Drawing II Illustration project

Example Illustrators:

Arthus Rackham

Gustave Dore

Sulamith Wulfing

Beatrix Potter

Elenore Abbott

Kay Nielsen

Maurice Sendak

Anita Kunz

Richard Sala

Graeme Baese

Lane Smith

Story resources:

Thumbelina

http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_tiny.html

Jack and the Beanstock

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0328jack.html

Bonus:

http://blog.ryan-a.com/tagged/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E6%98%94%E8%A9%B1

More Illustrators to inspire: 

Goni Montes
Frank Stockton
Bertha Lum
Tomer Hanuka
Adrian Tomine
Kazu Kibuishi



Student Examples: 

      

Transformation Project examples

                                

This could have been an "A" drawing, but in this piece while the beetle, idea, and transformations are all very good, it isn't a finished work as there is no consideration for the negative space/ back ground.
































While the giraffe drawing above is very good, see how much more dynamic the giraffes on the right are. The orientation of the page accentuates the length of the necks. Also, because the animals are not perfectly lined up, it creates better overlapping and a more interesting composition.

Drawing II- portraits with color

For the Drawing II portrait assignment, half of your self-portrait will be done realistically and half will be simplified or abstracted.

So how does one begin to approach realistic application of color for skin tones?








The keys are good observation from reality and to also be wary of symbolizing skin tones as yellow, orange, pink, or brown.
Know that you will need to blend with a combination of different primacolors and that no one pencil will do the job.

From dark to light complexions.

The lighter the skin tone, the more that shows through from underneath.

(images and skin palettes above from Mayrhosby Yeoshen)

Remember just like any inanimate subject, the forms of the face follow the rules of light and shadow. Stay aware of your light source and render the forms with highlights, midtones, and shadows in mind. This means keeping your values in mind as well as color!

Additional tips:

Be careful of using flat brown alone to create shadows, it can quickly begin to read as dirt on the face.

Also avoid flat black for areas such as the nostrils and mouth. Lean toward dark warm valued colors to maintain a feeling of flesh and life.

(see image below)
Here is an extremely useful link about skin color:

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/22228/pantone-skin-color-spectrum.html

There is a wide span between realism and abstraction- explore the options and have fun designing your portraits!

examples of the Repeated Shape project:

 

Drawing the face and head

We are getting to the end of the semester and Drawing I! So now we are working on putting together all the steps we have learned - in drawing portraits. Remember the steps we talked about from Betty Edward's book- DotRSotB First we start by perceiving and learning to draw: 1)edges- contour 2)spaces- ie negative spaces and shapes 3)relationships- proportions, sighting and measuring 4)light and shadow- anatomy or shadow:highlights,cast, etc 5)Gestalt- putting it all together by focusing intently on the first four skills

Use all these concepts in observing your subject!

Also remember everything we've learned about the elements of art:

Line, Shape, Value, and Texture

People and faces are a major subject of art and faces are effective for training beginners in SEEing and drawing because it requires requires fine perception skills. Also because we can all see immediately the correctness of our proportions. Beginners think people are a difficult subject but actually as with any subject all the visual information is there and accessible. ***Drawing is always the same task- all require the same basic perceptual skills. Aside from complexity, one subject is not harder or easier than another- though some seem harder because we have more strongly embedded symbols to break!*** Work on bypassing those symbols, and drawing what you really see! Our brain is trying to show us what we expect but measuring proves and helps us believe what we see.

The Head:

Always begin by outlining your structure (having more information on the page helps you to see and use relationships).

Start with the gesture drawing of the oval and put a central axis line in dividing the right and left.

The Eye line ½ way in the center of the head.

The base of the Nose is ½ way between the eyes and the chin

The Mouth is 1/3 between the nose and the chin (not 1/2)

Also remember the eyes have 1 eye space between them and overall the distance across the face should be about 5 eyes wide.

The same measurements follow through into profiles but don't forget to make the back of the skull large enough! And check the distance of the ears. Also, don't forget that the head works in perspective! If you do not have a straight on view of your model (such as a 3/4 view as above) you need to adjust for perspective. And if your model's head is tilted- tilt your measurements to line up with the overall angel of the face.

Self-Portraits

Two example of student self portraits Fall 2010

Process

Many beginners don't understand the importance of gesture/ under drawing and/or
they are under the mistaken idea that accomplished artists don't need to do this step at all.
He is a lovely example of artist Kaoru Mori working up a piece. Note how she doesn't just start at the top and work her way down with her final line work but builds up structure on which the finished lines will be laid down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfENoePp36o&feature=player_embedded