Figure drawing 4

 

This the 4th piece of drawing I conjured from my break in-between classes. Charcoal and white chalk on latte colored Murano paper, the mediums just slides in synchrony, and added some negative space to balance out composition. 

Gave more details on the interlinked fingers in contrast to the figure itself.

Really enjoyed this session. 

Special thanks to the model who was willing to tolerate long exhausting poses. 

Hope this drawings do you justice.

Figure drawing 3

I used sienna dry chalk for this one. On cream colored murano paper. Just as I was hoping, it turned out quite to my expectations.

I've been practicing using this chalk at home during the commercials on tv, using pictures from my mobile phone. The thing with this chalk, I've realised, is there is no need for light tones coz the dark tones would not be dark enough ( because its sienna colored). So it's kinda like a balancing act from what I used to. I really enjoyed this drawing because it kinda reminded me of the classical masters sketches.

Figure drawing2

This is the 2nd drawing I did, finally I feel the tension released from my bones as I know I'm beginning to get the hang of this. My sweat soon dried out from my brows.

In this drawing, I realise that I made her look more mascular and toned than she is... its because the light mostly come from skylight. So tones looked washed out and I was perplexed as where should I add tones to make the drawing to have more depth.

So adding in what I've learned about muscular anatomy, I added subtle touches of tones to areas like muscles around the shoulder blades.

Figure drawing1

 I was at the studio at 9am and left the studio at about 9pm. Apart from the classes I have to run, I did figure drawing in between my break-time.

Up-close and personal, its just me and the model. Kinda nerve racking coz its been awhile I've done one-to-one figure drawing. I was slowly finding a way to work effectively with charcoal on cartridge. Not as smooth as I thought. And midway, I was actually perspiring as panic sets in as the charcoal doesn't smudge smoothly. So it gives this sketchy and primal look to the blending I did. So I followed my instinct, I gave a sketchy negative space to even out the subtle outline I couldn't give.

This drawing was the first drawing I did for warm-up. Not perfect I know, but I know I could do better. But for warm up, I guess I have to accept whatever I have created. Done with charcoal on A2 cartridge paper.

Portraiture month

I love portraiture.

It captures the life of a person from their faces. And I love teaching it as well.

Since its portraiture month in ARThaus, I just wanna share some rough demos I did with some of my students. Since we, the Arthaus team, work very closely with our students, close-guidance and demonstration is very crucial to spread fundamental knowledge of creating art. Although we highly value each students' own style, creativity and how they perceive and make sense of their art creation, we also highly encourage fundamental skills. It is a foundation we cannot ignore. Just like we have to learn the alphabets before we can form a word.

These are the rough sketch demos:

 The assassinated one

 One of my fav pieces from Vermeer done in pastel

One of my student's cut out from a magazine in watercolor

Commissioned work. Swimming man, Oil on canvas 30"x36" 2013

This is one for the few commissioned painting I enjoy doing!

The most realistic commissioned work I have done since 4 years ago. Done with oil on canvas. A lot of blending and layering techniques implemented. My client provided me a photo for me to interpret. Her photo is with saturated color. I told her with this I would like to wash out the color a little because I wanted to emphasize more on the figure's movement.  And I added hints of complimentary colors even tho it is not in the photo to add more drama. It took me 7 days to finish this work, working and re-working until I feel its finished. And I am grateful she loves it.

Commissioned works are the hardest works for artists due to constraint of ideas, limited time and wanting to please the clients. Luckily with this one, I had time to explore and experiment and think through what she wants out of the artwork. Understanding me as an artist and let me have the time and freedom to interpret her  photograph to an artwork the way I feel. Thank you Meryl. (shipped to Adelaide Australia)

 Mock ups