FINALLY....

Hello, all.

I am sorry that I didn't follow up in a timely manner with this piece, but I have been incredibly busy with a lot (teaching, art exhibitions, and an Emergency Room trip : ( ).

I had this finished a few months ago... you can go backwards in my blog to see the progression of the piece.

This is the style that I use for children's book illustration, which is a bit different from the style that I use for my fine art and portraiture.

The problem with doing so many things at once is that they all seem to take forever to finish. If I worked on any one thing concurrently, it would only take a couple of days.

Well, Happy New Year to everyone...

PEACE!!!

IF: Hatch

Hello, all.

I wasn't going to post for this topic, but I couldn't resist...

The title of this one is "Chicks Dig Me". It was an example of a drawing I made for my Advanced High School Art students. It's not the best drawing of a chick in the world, but I like my little guy.

This may be a reach for the topic, but when I saw 'hatch', I kept thinking of chicks.

My original plan was to design a whole series of images based on pimped out farm animals and call it the "Livestock Playas" series. That has gone on the back burner, but I do plan to come back to it.

The drawing is in graphite over a gessoed surface.

In the meantime, making up the animals and pimping them out is a lot of fun.

Have a great week.

PEACE!

Ilustration Friday: Music

Hello, all.

I have several images dealing with music. I have an ongoing series of pieces related to Coffehouse Jazz, as it is very popular here in Greensboro. Between N.C. A&T State University, UNCG, and Greensboro College, there are several places that allow for practicing musicians to sit in for a set or two. The bulk of my observational drawings are made up from sitting in on these sessions and either sketching the musicians or the audience.

I was lucky enough to meet Paul Goodnight a few years back. He told me that artists and Jazz mucians have a lot in common, that while there is a steady rhythm to an image, an artist should look for ways to be improvisatoinal in the creation of his composition. Every since then, I have looked to Jazz as an inspiration to work from.

More to come.

Have a great week!

The Final Process

Hello, all.

Well, this is the part that usually goes pretty quick, although I have not had a lot of time to focus on the piece in the last few days.

What you see are layers of colored pencil. I try to limit my palette as much as possible, sticking with white, several cool grays, a few blues, flesh tones, sienna, and umber. I use these to build forms and value transitions, along with local colors when necessary.

I feel a need to also point out some product choices here. To the left, you see Rustoleum Clear Finish Spray Paint (matte), Liquitex Basics Gesso, and Koh-I Noor Woodless Color Pencils.

All of these 'discoveries' came from the necessity of being cheap. When I learned the original technique from Alex Bostic (an instructor at Virginia Commonwealth University), I went with the cheapest stuff I could find. I found that when I used the Rustoleum, it had a very grainy finish. A bit aggressive, but it can be lightly sanded back. As for the Basics Gesso, it is student grade (not as high quality as the artist's grade), but I like the tooth of it much better for graphite drawing.

Last but not least, I tried the Koh-I-Noor colored pencils because a set of 24 was only 13 bucks (and with my 40% off cupon...wow!!). I find that they are much richer than the industry standard, Prismacolor. There are only two drawbacks. First, the palette of the woodless pencils is only 24 colors. Prismacolor has them beat on that front, hands down. Second, because they are woodless (basically a big chunk of pencil coated with lacquer), they are fragile. I can't tell you how many I've ruined by being clumsy.

So, there you have it. Next, the final finished image.

Have a great week!

Step 3: The Underpainting

Hello, all.

So far, we have our drawing, in graphite, on gessoed board. We then sealed the drawing with clear matte spray paint (6 coats), and use a wash of Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, and a touch of Aliziran Crimson over the drawing, thinned with Turpenoid.

The drawing has now dried for about an hour, and I have sped up the drying process by using a hairdryer.

I am treating this as an underpainting. The oil wash is not completely dry yet. I then use several things to wipe away the paint, including bristle brushes, paper towels, cotton swabs, and kneadable erasers. Any and all of these tools work. Personally, I prefer using the kneadable erasers, dabbing at the paint, then a small bristle brush to make a smooth transition. Occasionally, I will use the paper towel.

You have about 24 hours or so before the paint becomes permanent. The longer the paint stays on, the harder it is to remove from the image. I will sometimes wait for several hours before beginning to model the image. The window of opportunity to do this does close, however, so be aware.

This monochromatic painting will provide unity for colors that will be applied on top, but that is to be discussed in the next step.

Have a great week!

Finally, The Next Step...

Hello, all.

I am finally getting around to showing you the next step in my technique. I started an image here, and wanted to show my next step. I have sprayed my image down with clear matte finish spray paint (a minimum of 6 light coats) so that the graphite is sealed. ****THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!*** Without it, your drawing will dissolve before your eyes.

Once sealed, I use Burnt Sienna oil paint, with touches of Ultramarine Blue and Aliziran Crimson, thinned with Turpenoid, and brushed on. You can brush it on evenly or be random and let the paint run, depending on what you like. I put the thinner in the bottom of a metal bowl, then blobs of paint along the rim. I then run the brush along the paint, then lightly dip into the thinner, then brush onto my image.

The great thing is, if you don't like the color, you can still wipe it off at this stage... no harm, no foul.

Once on, you have to let the Turpenoid evaporate some, until the sheen disappears. I sometimes use a hair dryer to speed the process along, which usually only takes an hour or so anyway. Be careful with the dryer, though... you definitely want to dry it just enough so that the sheen disappears, but not much more than that.

Next step soon.

PEACE!!!

Inspire Me Thursday: In Good Company

Hello, all.

I have had an eye on the Inspire Me Thursday website for some time, but I have never submitted anything until now.

This is a commissioned portrait for the Christopher Family, done in graphite, about 20"x30". I enjoyed drawing this very much, as Mr. Christopher is a good friend.

I thought that this would fit the theme well, as I feel most at ease when surrounded by my family.

Have a great week.

Peace!