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!

Ella week 2 results

Hello! It's Ella here with my week two results! I am a bit of a luddite on Blogger, and can't figure out how to edit the post Tor has scheduled with her results, so I am doing a separate post with my results!

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

A. I thought it would be fun to do an expressive art exercise!

Q. Talk us through your image...

A. Well, in this case, it’s many images. I felt a bit silly doing the exercises, but whenI got to the last part where we were supposed to draw-not-draw something by describing it’s movement, and describe what was happening, again, I think I was fairly skeptical, but I really feel it helped unlock some of the imagination I feel has been dormant in me for a while. I decided to have in mind a duck on the water, and I was describing, outloud that it was floating smoothly, the sunshine was glimmering, the water had rays of that sunshine glinting off it. The feel of the ducks feathers etc. That it has a sweet fluffy tail. I really felt it helped me imagine what I was doing, which I always feel is a struggle. I will come back to this!

Q. How do you feel about your results?
A. Not much to look at, I am sure! But I kind of like the looseness of it all!

Q. What do you think was the least successful part of your piece?

A. That there’s no real “finished” piece to show here, which I feel is letting the blog down a bit...

Q. And the most successful?

A. I found the last task really unlocked something, so I am excited to try that again, and this time try and do something figurative. Maybe I will post some more on the blog at some point!

Q. Did you learn anything?

A. Yes, see answers above!

Q. Any final thoughts?

A. I wish I had left more time for this. It’s been a busy week, and I left it until the last minute to do!

and just for fun, here is a video I made of myself doing the exercise (sped up for fun and boredom levels of viewer!)

Challenge #2

Hello! This is Ella here with challenge number 2!

I picked up this book from my mum's bookshelf when I stayed over the other day. I started to read it that night, and completely loved it! It's full of really helpful advice and has some great creative exercises too. It's aimed at "the young artist", but has some sophisticated advice in there, and was just what I needed to read in the first module of my MA. I was also very pleased to see the bookplate inside. My mum would have been 15 when she was awarded this book, and she grew up to be a sculptor, so maybe all the advice worked!

 

 So, onto challenge number 2! It is from a chapter in this book, called: "Exercises in acting-out art". I was attracted to it when I first read the book, and have been meaning to do it since I read it. I think I can best describe it as an active, almost meditative creative doodle exercise. We get to move as we draw, and even talk aloud as we work. I am hoping it might unlock my imagination, which I think has been buried inside me after years of "adulting"! As it says at the beginning: "be prepared for unbelievably effective and lasting results!". Here's hoping!

Results - week 1

Hello! This is Ella here, posting my week 1 results.

So this is my result:

We thought it might be a good format to each answer the same set of questions each week. So here are my answers:

Q. What did you think when you saw the week's task?
A. I felt that Tor had thrown me in at the deep end - "damn you Tor!" Is what I thought! No such thing as easing us in. For context, I am used to drawing from observation, and am not confident at all drawing from my imagination. I was hoping we might be recreating a photo in our own style, so I was a bit scared by the prospect of doing a three panel comic.

Q. Talk us through your image...
A. I felt quite stuck at first, but there was a point in my pondering of the image that I felt that the women looked quite like octopuses or squids, and the rest kind of went from there.

Q. How do you feel about your results?
A. Weeell.... I feel that I have made a three panel comic which doesn't make any sense, and is pretty conventional. I made the image in ProCreate, which is an app on the iPad, which I am also learning, so it was a learning curve in more than one way. However, I am quite pleased that I have managed to create something. I hope in time I will be able to actually put some personality in my imaginative work, and also that my rendering technique, whatever that may be (proCreate etc) will improve too!

Q. What do you think was the least successful part of your piece?
A. I wish I had thought of a more original or snappy story. I am expecting good things from Tor! I'm also not sure I have got the reading order of the speech bubbles right.

Q. And the most successful?
A. That I actually completed the task. More than I might have hoped for.

Q. Did you learn anything?
A. Yes, it has got me thinking about sequence and reading order, which is a really great thing for me to be thinking about, as my next module on the MA I am studying is "sequential image".

Q. Any final thoughts?
A. Thanks Tor for pushing me! I am glad you set this task, despite my reservations!

And this is Tor, with my comic:

Q. What did you think when you thought up the week's task:
A. I'd been reading Tom's book as I mentioned, and fancied doing something comics-related from that. I knew Ella would get a bit of a fright, but hoped it would be fun!!

Q. Talk us through your image...
A. I realised quite early that I wasn't going to make a coherent story, so I've cheated and gone for literal gobbledygook.

Q. How do you feel about your results?
A. I like the cat and the mummy, which are new characters for me to use somewhere else! And I always enjoy drawing a brain in a jar.

Q. What do you think was the least successful part of your piece?
A. It's nonsense - that's kind of a shame!

Q. And the most successful?
A. I like the colours! I was looking at the Ahlbergs' Funnybones again recently, and remembering what beautiful books they are.

Q. Did you learn anything?
A. I'm not sure that I did - and I think I should have gone for something simpler for our first challenge!

Q. Any final thoughts?
A. I love yours Ella, and I'm really happy to read that you got something out of it!! Swapping what we're learning seems like a great result from Next We Draw!

Challenge #1!

Hello again! It's the first Thursday of the year, and of our challenge! It's Tor here, taking the first turn. My challenge for us both comes from my teacher and founder of SAW, the cartoonist Tom Hart. I've spent time this holiday reading his fantastic and helpful book How to Say Everything.

As above, I challenge us to use the compositions and shapes of a comic to make our own short strips. I don't think we should worry too much about making a story, just staying within these compositional constraints to see what we come up with.

The strip we will use is a section from Richard Outcault's Buster Brown and his dog Tige:

See you next Thursday!

Happy New Year!

Welcome to our new drawing project! 

We are Ella and Tor, friends from the time when we were born in Roehampton Hospital in London two days apart. We have always drawn, both together and apart - and began our careers doing our Art Foundation Course together at Wimbledon School of Art in 1996.

After Wimbledon, Ella went to Winchester School of Art to take a Fine Art, Painting BA. Since then she has had a successful career in book design, and until recently was Head of Campbell Books having worked at Pan Macmillan for 15 years. She is now a freelance illustrator, designer and student on the Cambridge MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Anglia Ruskin University.

Tor has an Illustration BA from Kingston University. She has been working as an artist and author since then, and has published over thirty children's books with publishers including Macmillan, Walker Books, Templar, Andersen and Quarto. She is also a contributor to The Phoenix weekly story comic for children, Bayard magazines in France and is currently a student on the Comics Intensive at the Sequential Artists' Workshop in Gainesville, Florida.

From a young age, Tor drew from her imagination, making up characters and comic scenes. Ella always drew from observation, taking the real world as her inspiration. We hope that coming from these different perspectives, there will be a lot we can learn from each other - whilst having fun too.

Each week on Thursday we will take turns setting each other drawing challenges. 

And once we're up and running we'd love it if people joined in!