deviantART: gallery:maidith/39475

Reincarnation

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 01:14:57 PDT

Commissioned work for author/writer Lisa E. Coté - check out her brand-new but already compelling blog: [link]

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Ibriya - Book cover commission

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 04:01:36 PDT

A book cover for a fantasy novel, for a private client. I had a lot of artistic freedom with this one so it was especially fun.
The castle in the background is loosely referenced from the Topkapi palace in Istanbul.

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Imperial Noon

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 03:11:58 PST

Emperor Septimius Severus and Empress Iulia Domna with their sons Caracalla and Geta, in the year circa 210.

Recently I found some rare time for personal work, and this is the result That, and my near-obsession with the work of Lawrence Alma-Tadema.
Medium used is Photoshop with a Wacom tablet as always.

On Conceptart.org you can see how I painted it: [link]

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Grimm's Fairytales #2 - Puss In Boots

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 04:32:53 PST

Another fairytale illustration I did in 2012; for the project "Märchenbande". It's a series of music CDs that interpret the fairy tales with a contemporary sound, for a young audience.
So far, the disc with this image on the cover has been published in Germany; others are (probably) going to follow.

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Venite adoremus - Merry Christmas 2012

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 02:01:01 PST

I haven't painted anything Christmas-themed in the last 10 years... and now my fangirl phase took care of it.
Merry Christmas everyone!

Tintin and Captain Haddock © Moulinsart

Nike - Winged Goddess of Victory

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 03:09:40 PST

Before Nike was a shoe brand, she was the Greek victory goddess. Her Ancient Roman equivalent was Victoria.

The inscription on the temple: NUMQUAM DESPERA = Never give up (Latin)

There is a famous statue of her in the Louvre today, which was my main inspiration and reference: [link]
The face is referenced from =Kxhara . Sky and clouds referenced from image from www.cgtextures.com .
Temple is referenced from a 3D model.

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Anne Boleyn's Revenge

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 04:14:33 PST

Anne Boleyn as a revenant, attacking King Henry VIII

Sometimes you just feel like doing that sort of thing, eh?

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Grimm's Fairytales #1 - Little Red Riding Hood

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 07:49:28 PDT

I'm currently working on a big project called "Die Märchenbande" ("The Fairytale Gang") that interprets Grimm's Fairy Tales in a modernized fantasy-like style. My client is making a series of pop music CDs and books that use these illustrations.

You probably know Little Red Riding Hood, and all the others already

A LOT more fairy tale illustrations are going to follow in the future.

Now back to work!

Medium: Photoshop and Wacom tablet, as always.
Reference for the pose from: `lockstock

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Vintage Self Portrait

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 02:12:42 PDT

Basically, I just wanted to paint an awesome old room with lots of awesome old stuff in it. It's the most time consuming painting I made this year; the sketch and line drawing alone took somewhere in the vicinity of 10 hours.

As you can see in the WIP steps-

[link]

- it started out as a Tintin fanart but I lost my fangirl spirit somewhere along the way. And now it's... well, this. This thing. With the Siamese cat from Marlinspike Hall, a window view of the Sant'Ambrogio chapel in Florence, and the lamp that hangs above my parents' dinner table, and maps of Syldavia and Borduria on the wall, and 1920s technical gadgets.

The dress is real, too. I bought it at Dawanda (the German/European equivalent of Etsy)

References: [link]

Medium: Photoshop and Wacom tablet, as always.

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Frozen in Time

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 03:38:30 PDT

Those three guys have become known as the best preserved ice mummies of the 19th century. Petty Officer John Torrington, Private William Braine and Able Seaman John Hartnell were the first casualties of the doomed Franklin Expedition. They all died in a rather short time span of pneumonia, tuberculosis and lead poisoning and were buried next to each other on Beechey Island in the Canadian Arctic. Their gravestones are still there today.

But they did not become famous until they were exhumed by Professor Owen Beattie and his team in 1984.
I've read the account in Beattie's book "Frozen in time" and just had to paint them. How could they have looked when they were alive? All I have as a guide are photographs of the preserved bodies, and until someone exhumes them again there will be only that very limited number of old photos.

So you can't really call my work an "archeological reconstruction", but merely an "artistic interpretation".

Want see their mummies? Warning! They're ~~not kawaii desu~~ possibly not worksafe: [link]
The notes are my own.

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The Orphan

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 00:18:56 PDT

Tintin visiting the grave of his "father" Georges Remi a.k.a. Hergé.

References: My own
Medium: Wacom tablet and Photoshop
Time taken: Somewhere between 20 and 30 hours, spread over 2 weeks
Close-up at 100% original size: [link]

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Northwest Passage

Tue, 22 May 2012 10:54:04 PDT

Down sank the baleful crimson sun,
The northern light came out,
And glared upon the ice-bound ships,
And shook its spears about.

Sir John, the night is black and long,
The hissing wind is bleak,
The hard, green ice as strong as death:
I prithee, Captain, speak!

The night is neither bright nor short,
The singing breeze is cold,
The ice is not so strong as hope,
The heart of man is bold!

(from: "A Ballad of Sir John Franklin" by G.H. Boker)

This is either the HMS Erebus or the HMS Terror, a 19th century exploration vessel. Both these ships left England on the ill-fated Franklin Expedition in 1845.

