BUILDING
THE HILL
BY MARK WILKINSON
This was to be the
first solo album from Fish, who had (at that time) recently split
from the band Marillion. The brief was, as usual, anything but brief.
In fact, it was monumental in its complexity. This time, though, I
had the time and the budget to really indulge myself and complete
to the letter every major and minor detail that Fish had requested.
The concept was to
portray the greediness that had seeped into British life during the
reign of "Queen" Margaret Thatcher. Via the digital revolution
of the Internet, and satellite TV, news and information was a 24-hour-a-day
instant communication. Life "out there" in the wilderness,
whether it be wars, famine, poverty or the latest album by Mad Donna,
was meshed together and beamed into our homes. The effect was to distance
people from the pain, and it made us feel inadequate unless we purchased
the latest gadgets shown in the adverts and blipverts screened between
programs. Conventional religion was fading, and spiritual life ended
at the supermarket checkout on a Sunday
spent shopping.
Thus the "Wilderness
of Mirrors" (or world of confusion) could only be glimpsed by
climbing the "trash" heap, back stabbing all the way! Still
with me?
Two paintings were
created, one of the complete scene that Fish called "View from
the Hill," which was printed on the inside of the gatefold sleeve.
The other, "Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors," showed the
two "innocent lovers" standing on top of the heap. Both
were published as posters, as well as for covers on Fish's album sleeve.
I am going to concentrate
on the main "Vigil" painting for the purposes of this Step
by Step; otherwise, we'll be here all week!
First of all, after
a long night round my client's house discussing the brief, I took
my pages of notes home and tried to make some sense visually of all
this input. I detected a "spiritual feel" to the couple
on the hill, but had to make them look "otherworldly" in
some way to imply a sense of distance from the chaos all about them.
Although they were on top of the heap, for some reason they had not
been tainted by the struggle to get there! Confused? You will be!
For some reason I was
drawn to the Pre-Raphaelite painting by William Holman Hunt called
"The Light of the World." But instead of the lantern in
his picture I decided to use an hourglass. This became the visual
symbol for the album and was used for various promotional items of
merchandise at the time. Why the hourglass? I guess I was thinking
about time ticking away , as in the "two minutes before midnight-Doomsday"
scenario that was prevalent at the time. But there remained that inexplicable
light source coming from the hourglass, which in my confused state
was still a lantern!
I recall that at least
one executive from EMI records questioned me about this at the time.
I bluffed! Well, this picture was nothing if not bizarre, so anything
could happen! I asked my sister-in-law and her husband to pose for
me, and you can see them in the Polaroids trying to look serious and
"otherworldly"!
Photo 1
After getting the rough
design approved by Fish, I drew the picture onto tracing paper. Then
I transferred it onto Schoelers-hammer 4R paper using an 8H pencil
and "Frisk Transtrace-graphite" tracing paper.
Photo 2
The first step was
to do the faces. I know that the accepted wisdom among artists is
to paint the background first, but because I enjoy painting figures
more than landscapes I tend to do the figures right then. With whatever
time I have left, I concentrate on the background.
I use Designers Gouache
to get the basic details down on a face, as here with the hair, eyes
and nose. Sometimes I then over paint that with acrylics or chromacolor
paint to get the richness of colour that forms a good ground on which
to spray over with the airbrush. Here I use a 00 sable paintbrush
to capture the fine details, sometimes scraping away with a scalpel
to form the fine strands of hair.
Note that I cover up
the surfaces not being worked to prevent their becoming marked or
smudged. The reference pictures and original sketches are always kept
nearby to "have the bigger picture" in my mind, as well
as the details I'm currently working on. It is also useful to remind
yourself just how much more there is to do!
Photo 3
Frisk masking film
is laid over the picture, and the cutting is done with an Ecobra swivel
knife that copes with the eyes; a scalpel deals with the shape around
the face. I can now begin airbrushing using Frisk concentrated dyes
that are very transparent, which allows me to build up layers of thin
glazes. Once the fine detail is complete I finish off with Magicolor
acrylic ink, with its strong colour bringing out the detail underneath.
