What Was, What Is, and That Which Shall Always Be III

       Eric commented on last week's teaser for the Golden Age of Illustration. Do you agree with him? Tell us why or why not. if you agree, direct us to some evidence of your opinion, as Eric did. If you disagree, show us some evidence to back up your stance. 


     In the meantime, read a bit about what is traditionally called the Golden Age of American Illustration. It all started with Howard Pyle. We looked at a couple of his students last time, Andrew Wyeth and Jessie Wilcox Smith. This time let's look at the guy who is considered the shining star of The Golden Age - Maxfield Parrish. 

     The guy lived almost a century- 1870 - 1966. Imagine seeing 100 years of art come and go in your life time? Crazy. He witnessed the whole of Modern Art History as we know it. He saw first hand all of the terrible and wonderful events in the world that spawned so many different movements in Western Art. But you know what the craziest thing of all is? He, as an illustrator, with a unique signature style, and an interest in fairy tales, mythology, and adventure stories- his art was kind of in a world of it's own through out all of that craziness that was going on in the world around him. That's not to say that he was out of touch, and an artist's work always reflects, in some way, the times in which he or she lives, but look at the work of Maxfield Parrish. You will find yourself transported into another world - a world of luminous color and light, of beauty and mystery.

Learn more about this awesome illustrator here:
http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/parrish.htm


See more of his work here:  
http://parrish.artpassions.net/


Tell us something you like about Maxfield Parrish's work, and how you might be able to use that something in your own work. 


That's what these great masters are here for you know. To teach us. Their lives may be interesting and their work a joy to view, but as students of the art of illustration it's not just enough to appreciate and admire- we need to USE them. Study. Borrow. Steal. They won't mind. 


Next- all of us who did a Google this past Friday know that it was the 100th anniversary of Mary Blair's birth. 

YES. HER.

     Now, I know what you're thinking- but so what if eyebrows weren't her strong suit. She was a master of color and design like no one else. She is most popular for her concept art that she did for Disney in the early 1900's. Her style can be seen directly in the movies that she worked on - Alice in Wonderland,Peter Pan, and Cinderella to name a few. But her influence continues to extend long after her death: many elements of her style have become part of the "look" of Disney that has remained constant through the generations. Her work is full of fun and color. It should come as no surprise that she had a very successful carreer as a children's book illustrator as well. 

See more of Blair's work here:

http://magicofmaryblair.com/mary-gallery.htm

     This week for our contemporary illustrators of note, we'll start with Gary Kelley. 

     Since the 1990's utill this very day, Kelley has been one of the most successful, popular, and prolific illustrators in America. HE IS THE GUY. Yes, the guy who I've been asking you about. The guy who did these:

    That's right folks - the aritst responsible for the murals above all of the cafes in all of the Barnes and Noble bookstores everywhere is Gary Kelley. His unique style (usually employed via chalk pastels) with its simple graphic elements of hard and soft edges, basic shapes, and intricate compositions, has graced everything from children's books, to editorial magazines, to product advertisements, to gallery walls all around the globe. He is a living master. I encourage you to study his work. 

See how Kelley works his way through an illustration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLbf4A0wyGM

And a whole lot more of his work:

http://www.garykelleyonline.com/

     Finally this week we have Natalie Ascencios, fine artist and illustrator. 

    It is a trend among painters working for print (which is the only basic diffrence between a so-called "Fine Artist" and so-called "Illustrator") to make their works with as little texture as possible, jsut for the ease of scaning and printing the image. Natalie Ascencios however, uses paint texture jsut as much as she does line and color. Notice her unique style, especially how it effects her portraits. Though very stylized and simplified, she can capture just enough of the person to make a convincing likeness. 

See more of Ascencios' work here:

http://www.ascencios.com/

Compare and Contrast

     As I said in class, I am vary impressed with how much all of you have improved your drawing skills over the course of 5 weeks. Below you will find a set of drawings from done by your classmates (all who attended last class, that is). The drawing on the left is from day 1, the drawing on the right is from day 5. There are some great things happening: 

     More consideration of how the full figure will fit on the page

     Great improvement in figure proportion 

     Much better sense of rhythm, gesture, and the oppositional balance of the 3 major masses 

     And most striking and impressive of all:

     On day 1 most of us approached drawing the figure with contour, with a focus on depicting surface anatomy with wavy lines that didn't give a good sense of balance or form. 

     By day 5 we all are using anatomical details to indicate where masses interlock and overlap one another, thereby creating what appears to be a complex form unified by balance, rhythm and gesture. 

     Now, instead of using contour to outline the masses of the figure,  you are using the interlocking and overlapping masses to create the countours of the body. 

