Kavaeric

[HR] They Wouldn't Have Created Us (and commentary!)

Added 2020-10-01 15:09:56 +0000 UTC

SORRY FOR SPAMMING THIS REPEATEDLY but it is a piece I'm pretty alright with the outcome.

You've probably noticed that I've been using this gouache brush a fair amount recently - I think it puts me in a good mindset about how to render. These gouache brushes are, by nature, difficult to blend, and so I'm forced to stop worrying about blending colours and getting specific gradients, and instead concentrate on getting large blocks of colour and value down on the canvas first. It's proving incredibly effective to block in forms first before moving into minute details.

Keen viewers will note similarities to this piece and CCP midcentury propaganda. Of course I don't condone the CCP, but it's an interesting aesthetic to be toyed with that I don't think a lot of folks have, as most (western) artists focus on Soviet visuals. I do want to try my hand at emulating Japanese pro-communist posters from the prewar era, though - there's definitely some untapped inspiration in there.

I think my favourite in this picture is the one on the bottom right holding the flag in the foreground. The stance and the pose turned out much better than I could have hoped for.