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Negative sketch of Teahupoo barrel view celtic knotwork

Here’s a sketch I’ve been working on over the last week or so, it’s inspired by a photo by Jon Frank of the monster wave at Teahupoo.  It’s taken from inside the giant tube Mick Fanning is racing away from.  It’s a pretty awesome shot, I love the way the wave is curling over and completely joins up with the spray from Fanning board.  I think the shot was taken up by Rip Curl or Billabong for an advert.

The knot in this sketch wasn’t really finalised, I didn’t resolve it to be continuouse or a single line, I really just wanted to try out a few different ideas the photo gave me. 

I’ve played with scale on the lines to give perspective and depth.  The sea heading off to the horizon I was playing with an arbitrary pattern when I made the network for the knot and then chose a rule for the crossing over points (which way the knot continued to lead or break).  The result looks quite computer generated, a bit like game graphics from the 80’s I think.  

I played about with the shot in paint shop pro adjusting the hue and saturation, lightness, contrast and then making the image negative.  The sketch original was done in coloured fine-liners.  You can see the steps I took in the sketch:

• Concept sketch
• Grid
• Network
• Line Fattening

Mick Fanning, Teahupoo, by Jon Frank

 I came across this photo in the Surfers Path Magazine, you can see more Jon Frank images here:

http://surferspath.com/photographer-folios/image_full/253/

Favorite quote from the artical:

“Most opportunities slip quickly away, but occasionally I will trap one in my little black box to keep.”

Best shot in the Folio is (in my humble opinion):

Silver Linings, Tahiti, by Jon Frank

It looks wild and stormy, I get the feeling the surfers alone in the elements.  It looks like a huge arena to be lost in!  Hmmm how much is a flight to Tahiti??  Still, I think this appeals because it invokes a feeling of what it’s like to be alone in a big stormy surf area, like a less than perfect but big ish day a Saunton, when there’s not many people out and you find yourself all alone. 

Like Tahiti, but cold, without the power and mushy.  Ok so not that much like Tahiti.

Spray Fan 1 (detail)

The image posted shows a detail of the surfer performing a hardcore cutback… this was inspired by a pic I saw in September 2008 Surfers Path Magazine of Dan Malloy riding a Bonzer, since reading that article I want to try one of those gizmo’s… a more efficient thruster!!  Dating back to the days before the thruster!!

I’n this design I’ve tried to capture the motion of the surfer showing the carved wave and spray fan almost as a vector field.  I’ve aimed for lots of motion and energy in the picture, throwing paint at the canvas and where possible using fast directional strokes of the pen and brush.

The colours I’ve chosen are hot and cold, high contrast and of a limited pallet.  I was aiming for a simple colour scheme to create a bold high impact image.  I wanted to create a design that was a perfect accent colour for a room, and a strong statement of speed and power.

The execution of the image is leaning towards a street art feel, blocks of colour, graf style curves, stencil work, tagging.

The Celtic work is freehand over a concept sketch framework.  It forms a single line and depicts a single human Zoomorphic surfer.  The following you tube is a rough cut of a time-lapse film I made of the final stages of the painting.  Other bits of the film (and eventually a edited and set to music version can be found on my videos page)

Little barrels right here!!! Love this, nearest I get is a Putsborough barrel :-/