Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Self-portait Through Time
Here's something you thought about doing, but didn't have the staying power to actually pull off:
First Ink
My first real attempt at ink (sumi brush, with a few details in fine brush):
... I kinda missed the point of rendering in ink, which is to say I was way too focused on the details (actually, the sketch before I started was actually pretty cool--I probably should have kept it in graphite).
Homework 3: Low-Key (Charcoal)
For this assignment, we were asked to draw a fruit or veggie in charcoal, doing it low-key. I didn't have any paper on-hand, so I ran out an bought a Strathmore "300 series Charcoal" pad. Compared to the paper we use in class, it sucks. It's thin--I tore two pieces before getting a clean piece--and the texture is a bit too pronounced. I won't be buying this flavor of paper again. (I also bought some tricolor Conté crayons.) This photo didn't come out well (level adjustment on the camera or something)... it's actually a bit darker than this, and I couldn't quite tweak it in Photoshop to match it. Anyway, this was the result:
My main focus on this one was consistency: I wanted nice solid blocks of color without too much "modulation" (my teacher uses this word all the time) where I couldn't see it in the pepper. I'm pleased with the result, even though this isn't something I'd hang. As I'm looking at it now, though, I see a few flaws, like the dark, straight shadow on the left (which is too dark and too straight) and the shadow parallel to the right edge of the pepper (which is way too dark and doesn't show the structure properly). Cé la vie.
It was fun.
Conté Crayons
My wife didn't know what they were. (And she found them pretentious.) I'd only read about them in art books. But this week, I started working on a project using Conté Crayons. I like them.
They have much the same effectiveness as charcoal, thought they are a wee bit waxier (only a wee bit). ...I find they blend a little darker when pushed around, so it's difficult to gauge how much to put down to achieve the proper tone... but (and here's what I like most) they erase a little more easily than charcoal. ...Not entirely, of course, so it's foolish to think you can get really white tones if you've put down any Conté at all... but still, it comes up nicely otherwise. Other than that, I just seem to have a little more control with it than charcoal... and the tones and textures just appeal to me more.
The project we're working on is huge. The idea is simple: just a tool. But we're drawing it on two sheets of 20x30(ish) paper, making the total size (if mounted horizontally, as I've done) 20x60. This is enormous! My tool is a simple pair of pliers, somewhat old and beat-up. I've worked four hours on it so far, and have only shaded one of the jaws and outlined the second. (As well as blocking in the entire tool.) It's a lot of work...
But I am enjoying it. ...More than charcoal.
Drawing Class: "Microscopic" drawing
The assignment here was to draw something tiny and capture the detail. I chose a gourd with a hole in it--you can (I hope) see the fibrous texture inside the hole. The cropped area I used as a source was about 1 inch wide: the paper is 24 inches wide, and there's a 3-inch border... so I was drawing at 18x life-size. It's charcoal, of course.
I'm actually somewhat pleased at the result... it was sucking hardcore before I was done, so I feel like I salvaged it. In fact, I might actually hang this one. This is a style I really like: realistic, but abstract.
Unusual Sensuality
Speaking of things that turn you on but shouldn't...
...do other people find this woman strangely sexy?
And, by the way, try and tell me she isn't totally in a "trance" when she plays!
In-class Drawings
Boo!
It's my first self-portrait ever, and my third contour drawing... so please be kind: the point was not to lift your pen off the paper, and to only look at what you were drawing periodically.
Aww, who am I kidding: you can laugh now.
My second one came out much better, I'm happy to say, though it's still countour, so that's not saying much. ; ) I had to turn that one in, so I can't post it until it's graded. Same story with the second countour drawing (more glasses).
I finished the self-portraits way early (like, 90 minutes?), so I asked if I could do a third. The teacher told me that was fine, but if I wanted to, I could draw another student. (!)
I happened to be sitting next to the nicest girl in the class, so I asked her with folded hands if she would mind being drawn while she worked. She agreed, and I did it. Three things to note:
- I haven't been that nervous in months... you could see my hands shaking, in the lines.
- It was strangely sensual. ...Sorry, but it's true! I don't mean to sounds like a perv, but... man... it was quite alluring. She's not particularly attractive (not that she's unattractive... just that she's not my type), so that wasn't it. ...I don't know. Hard to say.
- She liked the result, and asked me if she could keep it. I let her have it. Thus, you'll never see it. ...It was worth the experience, though, so I don't mind!
