Tag Archives: finished drawings

A bit of a fluke?

Posted on by Soulcraftcandyman
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76_Big_Red

There are moments during the process of attempting to learn a particular skill, method or process when ones hopes are bolstered hugely by a result which exceeds ones expectations. Although these are fantastic moments to be savoured, they often come when we least expect them, they can be the harbingers of something of a very different nature. This picture today possesses one such moment. My “big smoke” theme threw up this image which demanded to be done and, as a further opportunity to practice  my smoking tyre technique, I could not resist having a go. Heeding a kind of mental warning, stepping away from the airbrush seemed like a good plan, so focus turned very much to using a humble brush, a light wash and a layering approach to find a little more of the secret sauce. Suffice to say I’m much, much happier with the result which has some depth and texture, but maintains the cartoony feel of the picture. A rewarding result, but it could be a bit of a fluke.

 

What is the point I’m attempting to make here? Well, it is this. When we experience an early success our confidence is rightfully buoyed, but what happens next rarely follows an upward trend, my next attempt at smoke was, to me at least, utterly rubbish. In a rare display of coyness I’m declining to show that today, suffice to say that I will doubtless get over it in a day or two and reveal the awful truth. In the meantime enjoy this one, it’s one of my better efforts I think.

 

Daring to be different.

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TT Racer

There were only a few lines to finish and a couple of pieces of text to finalise but getting them done took way too long. That said the TT Racer image is now complete and here it is. I’m pretty chuffed with how it turned out.

There are always an awkward few moments upon finishing an image when you have to push yourself to bring your critical eye to bear on it. The euphoria of finishing and regarding your completed work often promotes a kind of inner forgiveness where it’s comfortable to overlook things that perhaps you could have done better. So a good shove is required to jolt us into action. So here goes.

I would probably change the tank shape from the flared form shown to something more rounded to bring some extra lightness to the centre of the image. Tonally the bike and rider could be separated a bit more and while I was at it his face could do with a little less inking. It is a great relief to see the blue washed background giving the image a good degree of punchiness but, a bit more effort to make it less blotchy wouldn’t go amiss. I like text boxes but I’m not yet fully convinced. It will likely turn out that there are times to use them and times when it’s best to leave them out, it all depends. As a first stab at inking over water colour on rough paper I’d say this is something to keep working at for sure.

In that vein here’s a shot of the next one already started. You’ll notice that it is a slightly modified version of a previous drawing done in black and white a couple of weeks ago. I have changed some small details like the riders helmet and some bits on the engine to create some difference. For this one I thought I’d try and be a bit more bold with the colours, as you can see, to try and capture or express some of the more exuberant approaches that custom builders bring to their craft. No one ever said a frame had to be black after all. We’ll see how it goes, it should be fun, and I’ll be trying hard to benefit from all the little lessons learned from the previous drawing above.

Blasts from the past.

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Pencil drawing of old Cyclomotor circa 1981

The long weekend away turned into a longer period away from the drawing board thanks to another chunk of freelance work, a mad dash to the line in time for a client meeting abroad for my client and a hefty chunk of mechanism making. It worked out fine so here’s hoping more work from them soon.

 

Anyone who has a home workshop full of stuff, or a home studio full of the products of ones creativity will know that it is an oft occurring feature of life that whilst rummaging through things in order to find a particular item, one often uncovers another item long buried under a pile, or secreted at the bottom of a rarely opened box. It happens on our computers too. How many of us have hard drives stuffed with old files we barely know we still have? So it was a nice surprise to unearth some very old drawings from my first year as an art student. You’ll see that my interest in engines was already in plain view.

 

As some of you will know, and others perhaps not, ones journey toward a creative life in the UK often starts after you’ve spent eighteen or so years filling your head with maths, history, geography, languages and all manner of fact based academic luggage. Many of us don’t really know what creative career we would like to pursue and so a year on a Foundation course helps to point you in the right direction. It’s a fantastic period full of experimentation and exploration as you feel your way through a vast gamut of disciplines. After thirty years as a professional I really feel like doing another one it’s such an expansive experience.

 

So these two drawings are from that time, products of one of the many observational drawing assignments undertaken where the emphasis was on producing lots of images rather than how one made them. The one above is done in soft pencil on cartridge paper and is complete with smears, fingerprints and the lovely grubbiness one gets from the heel of your hand moving about the paper. I’m not sure, but I think the lower one is done in some kind of oil pastel, again on cartridge paper, and is vastly oversized. You can see from both that my interpretation and understanding of forms, and the ability to distinguish surfaces through light and dark areas is starting to assert itself but is very much a work in progress. I’m particularly amused by my rendering of various ellipses, a geometric shape that haunts many an interpretation of man made objects. I still struggle with them even now.

Cyclomotor carburettor.

What is this object? It is a small engine that one attaches to the rear seat stays of a bicycle and drives the rear wheel via a roller lowered onto the tyre. A Cyclomotor perhaps? In the larger image it is upside down, the cylinder would point downwards in normal use. My uncle appeared from his cavernous garage with it on the day I mentioned to him that I was looking for something unusual to draw. Sadly I can’t remember what happened to the motor or the drawings after I photographed them.