Why life drawing is essential for any artist – even cartoons. Learning from a Manga artist.

Cartoons are a lesser art! Or so the general public, and art lovers in particular, would have you believe! And why bother studying to draw a figure, when any 4 year old can draw a cartoon? But is this really true?

Unless you are aware of the work put in by cartoonists, it can be difficult to see the merit of a simple drawing. And yet, any cartoonist will tell you… "Simple is much harder to do than complicated! Simple images betray even the slightest error. They magnify each little detail and broadcast ineptitude like a foghorn!

Complicated on the other hand, is sneaky and sly! Masking all those tiny little faults – and even some really big ones – under a blanket of fussiness! Yes, the faults are still there but our brains have to filter through the accumulated scribble. Know why artists use sketchy lines? It’s because the brain automatically filters out the erroneous ones and imposes the correct line.

Any serious cartoonist must do life drawing… or at least figure drawing –that’s the one where they wear clothes. That’s right, the cartoonist NEEDS to be able to draw REAL people. It’s true that a cartoon can defy the conventional laws of proportion but it’s not always the case. Understanding how a body works and moves helps to distil the essential lines required. When you know how everything should work, you are then free to break the rules to make the humour work! It is here where the skill of the cartoonist lies! Filtering out the detritus, paring an image to the bare bones!

Great cartoons are all about quality of line and very few of them at that! The old adage of practice makes perfect is especially true! Any cartoonist who’s been drawing a character over a number of years show’s visible improvement and stylisation! If you doubt me look at Gary Larson, Charles Shultz or Matt Goenig. Then compare their early work to their current output!

Last week I attended our Bafa Meeting where Emily Brady from Footloose comics showed how to draw figures with a view to creating fantasy characters. It was just such a chance to hone my skills!

Emily specialises in the Manga styles and she creates some wonderful action figures and ethereal beauties. Essentially a practical session, We were encouraged to work fast! Cartoons need to be drawn quickly! Because if you’re creating a comic for production you are on a tight timeframe. Emily informed us that her figures are always much better straight after she’s done a life drawing class!

So, how did I fare,

Oh dear! See what I mean about fussy lines! Covers a multitude of sins! What about the next attempt?

 

Mediocre, I’m out of practice!

Which is why I’m off to the life drawing class tomorrow night! Practice what you preach!

Art headlines – what’s in a painting’s title?

Think of Damian Hirst’s “For the love of God” the image may or may not come to mind of a skull studded with diamonds. Whatever you might think the artwork itself, the name provokes thought. I can’t claim to be a Damian Hirst fan myself but you have to admire his promotional skills. That art courts controversy is nothing new, but it’s that very controversy which catapults such artists into the media limelight, rightly or wrongly. Would it have evoked the same reaction had it been called “Diamond skull” or (my personal favourite) “Glitterball”? Quite possibly, but I think the nuances would have been very different. One suggests laziness whilst the other a crass indifference to death and mortality. It’s mocking in it’s implication. This is one piece where the title makes it an artwork, as well as voicing the thoughts of many who view it for the first time.

I’m not going to go into a debate about the value of these types of art at the moment – another day perhaps. Suffice it to say I am more concerned by someone buying this artwork than I am by the fact it was ever made. I question whether it’s really an original concept – I remember seeing gold skulls with emerald eyes as keyrings as a child and many other similar trinkets. But…another day!

Until recently I never bothered with titles but I’m increasingly seeing there importance. It’s hard with some pictures to come up with more than the visually obvious e.g. “Buckingham Old Gaol” It’s functional, it says what it is on the tin! Others evoke nostalgic memories “Ewan on a swing” or “Party balloons” But supposing I’d called them “Striving for the unobtainable” and “Essence of life”? Those titles make you think! Probably that I’ve finally lost the plot and I’m living in cloud cuckoo land, but THEY MAKE YOU THINK! Maybe that’s what defines a work of art from a painting? Help, I think I might be learning to appreciate Damian Hirst’s art?

Naaa, it’ll take more than that to convince me!

So, I will leave you with a semi abstract piece.

