In the dictionary, “old” refers to worn out or irrelevant, but not accomplished or wise. It surprises me that we treat with such disdain something that occurs naturally over time. (I wrote about this in my newsletter #4).
In the world of Animalitoland, Time didn’t exist. Until I asked my characters to help me visualize the future with kindness. But what is the impact of Time on imaginary creatures?
Some old folks called Lembras started visiting my sketchbook. Their name comes from portuguese “Lembrança”, which means Remembrance and/or Memento (an object kept as a reminder)
Process
I decided to make a series about these beings. To begin, I digitalized a page of the sketchbook and started shaping it with digital paint. I painted and repainted until I felt I could “see” the old folk. Then I switched to acrylics and started working on the colors. But something went wrong and I stopped to think: I still didn’t know the character very well, and acrylics weren’t helping me know it any better.
In digital paint the tools are always available, so I forget about them and focus on the subject. But in acrylics the paint dries, takes time to prepare, and I need to know exactly what color I want to achieve when mixing pigments.
Knowing a color is not just knowing how much red, blue or yellow to mix. Spiritually I need to know the subject well. Technically I need to know the properties of each material, where the lights come from and how they affect the different materials. Even abstract things need to coexist in harmony with the rest.
It’s a lot to imagine without knowing that corner of Animalitoland. And since it’s an imaginary world, reference photos don’t exist. Instead of frying my brain as usual thinking of all this, I thought of building my own reference. And so I entered the 3D world.
I digitally sculpted the character. Then, to render the materials I asked my husband for help. I marveled at the possibilities, but was overwhelmed by the complexity of each step. 3D requires a more technical way of thinking, less intuitive for me. I was getting into a very long learning curve. But hey, the idea here is to stop worrying about Time.
It would have taken me forever to keep improving this render, but I had already learned more about the Lembras. So I stopped here, and using this as reference, I went back to my acrylics and finished the first painting of the series.
*This article first appeared in my newsletter: 03/17/2022 – AnimalitoStories #9: Lembras, part I
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