In my list of potential concepts I have many based on fairy tales, fables, and even nursery rhymes. One I’ve had for a while is Goldilocks, but how to present was a mystery. When I had my photo shoot with model Krystal last week, we were going through the list and that one came up. Somewhere in that discussion, I got the vision of it, so I explained it to her, and she was up for it. We took a variety of poses and angles, but going through the set later, one captured all I wanted for it. With that done, it was a matter of designing the background elements. It was fairly simple stuff, so I didn’t spend too much time on it all, allowing myself freedom to work on-the-fly when I start painting.
Happy with the look and color palette, I drew the design on illustration paper…

model – Krystal
I masked out the image, leaving only the back ‘wall’ open. I mixed a dark red-brown acrylic and airbrushed the entire area. Next, I added some black to the mix, then airbrushed more toward the lower half of the area, giving it a subtle gradient. Once dry, I removed the masking around the bed’s backboard, and mixed a gray-brown acrylic, blocking in the entire backboard. I then dry-brushed a variety of darker and lighter browns, creating wood grain. I further detailed it using colored pencils.
I turned the entire board upside down for the next step, covering the painted area with paper, and then unmasking the sheet and pillow area. I mixed a very light beige acrylic, airbrushing the area flat at first, then going back to build up wrinkles and shading.

























































