I had the same view this week at the Atelier (extreme foreshortening!) -
This week, I brought a 'cheat' - a quartered plastic sheet clipped onto a frame that you can 'trace' the image in front of you with a dry erase marker (a la
Betty Edwards - Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain).
I'd kind of forgotten about this tool - haven't used one for years (but I also try hard to not ever draw anything that foreshortened from life if I can help it!)
Hugely useful though. I didn't have to spend so much time referee-ing the knock-down, drag-out arguments that my right and left brain have when I attempt this kind of thing. It's generally paralyzing (see the incredible lack of progress with this same pose
last week).
After lunch, we continued to discuss composition. This week, Root Rectangles -
(with example armatures on classic paintings)
As well as a discussion on Golden Sections - all aspects of formal composition I've never really studied before. So, yay.
*And*, I'd asked about our instructor's approach to line work (SO beautiful!!!) -
So, we ended the day with a discussion on his thought process behind his line and brush making. Looking forward to seeing if I can apply this stuff!
Some folks taste it daintily,
Others gulp it down quick-ily.
Some lick around and around,
So it never, ever comes dripping down. Some shove the ice cream
Down with their tongue,
So at the bottom of the cone,
You’re left with some.
But some lick in just one place
So it gets sort of sloppy,
And the top plops off
In a great big bloppy!
Calling all CATS for February. These cats were line art for chapter headings for "Cat Calls" by Jeanne Adlon and Susan Logan, published by Square One Publishing. It was a very fun project to work on. Cats get a bad rap for being aloof, they have amazing personalities.
(Blogger would not let me post this the other day when I wanted to - so better late than never?)
Being inspired by *Spring* and planting and gardens and all, I thought I'd revisit my garden-seed collection (which I truly will package up and share with interested parties, I promise! I have any number of things that re-seed profusely!). These are the initial mock-ups. Will see how it progresses....
(and here are my very tiny, very late seeds-started-indoors. NOT from my garden-seeds who re-seed themselves quite.....readily).
(Let me know if you want seeds!)
Can I just say how much I love this time of year? Well, I do. The coziness factor has increased tenfold. I find that I'm better at the 'butt in chair' component of being a working illustrator when it's raining. Do you find that the cold, rainy weather helps or hurts your productivity?
This is from a job I did over the summer. I can't give any details, sorry. I had a lot of fun with this project. I've been wanting to do a circus project for awhile.
It looks like the goblins are still out and about!
Not too excited about this one, but hey, it features a hungry cat looking through the GLASS window at a sleeping fish in a GLASS bowl! (Who knows, he may even have a pair of GLASSes in his pocket or even a GLASS eye...OK that's enough, it's now annoying...Sorry!)
Little Miss Muffet LEAPED off her tuffet when Mr. Spider and his MULTIPLE legs came calling!
I had to work with something quick...IF theme this week is "Multiple" and PBWS is "Leap"...I think I pulled it off :)
This line art is done in Illustrator and it's also being painted in Photoshop - it's not ready yet!
I've been using Corel Painter for a couple of years now. I'm currently using PainterX, there are a few more thingies on it than it's predecessor. I've been doodling away at a project that's in the back of my mind in muy spare time and today, I wanted to have a play with Painter's inking pen functions. This is the before and after; from the drawing to the finished line art, for me, for digital media, it comes pretty close to the real thing.
This illustration is for the bottom half of the page that Santa (see previous post) sits on. As usual it was painted in Corel Painter after having drawn and inked it. I'm enjoying this book immensely, children's books are so much fun! I work in quite a few different styles, but i have to say that this kind of work seems to come out of me a lot easier than some of the other types of things I do.
The One of A Kind Show has a contest every year to choose the artwork for their reusable shopping bags. I had a quiet week so I whipped up this entry, a chickadee on a branch. I thought it would be nice for winter. I didn't win, but I did win a runner-up prize of two free tickets to the show. I go every year with a friend so I'll be happy to use those.
Contests can give you mixed feelings sometimes but if you look on the positive side, it was a slow day and it motivated me to do some new artwork. Which is always a good thing!
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Congratulations on approaching the forced perspective. Forced perspective is a great tool to master, it has the power to really draw the viewer into the piece- and just a little can go a long ways. In fact, I find that a little is better, less obvious. Except when you really need it to tell the story as in Caravaggio's Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle.