Sketch drawing of General Elon Farnsworth.
I wrote about an earlier painting of Farnsworth at Gettysburg in an earlier post. Even thought there are some things I like about it, I am not totally satisfied with that painting. I feel I can do better.
Here is my updated sketch. I just want Farnsworth on horseback to be the focus of the painting. I will eventually put in additional figures, but they will be painted as supporting characters. Not much color and very little detail. The same goes for the kneeling Confederate soldier in the foreground. Farnsworth was described as a tall man. I will have to adjust for this in the final painting as in the sketch he looks somewhat short.
In my initial sketch drawing of General Elon Farnsworth, he is pointing at the Confederate soldier with a pistol. I also have him holding a pistol in my previous painting. I am not sure why I did this. Going back and reading eyewitness accounts of the action, most describe Fansworth as holding a sword. Instead of redrawing of erasing, I sketched a hand holding a sabre separately and then scanned the drawing. Then using Photoshop I was able to replace the hand holding the pistol with the updated version with the sabre.
Influences – Frank Frazetta
One of the artist that I use as inspiration is Frank Frazetta. He was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for comic books and paperback book covers, especially Conan the Barbarian. He would apply great detail only to the main subject of the painting. The rest of the work is just generalized with a minimum amount of color and sharpness. It as almost as if this depicts a stage play, with the spotlight shining on the main character. He also had the ability to show tension and movement, through the posing of the figures and the overall layout and design. This feeling of action comes through even if the figures in the painting are just standing around. If you would to see and know more about Frank Frazetta, you can visit his website at http://frankfrazetta.net/
