My latest corporate commission put me to the task of capturing the TY•KU brand. Upon visiting their website, I was immediately taken by their main image of four sleek, distincitive TY•KU bottles.
After a thorough review of the brand, I determined: TY • KU is global, TY • KU is hip, TY • KU is connected to the pulse. After the jump, a stroke-by-stroke recap of this painting.
Just as TY•KU began as a business plan crafted at Columbia Grad School, this painting started with some basic outlines; from BevForce with love.
Beginning with the collage, focusing on the directional shifts of the NY Post headlines.
A zoom-in on a Page Six clipping, featuring Sarah Palin majestically turning down her free gift bag, yet, keeping the bottle of TY•KU.
With more of the surface covered, I set down another outline layer, to help define the boundaries of background, subject(s) and foreground.
Fully collaged, a round of red outlines and some cadmium splashes throughout. If you are a first time viewer, I explain the use of words in my pictures quite thoroughly in this entry near the bottom.
Here comes the yellow. My standard color cycles involve the primary and secondary triads, varying tone and saturation, on repeat. Red – Yellow – Blue; Orange, Green, Purple.
Finishing the first cycle with blue.
The first round of orange was light, a near yellow-orange. The background is beginning to form.
Some greens, muted with white… capturing a foundation color of the green TY•KU bottle.
And, my favorite, some dark purples… really beginning to set the image apart, and simultaneously confuse the space.
Where would we be without some Pepto pink?
Another round of soft yellows… looking to keep the background light.
A light, almost lime green. The biggest challenge with this composition is the black and white bottles… and their positioning.
Finally, the outlines of the bottles, tree, background form and logos; all hand-painted for imperfection.
Beginning to work the near-whites into the picture… I never use pure black or pure white, everything is mixed.
A big visual jump with more whites.
Casting the shadows of the giant tree on the right with purple, and adding flavor to the tree with some saturated greens. Is that a bottleman I see in there?
The background has now taken form, and the bottles are being worked over one at a time.
Two, two reflecting bottles.
Make that three. Reflecting near black on near black, super easy to do.
Nearly complete, after some hard staring, I realized something was missing.
That’s when I realized, it was time to get my Max Beckmann outline on.
And the final. TY•KU, captured in a collage painting – delivered to TY•KU headquarters in person.
yes more questions ::: ok so do you pick up every newspaper you see? do you choose the words specifically for each piece, b/c that is difficult for me as i create this new painting?
@Marty: When I began this style, I started stacking up old New York Posts in my studio. When I am about to start a new piece, I will take out 2-4 copies, and quickly rip out the headlines that grab my attention. Once I have a rough stack, I will go through and carefully trim them down… Finally, I will sort the desired clippings into a pile and use them for the piece. My latest trends are to go for bigger headlines from more papers. I find this process works well, and allows me to be more intentional with my choices, yet, simultaneously, maintain a level of spontaneity… the core value of this technique is presenting the typical headlines we read every day without a second thought into an image. As a great artist once said, “Take something, do something to it, do something else to it.”
It was so cool to see the process of this painting develop into its final stage. I’m amazed! Those sleek bottles seemed like such a good subject for this project. Looking forward to seeing more of your work
@Genesis: Thank you for the shout, please be in touch.
Wow, this is such an amazing painting. The brand of TY KU was truly captured and it was great to see the whole process of it.
can you be any more awesome?! lol thanks a bunch. ♥