This week I'm working on the sketch that you see here. It looks comic-booky you say? Well I hope so...I'll explain next time. It's a secret you see, I'm only telling you and the internet. shhhh, don't tell anyone.
Posted at 7:22 PM on Friday, January 23, 2004
Ok so back to Girl 4...I made the drawing of the woman for this piece knowing that she needed to fit on the 18x24 masonite board that I'd be using as backing. After doing some thumbnail sketches, I came up with the asymmetrical right-side layout for her position within the frame. I finished the drawing on the foamcore (as described in the Jan 2nd post) and her cut her free from the foamcore board.
I then laid the drawing on the masonite board where it will eventually be mounted and then traced its outline onto the gessoed board. Next, I started laying in whole tiles beginning in the upper left corner of the board, moving from left to right until I reached the outline of the drawing. I knew I wanted the tiles around her shape exactly, so that became the first real challenge of this project. I came up with a workable solution rather quickly and at this point I only have a few more tiles left to place. Here's how I'm fitting the tiles around the drawing...
I then got out a piece of vellum and traced the outline I had just made on the board onto the vellum and cut it out. I then taped the vellum cut-out onto the board so that when the vellum is "flipped" over onto the front of the board, it matches up with the outline on the masonite (remember the outline on the masonite marks where the drawing will permanently mounted to the board).
Now I lay in the a tile. When the position of a tile crosses over the outline on the board, I know it needs to be cut to accommodate the drawing. Leaving the whole tile laying on the board, I flip the vellum up over and onto the front of the board: the vellum cut-out is essentially a template. Using a black sharpie, I trace around the outside of the vellum template directly onto the tile. Using the sharpie line as my guide, I can cut the excess tile. Once it's cut I can then drop the tile into place around the drawing.
This project is: a TTH Studio Project – Girl Series: painting 4 of 5
Total time on this project: unknown
Ok so back to Girl 4...I made the drawing of the woman for this piece knowing that she needed to fit on the 18x24 masonite board that I'd be using as backing. After doing some thumbnail sketches, I came up with the asymmetrical right-side layout for her position within the frame. I finished the drawing on the foamcore (as described in the Jan 2nd post) and her cut her free from the foamcore board.
I then laid the drawing on the masonite board where it will eventually be mounted and then traced its outline onto the gessoed board. Next, I started laying in whole tiles beginning in the upper left corner of the board, moving from left to right until I reached the outline of the drawing. I knew I wanted the tiles around her shape exactly, so that became the first real challenge of this project. I came up with a workable solution rather quickly and at this point I only have a few more tiles left to place. Here's how I'm fitting the tiles around the drawing...
I then got out a piece of vellum and traced the outline I had just made on the board onto the vellum and cut it out. I then taped the vellum cut-out onto the board so that when the vellum is "flipped" over onto the front of the board, it matches up with the outline on the masonite (remember the outline on the masonite marks where the drawing will permanently mounted to the board).
Now I lay in the a tile. When the position of a tile crosses over the outline on the board, I know it needs to be cut to accommodate the drawing. Leaving the whole tile laying on the board, I flip the vellum up over and onto the front of the board: the vellum cut-out is essentially a template. Using a black sharpie, I trace around the outside of the vellum template directly onto the tile. Using the sharpie line as my guide, I can cut the excess tile. Once it's cut I can then drop the tile into place around the drawing.
This project is: a TTH Studio Project – Girl Series: painting 4 of 5
Total time on this project: unknown
Posted at 4:03 PM on Friday, January 16, 2004
I took a break from doing any art this week to set up the:
Tell.Tale.Heart Photoblog
Yeah, that's just what I needed right? Another "project"... I don't know why, but I felt compelled to do it. So there it is. Check it out occasionally and comment, too. I'll update it pretty often (I hope), but no schedule or anything. There's a link to it in the sidebar, too.
Tell.Tale.Heart Photoblog
Yeah, that's just what I needed right? Another "project"... I don't know why, but I felt compelled to do it. So there it is. Check it out occasionally and comment, too. I'll update it pretty often (I hope), but no schedule or anything. There's a link to it in the sidebar, too.
Posted at 11:23 PM on Thursday, January 08, 2004
Girl 4 is drawn on black foamcore. "Black foamcore?!" you say. Yep. The first (and most pragmatic reason) was so that her drawing would be equal to the height of the tile background around her. Yes, that's tile, the same type of tile that you'd find at any hardware / home improvement store. I chose black foamcore over white for two reasons: one) it's textured and two) I wanted the drawing (of the girl) to be black from the side without having to put a layer of paint on it (ie. I still wanted the bare substrate visible).
The foamcore was primed with gesso and left quite rough; you can see the gessoed back over on the right. The drawing was done with colored pencils on top of the gesso and then sealed with a gloss acrylic varnish. I like the idea of the rough textured drawing contrasting with the hard, slick, cold tile. The drawing overall is done with nearly all warm colors (although the 'underdrawing' / sketching which is still quite visible was done with violets and blues)- the tile is midnight blue.
The girl drawing is completely finished at this point, or purposely unfinished- perhaps that's a better way to explain it. I roughly and quickly applied some black acrylic to accent the contours of her jacket and reference the fill that's "missing."
Oh yeah, here's a link to the Bloody Mary Can Bar that I was working on awhile back.
Girl 4 is drawn on black foamcore. "Black foamcore?!" you say. Yep. The first (and most pragmatic reason) was so that her drawing would be equal to the height of the tile background around her. Yes, that's tile, the same type of tile that you'd find at any hardware / home improvement store. I chose black foamcore over white for two reasons: one) it's textured and two) I wanted the drawing (of the girl) to be black from the side without having to put a layer of paint on it (ie. I still wanted the bare substrate visible).
The foamcore was primed with gesso and left quite rough; you can see the gessoed back over on the right. The drawing was done with colored pencils on top of the gesso and then sealed with a gloss acrylic varnish. I like the idea of the rough textured drawing contrasting with the hard, slick, cold tile. The drawing overall is done with nearly all warm colors (although the 'underdrawing' / sketching which is still quite visible was done with violets and blues)- the tile is midnight blue.
The girl drawing is completely finished at this point, or purposely unfinished- perhaps that's a better way to explain it. I roughly and quickly applied some black acrylic to accent the contours of her jacket and reference the fill that's "missing."
Oh yeah, here's a link to the Bloody Mary Can Bar that I was working on awhile back.