I can't tell you how badly I wanted to throw this thing in the trash and storm out of the room. ...But I learned from it, and I promised to post what I draw, so here's that piece of trash. ; )
Before we were doing countours, we worked on "Negative Space", which is boring, but came out reasonably well, in terms of doing the assignment (drawing a bunch of sticks leaning against the wall)... this is also the first time I have ever touched ink (using a sumi brush and a fine sable brush for the details):
Homework 1: Indoors, "Full Value"
Here's the source. I wasn't actualy working from the photo--this is my house, I was sitting in that location. That said, I did use the photo to get the composition, and I took four reference points from it (a prominent feature in each corner) to start with (so you'll notice the drawing is quite similar, compositionally). But that was it; I put the camera away after those four reference points (and you can tell because I was way off on a few key features, blah).
Here's the first step, after about four (!) hours:
Here's the second step, this was about six hours in. At this point, the light was completely different (it was almost night), so I did bring the camera out now and then to gauge light levels--making a few liberal changes (for example, making the desk and chair much lighter to be consistent with the "frame" of the near wall):
And here's the end result, after seven hours of work:
I expected this to take maybe four or five hours. Sheesh! Anyway, I learned to like charcoal more after this (it's all about the chamois, soft eraser, and torchon, not the charcoal stick). Still not something I think I'll use when I don't have to. : )
I am moderately pleased. I think it "works" as is, though I'm a little disappointed at how "flat" it ended up (in terms of visual depth--the distance to the far corner you see there is considerable, and this view makes it look a few paces away). I got a few angles grossly wrong (the table that the TV is on, for example, should have been more foreshortened), and a couple of other proportions are off... I thought I knew how delicate perspective was, but this really taught me the effect of moving my head just an inch or two. It's one of those things that you don't really "get" until you work on something from life with serious depth.
Anyway, the point is, I actually learned a few things from doing this drawing. That's all to the good. So I don't much care that this isn't a drawing that you would want hanging in your house. ; ) It was an experience.
Drawing Class 2: Perspective
Please understand: I know that this is major boring shit. I'm just doing this to chronicle the art class, not to claim they're any good.
By the way, these are all 18x24, which is twice as large (meaning, four times as much area) as I am used to working in. It's weird.
Note To Shelf: Drawing Concept
An attractive, older woman, an exasperated look on her face, sitting at a table, resting her face in one hand. She's looking down at a plate. On the plate is a planet, cut in half and with a piece torn off. "Crumbs" on the plate, evidence of the bit on the fork to the right (which is askew). On the left, an elegant wine glass, filled with stars and an inky black.
Three "New" Old Drawings
These are actually quite old, but I finally got around to shooting and uploading them. I figured I would want a "before and after" for this Drawing class I'm taking.
(There's a nipple on one of them, so be mindful of who's around.)
Charcoal Is Not My Friend
It was a still life: bottles and trinkets around a long table. We were allowed only charcoal, a few erasers, and a chamois. She refused to comment on our progress. She said we could stop when we had a "full, complete drawing".
I found my self incredibly nervous when starting out, and did a miserable job blocking in, so things were out of proportion... I completely screwed up the angle of the edge of the table. I focused on a small grouping of items, but--since this was 18x24, larger than I have ever attempted--I started way too small, and decided to incorporate as much of the scene as possible, including another cluster to the left and over the edge of the table to the right and above. The overall drawing ended up low-key as a result. My favourite part of the resulting drawing was the knee of another student across the table. ; ) Anyway, the cluster to the left was disproportionate. I attempted to fix it slightly, but it was too far gone, so I just tried to relate things as naturally as I could, even if it was wrong. The feather fucked me up entirely: it just looks like a big long, odd-shaped and out-of-place shadow. I finished in about 90 minutes.
On the positive side, when I walked around the room after finishing, I noticed that everyone else's drawings were just outlines of forms. No one really used tone at all. There was one nice drawing, but it was nice only because she had abstracted everything (again: just line, but with nice gradients of tone coming from select edges). ...Unfortunately, this is something the professor has already said wouldn't fly: this class is about accurate rendering, not interpretation. I foresee arguments with this student on the subject. And, in her defense, it was a nice drawing. A keeper, in fact, where mine (best rendering in the class) was trash.
Two final comments: 1) after loosening up (about 30 minutes in), the rest of the class flew by. Drawing is very relaxing, once you're in the zone; and 2)
my hand is cramped today.
Note To Shelf: Short Film Concept
(Done in rough cartoon-style. Silent, or with minimal ambient background.)
- A man, staring down at a picnic table. No motion, but the drawing should "wiggle".
- A mosquito, sitting on the picnic table. Stoic.
