Jay Zuck's Sketch of the Day

As many of you may have noticed, I have released a series of digital paintings reimagining the Wizard of Oz.  This piece is of the Wizard himself.

Personally, I am kind of partial to the title “God-head” and the reason for this is that if I ever saw a giant glowing head, the only thing I would think is that I must be seeing God or perhaps a combination of God and the Devil.  If you have ever seen Terry Gilliam’s film Time Bandits you might know what I am talking about.

In the digital painting, we see the monstrosity of a giant head connected to all types of mechanical parts and wires almost like a giant snake Sentinel from the matrix. It is hovering a little bit above the ground and looking down upon Dorthy and her gang of misfits who include the Scarecrow, the Lion, and the Tin Man. Dorthy is bowing presenting the broom of the Wicked Witch who she has defeated.

Scarecrow without a brain stands there without fear, but the Tin Man and the Lion kneel in fear and supplication. The famous man behind the curtain or a mechanical pod in this case, is the actual Wizard, just a man, controlling this mechanized abomination. The number 23 signifies that this is just one of 23 machines which the Wizard has created to cultivate his epic persona.

As I will continue to try to do, I am providing the visual development of this piece.  I start with abstract compositional thumbnails, then flesh out those thumbnails into a more complete thumbnail.  When I come up with something I like and if I am doing widescreen, I blow it up to a little smaller than 11X17. I then design my relevant props for the composition and sketch my layout.   This is a multi-stage process and here it is for your inspection.