Week 7 Challenge

Hello, it's Tor here with this week's challenge - to interpret this painting by Felix Vallotton.

Gabrielle Vallotton at the piano, 1904

Results Week 6!

Hi, it's Tor here with my Elizabeth I - I didn't stray too far from the original (I mean I didn't make her a cat or anything!!) and I really enjoyed this, thanks Els!

Week 6 Challenge

Hello! It is Ella here with my very belated challenge for this week. I am keeping it short and sweet: I challenge us to re-create this painting of Queen Elizabeth I. Best of luck to us!

Week Five Results

Hello! It's Ella here, checking in for week 5!

Q. What did you think when you saw the week's task?

A. Excited, it looked fun!

Q. How do you feel about your results?

A.I feel pretty happy with them. There's loads I would do differently, but it was a good exercise for me, as on my MA, I am about to start producing illustrations, and as I'm still not sure how I want to make the art that I do, so this was a good chance for me to try out some methods.

Q. What was the part of the challenge you enjoyed least?

A. Drawing the woman's mouth!

Q. And the most?

A. I enjoyed the execution in colour. I used masking fluid on the type and the main characters, and did the background first, and challenged myself to use just three colours of acylic ink, red, yellow and blue. And then I went over it, firstly filling in the characters with ink, then using Tombow brush pens, and then finally with pastel pencils. It was fun to make it mixed media like that!

Q. Did you learn anything?

A. Yes, I am too heavy handed with masking tape, and it turn out, masking fluid, as I tore the paper removing both (I used masking tape on the edge of the image, to keep the edges neat!)

Q. Any final thoughts?

A. It was fun, thanks Tor!

Hello! It's Tor here with my results!

Q. How do you feel about your results?

A. Pleased. I didn't go with the pastiche I'd imagined drawing at first but this was a fun exercise.

Q. What was the part of the challenge you enjoyed least?

A. Boring cars and backgrounds! Man, I've got to get more patient/better at drawing backgrounds...!

Q. And the most?

A. I liked drawing the woman in a style totally different from my own.

Q. Did you learn anything?

A. I'm happy with how the shading came out and might do more of that!

Q. Any final thoughts?

A. MORE B-MOVIE POSTER PARODIESSSS!!

Challenge #5

Hello! It's Tor here with our Week Five challenge!

This week in class we have been looking at artists who drew monster designs, among them Reynold Brown. I'd seen his famous poster for Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, but enjoyed seeing his other monsters too. So I thought it would be fun to do something in his style. I challenge us to pick one of the below posters and copy it in our own styles. It can be much simplified for time-friendliness!

Amazing! Fantastic! Overwhelming!!

Week 4 Results!

It's Tor here with this week's results!

Q. What did you think when you saw the week's task?

A. I was into it! I love copying other art and photographs.

Q. How do you feel about your results?

A. Pretty good - I set a 40-minute timer and drew with pencil on paper the whole time. The process was the point more than the result, but I don't think my drawing (when turned round) is toooo far off - apart from the faces, which are horrorshows! 

Q. What was the part of the challenge you enjoyed least?

A. I got bored in the middle, and kept letting my concentration slip.

Q. And the most?

A. I could feel the "R-mode" of my brain working at times during this drawing (not sure what this is - the right hand side of my brain??) I totally saw the point of the exercise - and could feel the difference, as the author describes here:

I also agree that the state was easily broken, as I slipped in and out of it. But in the concentrated moments, I could see the photograph as a collection of lines and shapes, and could tune out the figures that I knew them to be.

Q. Did you learn anything?

A. That I should probably do this more! 

Q. Any final thoughts?

A. Thanks Els, I thought this was really interesting!

My drawing as it I made it and as it looked to me! 

Turned around - faces which will haunt my nightmares.

week 4 results - Ella

Hello! It's Ella here with my results (I still can't figure out how to add to Tor's!)

Here is mine as I saw it when I drew it...

...and the right way up!



Q. How do you feel about your results?
A. Not too bad! I wasn't as methodical as Tor, I didn't set a timer. First of all I very loosely sketched the shapes out in pencil, as I would with a normal drawing, mainly just so I would fit it on the page. Then I drew it with a fountain pen with waterproof ink in. Then I added some ink wash. I wanted to try and reproduce the way that I like to draw sometimes. 

