After requests from my followers and students of my technique, I have painted this huge work, and I have posted the step by step pictures of the process. I hope this painting serves you well as a teaching tool and helps you understand the process of renaissance style of oil painting. Please feel free to email me with questions at: pallominy@msn.com

 

LUCIFER EXPELLED FROM PARADISE by pallominy, Jan 05, 2013, Rockville, MD USA

Oil on plywood, 36 x 48 inches, huge painting by pallominy, after a Gustave Dore'print for Paradise Lost. 

This painting represents the culminating moment of the story of how Lucifer became the fallen angel after He lost the battle for total power against God and his Angels. In this especific moment, Lucifer realizes the consequences of his acts of rebellion against his creator, God, and becomes aware that he is no longer a high ranking angel and that he has been expelled from paradise and from the grace and presence of God.  

Above you have the photograph of the finished painting, and below, the very first step of the process to get to the final painting.

In this step, the artist must locate the positionm of all his elements on the creation. At this point I do not worry too much about details of my main subject, in this case Lucifer. But I want to know where in the poainting will He be located, so I can work on the background layers.

 

Once I have finished half of the background layers, of my underpainting, I draw my main subject. This is the most crucial step, because whatever you draw, is what you want to paint and what the observer will see. Take your time to draw the subject, down to the smallest details and expressions. As Da Vinci used to say, the best painter is great at drawing. Well, of course, we are talking about the renaissance style of painting. 

Before I started painting my main subject, here, I finished the background with the blues and greens . Then I started on Lucifer's head and arms. Also, if you are a good observer, notice above the shape of the left wing and how I modified it to make it more realistic in the picture below. The reason is that upon close observation, I noticed that the left wing did not look anatomically correct for that positioning, so I painted the right way as I am painting it with colors.

Lucifer's right arm is darker due to the position in relation to the light source. Also, notice that the detail isd not as rich as that of the left arm; the reason is that I want the focus of the observer to move to the left hand  grabbing the hor, because that is an important element of the meaning of the painting, when Lucifer realizes that now he has animal horns, and he is also looking to the right and up to his brand new bat wing, which has come to replace his old beautiful white angel wing. Also noitice the clasped right hand, as an expression od sorrow.

People have asked me why I painted my Lucifer barefooted and without any weapons, the reason is that I want to convey the idea that from being a mighty warrior in paradise, he has been humbled down and disarmed from his weapons and rank, right before he has been expelled for ever, and condemmed to an eternity in hell. If I had painted any scabbard, swrod or shield, the observer would have gotten the idea that Lucifer was still powerfull and still posed a threat to God and his angels. Painting Lucifer barefooted and without any insignias of rank or weapons, the oberver gets the idea, that Lucifer has been completely defeated for ever, and that there is no coming back from where he has put himself into.

Well I hope you liked my artwork, and can apply some of my techniques to your style. Thank you for watching.