Sir John Franklin hoped to navigate through the so-called Northwest Passage in the Arctic. But in the Victoria Strait, both ships became trapped in ice. The crew waited two and a half years for the ice to thaw but that did not happen. So in April 1848 they decided to abandon the ships and were not heard from again. No single man made it back home to England. It is assumed that they died from disease, food poisoning and starvation. From relics found by search expeditions later it was concluded that the last survivors eventually resorted to cannibalism.

Franklin's Lost Expedition - on wikipedia

It is pure Hollywood drama, and I'm astonished the story has not been made into a movie yet. I have, however, read a chilling (no pun intended) novel about it: The Terror, by Dan Simmons.

This was a new challenge for me - I wanted to paint a scene without any people in it.

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Fardeau agreable

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 01:48:55 PDT

~~(or: "The Bear and the Twink")~~

_{I REGRET NOTHING.}

The French title "Fardeau agréable" is stolen from Bouguereau and means "pleasant burden". Even if Tintin and his adventures sometimes are a burden to Captain Haddock - all he wants is quiet and peace at home at Marlinspike Hall! - it is a pleasant burden he would never give up, no matter how much danger and hardship they have to endure together. That's why this is the most epic (b)romance ever

References: [link]
Medium: Wacom tablet and Photoshop
Time taken: Somewhere between 20 and 30 hours, spread over a week (Social life? What's that? XD)
Close-ups at 100% original size: [link]

Tintin and Haddock belong to Moulinsart/Hergé.

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Reunion at Ostend Harbour - Homecoming - 1945

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:46:33 PST

Inspired by a popular song from the early 20th century.

Time would come for roll call,
Time for us to part,
Darling I'd caress you
And press you to my heart,
And there 'neath that far-off lantern light,
I'd hold you tight,
We'd kiss good night,
My Lili of the Lamplight,
My own Lili Marleen.

Orders came for sailing,
Somewhere over there
All confined to barracks
was more than I could bear
I knew you were waiting in the street
I heard your feet,
But could not meet,
My Lili of the Lamplight,
my own Lili Marleen.
_{- T. Connor (1944)}

Medium: Photoshop and Wacom tablet
Time taken: estimated between 20 and 40 hours, spread over several days
References: [link]

Time for some truth! When I said this was inspired by "Lili Marleen", I lied. In reality it was inspired by the Tintin fanfiction "Homecoming" which you can find on archiveofourown.org and on the Tintin kink meme on dreamwidth.
So, yes, there's a Tintin version of this painting - to be precise, a Tintin/Haddock slash version, and you can see it on my fangirl blog: Ruined childhood this way

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The Year of Jubilee

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:25:50 PST

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The year is 1500, and Cesare Borgia celebrates the state and his family by leading a triumph procession through Rome.

I'm not sure how many figures are in this painting; I stopped counting at twenty-one.
Ever since I was a teenager I've had a secret crush on giant, pompous, oversized, overcrowded historical paintings (_{yes, yes, I know that cramming lots of people into a painting doesn't automatically make it good}), or pretend-historical paintings. There's a huge painting by Hans Makart in the Hamburg Kunsthalle that I'm in love with

Ah well. My next one will be much, much simpler. I must focus on the fundamentals of drawing; perspective and anatomy especially. Still got a lot to learn and it's gonna take time; please bear with me.

Medium: Photoshop and Wacom tablet
Time taken: About 30-40 hours, not including wasted hours of procrastination and time spent on searching references.

Tintin in Tchernobyl

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:45:52 PST

Tribute to the world's most badass reporter!

Or, rather: to the world's most badass sailor and his reporter sidekick! Because one billion blue blistering barnacles!, we all know that Captain Haddock is the real star of the series, isn't he?

Like many Europeans, I grew up with the #1 Belgian comic series by artist/author Hergé (started reading the inherited-from-Dad albums when I was 8 years old) but it was the movie that put me in full fangirl mode about one month ago. (Even though the comics are much better.) The Adventures of Tintin comic series is made of win. If you don't know it, at least read the Wikipedia article: [link]

This fanart was the perfect excuse for me to get outside my comfort zone. Tough guys with guns and run-down communist architecture are very unusual subjects for me (and so is fanart!). It is my belief that every artist needs to get outside their comfort zone sometimes if they want to improve and evolve. I've also wondered how those guys would look like in my own painting style.

I really want to do more fanart in Hergé style, though! The fangirl trip increased my productivity quite a bit... Prepare for more fangirlisms!

The interior is based on a public domain photo of a building in Pripyat, Ukraine: [link]

And yes, I know that Captain Haddock would rather swear off whisky than pulling a James Bond pose! But in my painting he does what I want, haha! (Sorry, Archie)

Medium: Photoshop and Wacom tablet, as always
Time: about 20-30 hours

Thank you, Conceptart.org folks, for kicking my butt. Your critique was invaluable.

I'm also a tumblr addict now!
Tintin fangirling/food blog: [link]
Serious art blog: [link]

Hell, you can even follow me on Twitter. [link]

And, of course, facebook. [link]

Last Man Remaining

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:29:32 PST

© Kristina Gehrmann

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Partly inspired by the movie "Children of Men"

As always: Painted in Photoshop using a graphics tablet; took about 20 hours altogether.

Thank you for looking!

Reference for the mummy: [link] (public domain image)
Reference for the man's face was from a painting by, I believe, Jusepe Ribera (spelling?)

