THECONCEPTSKETCHES

Whenever Carl Barks produced a Disney duck oil painting he made endless studies before he began to paint the end motif. First he scribbled down numerous very rough ideas, and then he jotted down even more layout sketches, all in an attempt to focus his thoughts and zero in on the essentials of his main motif. (Also, he was never comfortable trying to decide on titles for his artwork, an example of which can be seen HERE.) Graphic ideas were born, others were discarded, and objects were moved around in the composition in order to achieve the best end result.
This website has already published many of Barks' sketches in diverse stages of completion, and now the time has come to concentrate on some of the concept sketches he made for one of his most treasured paintings, namely An Embarrassment of Riches from 1983. You are presented to a broad collection of sketches - made on vellum or paper using pencil or oil - that will enable you to perceive just how much work lay behind the impressive end result that, by a glance, to some may seem fairly straightforward and simple. Which is certainly not the case!

It goes without saying that the drawings shown below are of a relatively poor graphic quality as they are just rough sketches as Barks strove to create the paramount composition for the painting. He never intended for his sketches to be published (in which case he would have made them better), so you shall have to accept the images as is. On the other hand, they are powerful documents showing you a fraction of the colossal work that lay behind each painting. The focus in the selection shown below has been on sketches with relatively big alterations in positions as well as added, moved, or deleted objects. Only the most obvious changes have been shown! Also, you are presented to a variety of sketches made using pencil or oil paint. The latter type was used to give Barks a better idea of how the colours would work together. Among several main things you should pay attention to is the green jade elephant that appears in different sizes and positions. Obviously, Barks was undecided as to how this element was to be handled.
Beam of light on Scrooge. Magnifying glass in right hand. Donald passive. Nephews exploring.	Vault and safe have switched places. Donald more interested. Nephews focused on moved chest.	New lighting. Drape, safe gone. Vault moved. Donald pushing wheelbarrow.
(Crayon concept sketch that was finished years later at the request of a fan.) Lit window, drapes added. Magnifying glass in left hand. Nephews playing. Donald using bulldozer.	Same motif in oil.	Drapes gone. Window moved. Chained ceiling bucket, desk, elephant added.
Same motif in oil.	Several minor changes. Vault grid iron gate, oil lamp added.	Similar setting. Oil lamp, window, grid iron, desk gone. Vault door added. Bucket, Scrooge moved.
Same motif in oil. Mahout nephew vanished (foot visible, though).	Vault door gone. Grid iron gate added. Safe moved. Nephews working and wearing hard hats. Instruments, tools, barrel, depth gauge added. Scrooge more active.	Several minor changes. Different tools.
Sketch in another scale. Oil lamp, window added. Gate door, safe moved. Desk reappeared. Hard hats gone. Donald participating. Scrooge moved.	Similar motif. Gauge moved. Hanging bucket reappeared.	Final painting! The ducks in the center have changed postures. Gauge has numbers added.