technique research

I was testing a new painting technique last night

and it got me so preoccupied that

I'm running on 60 minutes of sleep and 12 mugs of coffee (so far) today.

First, I'm showing you the end result:

Unfortunately, the photos are not perfect.

I tried to fix the colours in Photoshop, 

but I'm still not 100% happy with them.

Anyway

I've been using so many different materials lately, like colour pencils, graphite, ink with brushes or rapidographs, aquarelle, acrylic paint, and most of the time I was mixing them all in one drawing/painting.

I wanted to try to and do something a bit... heavier this time.

I don't know is it autumn, or maybe something not necessarily coming from outside me...

I just needed more... emotional saturation in what I do.

And I think I've found a good technique.

I like to use 500g cotton paper, but it's not perfect, because it usually has strong texture, and I like my paintings to look smooth, so I painted the paper with acrylic paint for background, and rubber wax over it. Then put it in the oven for 2 min, just to let the wax melt and distribute evenly across the surface, and fill all the little gaps.

Then, I put one very thin and watered down layer of white gouache paint, and when it dried up, I did it again. 

I worked on 3 sheets at once. By the time I finish the first layer, the first paper I did was already dry, so I could start over.

Only then I did sketches. 

That is a bit of a reverse process, but I wanted to let the material guide me.

Then I transferred the sketch onto the prepared surface.

It was easy to do with a pencil, lightly, because of the white pigment. It allows you to draw on it with soft graphite. I used B9 pencil.

As I drew, I made shallow cuts in the wax, and I like how it added the textured coutures to the painting.

All the rest was done with brushes and acrylic paints.

Here is the final painting:

and another one:

I would LOVE to know what you think of it!

a cat

There are so many things I should be doing now

...and none of them is drawing cats...

progressing +/- advancing

I've decided to try and have a bit more studious approach to drawing.
I had a clear picture in my head of what I wanted it to look like, but instead of changing my mind when I start colouring, and then destroying the illustration, this time I did "test drive" sketches.
Here are some of them:


After I met my characters and we had a nice chat over coffee and a bit of cake, I took my nice heavy paper, and put it all together, like a story... it's strange how drawing is like writing. Before I draw the story, I must draw the concept first... like an outline of a story, a plot.
This is it, scanned, because it was very late at night, and my drawings hate flash lights.

I would usually draw my characters first, and I'd ruin it all once I start drawing everything around them... that's why I did it reverse this time. Strangely enough, I've drawn the background easily. There are some details missing here and there, but I'm not worried about that.
Now that I've reached the final stage, I do hope not to mess it up... I'm letting you see the unfinished drawing, but I've cut out the bits I'm working on now... if they turn out well, they'll be a nice surprise, and if they turn out bad, off to the bin with them, but you haven't met them, so you won't miss them  :) ... only I will

un vrai papa

I don't know if it ever happened to you, but it happens to me all the time, and it always ends in frustration:

I draw outlines of something, I put all my actors on the stage, then I start working on one detail, and I'm actually pleased with it, so I pass on to the next one... and it's baaaad... bad bad bad!...my hands draws like paws, nothing looks right, I hate every line I make... That's the moment where I usually just crumple the paper, throw it in the bin that's always within a handy reach, and always completely full.
Last night I simply walked away... I couldn't look at it... But it was still there, waiting for me in the morning... it didn't disappear, it didn't change over night... but my level of tolerance and patience did.


fanfares and cheers fooooor:

Monsieur Vrai Papa, avec la moustache et les muscles d'un papa super!

What you have before you is my attempt to save this guy... I'm even quietly happy I didn't toss him with the rest of the gang from that sheet of paper...
I'm sorry, Lady Weightlifter and Mr Bearded Clown... I promise to give your a solo act each... one day... maybe soon... learn to be patient, that's a good thing to be!

caffeine feline

I drew a lion...

I like lions... especially today

I don't know why...

Sorry 'bout the coffee stain

BUT

if it wasn't for coffee

there would be no lion tonight

update:

had to take a photo again in the morning

WHY oh WHY

do all photos taken at night look terrible?

even when I use the scanner?

the scanner can't know what time of day it is, surely!

Motives

You don't look silly, dear! You look mysterious!

Now, let's go to that fancy dress party.

I've heard they'll be serving wine...

if we're patient, we can have coq au vin

or  souris au vin

or even lapin au vin!

ummm... a dance?

    action <> reaction

 cause <> effect

||

V

influence

Lately

I've been under a strong influence of a motion bug

that's been nesting in my mind

...

scary

...

and it always starts so innocently

....

sketches can be tricky

if left to do what they wish

I simply had to do it

Some drawings are cute, some drawings are sweet or scary or sad. I always loved drawings... but sometimes I happen to see a picture that really speaks to me... then... I don't need any effort at all to see it wink, smile, talk... its personality, its story, it's all there... that's whyyyy... one day, I decided to try and master a skill to help those critters talk to the rest of the world the same way...

I'm so faaaar from even scratching the surface of animation, but I love learning, I enjoy every step of it... If you want to see some of my first attempts click here. I'm obviously just a self-tough enthusiast... I would be so happy to know if you have any comment or suggestion.

Now, without further ado...

Let me introduce to you Baby Blue Owl.

I've met this feathery sweetie through our mutual friend, Heidi. Her blog is adorable, and she's an amazingly talented artist. Everything she ever draws makes me giggle and smile.

