film noir - choosing content

when i first read the passage from the book, what struck me the most is that the man seemed to be very angry, angry about the murders angry at the girls for being victims, angry at the city.

it put me in the mind of film noir i did some background and found out the book was written during the second world war.

i decided to use charcoal for this i wanted a real contrasting look at London blitz as well as adding in the detective air to it.

i used the London sky line and a silhouette of our detective. i added in the red glow to give it more of a londons burning look. over all the final piece i really like although id like to work on the  perspective of the lamp im not sure its fully right. 

My original concept was that i wanted the detective to be looking out on the city, however i couldn't really technically pull it off, it just didn't seem to work so i scrapped that idea.

Film Noir

The detective, whats not to love about this picture great contrast, its not as dark as normal film noir but the tell tell shadow is there creating dram.

The above and below street show both contrasting light sources creating a dramatic and mysterious effect. the use of smoke in both give it atmosphere.

 I threw this picture in just for the drama, i think it make a great portrait for a vampire!















The detectives paraphernalia.

The Blitz -England

black on white

Orignally i planned to do this as the activity suggested. however i did find myself running out of time so i opted to create it electronically. plus i have as it turns little patience for collage.

i used a variation of a sketch that i had already produced.

orignal sketch 

grey on white - this version im not sure is right i suppose you could interpret it ad during bright day light and the boat in shadow. the boat itself does stand out really well against both the white of the background and the light of the lighthouse.

This version is more like night, i think that the rocks and light house work really well producing depth  the sailboat stands out ok, but maybe should have been a grey.

this sailboat reminds me of a foggy day , the light house and the rocks contrast well the sea is also a good contrast. the lighthouse and rocks really to me look the best with this palette.

singing in the rain

Exercise - a subjective drawing.

To create a drawing based on the qualities of the object.  I have been asked to list the qualities related to an umbrella.

Curved

Metal skeleton 

Shines 

Sheer fabric

Bright colours 

Fashion 

Dancing 

Objective drawing - a shoe

I really liked doing this exercise, i chose a pair of shoes that i adore they lace up the ankle with green ribbon.  i was overall happy with the shoe rendering though i think maybe it could have been a bit more detailed.
I reread the instructions and i tried the exercise again. im still not sure i pulled it off. i have technical problems with rendering textures, might try a third time!

is that a Cherry?

For the exercise requiring to test different materials and paper i decided to draw cherrys.
lucky for me i have referenced a few books to help me along.

The first thing i was suprised regarding was oil painting, up until this exercise i have avoided using oil paints, for reason of practicalitys and also i personally associate oil painters with more classical types of art work. i was suprised to find i really loved working with it. allthough i only painted a pair of cherrys so far!

list of materials used

derwent pastel pencils
derwent charcol pencils
derwent inktense pencils
faber and castell oil pastels
windsor & newtons designer gouche
windsor & newtons water colours
Promarker markers
daler  rowney oil paints
decoart acrylic paints
caran d'arch neocolor 1 crayons

Cherrys on watercolour paper.

Cherry on water colour paper. reflections

Pastel pencil cherry - I think this worked well it gave more of a textured effect almost spotted, this is probably due to the tooth picking up more material in the dips. i did not smudge this, well unless i hit it accidentally!

Cherry charcol - this gives a more basic image rougher then the others this might have been due to my tecnique used it was harder to control and so produced a less acurate image however saying that it still looks like a cherry ! its also good for producing a range in tonal values

Gouache cherry - i love the luminosity  of this cherry it gave a smooth and bright rendering making it look shiner and less textured then the others.

Neocolour crayons - again a more textured approach with less control, its more an idea of a cherry.

Oil Pastel cherry - usually i have issues with oil pastels but in this exercises i expermented with a less pracise rendering of said cherry. i actually really liked the outcome. its not very defined but i like the colour from light to dark that it produced. again added texture not as much as the crayon and pastel but enough to make the skin look luminous and textured. 

coloursoft pencils  cherry - usually i love pencils for this type of the thing the rendering is more accurate then some of the more lose depictions but im not sure im happy with it on this paper. it does look like a mixture of colours which is nice as i built different colours up maybe its my rendering of this and not the material!

Artbar crayons - these are water soluble crayons that are triangular, i think they are designed to lay down alot of colour fast. so probably not a good idea for detailed work however using the pointed edge of the triangle did provide a level of detail. i did find that the medium crumbled on this paper making it harder to produce reconsnisable results.

