BIZARRE BRAIN BOOST

Steve on his creative process and how becoming increasingly impatient has changed how he works

“When a cover comes my way, I first have to wait for some kind of image to course into me. Some of these images are immediate, some far from immediate.

Then I begin the procedure taught to me by various teachers over the years. I have to compose the picture, do some value and colour studies, all usually done quite small so I know where I’m going with things when they go full size. I used to be very good about photoshoots of models and studies that followed, but, alas, I’ve gotten so impatient with things over the years, sometimes I dive into the deep end and wing it.

One thing I’ve learned over the years to fit my changing temperament is just begin painting after the roughs are solved, rather than the usual procedure of getting everything ready ahead of time. It seems I’ve gotten too impatient for all that pre-lim work. So when I’m well into things, then I’ll gather the reference or do the model shoots. That’s backwards to most people. But things evolve over time, and me being me, I have to deal with these odd shifts and changes.

I tend to have favourite stories I’ve drawn rather than recalling any particular painted cover. One illustration I recall, was painted in oil in a day and half – remarkable for me (see Next Nexus #2). I had just gotten off a week-long painting workshop in northern Wisconsin and was really feeling it. It reminded me of Bones Mccoy putting on that electronic head gear and suddenly knowing how to perform surgeries way beyond what he had been capable of. And so, within days of returning from this workshop, and newly armed with this bizarre brain boost, this painting seemed to flow as we wish all paintings would.”