Want some background story?
The end of days came slowly, but steadily. Suddenly, no more human babies were born, and so the human species eventually died out.

His wife had died early. As the years went by and human life around him vanished, he realized that he was probably the last man remaining on earth. Not having given up yet his last scrap of hope, he made a pact with himself - he would chain himself to the earth and pray to whatever deity apparently had forgotten about humankind; imploring this God to bring his dead wife back to life or to give him a quick death.

Death of Salome

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 04:05:30 PST

© Kristina Gehrmann

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Salome, who danced in front of King Herodes and received the head of St. John the Baptist on a silver plate, was regarded one of the most wicked women in history.

And this is how she died, according to the old legend. One day, she was dancing on a frozen pond when the ice broke and she fell into the water. Eventually, the sharp ice fragments would cut her neck and severe her head from her body. So she died the same way like the man whom she had brought to death; and not even her mother Herodias was able to save her.

Photoshop 7 and Aiptek tablet.
Reference used: A photo of my friend posing for Herodias. Photos of my own face, for the sea demons. No reference used on Salome.

Some close-ups for you
[link]

This Hour Weighs 2000 Years

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:01:45 PST

© Kristina Gehrmann

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Ein Nebel schleicht vom Sumpf herauf
Auch er will heute Nacht
Wie ich bei dir zu Hause sein
Er hat das Bett gemacht
Das bleiche Tuch ist nass und kalt
Wir liegen tief im Tau
Ich sterb ein Stück in deinem Arm
Bis tief ins Morgengrau

Maria
komm her
Diese Stunde wiegt zweitausend Jahre schwer

text ©Subway To Sally
Models: `lockstock and *justmeina - you rock!
Leaves/foliage: cgtextures.com

The Plague in Florence - 1348

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 10:17:29 PDT

"The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. It is widely thought to have been an outbreak of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, although this view has been challenged by a number of scholars. Usually thought to have started in Central Asia, it had reached the Crimea by 1346. From there, probably carried by fleas residing on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships, it spread throughout the Mediterranean and Europe.

The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% to 70% of Europe's population, reducing the world's population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in 1400. This has been seen as creating a series of religious, social and economic upheavals which had profound effects on the course of European history. It took 150 years for Europe's population to recover. The plague returned at various times, resulting in a larger number of deaths, until it left Europe in the 19th century." (quoted from Wikipedia)

I've been wanting to paint something with Sleepy Hollow-inspired lighting for some time now.
It was quite a challenge... I wonder if Tim Burton would like it? XD Haha!

In my next painting I want to depict a scene from the same period, but more in the spirit of Boccaccio's Decamerone - a group of young patricians fleeing Florence in 1348 and gathering in the beautiful countryside to tell each other raunchy stories. It would be the perfect "counterpiece" to this one, colorful and cheerful looking...

I'm thinking too much when I should be describing my technique here! Anyway, this illustration was made just the same way as all my other pictures, under which you sometimes can find links to WIP steps.

The church door here is a photo (my own); everything else is 100% hand-painted with love by yours truly. For the house in the background I used a reference image of Florentine houses (Did they already have green shutters in the 14th century? Probably not...)

Photoshop and Wacom tablet, around 20 hours, blah blah...

Thank you for looking!

Tudor Queens 7 - The Lady Mary

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 09:09:26 PDT

Weep, weep, O Walsingham!
Whose days are nights;
Blessings turn'd to blasphemies
Holy deeds to despites.
Sin is where Our Lady sat;
Heaven is turned to Hell!
Satan sits where Our Lord did sway;
Walsingham! O farewell!

(This is a 16th century poem I found in Carolly Erickson's biography "Bloody Mary". Walsingham is an English pilgrimage site that was destroyed during the Reformation. The poem reflects the feelings of the Catholic people of that time, and perhaps also what Mary thought.)

Miladies and gentlemen, I present you "Bloody Mary"! My 7th portrait in my series of Tudor Queens.

Born in 1516 as daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Mary Tudor was raised to become Queen of England, just in case. Henry's male heirs indeed were short-lived, and his son Edward, after having ruled as Protestant king, died aged fifteen in 1553. Now it was Mary's turn and she became Queen the same year, at the age of 37. She was a devout Catholic and believed it was her mission to restore England to Catholicism. Which of course was pretty much impossible - one can't stop history once it has started. Until her death in 1558, about 280 Protestant "heretics" were condemned to death. (Source: Wikipedia)

There are several portraits of Mary dating from her time, of which the best known probably are these:
[link] - painted by Master John in 1544
[link] - painted by Antonio Moro in 1555
As you can see I chose to paint her wearing the dress from the earlier painting when she wasn't Queen yet, simply because I like it more
I'm still wondering about her eyebrows or lack thereof. Was there a fashion of plucking them out, or did Mary have some nutritional deficiency?

Like some symbolism with that painting? Here goes: The statuette of the Virgin Mary in the background is her name patron, obviously, and the blood red color of the tapestry also was a conscious choice.

Tool: Photoshop 7 & Wacom tablet. Statue referenced from a work by Tilman Riemenschneider. Carpet and wooden panels from cgtextures.com .

© Kristina Gehrmann

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TheExecution of Lady Jane Grey

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 06:41:36 PDT

In the Tudor era (and probably in the Middle Ages too) it was customary for the executioner to ask the condemned's forgiveness. It was supposed to show that he held no malice towards the victim; that he was only an extension of the law doing his job. By granting forgiveness the condemned also had a chance of showing magnanimity in the face of death, thus leaving a good impression on the spectators.
Lady Jane Grey forgave her executioner, as did Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard before her.