The real question is, what will be the title? “Naked Woman standing and stretching” or “Vulnerability?” I know what I think, but let’s leave it in the air for now!

More Barack Obama, this time a pencil sketch

I started the day determined to be far more productive than yesterday, a good night’s sleep always helps. The morning was so so but by the afternoon I was back on track. I used some self-levelling gel on my canvas abstract and spent ages using acrylic inks and a cocktail stick creating a lovely pattern in yellow, gold, silver, orange and red. As I was able to apply some texture to another area without touching the gel I decided to crack on. Everything was beginning to come together and I decided to take the colour over the edge of the canvas. That would have been fine had I not tilted the canvas to a 45 degree angle. I realised what I’d done quickly enough to prevent the entire gel ending up on the table, but not before the pattern had morphed into something else. I tweaked it as best I could but it’s not what it was, sigh. Note to self engage brain before and during painting. On arriving home Ewan couldn’t resist touching it so it now has added texture. Such a helpful boy!!!

Whilst waiting for Ewan to finish his swimming lesson, I managed a sketch of Barack Obama. It took slightly less than an hour. The skin tones are better than my last attempt so overall I’m a happy bunny.

This evening was life drawing class. My quick studies were much better than the detailed one today. Coincidentally I heard an interesting debate on Premier Christian radio about whether Christians should do life drawing. I’d never thought of it as an issue, but for some it apparently is! The topic came up this evening because the art school is moving to using a church hall and they want to continue to offer life drawing, but need to check permissions before they can make arrangements.

Life drawing

Last night’s life drawing class went really well, very warm, as usual. The model is normally very good and copes well with the various unflattering comments made by the tutor – admittedly about the drawing, not the model, but sometimes it’s hard to tell! However, last night, his comment that my drawing made her look like she had frogs legs resulted in a rapid change of pose. This is the revised pose. It went pretty well but I admit to neglecting the bottom right corner. (The photo’s very fuzzy so I’ll try re-photographing in natural light tomorrow –sorry if you’re looking before the switch. My lack of tripod is really frustrating sometimes. Actually I have a really good tripod, I’ve just lost the widget that attaches the camera to the tripod! I think Duck tape might be the option.)

Today has been very social with a few sketches and some more tweaking of websites and links. As I got back from dog walking the phone was ringing, did I want to meet 2 friend for coffee? That was hard – yes, of course! Got back at lunchtime and I started tweaking for a bit before doing some painting Then, just as was about to start on the “street skater”, another friend popped around and before we knew, it was school pickup time! Time flies, as they say! Still, there is still the evening left, I might have to get out the paints this evening…

Inspiring day!

After yesterday's non starter today was much better. Wednesdays is always an active day, relatively speaking where structured activity allows little time for portraits and caricatures. Not surprising that I didn't get much done until this evening's life drawing class. Not my best work but there are some good bits. This was a 20 minute sketch. It's a bit blotchy because I overdid the fixative.

I've also had some ideas for new pictures - all duly noted. I've learnt the had way that you should always write your ideas down when you have them, and still I get ideas in bed at night that I don't write down and now I can't remember what it was..gnash, gnash, gnash!!!

Life drawing class

The conspiracy continues... now Andrew's joining in- or should I say his employers are. The day was as hectic as expected but I managed to get to all meetings on time. I collected the dog complete with bandage and treatment regime. All working well so far...

I had a phone call at 4.30 from Andrew to say he would be working late. This evening was my first life drawing class and I had been really looking forward to it so was more that a bit disappointed - I think spitting bullets is the term! After one and a half hours frantic phoning around I finally arranged for someone to mind the children - she would have been my first choice but she's 30 weeks pregnant and I wanted to pursue other avenues first. (Thanks so much Tasha, if you're reading this - you're a star!) Anyway I packed the children off and arrived at the life drawing class about 2 minutes past 7pm. My initial sketches were so so but I think I was getting into my stride by this one.

It's a bit faint as it's a photograph of the drawing. This one was a twenty minute sketch - we had supposed to be doing 45 minutes but I wasn't happy with my first attempt at this pose. I think it's working well - wanted to work on it more though!

I think I might try some quick portraits before I head to bed!