Noah's Reckoning (Process)

I painted a well-known Bible hero named Noah for my fourth illustration. "It was by faith Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith" (Hebrews 11:7 NLT). I decided to paint Noah sitting by a great big tree, pondering the complications of building the ark while working with some rope. Beside him are tools of his trade and two doves and in the background are some goats looking towards the half-built ark up on the hill.

Research

I found a lot of paintings of Noah and the Ark but many were told with lots of African animals and a triumphant boat on a hill. I knew I wanted to paint Noah's story as he struggled with the calculations for the boat's construction and how to practically go about it. I also watched some clips of the movie "Evan Almighty" for inspiration.

Thumbnails

Kazu (www.kazusano.com) mentioned going to a costume shop for resources for the photo shoot. I was also inspired to look at the surroundings more; birds, weather, string, how Noah was interacting with the wood, and what the construction of the Ark would be.

Photo Shoot

For the photo shoot I used my friend Michael Penland who dressed up in robes I purchased again at Ross. We shot on location at a park in San Francisco which had lots of big trees for inspiration. His modelling helped as he got into character and tried to figure out how to chop down trees to build the ark.

Comps

Some questions were asked about the instruments Noah might have used to make calculations and build the ark. Would there be crude instruments, ropes, and how did Noah use them? Also, would there be something visual that signifies that rain is coming?

Final

Kazu mentioned that my final painting was my best thus far, but there were various critiques about the size of the face, the shape of the boat and the background that I addressed in subsequent revisions.