Who was Lady Jane Grey? She was designated queen by young king Edward Seymour (the son and successor of Henry VIII, as you remember).
But when he died in 1553, she managed to be queen for only about 2 weeks, because Henry's daughter Mary Tudor had many supporters and so became queen the same year.
The 17 year old Lady Jane Grey, though she didn't plot against Queen Mary herself, became a symbol of resistance and Protestantism and so became dangerous to the Catholic politics of Mary. Queen Mary had her executed for "high treason" in 1554.

You can read the entire story on Wikipedia here: [link]

Even today historians aren't sure if she had a legitimate claim to the throne or not, so she's usually not included in a line-up of English regents.

Hmm. That's quite a lot of death scenes in my portfolio so far. Perhaps I should paint a birth some time...! Nevermind. The next painting, of course, is going to feature Mary Tudor ("the Catholic" or "Bloody Mary" depending on whose side you're on).

Photoshop and Wacom tablet as always, took about 30 hours or so. (Social life? What's that? XD)
Wood and brick wall textures snatched from cgtextures.com .
Screaming guy referenced from ~alastock - [link]
Lady-in-waiting referenced from `lockstock - [link]
Special thanks to the folks on Conceptart.org for kicking my butt

WIP can be seen here: [link]

© Kristina Gehrmann

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TudorQueens 6 - Catherine Parr

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 03:07:19 PDT

© Kristina Gehrmann

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My 6th portrait in the series of Tudor Queens - and also the last one of Henry VIII's wives.
But my series isn't finished yet. Guess whom the next portrait will feature!

Anyway: I referenced most of her look from this painting: [link]
Again I took some liberties with the clothing. The nobility probably wouldn't have worn pink dresses in Tudor times because it looked like washed-out, faded red, surely a sign that you couldn't afford new clothes. At least that's what this professional Henry VIII impersonator says: [link] . Warning: The website is addictive, I spent hours reading there
Face reference from `lockstock

Links to the previous portraits in the series:
Catherine of Aragon - [link]
Anne Boleyn - [link]
Jane Seymour - [link]
Anne of Cleves - [link]
Catherine Howard - [link]

The Revelation of John

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 11:06:22 PDT

I've always wanted to paint an apocalyptic and crazy fantasy world... So, this is my entry for the Fantasy World contest [link]
Inspired by the crazy last chapter of the New Testament! :>

Photoshop and Wacom tablet, as always.

I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, Come and see! 6:2 And behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him, and he came forth conquering, and to conquer.

6:3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come! 6:4 Another came forth, a red horse. To him who sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. There was given to him a great sword.

6:5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come and see! And behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a balance in his hand. 6:6 I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Dont damage the oil and the wine!

6:7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature saying, Come and see! 6:8 And behold, a pale horse, and he who sat on it, his name was Death. Hades followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth was given to him.

TudorQueens 4 - Anne of Cleves

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 05:03:25 PDT

© Kristina Gehrmann

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Here's number 4 in my series of Tudor Queens

"Anne of Cleves was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated, and she was not crowned queen consort. Following the annulment of their marriage, Anne was given a generous settlement by the King, and thereafter referred to as the King's Beloved Sister. She lived to see the coronation of Mary I of England, outlasting the rest of Henry's wives."

(quoted from Wikipedia - [link] )

Time: about 10-20h
Medium: Photoshop + Wacom tablet
100% hand painted with love by yours truly

Awakening Giants

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:55:54 PDT

© Kristina Gehrmann

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I like allegories so I painted giant people frozen in ice for the last few millenia - it is only now that while the ice melts due to global warming, they are starting to thaw. What will the future bring when the giants emerge?

Photoshop and Wacom tablet, +-20 hours? A couple of days.
Reference: pose of the standing person kindly modeled by *justmeina (you rock, man!)

The Fragility Of Life

Sun, 15 May 2011 02:25:04 PDT

© Kristina Gehrmann

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My latest, but not my last, still life from Angel Academy!
Oil on canvas, about 50x55 cm.

Like in the previous still life, I used the sight-size method here to get the proportions, relations and sizes of the objects drawn correctly in the earliest stage.
After this drawing stage, dark shapes are blocked in. Only then are colors blocked in - very simple, flat colors at first. Then each object is refined and detailed and brought to a finish.

No perishables this time, so I had no worries about anything rotting or spoiling! (Those flowers are fake)

And yes, the skull is fake too (made of plaster)

Thanks for looking

Thaidos

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 05:30:33 PDT

© Kristina Gehrmann

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Another portrait of one of my characters. Need to try different things from time to time...
... and it was really fun!

Next will be a "normal" painting again...!
Darn, I need to improve.

Background textures (licensed for commercial use) are from an ImagineFX DVD.

Tool: Wacom tablet and Photoshop as always.

Palermo 1820

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 04:50:43 PDT

© Kristina Gehrmann

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edit: wow, a front page apparition awesome!

My latest, but not my last, still life from Angel Academy!
Oil on canvas, about 45x65 cm.

