Sketchbooks, more specifically James Jean

While finishing up my sketchbook, I remembered this example of a sketchbook that I found absolutely FANTASTIC. So I went back to the library to re-find that artist and scan that page to forever remember (and share) it's amazingness.

James Jean, featured in Issue number 12 of 3x3 The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration on pages 10-25.

Okay. Just look at this amazingness. He's drawn what he sees for an extended amount of time--if someone moves, he starts drawing them again in that position. He uses line amazingly and value sparingly, but in valuable spots. They're complicated, yet not visually overwhelming. And he has small additions of color which tie things together. Beautiful!

here is one of his paintings:

beautiful, but i love his sketches more.

Evaluation

An evaluation of self, class, etc...

The class has been helpful. That is for sure. Although I believe I came in with a proficiency in drawing, I definitely have improved.
The time spent on each small, foundational element really hammered ideas in. Honestly, I love foundations courses. There's always some concept I could get better.
Studying old sketchbooks vs. my work from drawing one, it's interesting what's happened, primarily I think because we worked with the rulers so much. I used to work very loose, I found it hard and tedious to put too much detail into anything--not without losing the big picture.
And now I find it hard to loosen up. Also, I definitely have become quite preoccupied with line variation. I'm always tweaking lines.
My time spent on each drawing has also been able to decrease without quality suffering, and this is really great.
I don't know how many people actually like still lives, but I definitely don't hate them. So I've never found that very tedious. Observational work is almost easier than making it up off the top of your head, since you can see what you're drawing, rather than guessing how it should go. So I'm enjoying it while I can.
I've found drawing elements seeping into other parts of my life. I gave advice to my boyfriend while righting a paper telling him to work loose to tight, to just write what he thinks and then he can go back and refine. Which is what we were doing for part of the year.

Keeping the sketchbook was probably the most challenging element. I find being graded on sketches somewhat intimidating, and therefore harder to draw in since I feel like I have to design every page. To remedy this, I've started drawing in a separate sketchbook and just cutting those sketches out and pasting them in with additions into my class one, thereby creating an easier way to design the page. Plus I love multimedia/collages.

This'll probably come in handy next semester, but I've taken up taking paintings and drawings I really like and trying to copy the style/piece (like a sketch version of a master copy). It's helpful, too, I think. I am glad we didn't have to do it as an assignment, though.

Am I supposed to analyze you, Jason? I don't remember. I think you've been really helpful, and you're not the kind of teacher that makes me want to ignore everything you say. I generally take the advice given. Also, I think that you're one of the only drawing teachers I've had who actually can live up to what they preach. (My high school teachers weren't very good at drawing. The two that taught foundations, one was more into 3D and the other was the main photography teacher) and so when you give an example, you actually can do it correctly and don't stop halfway through and say, "well, something like that" or just don't draw the example at all. And I think that's really nice--plus, you actually gave us examples of your own work. Definitely haven't seen that from my high school teachers (Sorry to compare? But first semester of college doesn't leave me much to compare with college-wise.) I signed up for your class for next semester, since I think your style of teacher works well for me, but I didn't get you, I got Cook. So hopefully that'll still go well. I heard you were really helpful in the painting 1 class you aided in, so maybe if I take painting 1 I'll come by in your office hours for advice.

If I forgot anything I'll post or edit this one later.

Klimt vs. Schiele

I think it's really interesting to see where people get their influences. Jason mentioned Schiele at the beginning of the year, and (one of) my favorite artists is Klimt. Looking at the works, parts of Schiele's look like Klimts. This, however, isn't a coincidence. After following up on this observation, I discovered that Schiele was inspired by Klimt and they knew each other. Here are some picture comparisons:

this is Klimt.

Now here is Schiele:

Obviously, they are different. But look at the similarities:

-Line in many cases defines the form

-The color is brought in, but it's nearly just a wash, with the line distinguishing volume more than modeling.

-They both play with skin tones

-Both use pattern

Klimt just seems more refined. So anyways, I like them both. And I find them both fascinating.. Also, check out some of the sketches Klimt did:

some are quick (notice how he, like Degas does the thing where if it's wrong, he doesn't erase he just continues, like with the male's hand)

and others are much, much, much more detailed:

as this is nearly photographic in the face. This is also similar to the style of Ingres, as the detail is definitely in the face and not the clothing. Very precise.

Personally I like his quicker things more. But maybe that's because they seem a little more stylized, and I tend to lean towards loving stylized people.

Crosshatching

So whenever I think of crosshatching, I think of this shit:

the US dollar, you know!

And when you think about it, I think that most portraits in those days were done like that. (Mind you, I think they might have been etchings for prints, but still.)

All finely done too.

So things I've noticed about them are that their lines seem to cater to the contours of the face and clothing.

I figure, if I wanted to do that myself, I just make shorter lines to make them appear curved, when they're not, and I still follow Jason's rules.

Medium of choice

I think my favorite medium is pencil. To work with, that is.
I prefer the look of charcoal/conte as a finished result, since it's darker, etc.; however, pencil is much cleaner in process. Pencil can be erased, it doesn't smear as much, a finer line can be achieved, etc.
So really, I guess I prefer conte. Buuuut I prefer the ease of pencil. And that's what I think about that.


So thinking about this portrait.

I enjoyed it. More than I thought.

I chose to do a different expression than just smiling. It's not as interesting, there's less lines in the face, etc. Also, drawing myself smiling seemed like something that could easily turn into something conceited- giving myself touch ups, etc, making myself prettier or something like that. This kept things more interesting, plus I make stupid facial expressions all the time.

As usual, I liked it a lot more once I added the gestural over the controlled contour. It makes conte much more fun to work with. I'm excited to see what everyone else does.

Recent Work

This is the exterior piece we did last week. In critique we said I should change the perspective slightly of the top most roof, and darken the foreground to better create the 4 distinct layers of space.

Here's my foliage. It hasn't been critiqued yet. It's in graphite pencil.

click on the pictures for a larger view.