- The man. Close-up of his face, staring at the mosquito. He squints slightly, brow furrowing a little.
- Mosquito, close-up of its head. No expression.
- The man's eyes, reflecting the picnic table, with a dot on it.
- Mosquito's eyes, reflecting 3 dozen men.
- From the side: the man slowly raises his hand to head-level, palm-forward, ready to swat.
- Repeat scene 4.
- From behind and above. The man starts to swing
- Rapid switch to side-view of the mosquito, pulled out a bit, to see the hand coming down. It jumps away with a buzzing sound, and the hand slaps the surface loudly.
- 2/3rd shot of the man, hand still on the table, head following the mosquito as it buzzes away toward the camera, which it flies past.
- Front view of the man pulling his hand back, putting at his side, looking at where the mosquito was. Perhaps he looks stupidly at the palm of his hand for a moment.
- Further away, he's still standing there, silently. A circular shadow starts to grow from right behind him, encompasses the majority of the scene.
- Close-up of man's face, eyes looking down, then up.
- Pull WAY out to show a meteor falling toward the man.
- Close-up of man's eyes, which quickly widen.
- Side view of meteor falling on man. No explosion: just a THUNK, burrying itself half-way into the ground. Pause. ...The mosquito flies past.
Anti-social
I haven't posted lately, it's true. It's been an anti-social couple of months, and getting more so. I'm enjoying the introspection.
I had the idea of blogging about "becoming an artist", since that seems to be my aim, of late. And then I asked myself, "Why do you want to be an artist?"
Since then, I haven't come up with a good answer. Oh... I've had some ideas, but none of them are terribly motivating. Things boil down to a few salient points:
- I like programming. Even if given the chance, I would not stop.
- I don't like artists, on the whole... a few good souls, sure, but that's true everywhere. By and large, artists tend to be... broken people.
- I am so not into self-marketing.
- The money's worse than programming (with exceptions).
Tying that in to programming, I actually wrote a ruby script that scrapes Deviant Art and grabs "favourites" from all of the artists on one page of your own favourites page. (Think of them as meta-faves). It uses ActiveRecord to store some db information, Hpricot and open-uri for the scraping, and it's probably 120 lines. Fun to write.
I'm actually of the mind that my favourites on DA are remarkable works of art. The process has also taught me exactly where I want to focus my efforts. This is key. It breaks down into stages, as I see it:
- Draw, until I...
- Get some kind of tablet.
- Do "digital painting" until I...
- Get a strong foundation in form.
- Start rendering (3D).
- Move slowly into physical sculpture.
First, I love digital paintings. I love the colors, I love the textures: like paint, but less chaotic. It's what I want to do... for as long as it will sustain me. Brushes intimidate me. I don't like getting messy. Digital painting is my thing.
"But."
Sculpture is what I consider the height of "personal" art. (The subtext there is that I think there are cooler versions of collaborative art, but that's for another discussion.) If had to choose one thing, that's what I would focus on. But there are a few things keeping me from jumping right in. Most importantly, I don't think I have a strong enough concept of space and form. It's also a "slow" form of art, not as immediately gratifying as drawing or painting. It's also much harder to sell, takes up more space, and is otherwise less practical. ...But someday, I'll be able to work around all those things. Certainly computer modeling gets around most of those, and perhaps I'll dabble in it in the near future. But at the moment, I'm not confident enough: I haven't modeled in.. .oh my... has it really been over a decade?!? Pardon me while I go puke for a while.
Exquisite
This is an open invitation to all of my listeners to "play" exquisite corpse. (A friend of mine--who's reading this--introduced me to the concept many years ago, but I've never actually tried it!)
Here's my thought:
- Pick a pen, one that you're comfortable with, that I can find in a store, and is dark enough to photograph well. Tell me what the pen is. (I'd like things to match.)
- Buy a padded envelope, and some standard 3x5 index cards (blank on at least ONE side), if you don't have them.
- Draw something unusual (using said pen) on one of the index cards, and make sure the illustration "bleeds" over at least one edge of the card.
- For each edge you drew over, line up a blank index card against it. Continue all of the bleeding lines onto the next card, but just barely (so I can see where to begin my lines).
- Number the back of each card. Keep a "map" of which number cards line up with which.
- Keep the original card you drew on, and mail me the "edge" cards to me. Email me for my address, if you don't have it.
- Upon receiving the cards, I'll do pretty much the same: I'll continue on the card(s) you sent, and bleed lines over onto at least one other card, number the new cards, and mail them to you.
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