You can see a WIP photo here:
[link]

Like in the previous still life, I used the sight-size method here to get the proportions, relations and sizes of the objects drawn correctly in the earliest stage.
After this drawing stage, dark shapes are blocked in. Only then are colors blocked in - very simple, flat colors at first. Then each object is refined and detailed and brought to a finish. We start with the fruit (or whatever perishables we're using), since they, well, rot really quickly XD
This is why some fruit is missing from the WIP photo. We sometimes have to replace things that get squishy and moldy, but I try to finish them really quickly so that I can still eat them afterwards. So far, successfully: I had to throw away just one orange.

The white cloth is my pillow case (No worries, I had another one to sleep on). I wanted something white, and I'm too lazy to buy a nice lacy tablecloth at the market, you see.
(And who knows how many poor Chinese immigrants are getting exploited, working under inhumane conditions in the textile industry in Prato °__° I'm not buying pretty, cheap clothes in the Chinese stores in Florence anymore.)

The pretty glass is courtesy of my landlady, Vanda (grazie mille!)

Tudor Queens 8 - Elizabeth I

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:33:25 PST

© Kristina Gehrmann

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OMG! My "Tudor Queens" series is finished! This is the eighth and final image in the series.
The last time I attempted a series (The Seven Virtues, in 2005) I stopped after image 3 of 7 and never finished it. But this one was so much fun, I could paint those Tudor queens all over again!

There is so much artifice in the portraits of Elizabeth I. She wears giant dresses that seem to weigh more than her with all the jewels and ornaments. And those elaborate wigs, huge starched collars and detailed headdresses! How long it must have taken to get dressed like this?! Perhaps a bit too long to do it every day. So I'm going to assume that the decorative excesses were mainly for representative purposes (as Queen of England she was practically obligated to look more splendid, rich, and fashionable than everyone else around her), and that she actually wore much simpler outfits on most days.

Enough about dresses! You can read the story of Queen Elizabeth on the addictive Wikipedia: [link]
There's also a fun-to-read biography: "Elizabeth" by Carolly Erickson, who also wrote about Mary Tudor, King Henry VIII, and Catherine the Great.

I put her in a forest setting because I think the real Elizabeth would have liked this - a relaxing rest from restrictive court life, nothing artificial here. And because my gallery needs more green paintings anyway.
I feel like I'm finally starting to figure out the gorgeous sunlight-shining-through-green-leaves light.

Pose and dress referenced from `lockstock
Smile referenced from ~LongStock
Photoshop and Wacom tablet, as always. Took about 20 hours.

Thanks for looking

Joan of Arc

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 05:28:05 PST

© Kristina Gehrmann

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In summer 2001 (I was 12 years old), I was in France and visited Rouen. There, on a town square, I remember seeing a sign that marked the spot where Joan of Arc was burnt on May 30, 1431.

I think my classical-academic art training shows in the drawings of the two half-naked guys... Painting them was the most fun part! I painted them exactly the same way we used to paint the live model in class with oil on canvas; minus the real models.

Reference used: Plenty! This time I've collected them all here for your convenience: [link]
Also: bird brushes from =Falln-Stock
Time: about 30 hours?
Medium: Wacom tablet and Photoshop

Missing You - October 1940

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:20:09 PST

The last hurried telegram that reached him had been sparsely detailed and half-blacked-out, only the words '__________AT SEA AGAIN________ CPT HADDOCK' remaining. Tintin still has the scrap of paper, ragged from his own stroking fingertips, despite everything that the war has taken from him.

Static crackles.

I miss you so much, Captain, he blurts out, helpless to stop the words, I miss you, I miss you, why didn't you-

The bubbling hiss is his only answer. He knows why Haddock didn't follow, this time; Britain called him, the last beleaguered bastion against Hitler's might, and what could the captain do but answer? Tintin had flung himself headlong into death, after all. Captain, he says, low, desperate, and with a precise click, the line goes dead.

It is October 1940. The world is at war.

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Inspired by a fanfiction of the same title which can be found here: [link] - the above excerpt is from that beautiful story.

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Reference used: [link]
Medium: Photoshop and Wacom tablet, as always

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The Song of Lorelei

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 01:40:30 PDT

Lorelei/Loreley/Loreli, a figure from German mythology. She's a siren from the Rhine river and her singing causes havoc and shipwrecks.

I've already painted a mermaid with a sinking ship in 2011, but thought that I should be able to do better. And indeed, I like this new version more

^{My gallery will never be kitsch-free...}

Face referenced from a 1917 ad from "All American Ads" published by Taschen. Ship referenced from "Old Fashioned Nautical Illustrations" by Dover Publications.
Painted in Photoshop, using a Wacom tablet, as always.

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The Shepherd and the Nymph

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 07:38:28 PST

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At midnight, in the month of June,
I stand beneath the mystic moon.
An opiate vapor, dewy, dim
Exhales from out her golden rim,
And, softly dripping, drop by drop,
Upon the silent mountain top,
Steals drowsily and musically
Into the universal valley...

---- Edgar Allan Poe: The Sleeper (1831)

Actually, I was gonna tell a story here. A story about how I made a bet with a friend; a bet that I could make a painting more kitschy than the kitschiest of William Bouguereau. And that I totally won the bet.
But I shall be honest: There was no such bet. I painted this picture completely from my own motivation, and I truly enjoyed painting it, so I will make no apologies for it.

Model for the nymph: the gorgeous `lockstock - Thank you!

Medium: Wacom tablet and Photoshop
Time: Somewhere between lunch and dinner. Just kidding! Actually, somewhere between 20 and 40 hours.

