Enthralled 6

I found some time to ink 'Enthralled'. Bearing in mind I want much of the form definition to be enabled by the central firelight, I had to rein myself in from overworking the drawing, particularly on the side closest to the light. I could happily ink trees for hours, but in this instance, they are lesser characters, so they get minimal treatment. I've used a heavier line on what would logically be the shadow side.
This is a detail of the centre of the piece. To show the whole thing would look a bit weedy.
The next stage is to firm up on my colour decisions and rough out a digital comp before applying colour to the art. I'm still undecided on the local colour of the audience, so some experimentation is called for. I'm looking forward to involving some colour.

Little Pig and the Moon

My latest children's picture book is taking shape. Little Pig and the Moon is the simple story of a piglet who wakes in the night to see a glorious full moon and wants to reach up to touch it.
This story, like many others, has sat in rough form in my notebooks for some time.

The illustrations are simpler than I'm used to, but it's been fun working with the different anatomy to show the gesture and movements of the character.

Thorn

Every once in a while, a simple doodle will blossom into something that makes me want to develop it further.

This young lady makes me ache to turn her into an oil painting. Though I love using them, I never use oils in my commercial work because of the practicalities of working with a slow drying medium, and it's a devil to scan! So, if I'm going to paint her, it would be something I'd have to slot inbetween 'proper' work. I'll add her to my pile of 'Things I want to do' and hope for the best.

I've even got a frame prepared that would work beautifully.

Warm-Ups and Cool-Downs

As a warm up, or even to kill time, I'll draw faces. Sometimes I'll set a challenge for myself, like portray a specific emotion or make a face based on a geometric shape. You can probably see there are a couple of triangles in the above image. Other times, I'll just play around and see what I can get away with.

The end of a day can also be 'face time'. I'll regularly begin switching off the studio lights for the night and pick up a pencil. Suddenly an hour has passed and I hadn't noticed.

Finding Miss Millerchip's face

In arriving at Miss Millerchip's features, I initially borrowed the features from photo reference, creating a kind of semi-caricature. I then in stages drew more distorted proportions to the point things got a bit too bonkers - always a fun process. I wanted a slightly androgynous look, and now, having created a sliding scale of deformity, I harvested the elements I needed to arrive at the face I was looking for. I do think Attila the Hamster is a great name.

Mail Me Art 3

So, after that nonsense with gesso, I decided to make my own envelope from my favourite Hot Press watercolour paper - 300gsm Fabriano Artistico.
Doing a piece of art for the second time instils a confidence that, if it were available in bottles, I'd happily dab some behind each ear daily.

That was yesterday. Today I made the sheet up into an envelope, took it to the post office and watched it get dropped into a sack with lots of boring mail. Fly my beauty, fly!

I was delighted to hear from Darren Di Lieto that it had arrived safely, though cheeky Darren refused to say whether it had sustained any battle scars from the postal system. I'll have to wait until I see it on the gallery wall.

For those that like such stuff, here's a detail:

Mail Me Art 2

My mermaids needed a background, so on a visit to my father-in-law's, having taken some reference with me, I sat and sketched.

Then, since the mermaids are being a little mean to the octopus, it made sense to have some of the local residents witness the scene. So, I went fishing. What usually happens in this situation is I'll draw and draw until something clicks. Somewhere in this sheet are several fishy shapes that I liked.
I had no intention of using sharks or predatory eels, but a little creative meandering is always good for the soul, right?

Having arrived at a background and occupants, I gathered the elements and set off on my adventure.
The Mail Me Art idea is that the art is made by hand on an envelope. I tried inking my drawing directly onto a manila c5 envelope, but it went fluffy and not good. I applied two coats of gesso to fix the surface and provide a white background for my colour. Gesso dried and cured for 24hrs. I traced my drawing down using graphite, then inked with my regular crowquill nibs using Winsor & Newton Indian ink. It applied a little scratchy and I expected the abrasive gesso to eat my nib, but all went well. I took away the pencil drawing from the surface with my regular Staedtler Mars plastic eraser - none better. Ink, as solid as a rock, no fade or loss. On to the next stage - adding colour washes. Because this art is scheduled to run the gauntlet of the postal system and potentially be delivered by Postie in the rain, I opted for acrylic inks. At least they'd stand a chance of surviving a downpour.
First wash, dilute turquoise, big gentle brush. In big strokes, I laid the colour on in big loose strokes. Disaster! The ink wash broke the bond between the ink and the white gesso and my drawing was breaking up and floating away on a sea of colour.
This is after the first wash. A lesson learned there I think.

More soon.