Q. What was the part of the challenge you enjoyed least?

A. That I left my challenge to the last minute again. I am sensing a theme here!

Q. And the most?

A. It was a really useful exercise to remind myself of the assumptions you make about hands, faces, etc... It was also reassuring that I didn't struggle too much with the fact it was upside-down - on the whole!

Q. Did you learn anything?

A. That I make the most assumptions about the faces! Mine are ridiculous, especially the right hand chap, (I drew him last, so perhaps that shows my attention was waning!) but I rather like them too!

Q. Any final thoughts?

A. Tor and I both squished the woman in the middle, so she got extra dumpy! 

Challenge #4

Time for the week 4 challenge, and I am continuing with my art exercises theme.

This exercise is from the Betty Edwards classic, 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain'. Her theory is that we need to tap into the R-mode of the brain - the visual, perceptual part of the brain, rather than your L-mode, postulated to be your sequential processing mode. To find out more about her and her principles of drawing here is a link to her Wikipedia page.

So, on with this week's task: Do an upside-down drawing:

I am challenging us to use a different picture though, as I think the one she suggests is quite boring, and I don't like the fact it's already been re-drawn. So this is the one I have chosen for us to use!

And I think if we wanted to, we could use any medium, or even do it in Photoshop! The only rule being that you have to work on it entirely upside down, and only look at it the right way up when you post it. At the end of the week we should post the images both the right way up, and upside down next to each other!

Good luck!

Week 3 Results

Hello! It's Ella here posting my week 3 results!

Q. What did you think when you saw the week's task?

A. I thought that the characters were all pretty grotesque, and I wondered how I was going to tackle it!

Q. How do you feel about your results?

A. Considering I didn't really know what I was doing, I'm not too unhappy with it. I feel I let myself down in the execution. I kind of liked my interpretation of the character, but I don't think I did a great job rendering it in colour. I think if I had done it by hand first, then coloured in photoshop, it would have been better!

As you can see - I also ran out of time! But it is my first week back on my MA, so...that's my excuse!

My final thoughts/excuses are that I layered things so they were difficult to move around, that's why the lamps are floating! And I can see now I'm posting it, that I didn't follow the layouts properly, I shrank my image to fit the text in, and now I can see I didn't need to, because I could have put the top text box above the square - D'oh!

Q. What was the part of the challenge you enjoyed least?

A. I wasn't inspired by the subject matter - soz Tor!

Q. And the most?

A. Interpreting the character. And I also do enjoy using ProCreate, even if I'm not happy with the results.

Q. Did you learn anything?

A. That I can interpret a character!

Q. Any final thoughts?

A. I think I drew Donald Trump!

The original! (below)

It's Tor here!

Q. How do you feel about your results?

A. I'm happy with this picture, it's pretty silly but that's good.

Q. What was the part of the challenge you enjoyed least?

A. Nothing, it was fun and quick.

Q. And the most?

A. I liked using good old halftone again, and trying to imitate the colours and look of a blown-up panel.

Q. Did you learn anything?

A. No, I just enjoyed drawing a silly alien guy.

Q. Any final thoughts?

A. I think Ella drew Donald Trump too haha! But I also really like Els's picture - she totally interpreted the character and it looks like her own style!

Challenge #3

Hello, it's Tor here with our Week Three challenge.

One of the artists we've looked at a little here is Fletcher Hanks - I love his weird images and colour. For this week I challenge us to redraw one of the below panels (in our own style, or sticking closer to his), with colour and speech bubbles, and an attempt to make it look like an old comic panel (hello, halftone filter!)

Results - week 2

It's Tor, here with my results!

Q. What did you think when you saw the week's task?
A. That it was interesting, and the kind of thing I might come across in a book and like the look of but never actually do!

Q. How do you feel about your results?
A. I guess the results aren't the point of this exercise, but I liked the lines in rhythm with varying widths, they look quite pleasing. And in terms of loosening up, I find it's always useful to remind myself of different ways to hold the pencil, and that I don't have to cramp over it always in the same way!

Q. What was the part of the challenge you enjoyed least?
A. Being slow and filling up the boxes I'd drawn for myself.

Q. And the most?
A. I did find it freeing to draw from the shoulder and I liked the breathing and swaying about!

Q. Did you learn anything?
A. I felt like I had to slow down and suppress my natural hastiness, and accept that my drawings weren't going to be figurative or representative of anything much! I guess I learned (again) that this kind of mark-making isn't for me - I'm too impatient.

Q. Any final thoughts?
A. Thanks Els, it was out of my comfort zone but good for me!