Spring Art Explosion: Drawing
I haven't had the chance to take pictures of the paintings I've done this semester, mostly because only two of them are finished and the other two are not really very close to being done at all. Mayhaps I'll take pictures of them the next week, but the semester is just a month away from being over and that's not too long to wait, is it?
Anyway, here you have the drawings that I have completed in class as of a week ago Wednesday. I'll try to do them in order. Pardon the crappy quality of some of them, at times I didn't have a tripod and I didn't really have control of the lighting in the studio/classroom.
Our first assignment was a self-portrait. Being one of my personally least favorite things to do, I was a bit round-about and included characters from various projects, some of which have, in the past, been used to represent me as well as KunstFeuer, whom is still an accurate reflection of myself. And then there was the black pastel linework that I put over the top. No base sketch, just lines. I love lines.
Small (6x6") piece on watercolorbord/aquabord to see how Pastels and ink would interact with each other. First real expansion on "expressive line" style.
Pastel and ink on pastelbord. Tragically, a light actually fell ontop of this piece, however, due to the incredible nature of the pastelbord, it only suffered a mild scuff that you can't really see. It's an amazing surface to work on, there's only one other thing that really takes pastel that way.
I think I already posted this, but here it is again. This is a further experimentation with the expressive lines over pastel. This is a small piece of BFK Rieves paper with a watercolor wash and then attacked with pastels before being abused by ink and ink wash. I rather like how it turned out. The assignment was "architecture" and these pillars are what helps to hold up the ceiling of Kirashtyn's Library. They'll show up in "Shifting Times" eventually. Somewhat smallish, I don't even know the exact proportions as it was done on a scrap piece of paper.
Something like 22X30" BFK Rieves printmaking paper. The base is watercolor with pastel over the top and then ink and ink wash over that. It's the entrance to Kirashtyn's Library. At this point I was no longer given assignments and set loose to work on my series. Technically I didn't have to do the architecture piece at all, but it sparked something interesting.
The first, second, and sixth images in the "Resistance" series I'm working on (nearly done with now, there will be ten total). The first image is purely pastel and so is the last, it's just how they wanted to work (that and you can't really put black lines on a black horse ... and it insisted rather loudly on being black!). The second is typical of the series with the ink over the pastel. All of these are on ColourFix paper, which is just about as amazing as Amperstand's Pastelbord. It's a little cheaper too. All of these are approx. 9X12" for the drawing surface, the paper's a little larger. It's really cool to work on. The surface is a colored, painted-on ground that adds tooth to the surface. You can actually buy little containers of the ground and paint it on anything you want, which is quite awesome. It also allows you to mix the ground with paint (gouache, watercolor, and even acrylic) so if you buy the clear stuff you can essentially have any color you want, which is total awesomeness and I'll have to try it sometime.
Images three, four, and five of the "Resistance" series. I'm having quite a time working on this series and, as is probably obvious by the number, they just kind of ... come out. I generally finish one each class period. Some of them are easier to do than others. The last one just flew out, which took me by surprise and I was done with almost an hour left in the class. Speaking of which, when I get done a little early...
I've been doing these. These are on various "scraps" of paper, both BFK Rieves and various types of watercolor paper. They're referenced off of photos, but no base sketch, just straight ink on the paper (which probably explains some of the questionable proportions). These are my "unwinding" after finishing the series pieces.
Speaking of the series, I have three more drawings finished and should finish the tenth and final image tonight. The packet of ColourFix paper that I purchased was a series of 10 warm colors. I picked up another 10 pack, this time of the cool colors, and will be doing more work like this, but I'm not sure if it'll be considered a part of this series or if it will be slightly different. I plan on creating images that consist of multiple pieces of paper rather than just the individual pieces I have been doing. I'm unsure if that'll mean only doing one piece (which would be HUGE), two, or even more, simply dividing it up a bit.
Oh, and despite the coarseness of the ground on the paper, I'm actually rather happy with the fact that it isn't eating my pastels alive. It makes me a little more relaxed about how I use the pastels as they're not disappearing underneath my fingers. Most of these images were done using primarily the soft pastels even. I don't think I've used much hard pastel as I've been allowing the drawings to be quite loose and allowing the ink lines to be what tightens them up.
Now it is about time to head off to class and work on those paintings. Of course, the subjects for the two remaining paintings are my two least favorite things to do: a still-life and a self-portrait. AG! Granted, it's not nearly so bad. I mean, I have two classes this semester. This is my LAST semester. I am drawing. I am painting. That's it. HOW COOL IS THAT?! Much-deserved, I think and I'm enjoying it rather immensely despite the occasional belly-aching about subject matter in the painting class.