Mail Me Art

I'm honoured to have been invited to take part in the third Mail Me Art event being organised by Little Chimp Society supremo Darren Di Lieto. The idea is that selected artists and illustrators create a piece of art on the outside of a c5 envelope, then mail it, naked, exposed and unwrapped, to Darren.
The art is then shown in various locations and reproduced in a gorgeous book of art, the profits from the sale of which go to three charities.
See HERE for details.

On a whim, I thought mermaids would be nice. I don't think I ever painted a mermaid, so it'd be an adventure for me too.

First of all I needed to find my mermaid. This first one came out cute enough but a little too Chris Sanders I think.

As I drew a few more, I decided on a 'mean mermaids' angle, so I could have a little fun with it.
This felt more 'mine'.

More soon.

Enthralled 5

I want the lighting to be late evening, dusky, with enough light remaining to give some local colour and a bluish highlight to the sitters. The central light source will be the fire, but that will be quite local and should decay quickley. After collecting reference of camp fires and dusk colours, I started some quick low res colour exercises. This is a bit too lively, but it's a starting point.

Enthralled 4

Tighter drawing time!

Even though I'd figured out my monsters prior to getting to this stage, I'd decided to keep the development of the storyteller until now. This was another feisty one. She must've passed through a dozen poses, seated, leaning toward her audience, stomping, stretching, jumping. I managed to wrestle her into place eventually. I even kind of like those big hands!
Over recent days my wife and I went on a few walks to woods, country parks and a couple of abbeys, which gave me the opportunity to photograph trees and forests, fallen logs and rocky outcrops to incorporate in the drawing. I'd preferred to have a few more leaves on the trees, but hey, you can't have everything.

Next step is to rough out colours.

Enthralled 3

Find those monsters!

Using my development sketch as a guide to approximate shape, I went a-huntin' monster!
There are times when a solution seems to fall from the pencil and there are others where the right shape will put up a struggle. When the latter happens, I just draw and draw until something clicks.
That elusive little chap in the foreground went from spider/crab thing, through freakish warty worm, nasty toothy rat thing to cute horned nose spiked thing. I must've drawn as many as twenty options before arriving at something that would happily sit on that rock! Strangely, the other three were so keen to be drawn, they almost leapt onto the paper!

Next stage, drawing up proper.

Enthralled 2

With the thumbnail sketch providing a very rough layout, the next step was for me to sketch out the scene a little better. I liked the idea of the storyteller having a rocky outcrop as a backdrop where the camp fire could cast a dramatic shadow and also have the fire illuminate the faces of the monsters. At this stage I wasn't sure how many monsters to include. They all had to be different, not too scary, but clearly wild things with individual characters. I enjoy the challenge of capturing expression and gesture, so giving the audience a look of involvement and captivation was something I was really looking forward to.
I felt an arc of creatures decreasing in size would work best and four of the beasties dropped into place comfortably. The little fella in the foreground, though just a blob at this stage, was eluding me.

The next stage, however, would sort that out.

Enthralled 1

Over the next few posts I hope to provide a series of updates of a piece entitled 'Enthralled'.
The image is to show an enthusiastic young storyteller and her captivated audience of monsters.

These thumbnails are the first steps at establishing balance and composition. Once I'd chosen which I felt did the job best, the next stage is to rough out the scene.
More soon.

The Smell of Art

Yesterday, while my wife and me grabbed a few last minute pressies for Christmas, I took the opportunity of nipping into Gadsby's, Leicester's main art materials shop, just for a browse, you know. There's something beautiful about the collective fragrance of art materials that puts it right up there with new-mown grass, fresh bread and freshly brewed coffee. If it could be captured and bottled, I'd be happy to dab it behind my ears every morning. Ahhhhhhhh.

Getting along swimmingly

Another doodle. I was part way through drawing a face when I decided to put him into water. I rubbed out the lower part of his face, added reflection and ripples then realised he should be encountering another swimmer. The result, I'm convinced, resembles something I've seen before by another artist but I can't recall where I've seen it. It'll come to me one day I'm sure.

Wasting time

I seldom sit and watch TV. If I do, a little light flashes on a control panel somewhere in my head that says "WARNING - VALUABLE ART TIME IS BEING WASTED!" and I begin to feel I'm neglecting my whole purpose. So, I'll take up my tools and see what comes out.
This week, the astronomer Patrick Moore died aged 89. I assume this character came from that news. I wasn't trying to achieve a likeness - that would mean research and thus loss of spontaneity.
Like many of my sketches, this began with the face and spreading like ripples from a pebble dropped into still water. In this case, the scale and position of the drawing on the sheet of A4 paper meant I could only draw a head and shoulders before falling off the edge of the paper. So I thought it'd be fun to make him a little compressed. Well, why not?

