005
The principal sketch for the piece starscrouge from the series 21st century royalty
Produced within Fall 2022 | Colored pencil on oil paper | Roughly 5 1/2 inches x 5 1/2 inches
In general, the compositional layout for starscrouge remained unchanged from my initial conception of the piece, and this is reflected in the principal sketch’s overall visual similarity. As a result, the period between my time with this sketch and final development of the piece is actually where the barren and more ambiguous area’s of the picture plane became more formalized. The first to note is the banner in the center of the sketch’s top edge denoting a chronological progression that was ultimately exchanged for the more pronounced stock market ticker-like banner in the final piece. This element pushes into the “.019999…” in order to advance the visual movement, which is similarly true for the additional emojis utilized in the final piece’s upper-right corner. Second among the sketch’s bare portions is the lower-left corner, which would hold the slight representation of an oil drum spitting flames in the final piece. Ambiguity in areas such as the figure’s seat and the banner holding “.019999…” in the upper-right are indicative of a well-formed concept that I intended to complete as I executed the final image, thus refraining from spending unnecessary time while sketching on those elements and prioritizing aspects that remained more nebulous.
From the sketch to the final piece, many of the words that appear are similar but became more nuanced. “OUTLAWS” became eclipsed by the aforementioned stock market ticker-like form rather than being obliterated in the final version; “You’re short…” was repositioned so as to become more integrated into the visual movement of the composition; and “Buy” was augmented with “come on… just a little more…” so as to emphasize the addictive quality of online cryptocurrency markets. Surrounding the figure’s head in the sketch was the word “GOODBYE”, which would be replaced with “Goodnight!” and repositioned so as to encircle the figure’s hand. The final piece now includes a cowboy-like hat and form similar to a sheriff’s badge on the figure to maintain a deeper connection to the “OUTLAWS” idea. One glaring omission from the sketch is the use of metallic gold, which was a post-sketch choice in order to unite the iteration more closely to the the court of insomnia family. One final difference can be seen below the figure’s arm in the sketch, which has faint outlines of crumpled dollars. These were initially going to protrude in a like manner to those found under the vest of the figure in insomniacs as a connection to that preceding piece, though I ultimately decided against it to keep focus away from tangible currency or any connection thereto.
The backside includes a remnant of an indicator mark I use to help me recall which side of the oil paper is better for drawing. I’ve found there is a slight variation in texture between each side of the oil paper I use that causes the colored pencil’s application to differ slightly. For the sake of consistency, I produce my work a specific side, and thus, when cutting paper for sketching, I will deliberately mark the undesired side so as not to forget once the cut paper is off the pad and ready for use.