The Head of Octavia

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 06:18:45 PDT

The secret of a good painting is very simple: Put the right color in the right place. The difficult thing is to figure out how, and that always frustrates me a bit when I look at the paintings of two of my favorite artists, John William Waterhouse and Lawrence Alma-Tadema. How they get away with using patterns of flat color and sometimes very little shadow values and yet achieve such a stunning degree of realism? It's been a year since I painted Decadence, and I've learnt a few things, but I haven't really figured out light and shadow yet.
So what makes the paintings of Waterhouse and Alma-Tadema so convincing? Perhaps it has something to do with:
- a full range of value, some very dark darks and bright lights, and everything in between?
- the grouping together of major values - some big value groups that the smaller ones are controlled by?

If you know, lemme know, please.

Anyway: here we see the Roman emperor Nero, together with his girlfriend Poppaea Sabina (seated). He had forced his adoptive step-sister and wife Claudia Octavia to commit suicide so he could marry Poppaea Sabina, and here Octavia's head is brought to them on a plate.
I saw the scene first in the fantastic manga "Il mio nome è Nerone" ("My name is Nero") by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, who also made manga series about Alexander the Great, Jesus and Joan of Arc - it's such a darn shame these jewels haven't been translated into English yet! (I own the Italian editions). Nero was, despite his cruelty andlack of conscience, famously unable to see blood, and the manga also shows him rather disgusted at the sight of Octavia's severed head (then he runs to the balcony and throws up).

Altogether in that manga, we get a very realistic and convincing impression of how the emperor Nero actually could have been: the young emperor, who died at age 32, is shown as immature, impulsive, delusional and unstable, but as human, and as readers we actually feel sorry for the poor guy when at the end he is forced to commit suicide.

Painted in Photoshop, using my much-beloved Wacom Intuos 2, as always.
Poses are loosely referenced from photos and/or old master paintings, like most of the time (and also from `lockstock ); and 95% of the drapery and clothes and a few other parts are drawn from imagination.
Snatched from cgtextures.com: Center floor mosaic tile, top ornamental border, and the mural to the left.

EDIT: Here's also a bunch of WIP steps, for those interested: [link]

Devastation - Lullaby of War

Mon, 10 May 2010 03:10:28 PDT

My inspiration for this was reading about the Thirty Year War that ended in 1648 and left the German-speaking countries and duchies in ruins.

Schlaf ein, mein Kind, es ist Schlafenszeit
Ist Zeit auch zum Sterben;
Bist du groß, wird dich weit und breit
Die Trommel anwerben.
Lauf ihr nach, mein Kind, hör deiner Mutter Rat:
Fällst du in der Schlacht, so würgt dich kein Soldat.

"Herr Soldat, tu mir nichts zu Leid
Und lass mir mein Leben!"
- "Herzog Christian führt uns zum Streit
Kann kein Pardon geben.
Lassen muss der Bauer mir sein Gut und Hab -
Ich zahle nicht mit Geld, nur mit dem kühlen Grab."

Schlaf ein, mein Kind, werde stark und groß-
Die Jahre, sie rollen-
Folgst selber bald auf stolzem Roß
Herzog Christian dem Tollen.."

Poem by Ricarda Huch

Tools: Wacom tablet + Photoshop
Thank you for looking

The Naked Mole Rat

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:16:56 PST

© Kristina Gehrmann

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I painted this one in Photoshop using a Wacom tablet, mainly for the fun of painting shiny fabric and using "pretty" colors. The naked mole rat has no special meaning XD

Time is about 20-30 hours. Not sure how long exactly.
Reference used: my own hands, a photo of a naked mole rat.

Tudor Queens 3 - Jane Seymour

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 01:31:23 PDT

© Kristina Gehrmann

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Here's number 3 in my series of Tudor Queens

"Jane Seymour (c.1508 24 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as queen consort following the latter's execution for charges of high treason, witchcraft, incest and adultery in May 1536. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of her only child, a son who reigned as Edward VI. She was the only one of Henry's wives to receive a queen's funeral, and his only consort to be buried beside him in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, as she was the woman that Henry loved the most and gave the only male heir to."

(quoted from Wikipedia - [link] )

Time: about 10-20h
Medium: Photoshop + Wacom tablet
Background here is an overpainted photo (my own)
Hands referenced from ~Cobweb-stock

TQ1 - Catherine of Aragon

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 02:42:15 PDT

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I want to make a series of Tudor Queens. After watching the whole of "The Tudors" AND reading biographies by Carolly Erickson AND novels by Philippa Gregory, it felt natural. Lots of inspiration in those dramatic stories!

My first painting in this series shows Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), though I think there were other Tudor queens before her. But my painting series will be long enough from there , since I plan to paint all other queens after her, ending with Elizabeth I.

Catherine was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England (the crazy one with the 6 wives, y'know)

The next portraits in this series will feature:
2) Anne Boleyn
3) Jane Seymour
4) Anne of Cleves
5) Catherine Howard
6) Catherine Parr
7) Mary I
8) Elizabeth I

Reference for face features from this original portrait by Michael Sittow: [link]
Pose reference from ~Gracies-Stock <3

Thanks for looking!

