COMPOSE A FLUENT PAINTING

Emanuel Dias shares the details of how he developed a giant robot and his hoverbike-riding companion

- Emanuel Dias LOCATION: Brazil

This image of a big robot - which I still haven't been able to come up with a good name for - started out as an unpretentious sketch for the mentoring I did in 2023 with Joon Ahn. At the time it was a sketch that had an interesting composition, and I liked its dynamism and initial look, where it included both very large and very small elements.

I wanted to explore my ability to conceive an illustration further while creating a functional, well-thought design rather than painting for the sake of it without a focus.

At the time, I'd already been thinking about starting a course to demonstrate my painting process for scenes, and to help other artists understand how I solve paintings. They always start out differently to how they finish, though I usually still like the final results.

In this image, I also wanted to create strong contrast between light and dark, and warm and cool areas, using complementary colours and other tools to generate a striking, memorable focal point. Gunning for that level of contrast has always helped me when trying to work out a strong composition.

How I create...

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