Art pen - these are the PITT pens by faber and castell, i ususally use them for drawing manga or putting notes on things(which i probably shouldnt!) i didnt like this rendering though partially this was because i dont have many of these pens and so the colours are more orange then id like.  i attempted a more crosshatched effect which i think looks ok. the pens were not happy to be on a more textured surface though

Acrylic cherry - i liked working with acrylic the only time ive used it before was to paint decals on models. i think it would be better applied onto a flatter tooth paper as the bumps in the paper made it difficult to render lines nicely it didnt come out as lumanoius as the gouache but i do like this version. in eye light it has a very slight shine to it.

Inktense pencils - another derwent creation, i have always loved these pencils you can build up colour layer by layer and they do not mix. which is nice gives a nice watercolour affect and softens the look, but because it is a ink has more of an intense colour then traditional watercolour.

Aquatone pencils - these are a crayon that is water soulable round like a normal crayon. ive never really been a fan of these since i bought them, having said that the cherry looks ok. the rendering is a little bit muted and messy.

graphic tint - again derwent creation water soluble graphite, i like the look of these deep colour an amount of precision produces a darker rendering the most of the others. 

Water Colour pencils - somewhat similar to the ink tense rendering yet even more softer good colour and was easy to apply, used pencils to draw then brush to wet. after this i added detail with the pencil to the wet paper.

Water colour - using pans i created this applying a base washing then building it up. again less precise then pencils, though this might be due to my lack of experiance with a brush! again a softer image, easy to blend and looking at it now i wished id made the outline less thick and more blended!

Oil Cherrys!

Oil cherry - well first time using oil paint , i actually love this rendering i dont think the photo does it real justace. im not sure how long its meant to dry though someone told me three months so ive stuck some sugar paper over it so it wont smudge more .. love the colours and was fun to render. was not easy to get precision but strong colours. i only have six colours and only really used blue and red. i dont really know any techniques for oils so thats my next book to buy. i think the edge of the left cherry on the left of said cherry needs blending a bit better. but over all looks like cherrys to me! i was expecting a splodge...i will be experimenting with this further.


Cherrys on watercolour paper, done with a sponge and watercolour tubes of paint. ok so i thought id give it a go with a sponge alot of fun though i think i ended up with a significant amount of paint on myself. I used a base red and smoothed the paint on with strokes to get an overall hopefully coherent shape (we will ignore the right hand side of the cherry that seems to have got fuzzed a bit) then i used mauve and red to dab texture on to the cherry . i then built up mauve alone. last i added black mixed with mauve to achieve the shadow at the bottom and top sides. I did like how this turned out i think if i was to revisit this exercise i would use masking fluid for the outside to give a more crisper edge as well as for the highlights. its quite textured but again not very precise.

Flat tooth paper - smooth

sugar paper

Firebird in the sky

1950s concepts

illustrations with different techniques

1950s assignment

I know ive not posted in a while but i have been working hard on the 1950s piece.

 i think mine turn into a bit of a political statement. when i first started researching the 1950s I was mainly focused on the glamour.
After watching a documentary about Marilyn Monroe i decided to paint something a bit aimed at her.
The 1950s always strikes me as being very black and white, the perfect wife, the perfect home, but behind that is women repression, crime and some very dark sides.
I have tried to represent a perfect pin up model (hampered by my anatomy skills) and the black and white and hidden darkness of the time.

1950s - using reference - to be updated

Its been a while since I have posted, and it has been good to take up the pencil/paints again.

I originally focused my research mainly on google with famous 1950s films, ie some like it hot and rear window, fashion and icons of the decade.
The majority of the trends winged eyeliner, ruby lips and teased hair sprayed styles.

When i first approached this i was really focused on the fashion side of it.  through the activities i went into  advertising and art.

I noticed a few things. a lot of the posters/advertisements focus on reds and yellows. there are a lot of yellow back grounds. the second thing i noticed in some of the adverts was the blatant sexism towards women. which actually shocked me, don't get me wrong I'm not usually a feminist but i suppose i always though of the fiftys in terms of the beetles and monroe.

exotic - ideas in progress

not posted in a while as awaiting feedback from first assignment, i was trying to work on a better background and more detail. its still in progress its actually part of the temple of phile, and the wings are based off of a ancient pectoral. its Representative of the goddess isis, goddess of magic.

Angel - drawing anatomy study

This is an adaption from a photo, i am so proud of her arm !

wild sketches

Wild - on going

I chose Wild for the word to work on, i loved doing this and sketched what wild meant to me, my first impulse was to do a women crouching down baring her teeth but it didn't really come out that well! 

I used inktense for below and looove the way it looks, good combination of colours to create the eyes.

i did try to redo the wolf with more of a symmetrical eyes and i don't think for some reason it works as well

it doesn't look as off putting...