TudorQueens5- Catherine Howard

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 03:10:44 PDT

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Here's Queen 5 in my series of Tudor Queens

"Catherine Howard married Henry VIII on 28 July 1540, almost immediately after the annulment of his marriage to Anne of Cleves was arranged. However, she was beheaded after less than two years of marriage to Henry on the grounds of treason for committing adultery while married to the King."
(quoted from Wikipedia - [link] )

Since she met the same fate as Anne Boleyn, I painted her being haunted or chased by Anne's ghost. Perhaps you've heard stories about sightings of the ghost of Anne Boleyn? Her Wikipedia article cites a few. I don't believe in ghosts, but I believe in making paintings spooky!

And I hate painting buildings. It's the most tedious and boring task there is, at least for me. :/ The painted Hampton Court in the background was really an exercise in stamina.

Time: about 10-20h
Medium: Photoshop + Wacom tablet
100% hand painted with love by yours truly!
Pose and dress referenced from ~Gracies-Stock

Temeraire

Thu, 28 Oct 2004 06:41:24 PDT

© Kristina Gehrmann

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An ode to Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)

May 2004, 100% done in Painter 4

Reference Used: None

Dying Ocean

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 11:33:39 PST

© Kristina Gehrmann

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------------------------------------ - Medium is Photoshop and Wacom tablet, as always.
- Reference for the mermaid: `lockstock
- Ship in the background messily referenced from an image I googled. Rocks referenced from my own photographs.
- Original size is around 4000 pixels high.
- Time: somewhere around 30 hours, I didn't count.

Thank you for looking!

(And, remember, no drinking and driving, ok? Especially, no drinking and steering oil tankers, kthx.)

Venus

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 08:43:35 PDT

© Kristina Gehrmann

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My first oil painting project at Angel Academy of Art, using several colors.

Took longer than I can remember, but the second painting of this kind, currently a work-in-progress, is much faster. (or so I'm told)

Size: about 50x70cm
Paints: Winsor&Newton and Old Holland

Here you can see the setup before I started painting: [link]

The WIP: [link]
On the right, you can see an unfinished charcoal drawing by a co-student; we were both copying the same plaster cast at the same time.

(so yes, this is copied from a plaster cast)

(and yes, it IS a photo - of an oil painting! ;D )

La nascita di Venere

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:43:42 PST

Decadence

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:23:10 PDT

© Kristina Gehrmann

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Experiment: how many people can I fit into one painting?

I love how J.W. Waterhouse handles light and color; he paints it in an incredibly subtle way that never appears "impressionistic", strong or surreal, but modest and yet strikingly realistic. Just beautiful!
I didn't have any illusions of ever reaching his level of expertise in the near future, but in this painting, I tried to figure out his way of painting, especially skin. It was a lot of fun

The background marble and mosaic are from www.cgtextures.com ; everything else is painted by me. About 60% of the figures is painted using references. These were from many different sources (I think `lockstock and *justmeina , two of my favorite models, were among them)
Thanks for looking!

Photoshop + Wacom tablet, 20-40 hours

America

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:38:52 PDT

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Photoshop and Wacom Intuos tablet
20-30 hours

Reference used for the ship in the background. And for the girl in the foreground - a stock artist from dA. I don't remember who it was and don't have the photo anymore, but if you find it: link plz? Thank you

Thanks for looking

There Will Be Blood

Thu, 14 May 2009 01:15:56 PDT

© Kristina Gehrmann

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Peuples Français, peuple de frères,
Peux-tu voir sans frémir d'horreur,
Le crime arborer les bannières
Du carnage et de la terreur ?
Tu souffres qu'une horde atroce
Et d'assassins et de brigands,
Souille par son souffle féroce
Le territoire des vivants.

Représentants d'un peuple juste,
O vous ! législateurs humains !
De qui la contenance auguste
Fait trembler nos vils assassins,
Suivez le cours de votre gloire ;
Vos noms, chers à l'humanité,
Volent au temple de mémoire,
Au sein de l'immortalité.

- Jean-Marie de Saint-Marc (1795)

Medium: Photoshop, Wacom tablet
Time: about 30 hours
References used: A bust of Bernini for Marie Antoinette's face. A 19th century painting (by Toulmouche, if I remember correctly) for the girl's dress. Oh yeah, and a raven.

Taking Home the Bride

Sat, 05 May 2007 04:19:00 PDT

© Kristina Gehrmann

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"What! ride an hundred miles tonight,
By thy mad fancies driven!
Dost hear the bell with its sullen swell,
As it rumbles out eleven?"
"Look forth! look forth! the moon shines bright:
We and the dead gallop fast thro' the night.
'Tis for a wager I bear thee away
To the nuptial couch ere the break of day."

Here to the right and there to the left
Flew fields of corn and clover,
And the bridges flashed by to the dazzled eye,
As rattling they thundered over.
"What ails my love? the moon shines bright:
Bravely the dead men ride through the night.
Is my love afraid of the quiet dead?"
"Ah! no; -- let them sleep in their dusty bed!"

And swiftly up to an iron gate
With reins relaxed they went;
At the rider's touch the bolts flew back
And the bars were broken and bent;
The doors were burst with a deafening knell,
And over the white graves they dashed pell mell:
The tombs around looked grassy and grim,
As they glimmered and glanced in the moonlight dim.

But see! but see! in an eyelid's beat,
Towhoo! a ghastly wonder!
The horseman's jerkin, piece by piece,
Dropped off like brittle tinder!
Fleshless and hairless, a naked skull,
The sight of his weird head was horrible;
The lifelike mask was there no more,
And a scythe and a sandglass the skeleton bore.

