First of all I had a problem with perspective, basic perspective is fine but this was something else. Lines going away, lines going down, lines going off at 45 degree… it’s all too much for someone with a brain that’s never been upgraded from version 1.1 beta So, I tried using Google Sketchup, but it was too slow for complex layouts; my usual route of mocking the layout up in 3DS Max was no longer available to me so I sat down and sketched, and sketched, and sketched a bit more. Lines went everywhere and none of them looked right, so I went to have a look at the Autodesk website (they produce 3DS Max) that option was certainly out, unless someone wants to send me near £3K for the full version. In the end I downloaded a trial version of the software which lasts for a month so I could mock up the scene.

Once the mockup was completed in Max I made a tiled printout of the scene (I was planning on painting the scene just over A2 in size); then I cut and pasted the sheets together, which was another stumbling block as the sheets had not all printed out the same size for some reason. Now all the pieces are together I started to transfer the lines that had caused so much hassle onto a sketch, I think I’ve been working at the scene too long as once I started transferring the lines I no longer wanted to finish it Rather than give up I tried sketching another part of the painting, this did not help. My inspiration had fled leaving me somewhat blank, I’ve put the whole piece to one side now, it’ll not work when I’m not into the painting.

I’m not totally lost though, I started a smaller piece just to keep me ticking over