Image courtesy of artist Christopher Jude Ranes
Image courtesy of artist Christopher Jude Ranes
Guns and Ammo - oil on 12x16 panel
I’ve got a super long way to go but I’m definitely looking forward to the journey.
Also, I’ve painted a lot of skulls. It’s more of a figuring out the shapes that are beneath the
skin than it is just painting skulls because I think skulls are cool. Don’t get me wrong, I do
think they’re cool, but painting so many of them is actually serving a greater goal.
How do you come up with an idea for a new piece?
Hmmm. You know, I don’t really have an answer for this. I’d love to tell you a drawn out
story of magic and wonder but the fact is, it just kinda happens because I pick up little
sources of inspiration and have them all over the studio.
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Artist’s Blok Magazine
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How do you typically
start a new piece of art?
Well, the way I’ve been
doing it recently is: I take
my reference photo into a
photo editing program and
flip it horizontally. Next I
do a simple line drawing
to scale on a piece of paper.
Once the drawing is correct
I’ll lay it face down on the
canvas or panel and make
the transfer. After it’s all
transferred and ready I do
Hercules - oil on 13x16 panel
a basic color block-in and
then glaze from there. I
hope that made sense.
You are self-taught,
do you feel like this
has a given you
a disadvantage
as compared with
classically trained artists?
Yes, Definitely. To me
that’s basically like asking
is getting an education
better than not getting an
education. Training will
always help, always. Now,
that’s not to say it can’t
be done without training,
because it very much can
be, but yeah, I’d say those
who are classically trained
absolutely have an advantage
over those of us who are not.
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Artist’s Blok Magazine