The Legacy of the Boat (Patreon)

The year is 2018. I sit at my desk and for whatever reason, find myself looking at images of old wooden boats. Inspiration hits: A boat, the splashing sea, mermaids looking on, and perhaps the thing that intrigued me most of all: a figurehead. What if this figurehead was not made of wood, but of a living person? My mind raced with excitement. “This sounds amazing!” I think, and before I know it I am sketching. A few hours later my initial excitement has become cloudy with anxiety. This picture will be big. Very big. I check the canvas size: 13000 by 9000 pixels. Holy shit.

(One of the first sketches. The beginning of a long, long path.)

(It took a long time to settle on the angle of the boat. Such a tricky angle.)

Now, you’re not unfamiliar with this picture. I’ve teased it on Patreon a fair few times as preview images. A sketch here, some line art there. Perhaps even a little bit of color. But then the boat vanished, like a ghost ship disappearing out in the vastness of the Ocean. Where did this piece go? To put it simply: it bested me. Not because it was too complicated or too difficult, but because it was too much work. Now, that sounds strange, but at the end of the day, just like so many other jobs, time equals money. This piece was not commissioned, it was not in any way going to have a purpose other than satisfy my own need to see it finished. By my own estimates, there is close to 100 hours already put into this piece. That is a lot for one personal drawing.

(A glimpse of some of the other figures in the scene.)

( I even changed my preview art in between working on this image! Crazy.)

Now. Why bring it up? Because I still think this image is beautiful. This image deserves to be completed (and honestly, I can’t let some floaty boi get the better of me!). The boat must come back to harbor. The boat must be finished. The Figurehead will be finished.

(Of course I had to add an Albatross or two in the background.)

(The figurehead is the center of this piece, and she draws all the attention.)

I’ve decided, every week I will try to find a little bit of time to work on the boat. Perhaps working on a cloud, or the reflections in the water. Stone by stone, you can move a mountain. So, expect to see a weekly (or so) update on the boat where I will highlight the work I did. Now, this image is truly massive. It will take time. A lot of time.

(Coloring actually went smoothly, with the initial palette very quickly finding its place.)

(But when the world needed her most, she vanished...)

But with this mindset, this image will be completed. It doesn’t matter how long the journey takes, as long as we get there. One day this ship will sail it’s maiden voyage. Let’s make it happen.

(The image as it appears today. To the untrained eye, it may appear finished, but getting close you will see it's nowhere near done.)

Albatross