 

My Kindom for a mask!

The Proposition

A3 Pen and ink with watercolour wash (blue flame added in acrylic)

Working on this piece, I'd drawn out the image on my regular 300gsm (140lb) Fabriano Artistico NOT Watercolour paper (for those that like that kind of information). I normally lay in the background washes first. If the shape I need to leave uncoloured is complex, I'll mask out with a latex masking fluid so I can get pretty relaxed with the colour and not peck around the edge with a fine brush while the rest of the area is drying unevenly. However, I reached for my pot of masking fluid to find it had set into a solid jelly in the jar. This often happens. Once air gets in, the latex dries and you need to replace it. I've lost count of how many jars have done that to me. I'm convinced it's the manufacturer's way of securing continued business. Needing to get the job done, I was too impatient to order in more masking fluid, I opted to do it the hard way. Yep, pecking around the edge while the rest of the background dried unevenly. I seldom lay a single wash on a background. This piece had four. That's lots of edge following and frustration.
When you have nothing else to look at, the characters are just areas of blank paper, all you see are the areas where the wash has misbehaved. Blotches, uneven colour, tide marks and dry edges, sitting, glaring back at you giving you a big wave of self doubt to swim through.
Picking yourself up by your bootstraps, you get on with it.
Naturally, once the characters are painted, everything falls into place and you wonder why you ever stressed over the background. A lesson learned though. In the time it took to paint around the figures four times, I could've walked to my local art materials supplier and bought a fresh jar of masking fluid. Plus maybe another as backup.
We live and learn.

Testing Time for The Tart Thief

I have a book project I expect to be working on in a few months. The illustrations need to have a slightly subdued palette. Often the Winsor & newton black indian ink I usually use can overpower the colour, so I wanted to carry out a test using a weaker line. I have tried diluting the ink in the past but the characteristics of the ink altered and the permanence is compromised. This test is made using FW inks Burnt Umber. I like the way the ink 'settles in' with the watercolour and ties the image together rather than shouting from the rooftops.

Tart Thief
5"x4" Pen & Ink with watercolour wash.

Finding my art

I often struggle to arrive at a character or pose or an element in a scene. When I hit this wall, I think of how my artistic heroes would handle the situation. I might even attempt to emulate their actions and draw what I think they'd draw. When that happens, I accept that the result isn't 'mine', so I continue drawing. Drawing and failing, until my own version battles through the 'impersonations' of others.
When it arrives, I know. It might have influences from those I admire, but I have to know that the result is from within me to enable me to take it forward to completion.

A conversation

I genuinely had this conversation yesterday on Facebook. All I have changed are the names and the spelling, for legibility.

Him: Hi there.  I've got a bit of a problem. I was wondering if you could help me out in any way.

Me: Go on.

Him: I've drawn a few things but I don't know if they're good enough.

Me: I don't know what you mean.

Him: I have posted a drawing and you will see what I mean.

Me: You posted it to where?

Him: The Facebook newsfeed and it's on my wall

Me: (I follow the link to his wall) Is that a rabbit playing football?

Him: No, it's an ant.

Me: What do you want of me?

Him: What do you think?

Me:  Of an ant playing football? Do you want me to comment on the idea or whether it's well drawn or what? I don't understand what my involvement is. Sorry, I think I'm missing the point.

Him: Is it good enough. Please comment on it and tell me if I can do figurines with it.

Me: You have to ask yourself - Who would buy it and why? What is different about it that makes it unique and special that would make someone want to pay money for it? As it is, I don't think it has anything going for it that would endear it to a potential buyer. Sorry.

Him: That's OK mate. I know I'm not any good, not as good as you and you have been doing it for years. So, are you telling me there's no way it'll sell?

Me: (at this point I Google 'ant football' and paste three images into a message and press 'Send'.

Him: I have been up all night thinking of something to put out there in the animal cartoon world and I came up with that. So, ants have been done then?

Me: Sure have. I get ideas all the time. The first thing I have to do is check on the internet to save me from wasting time developing an idea that someone else has tried and failed. Good luck.

Him: Thanks but if you know of anything that hasn't been done, can you tell me?

Me: Erm... you want a civil answer to that?

Him: Yes. I need help.

I thought I'd thought of it!

I did a drawing last night and actually believed I'd arrived at the idea all by myself. I showed a friend the sketch and he told me that there are quite a few octopus hats around at the moment. I have to confess to being disappointed. Still, I'll ink it and enjoy every moment of it. So what if I didn't have an original idea!
So here it is - Soft Hat Area.