Process : Dinosaur Train

Started the piece out with this little thumbnail sketch. At this stage I'm mostly thinking of shape, concept and composition, so I keep things really rough to maintain a simple, easy read.



Next I cut the illustration board to size, tape off the edges, and lay down the base color for the background.



Next I painted the base color for the main ground. If I can't find the exact color I'm looking for in paper collage, I'll paint the color I need on water color paper, then cut it to fit the BG. That's what I did in this case to make the hill.



Next, before I cut out and glued the train tracks to the base hill, I painted the rocks in that are usually below train tracks. Then I glued on the paper collage train tracks and added two more levels of hills with more acrylic paint on watercolor paper.



Next, it was time to begin laying in the different levels of flowers and plants. I cut these out of Acrylic on water color paper and magazine pages. I then did a light color wash over the hills to darken them a bit, and to add a little more blue to them. Plus I painted in the small flowers covering the hill the train will be on.



This is just a photo I took of the collection of paper scraps I gathered to begin to construct the train and the dinosaurs ridding in the train.



beginning to glue and lay out the shapes for the train.



Next, adding more detail to the train, adding in the sun, and a little hobo snake friend cruising through the grass, maybe looking to hitch a ride.



Next, a combination of painting in the various Dinosaurs on the BG with Acrylic paint and some paper collage elements, while adding more bits and pieces of detail to the train.



Almost done, adding on the eyes and various detail to each of the dinosaurs like hankerchiefs, conductor hats, and smiles.

Lastly, the finished piece. I added the little boy last. He was also a combo of Acrylic paint on the Background and paper collage elements. Added in the birds, the train bell, and smoke coming from the trains engine.



The piece above was done as a commission a little while back for a little kids room. The little guy loves Dinosaurs and Trains (who could have guessed right?)

When I was growing up, I LOVED Dinosaurs, so getting the chance to paint some Dino art for a new fan of Dinosaurs was really fun for me, I had a blast with this painting. I also documented a bit of my process on this one, below are a few scans and photos I took in various stages of completing the piece.

Dinosaur Train
8" x 12"
Acrylic & Paper Collage
2010