As you can see, I also use my own cut paper masks (top left) to form
the shapes around the eyes, cheekbones and chin when I spray. Hard
and soft erasers-cut to shape with a scalpel-are used to rub out any
highlights. Then I apply a gentle spray with Yellow Ochre to merge
them into the surround.
Photo 4
I follow the same procedure
for the girl's face as before, with some detail painted on the head
scarf. For some of the hair I use Karisma Color's coloured pencils
to form the soft edges where it is protruding from the scarf, and
a slight puff of red is airbrushed to soften the individual strands
even more.
Photo 5
The hard lines on the
hand are painted in and airbrushed with dyes and inks. More details
are painted on the scarf, and I paint in the Henna'd pattern on the
other hand. Are you still with me so far Good, I thought so.
Photo 6
The cape area is masked
off and sprayed with inks and dyes, using the paper masks to create
a soft edge in the creases. The light source was achieved using a
gradation of mauves to earth brown to red to yellow, then finally
finishing off with a soft eraser to get the white in the middle. After
the outside edge of the cape was sprayed, using soft blues and orange,
I painted the Chinese symbols in gold paint.
Photo 7
The masking is removed
to check the details.
Photo 8
The figures are now
completed, using all the above methods of masking, painting and spraying.
The details on the
skirt were painted and over sprayed, and the uniform pink lines of
the dragon's teeth were drawn using ink in a dip pen. Any hard edges
that needed to be softened, such as the edge along the white trousers
and the cape, are sprayed with the background colour. The edge along
her skirt is sprayed with a puff of white as the hourglass is "shining"
(what was I thinking?).
Photo 9
The details of the
Porsche are painted in using gouache, and the dents are over sprayed
with yellow and grey using paper masks. One tip for uniform lines
of colour as on the headlights: Obtain a supply of old net curtains
to spray through. It saves time if you can find the right pattern,
netting also works well for radiator grills or stereo speaker meshes,
like that on the portable CD player.
The roses were painted
with acrylics and over sprayed with Magicolor ink in magenta and warm
red.
Photo 10
The figures and scrap
heap are now masked off together with the fighter planes. Here's
a tip to use when masking large areas like this: cut a piece of tracing
paper with a border of 25 mm or so within the image. Tape it down
with masking tape so it won't move, and then overlay your Frisk film.
Cut out the Frisk in the usual manner. This will prevent the paint
from lifting off, which occasionally happens, and will reduce your
costs.
The background is now
airbrushed in, completely freehand, using the same techniques as before.
Continue building up detail by using transparent dyes, then finishing
off with an over spray of Magicolor acrylic ink. In this case I started
by spraying the clouds with a mixture of blue and orange Frisk transparent
dyes to give them form, and then over sprayed with green and burnt
umber. Highlights were rubbed out using hard and soft erasers, and
then the whole area was sprayed with the Magicolor inks:
cobalt blue and violets
at the top, a few wisps of Golden Sand in the middle and Aqua Blue
and green at the bottom. When the background is almost there, gently
lift off some of the masking (not all, as you may want to replace
it again to spray some more background—and it is always easier
if you haven't removed it entirely!).
Photo 11
The masking has now
been removed and the fighter planes are painted in. The detailed markings
are worked in using acrylic paint— then we use paper masks to
give that old soft edge we know and love (it is necessary to show
movement—as in this situation) as we spray the fuselage and wings
of the plane. Use a puff of Magicolor white on the tops and bottoms,
and white again to spray the vapour trails. To finish, take away the
harshness of the white against the blue sky by adding a touch of Aqua
Blue at the edges of the white.
Photo 12
The TV sets at the
bottom of the picture were then added, and the photos of Fish were
cut out and pasted in. A friend did a digitized photo for me on his
computer. The last thing to be done was to cut it out and paste it
onto the painted monitor screen in the picture. My "Vigil"
was at an end!.
ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR
THE UNPUBLISHED BOOK 'MASQUES'
AND PRINTED IN AIRBRUSH
ART AND ACTION MAGAZINE
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