She wrote with so much love about the Owlish behaviour of B.B.Owl and other owlish friends, I fell in love with them... You can meet them too, of course, just click here.

The sweetest little owl ever, don't you think? :D

papyrus experiment

This is my crazy contraption for drying papyrus sheets:

Only a couple of weeks ago I discovered papyrus, and fell in love with it.

Here's a little trick:

Papyrus is amazing as it is, but if you dip it in oil for a day, and let it dry, it changes the texture, becomes a bit more transparent and rubbery. I was told that if I put a bit of oil paint into oil, papyrus will keep it's transparency, only get a light tone of the colour. That will be my next experiment :)

...and then I tested it...

I made all these photos with my Canon scanner, no Photoshop tweaking.

embarrassing sketches

sulking cats

OK, so I've just finished an illustration on a slightly bigger paper format (50cm * 70cm) and now I'm stuck. It happens so often, I might have to come up with a name for that condition... Stuckitis… What-now-itis… I'm not sure is it because "I could never do it again", or is it because I'm too self-criticizing and I don't like the drawing I've finished...

Well, I don't think it's either one. Most of the time, I have SO many new ideas that I simply can't pick one. I can't focus, so they're all in my head... all at once... buzzing and flapping and whizzing...

carnival

Ideas are like smells, they're there, I can feel them, I know them quite intimately, they're packed with sensations and motion, but when I start sketching, they become unreachable. I want to put them all on paper, and sketches always turn out to be beyond disappointing.

I'm a terrible starter.

couch potato

No, let me rephrase that! I'm great at starting at least ten things at once, and then not doing any of them... which is a shame. The best part… what I like most about drawing… is the bit after I'd started something, and passed that second phase. If I get that far, I land in some amazing space where's no time, or thoughts... I become my pencils and paints, and that feeling is the reason why I draw at all.

I hate all my drawings, but I love making them!

Sketches are my biggest embarrassment. I used to love sketching, but now… uh… I cringe when I see unrefined lines, bad proportions, somewhat incorrect perspective… I need to feel that I’m in control, so I start fixing my sketches, and keep fixing them till they stop being sketches.

portraits

Anyway… this time I present you a few pages from my poor little moleskine. They will stay as they are. Paper is too thin, it simply wouldn’t survive my “corrections”.

IF swell

swell...

first thing that came to mind was flying... I don't know why... flying the same way fish fly in water... as if there was a happy bubble inside my chest, so I could inhale loads and loads of joy, and when it feels I could burst, I'd lift off and fly away, finding bubbles of warm feelings to floating from one lovely thought to another. 

It was only once that I dreamt I was flying, and it wasn't even high, it was like hoovering through a forest, less than  a meter avow the ground.
But I keep making drawings of flying... away...

Away

sailing in the sea of bewitching art-supplies

I always thought of it as something used for making fake-old-wannabe-Egyptian-outrageously-overpriced souvenirs.
I was so wrong!

A few days ago, I was in my favourite art-supplies shop.
That place amazes me. It's tiny but so much like Sport Billy's bag. I love rummaging around. Just as it happens, it's in the same street as the hospital where I was born. I think that's pretty cool :)
So, I was interested in everything, asking millions of questions to the lovely man who runs the shop, as I always do. He always gives me very interesting advice. Proper old-fashioned customer care. And then, while chatting

I have discovered papyrus!
I'm surprised I didn't see it before.
Perfectly flat, yet textured, granulated, shiny, robust and thick but transparent. I honestly gasped when I touched it! I love it! It's perfect... but I'm still not sure what it's perfect for... original idea was to draw with 0.1mm rapidographs in black ink.
Although, I still haven't tried out the trick that the shop-keeper told me, how to make papyrus even more special... I will tell you all about it once I test it ;)
Anyway... this is my first papyrus drawing... a bit altered in Photoshop.

Sailing

owl love

my latest fascination

...owls... 

This little girl's name is Tara.

Isn't she adorable? 

♥ ❤ ♥ 

tea-party

M. Léo is a kind and nice person, but he's very serious. Luckily, he's aware of that, so once in a while he organizes nice little soirées to break the routine. On those occasions, he tries to look sweet and approachable. He tries very hard, and that's wholeheartedly appreciated by his peers... that is, by those who get to be invited to come, but sometimes some do not get the invitation, if they had done something very wrong, like eye-laser-beam-burn a poor little alligator and end up in jail, for life, till M. Léo comes to help them escape...

M. Léo - soirée

randez-vous

M. Léo is trying to have some private life.

M. Léo qui donne randez-vous

radioactive

M. Léo does get some help... occasionally. This little chore is their favourite. They don't like vacuuming though... or washing up...

M. Léo et les corvées

walkies

It was a lovely day, so M. Léo took them all out for a walk... one at a time... Poor things tend to get overexcited too easily when together.

M. Léo qui se promène

Launch

M. Léo is ever so nice, always willing to help... selflessly...

M. Léo qui lance

leisure activities

After a hard days's work, M. Léo likes to dance a bit to relax. He is especially fond of La Primavera from Vivaldi's Le quattro stagioni.

M. Léo qui danse

you figure it out

I've decided not to apologize for this...

Cruel?

Cold?

Heartless?

Then how do you think M. Léo feels having to be the one to do it... day in and day out...

M. Léo at work