     You are no longer copying surface details- you are now constructing the illusion of form from the inside out. And it is all based on your conceptualization of form. 

Take a look:

Amanda 

Milena 

Hannah

Vicki

Jahaira

Mel

Taylor

Molly

Lucretia

Eric 

Matt 

Chelsea 

     WOW. Many of our first figure drawings were tipping over or doing a bad impression of David Blaine levitating. You are now  creating the illustion of form with solidity and weight. Your study of Bridgeman, your work from other classes, and your individual drawings in your bottomless sketchbooks is really paying off. KEEP IT UP!

Simplicity

Beneath this post, you will find some helpful information for this week's homework.


I talk a lot about simplicity, and I want to set something striaght right now. There is a big difference between SIMPLE and SIMPLISTIC. Simplistic is when somebody dumbs something down for somebody else, because the one thinks that the other is too stupid to understand that which is presented. To be SIMPLISTIC with your work means that you think that everybody in the world is an idiot. And you will therefore present things (works of art or otherwise)in a tone that even a first grader of moderate intelligence would find demeaning.  


But SIMPLICITY- ah- that's something all together different. To be simple means to be clear, to be consice, to sift through the unnecesary stuff and go right to the heart of the matter. Simplicity is true understanding. To be simple means to be graceful, unpretensious, straightforward, and not use four values when only three are enough. To be simple is to take things in all of their sometimes dizzying complexity, and to present those things anew- in  a beautiful, orgainzed, clear way.    


All of the TRULY great artists, writers, musicians, scientests, and philosophers have taken very complex things and re-presented them to us in beautiful simplicity. It is, then, your job to do likewise.


"There is no genius without simplicity." - Leo Tolstoy

Museum Drawing Grading Criteria

In addition to the regular criteria (carefully study of shapes, good proportion, proper angles, correct scrunches and stretches) I will be looking for the following things when I go to grade you final museum drawings:

1. Shapes, Not Lines

No LINES separating one shape from another.

What NOT to do:

Look at the profile of the head. It is a light value, and so is the background- and there is a line seperating the two shapes. For our purposes: BAD BAD BAD. Even if the wall behind the statue was that light in the museum, FOR OUR PURPOSES it should be changed to a dark shape. THERE ARE NO LINES IN THE 3 DIMENSIONAL WORLD! Shapes are sererated by other shapes of lighter or darker values. 

So there should be only different VALUE SHAPES separating one shape from another.

What TO do:

Yes, that's a drawing.


It's a drawing from a sculpture that presents a light value against a strong black background. Compare the effect of this drawing to the effect of the drawing above. Strong value contrast makes all the difference. Imagine if this sculpture was drawn just as beautifully, but on a light gray background. It would still be beautiful- but not as bold and striking of a picture.  

2. Bold Value Pattern

Having too many shapes in the foreground and background of similiar values will make the image unclear and fragmented. 

What NOT to do:

The background is a scratchy mix of haphazardly placed values that span the entire spectrum from white to black. The bust has just as many values. This arrangement of value shapes makes for a fragmented image. 

Based on your photos from class, you each will have a very dark background and a relatively light figure, or a middle dark background with a relitavely lighter figure. We want the figure to appear as a whole, and as something wholly different from the background. 

What TO do:

Yes, that's a drawing. 

3. Keeping the lights to the lights and the shadows to the shadows. In other words- shadows side should be dark, light side should be light. In other words- you pictures shouldn’t look  all broken up and fragmented as far as light and shadow shapes go. There should be a clear distinction between the light side and the shadow side. KEEP IT SIMPLE! In other words: “The lightest dark should not be lighter than the darkest light.” Even if the reflected light on a form looks really light, you might have to subdue it a bit, to keep it unified with the rest f the shadow side. Even though there is a gradation of values from light to dark on form shadows, there still is a definite place where shadow stops and light begins. Keep them distinct.

What NOT to do:

It's a cool drawing, but for our purposes- It's BAD. You see? Its all fragmented, broken up into little shapes that make for a confused image with no distinct boundary between light and shadow. Sure we can tell which side the light was shining, but it would have been a much stronger drawing if the forms were kept more simple, keeping only light values on the light side, and dark values on the dark side. SIMPLE!

What TO do:

See the difference? This drawing has a definite direction of light- coming from the upper right. and even though there is a gradation of value that steadily get darker from right to left, there is a definite point where light stops and shadow begins. Look at it. see what I mean?


And these should all be done in BLACK CHARCOAL- no red, no sanguine, only BLACK. 

And remember to FILL IN THE ENTIRE PICTURE WITH CHARCOAL. All the way up to the edges of the paper. 

