artists using mark making

These are drawings of Peter Paul Rubens, seventeenth century Baroque painter from Flanders.

This one reminds me of our homework, as the artist is also drawing on a toned paper using black and white conte, with a subtle addition of sienna. He is

paying attention to the face, while the collar and the clothes have less

value and look more gestural an

d unfinished. I love the unfinished feel, it makes the drawing more alive, and brings focus to the face. The marks he is using are mostly hatching and cross-hatching, and some scribbling on the clothes.

Here, Rubens uses a lot of sienna and strong black on the person's hair, some white conte is used for highlights on the cheeks and on the collar. The cross-hatching on the face is more delicate and careful than the hatching on the hat and the clothes. In some places the marks on the hat look more like scribbling. Rubens creates a very life-like hair texture with the help of curvy marks of different value.

Amazing!!

This drawing is done by black conte on white paper. Rubens uses directional hatching and cross-hatching to defin

e the form of the animal's body.

These drawings belong to a current artist from Belorussia. His name is Vsevolod Shayba. He draws mostly with graphite pencil on white paper.

This is obviously not a drawing from observation. It looks almost as if it was digitally generated. Some subtle cross-hatching marks are noticeable in the sky. The rest of the marks are hard to see (at least on this photograph). The tree trunks are drawn using very fine and gentle shading. Also, I think the irregular framing of the drawing is interesting, and makes it look like a book illustration.

Another imaginative drawing by this artist. The marks are more obvious than on the previous one. The marks are mostly very fine cross-hatching. Love the realistic look of the drapery!

This drawing is done with black ink and a dip pen on paper.

these are couple of close-up fragments that show the variety of marks used by the artist:

tiny lines of different length and direction, dots, and again a very fine cross-hatching.

Not my cup of tea...

this homework has been my least favorite. drawing with a stick is very annoying!

i hate drawing with sticks!!!!!! it's a torture!!! literally i never hated doing my drawing homework so much :(

PS: I must admit, that drawing with ink has been my favorite technique since i was a kid. but i've always used a dip pen. modern ink pens are cool too, but dip pen is the best!

PPS: i was tempted to use a dip pen for this homework, but i didn't, and that explains why I spent more than 8 hrs on it..

amazing discovery

This past week, as I was looking through books in the library trying to find black and white photographs, I came across a thin little book that was a collection of engravings by an artist Winslow Homer. Immediately, most of them were photo-copied! I liked them, because they looked realistic, and kind of illustrative and they were done in a technique that really appeals to me. They were mostly depictions of everyday life, different people's activities, beach themes that included boats, people on boats, water. All of them are going into my sketchbook, and I want to try to make master copies of them.

Well, yesterday I was driving past Brooks Museum and saw Winslow Homer's name on their exhibition advertisement! So I just went online and researched his name. He is apparently a very well-known artist, what is more he was a very prolific illustrator!! Again, maybe all of you have heard his name, but I'm still learning American art history :)

There is an exhibition of his engravings at the Brooks starting soon, I can't wait to go see it :

Winslow Homer: From Poetry to Fiction

October 29, 2010 - January 2, 2011

The evocative and beautiful wood engravings of Winslow Homer (1836-1910) captured American life in the decades before photography became the preferred medium for illustrating the news. Appearing in magazines such as Harper’s Weekly, his work offered a visual complement to stories of daily life, popular fiction, or major political events. The exhibition of 85 wood engravings includes a full range of Homer’s illustrations, from charming images of children at play or vacationers at the beach, to more somber depictions of soldiers on the front lines of the Civil War. Focusing on the early years of Homer’s career, it offers visitors a chance to experience the artist’s remarkably poignant and enduring images of life in the United States during the mid-1800s.

also, here are some of his engravings and woodcuts I found on the internet:

ink and rain

This morning, I tried to work on my landscape drawing. I was drawing a bridge in Overton park. I think it's the same one we saw on examples in class. I started by practicing in my sketchbook, and after about an hour I was still on the same sketch. I liked how it looked, but it took so much time! Just when I thought I was done with sketching, and thought that it's time to start on the big sheet of paper, my ink was knocked over by the wind and it spilled all over my sketchbook and my jeans... so I had to go and get new ink on Union Ave after I cleaned everything as much as I could. I wasn't upset about the clothes or sketchbook, I just hated to waste time on going back and forth.. So, when I got back to my spot and was ready to start, it started to rain... I waited, then went to the car, but it wouldn't stop..besides the light wasn't that great. so I took some pictures of the place, and I will come back tomorrow afternoon and try it again! hopefully, it doesn't rain!!

here is the location:

this is me sketching as the rain starts drizzling :)

my poor sketchbook

Drawing at night

I ended up putting this homework up until the last night before class.

Monday night, I left school at 11:30 pm after working on my other homework for the Ceramics class. Came home at midnight, started to draw around 12:40am, very very reluctantly.. what kept me going was hot tea and dark chocolate. I was literally falling asleep!

I drew the side door to our house. Every night, when I was coming home from school, and was walking towards it, I thought that I should draw it one day. I really liked how the little lamp by the kitchen door would cast soft light, creating interesting lines of shadows...

so anyway, I got it done by 3 am..wasn't sure if it was completely finished or not, and apparently it turned out pretty good :)