Prototyping Reality

Boeing, the aircraft company here in Seattle, has revolutionized its engineering processes by digitally engineering all construction before a bolt is touched. By creating a virtual reality simulation of what will happen, they can fine tune performance and wasteful mistakes before they happen. Can an artist do this on a smaller scale to similar effect and benefit? You bet.



Here we have a nifty 4 layer stencil of some japanese carp, or koi, ready for some stencil action. But I picture the painting scheme to be quite elaborate, so we're going to paint it digitally before I grab my Montana Gold.



Pick a swatch of four colors to blend over throughout the image, set your brush to stun (lower opacity and flow) and start painting on a new layer, using the previous ones to isolate selected areas. In this photo are images in the background of different paint schemes.



Start laying down basic colors and blending them on top of each other. You'll note that I'm using a swatch set of the actual aerosols I'm going to be using. While this certainly doesn't replace the real experience with spray paint, digitally testing sure allows you to work on your basic color placement, among other things.



Here I've added another layer and am blending on top of it. Another added advantage to this is the transparency to which you can view your work. I ain't a toy, but I have to admit that new stencils take a little getting used to, but working this way minimizes any surprises you might face.



Slap on the final black outline layer, maybe do an outline cap of some cream or baby blue on top for ripples, and we're done. Of course, the question is, will the actual piece look anything like this? I'll let you know when I find out myself. But digitally painting it will help me figure out what colors I want more quickly and less wastefully.



Here are five digital paint tests I progressed through before I figured out the right combination of paints. I originally wanted to use some blue as well, but spot coloring is too much work for now, and I wanted to minimize the number of cans I'd be using (not, uh, cause I'd possibly go and vandalize some public space with this. No, officer). Then I brought down the gradatio of cans from four to three before realizing I needed a neutral midtone for shading.



The final version uses, including black and white, six colors throughout. But a seamless blending offers a far more dynamic palette. Courtesy of a little digital wizardry.