I started the concept for this
piece back in January completely by mistake. I was working on some ideas for an
upcoming show when I tapped into some inspirational spark and began sketching
multiple layouts for different films I loved. I had several by the time I was
done, and thankfully I’ve had the opportunity to utilize some of them. Long
story short, this was one of those images, albeit a bit more fleshed out than
the others, but that’s likely due to my obsession with this childhood favorite.
Even to this day, Sir Ridley Scott’s ‘Legend’ manages
to enchant new viewers under its spell, I think, because of its timeless appeal
and rather overly simplistic story structure that draws inspiration from ‘the fall of Man’. It’s a
classic tale of good versus evil beautifully presented, with amazingly talented
performers. The film stars Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennet, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert, Peter O’Farrell, Kiran Shah, Annabelle Lanyon, Robert Picardo, and more. Most people will recognize Curry’s portrayal of ‘Lord Darkness’, even if they have never seen the movie nor even know who Curry is
(blasphemy in opinion). Not with controversy, the film has two versions, and two soundtracks. The original is the one
most have seen, but the director’s cut contains almost a half an hour of extra
footage which does flesh out the story with improved pacing/character
development. Musically, the film has a theatrical release with a slightly
modernized score done by Tangerine Dream, while
Scott’s cut contains the original by John Bettis, and Jerry Goldsmith.
As a fan, I have long loved this
film, but as an artist, I have an extreme aversion to producing work dedicated
to it. Why? There is an abundance of it, and most of them are really
good. I don’t really want to compete with other artists in a saturated market,
BUT, this was a really great concept so…I went with it. I also had some
encouragement from others to choose the film, and that helped.
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My first piece dedicated to the film for Creature Features 'Tim Curry Tribute Show' (2018)
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As for the piece itself, I started
the sketch back in January (31st, 2022), but didn’t return to it
until August (24th. 2022). Thankfully I had a clear idea of how this
piece was going to look, so making decisions about placement and design came
quickly. I really wanted to include all the major players, so first and
foremost was Curry’s ‘Darkness’. I have
seen the antagonist portrayed so many ways, but I was always partial to one of the
original poster designs in which ‘Darkness’ is blended rather subtly into the
background. In the film ‘Darkness’, depending on which cut you watch, is not
fully revealed until much later yet we are given an indication early on about
his chthonic appearance. I chose to depict him thusly and then placed him centrally
in the layout. On my list of must haves for this piece, I knew I wanted to
depict ‘Lili’ (Sara), ‘Jack’ (Cruise), and the Faerie Folk accompanying
him. I also wanted to include
‘Darkness’’ lair, the Great Tree as the design was always so fascinating to
me. It was imperative I include a nod to
the unicorns in the film (as they are major players), and as I progressed
through the piece I determined having them central was best. It would also help to contrast against some
of the darker elements of the image. Primarily due to spatial constraints, I
ran out of room to include all the images I wanted so a few of the more
interestingly designed characters did not get represented and I had to
eliminate one of the unicorns as well from the composition. Since the film
takes place primarily in the forest with enormous trees, I decided to use them
as a framing device to duplicate the atmosphere.
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I determined that most of the
characters would have to be silhouetted in order to provide the contrast I was
visioning. I originally planned on going
back to each one and adding a bit of a highlight here or there to give them
more dimension, but quickly abandoned that plan when it became apparent that
the details would most likely not be legible in the final piece. I was also
reluctant to place ‘Lili’ where she is in this composition, as it echoed a piece (SLEEPWALKERS) from earlier this year. It was
however the best place for her and actually worked really well from a design
concept as her ‘hair’ leads us into the swamp scenario and blends into the
twisted roots of the trees. I chose the color palette based on the movie’s own
visuals and from a previous piece I did inspired by the film (above), for Creature Features and their ‘Tim Curry
Tribute Show’. I started with the background colors first, determining that the
transition was the best way to contribute to telling the film’s story (without
spoiling it). It also helped with
contrasting elements, although the right side suffers a bit I think due to the
darker colors used, but it also forces the viewer to the left which is where
the story begins anyways so...there’s that.
The unicorn, and ‘Lili’ were then painted next, followed by ‘Darkness’
on the original background layer (which I never do, and was VERY anxious
about). Thankfully the image did not require additional proofing beyond the
initial one, and the whole process took me roughly sixty (60) hours in Procreate on my iPad, in addition to a few hours in Adobe Photoshop editing. In all, this piece really did not take me as
long as I thought it would and I was incredibly concerned I would not make the gallery’s
due date of September 17th (2022).
While I did resume the piece on August 24th (2022) I didn’t
complete it until September 7th (2022) as I was juggling this piece (DOUBTFIRE) at the same time, in addition to
life events. For the time spent, I can say I am very happy with how this piece
turned out. I have long wanted to develop something inspired by the film, but I
just couldn’t realize what that was. The
first piece I did for Creature Features was a very difficult piece for me to
realize, and even after completion, it just did not seem to fulfill the void. This
is a prime example of not having the skills at the time to execute a vision,
and how returning to a concept, or even developing a new one later is worth
exploring.
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The 12” x 18” image (printed on
100lb Cover, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Crazy 4 Cult XVI’, a group show
dedicated to many classic and modern films with a (cult-like) following. The show was originally scheduled to run from
October 1st, 2022, through October 15th, 2022 with all
remaining works available the following day at noon. At this time the prints are exclusively available via the
gallery, so please check their website for all remaining works related to the
show including mine.
For more information, or to see a catalog of my other work,
please visit my online store here. You can also
find me on various social media platforms below doing a multitude of other
artistic things that include hand lettering, and the occasional sculpting, crafting
or painting.
Website: www.michaelstiles.com
Etsy: Stiles
of Art
Threadless: mistiles
LinkedIN: Michael
Stiles
IG: stiles1978
TikTok: stiles1978
Pinterest: Michael Stiles
Tumblr: stiles1978
Twitter: stiles_of_art
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