Flower

This one is just an experimental combination of a few different styles. I have learnt a lot and feel confident in taking the themes and technique further with the next one. It was about 2 days work, about 30 by 50 cm.

The principle theme is the relationship between humans and technology and the possible fusion between spiritual transcendence and the “technium.” It is inspired by the writings of Kevin Kelly, Mark Pesce, Terrence Mckenna and many others. I particularly like the plant metaphor for technology (broad term: includes language, culture, etc.) as it describes quite nicely the synergistic relationship between us and what we create (and what we try to control, etc.).
Of particular interest as well is information theory and how this is shaping our world view and our humanity.

I will probably think about what needs to be fixed and come back to it in the next couple of days to fix up and refine things, although I am super excited to start a new one, going to explore people fusing into machine driven pulsating trees and maybe use car engines or refineries but fuse them with organic shapes and patterns or something.

PS I really need to get a new scanner!! any suggestions y'all? cheers




Some progress shots:

Another day

here's the finished version, all scanned in. It's 60cm by 30 cm.

Hope you like it-although I notice a few things that will probably end up being changed it is by and large finished. Learnt a lot about the media with this one- the paper is cotton and the coloured pencil blends together well with the oil pastel. Actually had a lot of fun, normally its a struggle and although this was quite difficult, I still enjoyed the process more than usual.

Moar

it has been a very productive and focused week.

finished a new one, well almost, but I think I want to leave this slightly unfinished. I am quite happy, as I managed to get an idea that has been floating around in my head, or more of how I wanted it to feel.

This is only half of it, there is a bottom half- I will wait till I can get a photo of the whole as it is too large to scan in its entirety.

Head after a few hours- just mainly focusing on placing tonal shapes in the right spot- the shape and general edge will give the likeness. Trying hard to get it to look structured. This was a real challenge. Keeping hair and light area as the paper tone. using straight lines mostly.



Then finished version- tried to fix any drawing errors, modelled a few more planes, tried to soften areas on cheek and chin, to get more variety in edges.
I learnt from sargent and my teachers to unify the lights in one consistent tone- so I used a white pastel and connected it from the nose up to the hair on top, focusing on its distinct shape and character.
One thing I am struggling with but enjoying trying to introduce is this sort of simplifying, which is so hard to get right!! but if you can it gives the drawing a much fresher look.



Finished the previous one, only took a couple of days more to finish it. Learnt a LOT in terms of how the pastel and pencil interacts together, and learnt a lot of "do nots" in general. It was really just one big experiment for me, and I'm glad I did it. It's about 45 by 60 cm.

Fleshing it out

I think I will try update this at least everyday, although some days i have work so i might post something else instead to keep it going...its kind of fun to share process images, of which i have quite a few anyway...

planning to get a photo up later tomorrow with the whole image. it wont be as clear as this scan but it should hopefully give an idea as to where this silly thing is going.

tomorrow i'm hoping to get a lot done- finish off the monster and get started on the figure, which will be really really tough by the looks of it, so should be a good challenge!!

cheers

Couldn't resist

Got home from work and needed to do a little bit more before bed.

Response to Ian's question: I am using pencil for the bulk of the rendering and trying to add in touches of oil pastels, usually at quite a similar tone to the paper (ochre, terre verte, light pink oranges, purples, light yellow, etc.)
at this stage just placing where the lightest lights are, what parts are diffuesd light, etc. going to be tricky to keep the monster in consistency with the image's light source....
soorry if ive babbled too much.

just worked on head a bit more, around eyes, etc. and started up the monster. wish i had an A3 scanner, but can only scan a small part of the image each time..

will keep this updated as it progresses!!

thanks!!

Face part2

ok thats enough for me, time for a beer and then sleep. I have work for the next 2 days, so expect an update on tuesday night, if anyone is watching this space :)

Progress on Face

Going to try update this thing a few times a week, seeing as I have the website for my finished work, i can flood this one with progress shots and things.

This is very early start- and only about 1/4 of the total image.

just trying to keep everything light and clean while i adjust proportions, etc. before i dive into full on rendering.

cheers