Anyway, here you have the drawings that I have completed in class as of a week ago Wednesday. I'll try to do them in order. Pardon the crappy quality of some of them, at times I didn't have a tripod and I didn't really have control of the lighting in the studio/classroom.
Our first assignment was a self-portrait. Being one of my personally least favorite things to do, I was a bit round-about and included characters from various projects, some of which have, in the past, been used to represent me as well as KunstFeuer, whom is still an accurate reflection of myself. And then there was the black pastel linework that I put over the top. No base sketch, just lines. I love lines.
Small (6x6") piece on watercolorbord/aquabord to see how Pastels and ink would interact with each other. First real expansion on "expressive line" style.
Pastel and ink on pastelbord. Tragically, a light actually fell ontop of this piece, however, due to the incredible nature of the pastelbord, it only suffered a mild scuff that you can't really see. It's an amazing surface to work on, there's only one other thing that really takes pastel that way.
I think I already posted this, but here it is again. This is a further experimentation with the expressive lines over pastel. This is a small piece of BFK Rieves paper with a watercolor wash and then attacked with pastels before being abused by ink and ink wash. I rather like how it turned out. The assignment was "architecture" and these pillars are what helps to hold up the ceiling of Kirashtyn's Library. They'll show up in "Shifting Times" eventually. Somewhat smallish, I don't even know the exact proportions as it was done on a scrap piece of paper.
Something like 22X30" BFK Rieves printmaking paper. The base is watercolor with pastel over the top and then ink and ink wash over that. It's the entrance to Kirashtyn's Library. At this point I was no longer given assignments and set loose to work on my series. Technically I didn't have to do the architecture piece at all, but it sparked something interesting.
The first, second, and sixth images in the "Resistance" series I'm working on (nearly done with now, there will be ten total). The first image is purely pastel and so is the last, it's just how they wanted to work (that and you can't really put black lines on a black horse ... and it insisted rather loudly on being black!). The second is typical of the series with the ink over the pastel. All of these are on ColourFix paper, which is just about as amazing as Amperstand's Pastelbord. It's a little cheaper too. All of these are approx. 9X12" for the drawing surface, the paper's a little larger. It's really cool to work on. The surface is a colored, painted-on ground that adds tooth to the surface. You can actually buy little containers of the ground and paint it on anything you want, which is quite awesome. It also allows you to mix the ground with paint (gouache, watercolor, and even acrylic) so if you buy the clear stuff you can essentially have any color you want, which is total awesomeness and I'll have to try it sometime.
Images three, four, and five of the "Resistance" series. I'm having quite a time working on this series and, as is probably obvious by the number, they just kind of ... come out. I generally finish one each class period. Some of them are easier to do than others. The last one just flew out, which took me by surprise and I was done with almost an hour left in the class. Speaking of which, when I get done a little early...
I've been doing these. These are on various "scraps" of paper, both BFK Rieves and various types of watercolor paper. They're referenced off of photos, but no base sketch, just straight ink on the paper (which probably explains some of the questionable proportions). These are my "unwinding" after finishing the series pieces.
Speaking of the series, I have three more drawings finished and should finish the tenth and final image tonight. The packet of ColourFix paper that I purchased was a series of 10 warm colors. I picked up another 10 pack, this time of the cool colors, and will be doing more work like this, but I'm not sure if it'll be considered a part of this series or if it will be slightly different. I plan on creating images that consist of multiple pieces of paper rather than just the individual pieces I have been doing. I'm unsure if that'll mean only doing one piece (which would be HUGE), two, or even more, simply dividing it up a bit.
Oh, and despite the coarseness of the ground on the paper, I'm actually rather happy with the fact that it isn't eating my pastels alive. It makes me a little more relaxed about how I use the pastels as they're not disappearing underneath my fingers. Most of these images were done using primarily the soft pastels even. I don't think I've used much hard pastel as I've been allowing the drawings to be quite loose and allowing the ink lines to be what tightens them up.
Now it is about time to head off to class and work on those paintings. Of course, the subjects for the two remaining paintings are my two least favorite things to do: a still-life and a self-portrait. AG! Granted, it's not nearly so bad. I mean, I have two classes this semester. This is my LAST semester. I am drawing. I am painting. That's it. HOW COOL IS THAT?! Much-deserved, I think and I'm enjoying it rather immensely despite the occasional belly-aching about subject matter in the painting class.