Mr. Magpie.

A new online gallery dedicated to the art of drawing has a different theme each month, which anyone can enter, for the chance to be exhibited on the website. Little Strokes Gallery had its first annual ink exhibition in April this year which I entered, and my work was shown for the exhibit.

http://www.littlestrokesgallery.com/

I love birds and I have always enjoyed drawing with black fine liner pens so I chose to draw a magpie, specifically for the exhibition, as the image would be in black ink on white paper.

As well as now being on the Little Strokes Gallery website forever more, (under past exhibits) Mr. Magpie also was spotted by The Hare Newspaper and can be seen in Issue 20.

http://www.theharenewspaper.co.uk/

Half Year Review Exhibition.

Prints of the Rain Drawings.

To find a way of using the rain drawings in my work, I photocopied them to draw over. The photocopies show the ink darker and thicker than the actual sketches, which I like. The photocopier picks up any dark areas easier than thin or pale lines, which means there is greater contrast between the two. This is most noticeable on the first tree I drew.



Rain Drawings.

During a tutorial, ideas were discussed about how to move my work on from being so 'controlled'. It was suggested I  go outside whilst its raining and draw trees and landscapes there. This was to explore a more natural and unexpected way of producing sketches. I went out with a sketchbook, stencil and fine liner and returned with a couple of quick sketches.

I like the mess of ink the stencil created, this was from the dry ink already on the stencil coming into contact with the rain. I also prefer the first sketch I did when it was raining a lot harder. This made it quite difficult to draw, and so the image is a lot paler and more smudged than the second tree.

As it gets colder, I plan on drawing whilst it's snowing too; the snowflakes will melt on the page and smudge the ink. However 'snow drawings' could also mean something entirely different. It could be drawing whilst it is snowing, drawing in the snow itself, drawing using snow, leaving a drawing in the snow to be smudged afterwards; there are many possibilities to experiment with.

Patrick Benson

Patrick Benson illustrated The Minpins by Roald Dahl. A short story for children, The Minpins is about a boy named Little Billy and his exploration of The Forest of Sin.

Benson studied classical drawing in Florence before becoming an illustrator, which seems evident in his drawings. The people he draws are proportionally correct and the landscapes are accurately detailed.

I like the detail of the shading in his drawings; short ink lines and scratches provide lively movement to the images which are illuminated by sunshine-dappled leaves and rays of light between the trees; created with effective paint washes.



http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/magicpencil/benson.html#

Quentin Blake and landscapes.

Quentin Blake has been illustrating for years. Although he studied English at Cambridge, it was drawing and painting which provided him with such a long-standing career. Born in 1932, his first drawings were published when he was only 16; he went on to draw for several magazines and became head of the illustration department at Royal College of Art for 8 years until 1986. However, he is most well known for his illustrations of various children's books, especially his collaboratively work with Roald Dahl. During the 1990s he became involved with exhibition curating in London and Paris, and has also written and illustrated his own books.

The media he uses is simple; a light box, watercolour paper, watercolour paints, waterproof black ink and dip pens. The images I've found for contextual research are of countryside or rural landscapes and trees. My own practise is looking at trees and woodlands, and my preferred choice of materials and media is paper, watercolours and black fine liner pens. Quentin Blake is a very appropriate artist for the contextualisation of my work. His images are more colour and paint orientated than mine and he draws people and figures more often than landscapes. Yet I find his landscapes intriguing; some may argue against their unrealistic characteristics and simplicity but I think the selective amounts of paint and ink and allowing parts of the white paper to show through, creates perfect light in the image.

The Mighty Book Of Boosh

All drawings and paintings are by Noel Fielding, taken from his personal sketchbooks and published within 'The Mighty Book of Boosh'. This book is awesome, I'm a fan of sketchbooks too.

The sketches and doodles all revolve around the planning of ideas for Fielding's TV show; 'The Mighty Boosh', a collaborative effort with Julian Barratt, Michael Fielding, Dave Brown and Richard Fulcher. Distracted by comedy whilst studying fine art, he imagines characters, scenes and stories with simple paint and felt tip images.

http://themightyboosh.co.uk/

http://www.hooliganartdealer.com/

Layered Images

These layered images are being fitted inside a box, with a small distance of a couple of centimetres between each piece of acetate. At the front of the box I made, the viewer is a small peephole from a door. This creates a fish-eye view which plays with the scale of the depth inside the box. The back of the box is open to allow light in, however as I develop this work I would like to create boxes which are entirely closed in and therefore must have lighting installed inside. The city is appropriate subject material, as cities light up in darkness and I think very small individual lights would recognise this. I would also try other materials, different papers for example, to experiment with the use of silhouettes.

Scale Project

Drawings.