"Odin the Wise" - Oil Painting Process Walkthrough

"Odin the Wise"
Oil Painting Process Walkthrough

"Odin the Wise" by Anne-Sophie Cournoyer (2018), Oil on Gesso Pannel, 14" x 18"

Where it All Began: A Commission Piece

"Odin the Wise" is an oil painting commissioned by someone who is passionate of viking lore and history. For this project, the only direction was to paint something viking related (which is rather broad indeed). Accordingly, my first impulse was to paint a beautiful, magnetic, aethereal yet powerful Valkyrie. (In Norse mythology, Valkyries are fierce winged women who decide of warrior's fate on the battlefield and bring the chosen ones to Valhalla, the afterlife realm where Odin rules). Nevertheless, I went a different and less familiar way: I chose to paint Odin, the All-Father of Norse Mythology, which resulted in the above painting. 

Actually, to me, one appealing aspect of painting commissioned artworks is to break away from common themes, palettes, and visual language. Over all, It was a fun challenge to apply my style and aesthetic to something completely unlike my usual work. Besides, what I learned through this process will probably be integrated to future paintings in ways I cannot yet foresee. 

Below is a walkthrough of my creative process, from conception to finish, for "Odin the wise". The project in its entirety took approximately 45 to 50 hours. 

Step 1: Ideation, Concepts, Sketches

Most of my paintings or illustrations start pretty much like that: a brainstorm, in both words and line doodles, splattered on a few sketchbook pages. As I research a topic or theme for a painting either online or in books, vague impressions form in my mind and I draw them loosely on the page. Similarly, I often just jot down words and quotes/passages I find evocative since it is sometimes faster than drawing.

Odin rules the plane of mind. He is wise, logical, sharp, clever. His crows, Hugninn and Muninn, are the embodiment of his capacity for thought and memory. His wolves, Frekki and Geri, correspond to his more carnal nature. To sustain himself, he feeds them his food; Odin only drinks wine. Like Mercury, with whom he is often equated, O.din wears a winged helm (another allusion to the mental plane). To emphasize his great will and power, he holds the spear of Gungnir, his weapon of choice. War, battle, and death are also under his dominion. Lastly, I wanted to include to my concept the Yggdrasil tree which, in Norse Mythology, connects the nine realms or worlds. 

Step 2: Finding Reference Images

The process of gathering reference images unfolds side by side with that of the conceptualization of my painting. Actually, they both influence each other. 

For instance, researching viking clothing helped me settle on a few elements such as the fur garment on Odin's shoulders and waist, his leather bracelets, as well as his hairstyle. Although I knew beforehand that I wanted to depict Odin with his characteristic winged helm, the model above guided my own rendition.

Other artist's artwork also influence my creative process. In this case, my palette was inspired by the incredible Cynthia Sheppard who paints both digitally and with traditional mediums. I aspired to emulate her remarkable use of neutral colors. I also especially like the way she renders birds by keeping the wings' edges so soft they almost blur with the background. This, too, I tried to do with Odin's raven. 

Step 3: Choosing the Palette and Painting Surface

For this painting, my palette included the following colors of oil paint by Gamblin:
Titanium White, Warm White, Yellow Ochre, Portland Grey Medium. Alizarin Crimson, Prussian Blue, Burnt Umber, and Ivory Black. As a medium, I used Liquin Original by Winsor & Newton. It is ideal for me since it speeds the drying time between layers and makes the paint just the right consistency to paint small details.

In terms of painting surface, I used a 14x18" Mona Lisa gesso art board by Strathmore. It was my first time working on this particular brand of gesso panel and I absolutely liked it. However, It felt much too smooth at first so I applied a layer of Acrylic Matte Medium over my line drawing to ensure the oil paint would stick to the board. 

I also drink copious amounts of tea. 

Step 4: Drawing Transfer and First Oil Paint Layer

I usually transfer my initial line drawing to the painting surface by using tracing paper and graphite. If, after the transfer, the lines are too faint - which is often the case - I like to enhance them with a graphite pencil. Then, I apply spray fixative all over to seal my drawing to the panel. 

The first layer consist of a thin amount of oil paint diluted in mineral spirit. The goal at this point is to cover all the white areas and plan the whole piece's value structure.

​At this stage, the painting looks quite rough but it is still nice to see all the elements coming together. Sometimes, I limit my palette to a few pigments only but in this case, I used all the colors mentioned above.

Step 5: More Layers of Oil Paint, Always More Layers

 To be honest, I was expecting this painting to require a lot more layers than it did in reality. I was able to paint most of it with only two or three layers of paint. This is because the first layer was more successful at establishing the lights and darks than it is usually the case when I paint with oil. This is perhaps because I knew from the get-go what atmosphere I wanted to create. Not surprisingly, having a strong picture in mind of the final result is really helpful when painting something mainly from the imagination.

Often, I make the mistake of getting too enthusiast about an idea and of beginning to paint too soon without the important step of thoroughly imagining the final result first or of working things out with value/color studies. Although sometimes it is nice to see things take shape on the canva as I go, I do end up wasting a lot of time painting and repainting some of the elements when I skip this preliminary stage.