Category Archives: Background

Cafe Racer 3, finally.

Posted on by Soulcraftcandyman
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Finally, finally, finally the wind has been in the right direction and the third of the Cafe Racer series is now done. Boy, did this one suffer an awkward and time consuming birth! After all of the misgivings expressed in the previous post about teetering along the line between reality and caricature, it took a bit of effort to apply the finishing touches. There was no way that I was going to be able to drag it back towards cartoon humour, so the best thing to do was just focus on what would suit the central image and concentrate on that. Needless to say, I think it’s turned out not too badly considering the hand wringing of the last few days.

 

When the central characters and bikes are stationary in a drawing it’s interesting to note that my mind’s eye considers and composes completely different approaches to the contextual background, or what goes in to help place the image on the page. This is almost a subconscious act. When things are in motion, my imagination automatically starts thinking very graphically, with lines and blocks as a way of emphasising that motion. When things are stationary quite the opposite occurs, with visions of horizons and landscapes being the main focus. Not a bad situation to be in, a fertile imagination is a great thing but, it does lead to quite different feeling final outcomes. Somewhere along the line it would probably be worth trying to swap these two traits around to see what comes out but, for the purposes of not wanting to create too many distractions before this series is finished I’ll leave that for now.

 

Look out for Cafe Racer No.4, coming very soon.

 

Working, or crawling, to the finish.

Posted on by Soulcraftcandyman
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It’s coming, it’s coming, although the anticipated sprint to the finish has somehow turned into a bit of a crawl. The third in the Cafe Racer series is nearing completion, though today my normal creative enthusiasm has seemingly been replaced by a dogged determination. A flowing ease has turned into a plodding grind, but ink is still hitting the paper at least.

Self imposed deadlines are often so hard to stick to, particularly when an images’ creation proves either problematic or the composition remains in flux, and such is the case in this instance. I wonder if this is down to a mood thing or whether I’ve just spent too long noodling away at it. The latter seems a more likely culprit.

What’s interesting about this, to me anyway, is that it occurred to me the other day whilst standing back and having a look at the image, that there is something out of balance with it. Like there was something not quite right going on. It took a while to work out and feels like a kind of line is being crossed, a line that stands between realism and caricature. It has always been a desire to err towards the latter of these two elements but, at the same time maintain a degree of detail borrowed from the real world. In this case, through injecting a high level of detail I have left an element of the caricature behind and the drawing has lost a certain character as a result. Personally I blame the rider figure, he made me do it. Whilst I’m perfectly happy with the way the bike is rendered and the overall impact of the image, some of the quirkiness and humour that should be there has wandered off somewhere. The rider figure is the key, he’s too lifelike. Not by much, but by enough to make a difference and this has been the reason behind my somewhat lazy approach to finishing it.

But it’s only by working through these problems that we learn and progress, so the push is now on to “ship” the final drawing. Below is where things are currently with the background. A simple horizon and mid-ground which places our rider at the side of the road while he awaits the arrival of his mates who are in the distance charging over the brow of the hill. Hoping to have it done very soon, I want to get on with the others as soon as possible.

Please excuse the darkness of the pictures in this post, it’s one of the perennial handicaps of snapping off a few shots of the drawing board only illuminated by the studio window.

Less is more.

Posted on by Soulcraftcandyman
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Cafe Racer No.2

Hot off the scanner today is the second completed drawing from the Cafe Racer series. After much humming and hawing over how to finish it off, it seemed most appropriate to mirror the rather stripped down nature of the bike itself with a minimal approach to context. So a simple single line, curving to instill a light sense of speed and motion, got put in under the main image. Attempting to satisfy the persistent and sometimes nagging feeling that a fuller background should be present, I merely ended up filling the waste basket with tracing paper. In some instances, less is more, and certainly in this case it works best. Needless to say I’m more than happy with the outcome.

 

The first drawing of the series, which featured here a couple of posts ago is now framed, submitted and waiting to be hung in a local open art show here in Ealing. For successful submission it needed a title, and is now called “Full Throttle” which seemed to fit nicely. Enquiring of the gallery staff I learned that they were expecting up to perhaps 300 submissions. A healthy number in anyones book, and indicative of what a creative community we have here in the borough. It will be fascinating to attend the private view tomorrow night and meet some of the other artists. Very exciting, this is the first time I’ve ever shown a drawing and who knows, somebody might take enough of a shine to it to part with some money.

 

For anyone who might be interested in coming along and having a look, the exhibition runs until the 21st April and can be found at the Walpole gallery which is situated in Walpole Park just by Ealing Broadway, West London. And it’s free to enter.

 

The remaining drawings in the series are progressing well. My initial selection of sketches to work up seems to be constantly changing. Another idea popped up the other day during a free sketching session during a lunch break, always handy to have a pad and pen nearby, and is shown below. It’s an apparently simple view though I’m looking forward to getting to grips with it, and it should provide a great opportunity to work on my techniques for faces and clothing which are still proving difficult to master.