Jason recently turned 18 years old. He has been with the Tuesday night adult class for about 5 years. His drawings just seem to pour out of him with no conscious thought. He loves to draw using sharpies. Which sometimes have drawbacks, especially because they have to be used selectively in order to get images to pop (larger shapes of value contrast).
Jason, look at the size of your hand’s compared to your head. Remember when you were trying to figure out this perspective a couple of years ago? No one believes the size difference (head to hands), This kind of foreshortening blows our mind. But it is easier to see in a photo like this. Wow, I wish we had thought at the time about taking a photo and then printing it in black and white. ( I remember I posed for you and you did a good job interpreting it) I didn’t bring a camera back and forth back then. That was before my knowledge or desire to Blog. To bad, it would have been a better solution.
Check out how the studio is too busy a background to see your hands clearly. Which makes me think about the importance of value contrast. Hey, this gives me an opportunity to have a little lesson. Above, is one of your recent drawings. It is captivating and over the top imaginative. It reads fairly clearly if you are up close to it. Everyone loves it and can hardly take their eyes off of it. Remember, all the people at the art show that were blown away by it? However, and this is the lesson, from even a short distance it is a bit confusing because nothing stands out clearly. I know we have spoke about this in class, but this example of your hands in the busy studio, might make it clearer and help a lot of other students. We all need to be reminded to use some value contrasts whenever we can, because it helps the viewer know what it is we are trying to say. However, sometimes if the artist wants to show the feeling of busyness or chaos or confusion then they would be on the right track handling it the way you did. It would be very effective!
I know it is very hard to use sharpies and get value changes. but you could use larger dark (black or dark blue) shapes against light shapes (white or yellow) to show contrast. Not to mention a larger quieter (less busy) shape will give the eye a place to rest. Below I have turned your painting into a black and white and I took a close-up of one of my Painting From the Heart pieces which used yellow and a dark blue background. The image of the bird pops! That’s because the bird is a solid light shape against a patterned dark shape.
It was a lot of work finding and figuring out how to make these black and white (Chuck is not home!). I am just learning and so everything is a bit challenging, but like everyone reading this, you all know learning anything new can be frustrating at times. But the payoff is worth it. I am really proud of myself and I hope all of you are helped by seeing these images. And thanks to Jason for allowing me to use his painting to teach with. Below is the color copy of the painting on the right, above. Notice the value (color, temperature and pattern) contrasts.
I love Jason’s eyes so I figured out how to crop one of the photo’s I had of him. Don’t they twinkle mischievously? That’s him, full of life! And lots of love, especially, for his mom. I would also like to mention that Jason works at the Salisbury Senior Center summers helping people with their computers and stuff. He is a good kid with limitless talent & potential.
I have just added Jason’s latest (last night)marker painting. His favorite colors at this time are red and green. Notice how he has included some quiet areas. Compare this to his painting above and notice the difference
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Here it is using the gray scale. Great job!
