Jonathan Payne is a freelance artist residing in Santa Clarita, California. His sculptures and paintings focus primarily on creature and character design . He has studied under Jordu Schell (Men In Black, Edward Scissorhands, Avatar), concept sculptor Simon Lee and fine art sculptor John Brown. He prefers to sculpt in oil, polymer and WED clays. Recently he has become consumed with creating an original line of tumorous balls of flesh known as the Fleshlettes. In addition to his macabre "babies" he also enjoys composing fine art sculptures depicting both wildlife and the human form. Jonathan is available for hire as a freelance artist and for individual commissions.
Macro Mouth. Approx 2.5 inches x 2inches. Super Sculpey, flocking and a bit of clear acrylic medium. This sculpture was created as a private commission.
This is a test using the techniques Jordu Schell has showed us in his advanced maquette building class. My only regret is that I did not do an entire face (or at least a nose as well). 1 inch high, made of super sculpey, red flocking, and some clear acrylic on the tongue.
While on vacation in Salt Lake Mary Runolfson graciously lent me her ipad for the weekend. I tried Sketchbook Pro and Brushes and so far I have found Brushes easiest to use and most 'to-the-point'. Here are three paintings I created in Brushes using my pogo sketch stylus. The first is the venerable value ball. The 2nd a candle of Lacie's back lit at dusk and the 3rd is a painting of "Black Pool" in Yellowstone Park. For the last painting I did use photo reference but did not copy the photo. It is still very loose and took a frustratingly long time when compared to what it would have taken to arrive at the same result in photoshop. That said I love the freedom and sometimes speed of ipad painting. I would love to experiment more with painting outside and in places laptops or desktops dare not go. Finally the pogo stylus was great but I wish it was a little thicker in the handle, thinner at the tip and that the tip was more robust. Mine flaked off in places and is generally scrunched now. One more quick note: These all have slight levels and colors adjustments to better match how they looked on the screen. When viewed on a desktop the images seem slightly more washed out and desaturated than they did on the ipad itself.
Just from the very begging of his guide to drawing the head book. CarbOthello pencils and some general neutral paper. Still looking for the exact type of paper he recommends.
4x6 Gouache still life of one of those hyper-tasty Lil Cuties. It got a little flattened in my lunch but it was oh so good! I am really loving this gouache painting. It's like the perfect combo of watercolor and oils.
After doing some talking with Tyler Jacobson it's becoming apparent how far I still have to go to feel competent as someone who draws and paints. Specifically I am l focusing on learning how to paint people. So I am going to start painting from photos so as Tyler put it, I can start to build a visual language of how people should look. Up first are post card sized gouache paintings from random portraits found on the internet.
This was a semi-successful experiment for using WED clay on a maquette. The biggest problem was my on-the-fly armature and my lack of a clear idea for the body design. This led to some wire sticking out where I didn't want it, cracking due to drying and the body being a simple anatomy study rather than anything else. Lessons learned: WED is fast until you lose control of the drying time. Doing smaller details such as teeth or fingers takes longer with WED clay but blocking in forms and redoing large surface areas takes much less time.