#Seraphina di Cagliostro

[ejbarnes]

Yah, it’s taken way too long to finish the color studies for this scene -- I hope I’ll be faster with the next one. These are the completed color studies for pp4--9 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland, with the end of that scene finished on P10 and the initial tone washes (sans cast shadows) for the first panel of the next scene, where the séance finally begins. Any nitpicky advice is welcome at this point, since I’d rather get these things fixed before I do the final art on these pages.

[ejbarnes]

Progress report on Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland:

A few weeks ago, I did something overdue (and posted about it): I sketched a conjectural floor plan for the second floor of the Mitau (Jelgava) mansion of Count Johann von Medem, Baroness Elisa von der Recke’s father. (Yesterday I revised this layout again, see top image. Absent an actual floor plan of Johann’s mansion turning up, that probably settles it. Johann’s mansion was destroyed in WWII and all that survives are photos, including some interiors that were clearly re-done in the 19th century.) I realized that what this meant was that a page I’d already painted of Spirits & Seekers had to change. The scripts says the blue canopy under which Elisa and her female relatives are initiated as Egyptian Freemasons by “Countess” Seraphina di Cagliostro is in the Great Hall at Johann’s house, but I just made something up and didn’t even think about how the tent would be oriented in what is the largest function room -- in other words, the ballroom -- in the mansion. Moreover, I completely overlooked the obvious fact about this room that is clear from photos of the exterior of the building: That the center window is actually a set of French doors exiting onto a small balcony facing the river. So I’m re-painting that panel, which is fortunately (so far) the only one of its kind. In the first (2017) version of this panel (2nd image above), I showed a doorway behind and showed part of the chandelier that illuminates the scene, in the 2018 version (3d image), not only are the colors deeper, but I’ve simplified the scenery. However, since there will be subsequent scenes in this space, I have returned to the busier rococo look I was trying for the first time around -- and it’s clear that (a) the space is large enough to serve as a ballroom (Cagliostro’s first séance with the von Medems will be here), and (b) the tent is centered along the long axis of the room. I’ve also gone back to including sconces and bits of chandelier, which will help in keeping my focus on where the light sources are when I paint this.

[ejbarnes]

A considerable revision of color sketch pencils for Page 006 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland.The checkerboard floor, shooting off into the distance, in Panel 4 was a distraction that distorted the space -- but here, I am trying to leave out all the other characters besides Elisa and Cagliostro, and even the settee (let alone Elisa’s stepmother Agnes). Here I’m going to try to say that she’s (figuratively if not literally) mesmerized by him as he discusses the Hermetic justifications for including both men and women in Egyptian Freemasonry. When I add the color I hope it will be clearer that she is in a “zone”. But does this mean I should add the checkerboard floor to Panel 5, now that it bleeds beyond the edge of the page? That’s what the blue-pencil border lines indicate in all these pages -- the inner set are the “safe zone” where all the important stuff needs to be (including dialog balloons and captions), the middle set are the trim lines (where the page will be physically cut off) and the outer set are the bleed margin -- where the art should extend out to, to make sure that if the page is trimmed a bit off, there won’t be empty white space at the edge of the page.

[ejbarnes]

Pencils for color study/thumbnails for Spirits & Seekers:Cagliostro in Courland, Page 006. Cagliostro explains the reasons why Egyptian Freemasonry initiates women. That’s going to be a cordial similar to Riga Black Balsam that they’re drinking, ‘cause who knows if Courland (as opposed to Livland/Livonia) had its own herbal liqueur?

[ejbarnes]

Touch-ups (and adjustments) to Page 001 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland. JPEG reads here as more saturated than it looks in Photoshop (where the file I’m working with has been adjusted according to the assigned color profile). Any advice?

[ejbarnes]

Touch-ups and re-scan/adjustment of Page 002 of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland. Thanks so much to my watercolor instructor, Frank Costantino of Winthrop, MA, for his advice in how I can improve my watercolor techniques.

[ejbarnes]

Top picture is the new watercolor version of Page 1 (of 282) of Spirits & Seekers: Cagliostro in Courland, which I finished today (9/15/17).  I include the earlier version (February 2017) for comparison -- both of composition/drafting and color. Baroness Elisa von der Recke is initiated as an “Egyptian” Freemason by “Countess” Seraphina di Cagliostro, “Count” Alessandro di Cagliostro’s wife and leader of the women’s lodge. Left to right in bottom panel: Elisa’s stepmother, Countess Agnes von Medem; Seraphina di Cagliostro; Elisa von der Recke; Elisa’s cousin, Viscountess Louise von Medem; Elisa’s aunt, Countess Anna von Medem.