Not like this: 

But like this:

Or like this: 

Or like this:

N O W   G O   G E T   ' E M !

The Golden Age of Illustration

     This week we will hold off on our What was, What is, and That Which Always Shall Be. I’m waiting to give you anymore historical info at this point because I’m going to give you a History of American Illustration Aptitude Test this week. Incidentally, the acronym for a History of American Illustration Aptitude Test is HAIAT! Which is also the sound you make when you karate chop someone in the neck. But the test itself is not painful at all. It’s not even graded. I just want to get an idea of how much you know about the topic. But next time we'll have a post about the Golden Age of American Illustration. Did you know that we had one? Well, we did. Here is a picture by one of the most popular artists of the Golden Age. We’ll talk about him later.

Shadow Shapes on the Head

     When I looked at the 2 head drawings that you did for homework, I was looking for a good understanding of proportion based on the information given in class (2 points), and the ability to make a convincing representation of light and shadow on form through the use of form and cast shadows (2 points). You generally demonstrated a good understanding of proportion. 

     Here is a great resource for all of your head drawing needs: http://www.anticz.com/heads.htm

     Your shadow shapes could use some simplification and precision. Let’s take a look at a detail from a figure painting done (from life) by contemporary Classical Realist artist, Christina Grace Mastrangelo. She is an American, but she studied the techniques of the Old Masters in Florence for 3 years. The work that we're looking at is originally in color, but for the sake of simplicity, let’s just look at in grayscale. I am showing you this so that you can see how many values can define many planes:

     Look at the highlight on the forehead (the plane on the head that is lightest in value)- it is the plane that is perpendicular to the light source, and therefore receiving the greatest amount of light.

     Now look at the plane directly below the highlight- we can see that that plane turns under, thereby receiving less light.

Then we see that the planes beneath that turn up again, and they receive almost as much light as the highlight.

     Of course, as an observer, one does not have to analyze the picture plane by plane to see that this is a realistic depiction of a man's head, but it is good for us (as growing representational artists) to do a bit of analysis so as to understand how to better create the illusion of form in space effected by light.

     So there it is, different values of light creating form, as you did for your first head. 

     See more of Mastrangelo’s masterly work here: http://christinamastrangelo.com/

     The second head that we did for homework was meant to be the ultimate simplification of form. All you really need to give the illusion of form are a light side and a shadow side, and the proper edge control of the shadow shapes (soft edges for form shadows, hard edges for cast shadows). Look here:

     To get a clearer picture of what I’m talking about let’s look again notice how first the planes on the bridge of the nose turn away from the light gradually, creating a soft edge. ALL THE “SOFT EDGE” IS, IS A SERIES OF PLANES RECEIVING LESSER AND LESSER AMMOUNTS OF LIGHT. That nose CASTS a shadow on to that cheek, and the shadow it casts has a hard edge, because there are no planes turning away there, the shadow is just cast down- there it is- no if’s, and’s, or but’s about it. Then once again there is a form shadow, as the cheek also turns away from the light:

     Lets look at another example just to drive the point all the way home: the bulb of the nose, or the point of it, that sticks out the farthest- it has a soft edge as it turns into shadow, because there are a number of little planes there turning little by little away from the light. But then that nose is a form itself, that blocks the light from falling on the upper mustache area above the upper lip- it CASTS a shadow- bam! There it is- cast down- hard edge.

     So remember - everything you draw or paint, as smooth as it my appear- is just a arrangement of planes, large and broad, or small and subtle. Master the way that light effects those planes, and you will master light and shadow shapes.

     “You’re not painting a head. The head is just an excuse to paint the light.” – Andrew Loomis 

70 Figures II

     When grading you 70 figures, I looked for a complete assignment; a good understanding of the 3 basic shapes; of weight, rhythm, and balance; and of light and shadow on the forms. 

     Everyone did a nice job on this exercise; enjoy these fine examples:

     Every week for the rest of the semester, in addition to the week’s regular assignment, we are going to do 70 figure drawings from the imagination. I hope you are finding this to be a worthwhile exercise- because it is. The more you conceptualize the figure, into its basic shapes, balance, and rhythm, the better you will get at drawing the figure from real life. You will know what to look for “within” the live model. You will be drawing a conception of form, balance, and rhythm, rather than just copying what you see on the surface. Copying the surface results in stiff lifeless figures- it’s a conceptual understanding of the way the figure is built and the way it moves that gives drawings life. Continue to consider the 3 major masses (head, ribcage, and pelvis) the way they are in oppositional balance with one another, the rhythm that runs through upper forms, the leg that carries the weight of the upper forms, and the secondary leg that supports and balances. The arms are of secondary importance when building of the figure.