Refueling the Tindenburg

CAN YOU FIND? A dozing dog? A pig? A drippy hose? A curious cat? A pair of sunglasses? A man who lost his hat? Kilroy? 

The year is 2192. Post-Apocalyptic North America would become known as the "Post-Tin Age". With automobile and airplane manufacturing at a standstill, transportation began to reemerge in the form of hand-made contraptions, patched together with rusty spare parts and scrap tin. The Tindenburg, or "Tin Zep One" was such an airship.

The Tindenburg was named in honor of a German dirigible from a past age: The LZ-129 Hindenburg crashed and burned in 1937, bringing to an end the Golden Age of Zeppelins, which flourished in the early 20th Century.

The Tindenburg lead the way in the revival of airships. Other zeppelins would follow until tin zeppelins dominated the Post-Apocalyptic skies.

Here's the final line art for my Airship Refueling painting. Because the line art always looks so flat, it's always a pleasure to start applying color. The depth and dimension of the color always brings the image to life. You can see that I added the buildings in the bottom center. It was still in pencil in the last version. But I'm still up in the air about what will go onto the fuel tank, center left. It seems like there needs to be an appropriate name or graphic there. I still feel like Sub-Standard Oil is a little too tacky. Let me know soon if you have any brilliant ideas. 

Airship Refueling Port

I'm finally on the home stretch with the ink line on my Airship Refueling painting. I'll be painting soon. It always amazes me what a huge leap there is between the ink line and the finished color because of the contrast and depth that the color brings. My first decision was whether to paint it without an ink line or leave out the line. I've gone both ways many times. Of course the ink line won't look so strong when the color is in.

The highest values and hues will be with the airship and the fueling port. The dwellings on the hillside will be rather monochromatic and muted. The sky will be obscured by a heavy industrial smoke, throwing the background airships into a low monochromatic value. The lights on the airships penetrating the smokey fog should provide a dramatic effect, as will as an unseen light out-of-frame on the left. There may be a hint of blue sky in the upper right portion of the frame. This is what's in my head...we'll see what lands on the "canvas".

 I'm still up in the air (pardon the pun) about what sort of building I will draw under the airship, in the bottom center of the frame. Also what to put on the refueling tank on the left side, a name or logo of some kind. I had originally lettered "Sub Standard Oil" in the pencil layout, but I think I've abandoned that idea. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Have you seen my other blog, The Trowbridge Chronicles? Check it out here.

Airship Refueling, 2

Here's the latest version of my Airship Refueling painting. I tweaked the airship from the last sketch and added the refueling depot, along with background information. The background shanties and factory will be monochromatic and low value so that they don't get confused with the foreground. The sky will look smokey and polluted with a small patch of blue sky peeking through in the upper right. At least that's what I have in my head. We'll see how it translates to color. 

Have you seen my other blog, the Trowbridge Chronicles. Right now we're right in the middle of my graphic novel, The Legend of Shrew Khan.