Jerusalem, Jerusalem

I had the chance to visit Jerusalem yesterday. OK, so I didn't really go to Israel. I was invited along with several other artists to visit the Jerusalem movie set that has been built and used by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to film scenes from the New Testament and the life of Christ. Probably since Star Wars fired my budding artistic mind in 1977, I have been fascinated by movies and how they are made.


As an illustrator I enjoy seeing how others tell stories and the pains they go to to make things feel "right", so I jumped at the chance to visit the recreated Holy Land. I had seen some of the short New Testament film clips, so I knew that the set was impressive, but I was not prepared for the level of design and craftsmanship that went into this layout. Most movie sets are built to last the life of the movie shoot and are then either dismantled or even left to disintegrate in the the weather. This set however was built to last at least 20 years. In that regard, it felt more like the set pieces you would see in Disneyland, minus the props and set dressings. All of the angles and layouts were aligned to take advantage of sunlight and shadow at any time of the day. The sheer number of possible camera angles and shots was mind boggling. I felt like I really was walking the streets of ancient Jerusalem.

We toured the complex during the last day of filming and we got to see some of the scene rehearsal for the execution of the apostle Paul. The costuming was amazing in detail and certainly up to Hollywood standards. While we roamed the set pieces, I got a glimpse into what an amazing and integrated process making a film must be. A set decorator was even sponging different earth colors onto a faux stone wall to pop a little more color right before the film rolled.

I shot tons of photos, learned a lot and was inspired for possible future Christ centered works of art during my tour. Unfortunately, I signed a non disclosure on those photos as part of gaining access, so I can't show any of mine. All of these images are all floating online.

Coincidentally, today the Deseret News ran a nice feature on the Jerusalem movie set that you can read here.

The LDS church wants the world to enjoy these short films on the life of Christ and have made them available for everyone. All the videos are available for free viewing here.

Dragon Mountain 2 Finish

Just finishing this one up today from the Boys' Life story I am working on. I may adjust some of the shadows a little but for the most part I like it. I posted the preliminary sketch here.  Having a well worked out value drawing definitely seems to speed up the painting phase. I spent about four or five hours rendering this in Photoshop. I am hoping the opening spread comes together as quickly since I have about five deadlines that are one on top of the other at the moment.

Dragon Mountain Opener- Sketch

Here is the opening spread drawing for the Dragon Mountain story I am doing for Boys' Life magazine. In this scene, the boy loses his footing and slides down the slope of the mountain and into a dark hole. I posted the drawing for the second scene earlier so you can see what happens next if you click there.

It's always fun to try to get the reference material for a piece like this. My model, the son of our good friends was game to give me the look I wanted but it was impossible for him to hold the pose without falling over, so he did his best and I took the pose in pieces. I laid on the cement of the driveway to get the low angle I wanted and then had him pose the different parts he could hold, one at a time.

Head and torso with one arm, then the second arm and then the flailing legs. I pieced them all together digitally to arrive at the photo comp above which matched my sketch That is what I used to create the final drawing. Both drawings are graphite on bristol paper which I will now scan and use as the basis for the final Photoshop paintings. Stay tuned for the finished illustrations as soon as I get them done.

Octopus Battle

Octopus Battle- acrylic/mixed media by Greg Newbold.

In this scene from Stormalong, our intrepid hero Stormy dukes it out with a giant octopus in a liquid battleground. The ship's anchor was being dragged deeper and the ship along with it. Of course Stormy dives deep, wins the the wrestling match by tying the octopus' legs in knots and makes it safely back to the surface. I posted a couple of other pieces from this series earlier and you can see them at the links below.

Baby Stormalong discovered on the beach
Stormalong's carved memorial 
Stormalong title page illustration

Death Trap - Finished

Death Trap- 11' x 14" digital and graphite by Greg Newbold

I posted the full value drawing for this piece a few days back. It will be reproduced as a poster and playbill cover for a production of Death Trap this coming season at Pioneer Theatre Company. I have been working on the final art the last couple of days and just finished things up. I decided to keep the background relatively unsaturated to create contrast and also to allow the background elements to recede. I really like how this turned out and in case you were curious, I painted it digitally using Photoshop.

Mount Olympus- Rough Stage

Mt. Olympus (work in progress) 24" x 20" oil on canvas by Greg Newbold

I get basically this view out my front door every morning with the exception of the foreground elements. Mount Olympus rises from the valley floor to a height of 9,026 feet and is one of the most recognizable and picturesque peaks in the Wasatch range. I love seeing it every day and I figured it was about time I painted it. One evening a few weeks back, just after a spring snow, I took my camera in search of an angle that would eliminate most of the houses that pack the base of the mountain. I wanted an uncluttered vista that would focus on the geometry of the peak. It was just minutes before the sun would set as I hopped on the belt route to look for a high bench spot in which to capture the last light of the day. Lucky for me, I found a commercial building on top of a rise on the east bench of Salt lake City that backed onto a sage and tree filled empty lot. The clouds parted just enough for me to capture the setting light as it illuminated the peaks and the foreground trees and sage. This is the first pass and I will probably put in at least two more painting sessions before it is done, but I like to get the initial statement down as quickly as I can. This is probably about 3-4 hours of painting time including the drawing.

Dragon Mountain Sketch

I'm doing another project for Boys' Life Magazine right now. This one is a little different in that it will be a teaser for a writing contest. Boys from all over the country will be able to "finish the story" and prizes will be awarded for the best writing. This drawing is for the second spread. I will be painting these in Photoshop and will post the final versions when they are done. The sketch for the first spread is on the table right now and I will post it soon.