Kaiju Doodles...

 "Fire Rodan"

(Size: 6x8", Oils on Linen, Framed)   Price:  $300.00 

Tried something new a few weeks ago. I was contemplating that I hadn't painted any new Mothra art in several years, and probably needed to create something original for G-FEST, the annual kaiju/Godzilla mecca in Chicago this month. I had maybe 12 days to come up with something and tried not to get overwhelmed with 'running and screaming in the opposite direction' panic. So, having give it a bit of thought, I figured if I could just throw some of my Rocket Doodles together on short notice, maybe it could work with what I call 'kaiju closeups'...ie. really brushy, impressionistic kaiju portraits on a small scale. Hubby had taken down a calendar recently that had my most favourite shot of Japanese monster, Rodan. Specifically, Fire Rodan, designed by our dear friend and famed monster suit maker, Shinichi Wakasa. He has personally designed and physically created all of my favourite versions of Mothra, Godzilla, and yes, Fire Rodan, among others with his SPFX team at Monsters Inc. in Japan for Toho Studios. SO, back on topic: I decided that I'd start easy with a little painting of that hero pose Fire Rodan, since I hadn't painted in some months. It was like my ad hoc painting of all of those space scenes and rockets and noodling space stations kept my hand in practice because it worked! I raided hubby's acrylic paint and borrowed his Quinacridone Gold and tinted four small linen canvases because I wanted to see some of that colour bleed through my oil paint. Have not done that in a few years, but I was treating this like it was fun, so experimental was the theme of the day. I used a small Flat brush to sketch in lines and planes in colour and just had fun. Got a base layer filled in during the first pass. The next day, I went back in and refined a bit more, got some proportions fixed, and just noodled. The painting is not super detailed, but just dabbed brush strokes full of 'inference'. Like a painting is supposed to be. The original also glows so much better than this photo. 

 

 

 "Broody Mothra"

 (Size: 6x8", Oils on Linen, Framed)   Price: $300.00  SOLD

  So this is what eventuated when my Hubby handed me a bunch of large ellipse gauges to find a home for. I wondered if one of them would approximate the shape of Mothra's egg from the Rebirth of Mothra movies. Bingo! I used a 2B pencil to draw this one up since the composition is kind of precise. I love the cropped look and it stays within the random 'closeup' scenes I was interested in painting. And may I say that I absolutely LOVED painting this little one. I used my trusty little circle gauge to shape her head, but the eyes, I kind of 'eyeballed'...no pun intended. Nothing was overly detailed in the drawing because I like to smoosh paint around and layer it to create depth and 'pseudo detail'...right in line with my Rocket Doodles. The wings are very impressionistic and painterly, as is most of the noodled 'detail'. In reality, the final product just GLOWS. The photo I took sadly does not reflect the nuanced subtlety of some of the paint, nor the highlights. On another note, she's super cute and I'm rather proud of it. Wish I'd had the forethought to take a photo of the pencil layout first before laying paint. Sigh. Gonna have to get better at doing that...

"Rainbow Mothra Closeup"

(Size: 5x5", Oils on Linen, Framed)   Price: $160.00  SOLD

I wish I had a better photo of this little gem. She GLOWS in real life. And there is a lot more nuance and subtle feathering that has been lost in the photo process. I fully winged this one and smooshed in the design with broad strokes of paint and brush. I LOVED the backdrop of the hot volcano colours making the cooler tones and whites of flying Rainbow Mothra POP. I guess this one is fully a real doodle because I eyeballed the small reference photo and just 'went for it'. Surprisingly, I didn't have a problem reaching my painting 'zone' while painting these little Kaiju Doodles. A few years back, I'd have to overcome performance panic for something more detailed than my pointy rocket ships, noodled space stations, free-form nebulae in wondrous colours, and other space oddities. I'm kind of feeling more confident in my painting lately, which has been very low for a number of years, and has taken that long to rebuild. There are more portraits and a few larger Rocket Doodles (by request) in my future, but in the meantime, please enjoy my little sidestep into little Kaiju Doodles...

Scenes from my tiny easels...

Thanks for stopping by...
Cheers,

Marianne