A painting inspired by the ballad "Lenore", written in 1774. (Here is the complete German text by A.G. Bürger: [link] )

Read the English poem here: [link]

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Painted using: Aiptek Graphics tablet and Photoshop 7
Time: About 20 hours
Music: Michelangeli, Mozart, Rubinstein
References used: for the horse, for Lenore's face, for the skull

Hosanna in excelsis

Fri, 22 Oct 2004 12:22:17 PDT

© Kristina Gehrmann

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This was inspired by "Sanctus" by the German rock band Subway To Sally

Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus
Dominus Deus Sabaoth
Pleni sunt caeli
et terra
gloria tua.
Hosanna in excelsis
Benedictus qui venit
In nomine Domini
Hosanna in excelsis

Painted completely in Painter 4.
Reference used: An illustration by Alphonse Mucha, to get the pose right.

TudorQueens 2 - Anne Boleyn

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 01:13:27 PDT

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The 2nd portrait in my series of Tudor Queens!

Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England.
The whole story: [link]

Close-ups:
[link]
[link]

The next portraits in this series will feature:
3) Jane Seymour
4) Anne of Cleves
5) Catherine Howard
6) Catherine Parr
7) Mary I
8) Elizabeth I

Reference for face, dress, etc. from these original portraits:
[link]
[link]

Pose reference from `lockstock <3

Background from one of my own photos.

Thanks for looking!

Magda no. 2

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 06:30:52 PST

© Kristina Gehrmann

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Another figure painting from Angel Academy, done from life. In the class of "Maestro", we use a different style/method pretty much everytime time, and I love it.

Size is about 110x60 cm. Took several days to paint.
I used Winsor&Newton oil paints, and some by Old Holland.

I can't believe it! Just came back home from Italy to my parents' place in Germany, and there is my mom baking cookies! Berliner Brot, something between a biscotti and a brownie, and they're quite good. Even more so because she rarely ever bakes. Ah, the wonderful Christmastime!

The Prophet's Vision

Mon, 26 May 2008 09:09:01 PDT

Italia

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:25:05 PDT

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I wanted to paint an allegory. Just for the fun of it. I really enjoyed painting this one

Media used: Wacom tablet and Photoshop

A few close-ups of the background leaves:
[link]
[link]

Thanks for looking

Little Empress - commission

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 05:49:25 PDT

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A commissioned portrait for ~mikeez , showing Krista.

I called it "Little Empress" because she looks more like an empress than a little girl to me. And so many stories popped into my head while painting.
Reference used: A couple of photos of the depicted girl.

Farewell At Granada

Fri, 09 May 2008 03:25:45 PDT

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My interpretation of King Muhammad XII who in 1492 was forced to leave his town of Granada to the Spanish who conquered it during their Reconquista.

Farewell, ye coral caves, ye pearly sands,
Ye waving woods that crown yon lofty steep;
Farewell, ye Nereides of the glitt'ring deep,
Ye mountain tribes, ye fawns, ye sylvan bands:
On the bleak rock your frantic minstrel stands,
Each task forgot, save that, to sigh and weep;
In vain the strings her burning fingers sweep,
No more her touch, the Grecian Lyre commands!
In Circe's cave my faithless Phaon's laid,
Her daemons dress his brow with opiate flow'rs;
Or, loit'ring in the brown pomgranate shade,
Beguile with am'rous strains the fateful hours;
While Sappho's lips, to paly ashes fade,
And sorrow's cank'ring worm her heart devours!

Poem by Mary Darby Robinson (1758-1800)

Media: Photoshop, wacom tablet.
Thanks to Kay Allen for useful critique in the progress, and to *navate for kicking my butt
References: I'll be darned if I remember them all! I wish I still had 'em. Feel free to link to models when you recognize them so I can give due credit.

Don't Jump

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 04:19:42 PDT

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This one was a challenge since animals and crazy perspective are something not exactly within my comfort zone. But I'm pretty happy with it, despite the perspective issues.

I think the image and the title will tell the story by themselves But if you like a little bit of story to go along with it, here it is:

Gilbert the Guinea Pig was destroyed. His girlfriend had dumped him, just like a frigging bird dumped its poop from a tree. And if that wasn't enough, he had seen her making out with his best friend Andrew.
Ex-best friend, of course. Oh that traitor! He would never forgive Andrew for that, that stupid little birdhumper. It was too much for poor Gilbert. He had decided to put an end to it, and what was more suited for this than the Imperial Tower of Guinea Town?
Just when he was ready for the experience of his little guinea pig body being smashed to thousand pieces on the Main Street two hundred metres below him, he heard a voice from behind.
"Don't jump", Andrew screamed.

Solitude

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:17:39 PST

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A digital painting done purely for fun and practicing skin tones and "realism", no actual story behind it.

Wacom tablet and Photoshop.
Pose and dress reference is from the awesome `lockstock

James

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 09:46:48 PDT

The Seven Virtues: Iustitia

Sun, 19 Jun 2005 03:45:13 PDT

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Iustitia - The Justice.

I am Iustitia, my eyes are blind.
I do not see who you are, but I am told what you have done.
My indestructible pair of scales will weigh your guilt.
May both sides be equal or not,
Condemning you either to heaven,
or to eternal purgatory.

100% Photoshop 7
Reference used: A photo of my hands and arms