Visual Cogitations™: April 2010

Friday, April 30, 2010

DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 15

Although I will still need to tweak the value and details, Ruth's head is fairly well done... uh... as opposed to rare, or medium rare. (I'm sure if you stuck a fork in his nose you would see some blood)...okay, sorry. I may hint better at the eye on the left.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
The following three show Dimaggio growing into reality; again at the end of the game I'll likely need to revisit the overall value contrasts.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
And here is Lee in the opening game. (Had to make sure that nostril was nailed first!)

Monday, April 26, 2010

Coffee Mugs

It's always been astounding to me how infinite the variety of facial combinations are. With the structure essentially equal all around, there's hardly any two alike. There are tribes for certain: 'horsey people', 'bird people', 'piggy people', 'potato people', and yes, even the unfortunate 'naked mole rat people'... BUT, even within the tribes there are no two alike. (really). Snowflakes get all the glory, but it's time we step up and demand our day in the sun.

Friday, April 23, 2010

DAMN YANKEES (...throes of) part 14

After about a 7 month hiatus, I am finally landed enough to start the inking process for this quadrocoil... (for those of you new to this blog, you'll need to go back to September 2009 and earlier in order to see all the preliminary toils for this illustration).
Below are a few scans of the final as it develops, I blocked in most of the background for Ruth first, developing the value to a mid range in which I began to add a lighter body. The head will contrast more than his costume. My intention is to have the body speak more softly than the head which caries the main thrust of the expression; the body language is contributing, but the head is Gladys Knight, while the body is the Pips... what a pip is exactly, I've never been able to determine. Sorry.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
The Jackson below was the first part inked. He's in the background, and will need to be in low contrast. I decided it might be wise to use a quill pen instead of my ubiquitous brush, and so far I'm pleased with the results. It's actually a mix of quill and brush; and by the time it was done I was ready to return primarily to brushwork. Quill for me is a bit slower than brush, and I felt I was driving with the parking break on...

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Coffee Mugs

When no one you know knows the folks you are drawing, there is a bit of freedom in interpretation, and the caricaturist can explore variations on what a head can be. Here the goal is not conveying a truth about the individual so much (it would be in most cases an applied assumption anyway), but rather a conversation between the marks made and the reaction the artist retaliates with. The end result often has some freedom to it; it is important, however, to maintain a voice in terms of some human attitude when arguing.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
I had a friend who took this concept to an extreme, the drawings were fascinating and beautiful, but were far from looking like the sitter in any recognizable way. He didn't care --it was a lot of fun, and the sitter was just a springboard from which he showed off his triple half-gainers and sideways crow hops. (always liked to break the rules).

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Coffee Mugs

Some from coffee houses, some from meetings. Can you tell which? (The two coffee folk look more satisfied...there's your hint). The drawings actually have a different line quality which is based on the varied tension each location engendered. This is likely subtle, and perhaps only noticeable to me, but now you know. Everything affects your final drawing.

© Richard Ewing all rights reserved
A real interest for me in immediate drawing with ink, is the inevitable corrections and changes of mind which never disappear. These become statements in themselves, as you can see my thinking that something needed to be larger than originally done, or there needed to be more of a movement to the left here or there...