How do I make one of these drawings?
First I take photographs.
When I get them downloaded and printed, I check to see if I can see all
the details. This last time, the Geezer
drove me down for a second turn around the block, and I got right “up close and
personal” with the building. There’s
always a lot of punting and in this one, I got the folks in the center window
out of scale with the other people. I’ll
punt to fix it.
When I began these drawings, I always drew the whole
storefront which includes things on either side, lots of sky, tall trees, and
few people. As this series of genre work
moved on, I got closer to the subjects and had a lot more fun doing them. I sold
85 of these things.
When I did “The Black” the first time, I did a long distance
view of it. The Black is home to
anything hippyish, comic books, hand done jewelry, lots of Patuli oil in the
air sort of place. And too, it’s a very
big store front. The first doodle was
boring. I got closer in the second
drawing and showed hippy’s dancing in the streets in front of the store. Less store to draw. By the time I got a third order for that
building, I was very tired of drawing The Black and coloring in a stone façade. This time I covered much of it with giant
kites in the OB Kite Parade. I refused
all other requests not telling them that I was going mad doing little stones on
the facade.
The drawings: First I
draw them in pencil then over the pencil lines in permanent ink. I used what I thought was permanent at the
beginning, but the ink faded. That’s a very
embarrassing thing for a pen and ink artist to say….and fix. Now I use guaranteed permanent ink. I erase the pencil lines and color in the
image with Prismacolor Pencils.
There’s really three kinds of colored pencils: clay based,
wax based, and a base that dissolves in water. Prismacolor pencils are wax base….the clay based
pencils are the best. I bought these
just before I learned there were better pencils in the late 1980’s. These cheerful colors go on easily, but over
the years the wax seeps to the surface and clouds the images. It’s called blooming. I’m still using them as I have them by the
box load and refuse to buy more till these are gone.
This one is starting to come along. Perhaps I will do stripes of blue in the sky
to wake folks up. Who knows what lives
inside the soul of one of these drawings.
Life is Really in the
Footnotes:
I thank you for this description. I am impressed with the technical details that you must follow. You sold 85...so impressed. Was this at the store itself? And you are beginning this process again after a hiatus? Attention to the detail of the products you use is so important and I admire that you do that. I am more a slap dash person and don't respect my customers enough!
ReplyDeleteI am truly amazed by your talent. I would so love such a drawing of my grandparents home but since the picture exists only in my mind my children can only guess about it from stories they've heard me tell. I certainly can't draw one.
ReplyDeleteWow! Mage, this is fabulous! You are such a talented artist. I am in awe of all you do.
ReplyDeleteFascinating. I love the techincal details behind art, especially the colors. Trying to remember the name of the artist who created the nighttime scene of the empty diner. Very famous. Was it Hopper?
ReplyDeleteYour desire to adjust your people in the diner windown made me think of him. Dianne
Oh thank you for posting your progress on the picture...it's really coming to life. I can understand that you would go crazy drawing the same subject over and over.
ReplyDeletePlease tell your husband that the word subrogation brings a smile to my face. I loved doing that too.
If you lived here, we'd try to convince you (Hubby's on the curriculum committee of our Osher Institute at the U) to do a sketching or painting class.
ReplyDeleteI wondered if you would post the video on how to cook corn in the microwave again? Or give me the link? Dianne
ReplyDelete