Category Archives: Drawing

Variety, part 1.

Posted on by Soulcraftcandyman
1

“Do you draw anything other than bikey stuff?”

It’s an often asked question and the answer is, yes I do. Currently the focus is very much on the bike stuff but, there is increasing feeling that a bit of diversity wouldn’t go amiss every now and then. Looking back through the admittedly rather scant archive here serves as a constant reminder that other subjects do indeed come under the Soulcraftcandy spotlight every so often.

Admittedly it’s not very frequently but, now and again I am asked to do a small commission, or an upcoming event such as a birthday prompts the creation of something different. Providing there is enough time to get things done, including coming up with the right idea, doing small commissions and gifts can be a lot of fun and very rewarding. Not being a pro artist or illustrator means that engaging in these things is less pressured and remains fun.

Peoples reactions to them are often very positive and complimentary. If you are lucky enough and they are giving you some money in exchange for your labours, then usually this more than compensates for the ocassional hour or two you’ve spent burning the midnight oil to get it done in time. The rewards are also emotional, they feel good about receiving something unique, and you get a big buzz out of that and receiving the compliment. Lots of great Karma is shared.

So here are a couple of things retrieved from the archive which aren’t focused on big bikes, blokes and big engines. The one above was done some years ago for a charity auction. A very old friend, who ran a gallery at the time, asked a number of people she knew to donate or create a work to be sold at an auction to raise money for a charitable cause. If my memory serves me correctly it was called The Yellow Brick Road Foundation, a children’s charity, hence the subject of the picture. I don’t remember how much it raised, but it was very satisfying to know that it sold and the proceeds went to a good cause.

This second image is one of a number done over the years for my brother who runs a veterinary practice and likes to create a new brochure every now and again. Once the images have been scanned for printing he has them framed and placed around the surgery to add bit of light hearted interest to the place. It’s a nice touch and pleasing to know that many others get to enjoy the pictures on their visits. Here I was making a comment about the old adage that owners sometimes look like their pets, and vice versa.

If the archive is holding any other nuggets these will be posted too in the name of variety, which is the spice of life after all.

Both of the above were created using colour pencils and ink on cartridge paper, which was  pretty much my default setting for many years and remains a strong favourite.

Time well spent?

Posted on by Soulcraftcandyman
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At last, managed to finish the first big scribble drawing last night. At last, because this thing took far, far longer to do than first imagined. Although the style might look quite quick (and it seemed as much at the start) it required a lot of time to move around the drawing, continuously teasing out the many details in order to create the right feeling of depth and movement. It is a very satisfying process but requires a lot of patience. This technique is definitely one where knowing when to stop is an undefined line somewhere amongst the thousands of little bits of shading.

Capturing the little sideways glances of the riders as they vie for supremacy is my favourite bit, although it’s a close run thing between that and the slightly out of focus nature of the image, which lends to the feeling of movement.

Another one has already been started (am I a glutton for punishment?), again using a fine nibbed Steadler 430 biro and an A2 sheet of 220 gsm heavyweight cartridge paper. What with all of the other things I’m playing with it may be a while before an update on its progress can be posted. Watch this space.

Is it now a painting?

Posted on by Soulcraftcandyman
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Finally got around to putting the finishing touches to this one the other evening and so wanted to get it up on the blog as soon as possible. As much as I like the final result, it’s proving difficult to decide what to say about it today other than to ask the question, “is it now a painting?”

Certainly the character of the image is completely different, the starkness of the ink drawing is replaced by a softness afforded by the colour treatment. What’s also interesting is that even though a stronger connection to reality is forged with the addition of colour, it has also brought a stronger emphasis to some of the more comic elements.

The purpose of the exercise however was not to set up some kind of competition between the two images, more to explore how colour would effect the final outcome and to get my rusty painting hand back into action. Some details proved easy and enjoyable to do whilst others remained a challenge, so there is still work to do before getting to that point where one is confident in creating what your minds eye can see, on the page in front of you. They say that in order to truly become an expert at something you must practice it for something like ten thousand hours, quite a way to go if expertise is the goal. Thankfully it is not, well not yet anyway, re-learning to play with some colour media is. So there will be more of these.

Enjoy the view.