Illustration / Art Dispatch: 'The Master's Fee' by Richard P. Alvarez

05 March 2014

'The Master's Fee' by Richard P. Alvarez

To read the story, follow here.

For the background and process, continue below.

If you've caught up on the previous post - Doodle, Paint, & Photo of Ren Faire Days - you'll know what I refer to when I say I had the serendipitous delight of meeting true Renaissance man Richard Alvarez while working for the PA Faire at Mount Hope in 2013.

Needless to say, we struck up a great rapport with a good common ground of interests. Though our different work schedules only overlapped on the property for a brief time, the notion of working together was sparked readily, and keeping in touch for the following few months resulted in the commission of 'The Master's Fee' title illustration.

I am honored to have been chosen for a piece once set aside for a great illustrator, now passed on. It was a joy to explore the visualization of Richard's witty, mid 1700's English flash fiction tale, picking and choosing the period-appropriate details that would help bring my interpretation of his ripe words to life.

We continued a dialogue through the 'rough' and 'tight' stages of my process, to keep the end goal in line:

Sample of one of several 'roughs', initial conceptualizing stage, Graphite, 2014.

Once the orientation, format, and posturing of the characters was narrowed down from the initial array, I took the concept to a few 'tighter' contour versions, two samples of which are shown next:

Continued concept in contour 'tight' stage, Graphite, 2014.

Continued concept in contour 'tight' stage, Second character, Graphite, 2014.

Once we found the fit to the story, I got the 'go-ahead' and began the painting process. At this time, I was working from a 'temporary' Studio between some locations in New York state.