My god, it´s full of stars
Recently I have finished watching the fantastic second season of the Apple TV+ series For All Mankind (which I highly recommend if you like to watch an alternate history of the Space Race) and felt the need to get back to painting astronauts once again.
I guess space and astronautics are one of my favorites themes…I can´t help it!
Initial draft with graphite
However, instead of one of the series characters, I opt for a more classic theme.
And…what could be better than the legendary 2001, a Space Oddysey by Stanley Kubrick?
This is probably my favorite movie and one of the first ones I have ever seen in cinemas.
It had a significant impact on me when I was a kid, and I have been fascinated by it since then.
I have seen «2001» countless times and I always discover something new in each viewing, either some small details in the background or hidden meaning in certain scenes.
There are some amazing books about this subject with a lot of technical details and production pictures that I highly recommend, like this one published by Taschen.
A smooth final result
The subject for this painting is the astronaut Dave Bowman, probably the most sympathetic member of the Discovery crew. I know he doesn´t talk too much but at least he shows some kind of humanity unless his more cold-blooded partner Frank Poole.
For the painting, I have chosen one of the later scenes of the film: when he has passed through the stargate (yes, the black monolith was a stargate) and arrived in that strange room.
Dave has seen some very weird things.
Hence the terrified look on his face—he has passed through quite an experience.
It was not my initial intention when I started painting, but the final result somehow looks like an airbrushed image.
I guess this is due to the brushes I have used for the portrait, which are pretty soft and doesn´t allow for very defined brushstrokes.
This is an interesting effect for painting smooth surfaces, like the helmet, although for faces and other features I think it would be better if I stick to harder brushes.
You always learn something new in each painting!
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