SKETCHBOOK



After John Singer Sargent's 1879 painting of Carlos Duran. 


POKER FACE


OIL ON CANVAS


COPYRIGHT: JOSEPH SAPULICH © 2012 


Here is the final painting along with progressive stages leading up to it. Special thanks to my friend, H.J. Smith for posing for me. It was the fasted canvas I painted but it took the longest to finish. Huh? Well, the oil was painted in basically two sessions but there were several months in between those sessions. During that time H.J. moved to Oklahoma, got a great new job, met a wonderful girl and . . . well, let's just say I had to finish the painting before he forgot he even posed for me. Anyway, it was all worth it.

As you can see the canvas drawing wasn't all that on model—actually not very inspiring either. It was just a fast way to position key elements that would be more fully developed as the painting progressed. As for the edges, I love juxtaposing really sharp edges alongside softer edges and love nailing those areas that can be completely lost. 



PAINTING IN PROGRESS


ROUGH CANVAS SKETCH

AVATAR FACIAL STUDIES


Copyright © 2010 Lightstorm Entertainment 
Distributed by 20th Century Fox

These are some of my early Navi character studies for the licensed property Avatar directed by James Cameron. The artists and designers working on our team were amazing and I just remember how great everyone was.

I can't even begin to tell you how much I learned about anatomy and figure drawing working with these artists. The film, of course, was extremely successful worldwide along with the ancillary products and promotions that were launched throughout the theatrical run.

Aang



COPYRIGHT © 2010 PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Two of my character sketches for the Paramount Pictures property The Last Airbender. I enjoyed viewing the animated series for prep work before getting started on the project. The series did a great job blending humor within the underlying serious nature of the story. As you can tell from these sketches, the characters for the film were developed to have a more serious tone to reflect the hard realities of the world around them.


COPYRIGHT © 2010 PARAMOUNT PICTURES

THE LAST AIRBENDER


 COPYRIGHT © 2010 PARAMOUNT PICTURES


These three images show my digital painting for water bending and the background. I used Photoshop CS4 and worked very large using a Wacom tablet. When the painting was sized down it looked photo realistic. 

I've been crazy busy, so when I have time I'll post a few of my character sketches of Aang . . .


THE LAST AIRBENDER




 COPYRIGHT © 2010 PARAMOUNT PICTURES

These images are are samples of my digital painting assignments depicting water bending effects and backgrounds for the Paramount Pictures property The Last Airbender. Working on this project was amazing. I got to meet M. Night Shyamalan the day he was flying out to adopt his daughter. My wife and I adopted both our children so I appreciated his excitement and commitment. 

What I remember most is walking into our first meeting getting a jolt of all of the creative energy. Being in that room with so many artists and creative thinkers who were dreaming dreams and making them become reality through their art was so inspiring. I left that place feeling excited to be a creative thinker—a person living beyond the box. 


PEN SKETCHES










I thought I'd share a few of my doodles that I did a while back with just about any pen that happened to be laying around. I doodle ideas, thoughts, anatomy studies such as eyes and faces, and sometimes I even doodle artist's paintings to learn as much as I can about their work. 

Doodling helps me see and better understand the world around me. Most often we think we see something but we really don't fully comprehend the significance of it all. It never ceases to amaze me how light can wrap around a seemingly insignificant object and yet cloak it with beauty and deep emotional impact. 

CHARACTER SKETCH


PRISMACOLOR PENCIL

Rough character sketch using Prismacolor on vellum. Just getting a basic understanding and feeling for this character and his personal characteristics as I see them.

PENCIL SKETCH



This pencil is from memory for an oil painting. Most of my conceptual ideation is in rough pencil sketches. Even when I go to the final canvas or digital painting I most often draw everything out to make sure the anatomy is accurate and the layout is working. The sketch posted above shows my usual style and technique for both thought and preliminary canvas layouts. Sketching people, places, ideas and dreams really helps me grow as an artist. I go through several sketchbooks a year and seem to do more now than ever before.