges. Then created his mane/fur with the pen in small strokes.
Some light shading added to accent the scale shapes
And here’s the dragon colouring with the lined layer turned off.
To accent the tree once it’s placed over the dragon, I added a darkened section to it’s belly
Now with the tree added.
I felt like it needed just a little something more, so I created some kind of traditionally style clouds
I then used my sort-of-working-by-now ink-like brush tool to create some lettering that seemed to suit the art style. Chris liked the paintbrushed looking style, so I created the letters to go over the artwork.
And here’s a closeup picture of some of the brush-like detail on the piece:
With chris’s happy approval, we sent the artwork files off to the printers (sunshine signs currumbin) and by golly they did a FANTASTIC job! The final sticker is actually two long wide stickers splitting the artwork at around eye-level of the dragon along the length of the van. I don’t know how they get the stickers to go on so well, not a bubble and perfectly lined up!
So lastly, here’s some final shots of the finished van. I was so happy because Chris loved it. And it was such a great project to work on.
And that's it!
See ya’ll,
Jozaeh
