Ler Huang
Taiwan based artist Ler Huang creates experimental drawings with using different coloured ballpoint pens. Her chosen subject matter is usually fashion illustration and female portraiture. Her art focuses on transitions in subjects and geometry usage in her compositions. The illustrated figures are quite realistic and I like how she uses an array of colour from her colour pallette. This elements would be useful to incorporate into my own drawings as I think it displays a sense of overlapping in time and transience.
Ler huang's work relates to my current project theme: Portraiture and Transience within Manchester. In the above illustration of hers, she has used the same image but duplicated it and transformed the size 3 times. The alignment of these drawings are positioned so that they are directly ontop of each other, just at different scales. I know this because I've noticed that the 'left' neck line emerges into one as if Huang used this place as her starting point to draw.
The colours she has used separates each portrait which adds to the idea over overlaying drawing and colour.
Above is a 15 minute quick sketch of mine, using the same techniques as Ler Huang. By doing this process of transitions of my subject matter, I've gained an awareness on how Ler Huang's overall pieces are executed. Although I have done this sketch quickly for practice, (unlike Huang's drawings that have been rendered with time and precision) I am quite pleased with using this technique and would like to develop my illustrations further. I feel that the roughness of my sketch portrays the individual's personal qualities which reflects on how I see the people in Manchester.
However, i'd like to try and draw faces in different overlapping compositions as I deliberately drew the eyes on this piece separated apart from each other so that the viewer could make a connection to the image. The eyes are an important part of portraiture so I wonder if I were to overlap the eyes, would it change the dyanmics of the drawing? If I were to improve my technique, I would spend more time on each sketch to achieve softer lines and marks, blended tonality and exquisite detail. Though as I mentioned before, I do like the rough lines as it suggests what my character is like as an individual and how I see people in Manchester in relation to their city.
Above: Another green pencil and black pencil portrait, to add to my collect of Mancunian portraits.
I met this lady, Gabby Mottershead, and I found her particularly interesting because she does a lot of charity work for her community and the people in Manchester. She is also very passionate about politics and regularly supports children in need and people with breast cancer. Gabby supports Green Party so it made sense to draw her in a lovely shade of green haha! Her abode is situated in the heart of Urmston, Manchester. I am going to ask each person that I draw why they love Manchester and collect all the information in a little booklet.
Ian Whadcock suggested that my illustrations might look a little more 'crisp' if I were to draw separate portraits and them layer them in Photoshop. "Ah" I said. Subconsciously I was aware that this infact would make more sense than drawing several overlapping portraits on one piece of paper. However, my underlying fear of Photoshop had prevented me from attempting to create any digital work during previous weeks. But here I am and it is time to learn something new.
Below are my individual portraits of people from Manchester which I will then do on to develop in Photoshop.
Rowan Thornhill: Student and Filmmaker in Manchester. Originally from York.
"Manchester has great universities and Media City is my ideal place of work as I'd like to pursue a career in the Film Industry."
Amie Benson: Works in a Beauty Salon in South Manchester.
"Manchester is home to one of the best shopping centres in the UK: The Trafford Centre. Shopping, fashion and beauty is my life and without all these wonderful places and shops in Manchester, I think I'd have to move somewhere else!"
Michael Lea: IT Technician at Turton School in North Manchester.
"Pubs, Clubs and great people."
Liam Mottershead: Law Graduate and part-time gadget man in Manchester.
"Everyone here loves music, celebrating or football. Or all three like me!"
Thanks to James Condon, he has taught me the most simple yet useful thing I could have ever learnt for my current project, which is how to overlay several images on Photoshop.
When it comes to Photoshop, I am pretty damn terrible, there is no denying that. Though I have learnt more Photoshop techniques within these past few weeks than I have within the whole year! Horraayy!!
Below are some of my first attempts to use Photoshop. Impressive.
As you can see here i've layered two individual sketches on Photoshop. I chose contrasting colours so that viewers can differentiate the two portraits. However, I am not so keen on the composition of my first attempt at layering portraits as the female portrait does not completely fit into the frame.
For a first attempt I am aware it is not perfect, however, in terms of delicate, soft lines and light tonality I am heading in the right direction. I'd like to achieve a well-blended transience illustration between two or more people and then to incorporate other ideas such as; people's personal thoughts and opinions/ funny things I hear during work.
My final outcome shall portray my personal relationships with the working people of Manchester.
Instead of using two different portraits, I decided to play around on Photoshop with the same image.
I've considered researching into 3D illustrations (3 Dimensional drawings on paper), though as this Unit is progressing, I am unsure that I will be able to incorporate the idea into my final outcome. However, I shall look into it as it is a technique that intrigues me.
I would have preferred to use this piece as my postcard for the unit X exhibition at Federation House as I think it is more refined than the previous postcard I have displayed on my blog. Here you can see that unlike my overlapped drawing of transitions, the eyes and faces are closer together which creates a psychedelic, repeated pattern of my original portrait.
CREATING 3D RED/CYAN ANAGLYPH DRAWINGS
Because I am looking at the transience between people and myself in Manchester, I thought it'd be an interesting idea to learn how to create a hand drawn anaglyphs as I like how viewers would have to interact with my work by wearing handmade 3D glasses. Furthermore, the idea of 3 dimensional images would relate/link in with my overlapped drawings.
Above is a 3D style illustration by an underground artist (Name unknown)which is inspiring me to think of different options I could undertake.
Here is one of my first attempts on Photoshop. I used a lasso tool to cut off the excess image on my portraits, however this was not a good approach as you can see because the portrait was not cut out along the outline.
Elisa Mazzone
Elisa Mazzone is a contemporary Illustrator who dances around a whimsical line between adulthood and childhood playtime. She is the creator of beautiful characters which communicate through their colour, shape, flowing line and embellishment. Born and raised in Austalia, her avid interest in all things beautiful grew and eventually she became the successor she is today. Mazzone has spent years working with people to create unique portraits and illustrations, weaving mediums together with allegorical needle and thread. Since her studio is now based in London, her work has enchanted audiences throughout the world, featuring in various exhibitions and working with well known clients such as; Company, Loreal, Amazon and many more.
White Paint works well on natural coloured paper.
Pastel colours and tones are used by Elisa Mazzone throughout some of her exhibition pieces. She uses these pastel colours as a backdrop for her portraits so that her concentrated portraits are highlighted by being a lighter colour or essentially they have been left blank. These portraits are then layered with watercolours to add detail and texture to the garments that her subjects are wearing.
Montse Bernal
Montse Bernal's portraits have graced the pages of salient magazines such as; The New Yorker, The Telegraph, Psychologies (UK) and many other significant spreads across the globe. She is one of my all time favourite Illustrators; overlapping mediums to create beautiful textures and patterns, she captivates viewers with her stunning portraits.
She was born in 1976 in Barcelona and now lives and works in Turin.
I've chosen Bernal's portraits as apart of my research because not only are do her illustrations possess contemporary qualities but like Elisa Mazzone, she too overlays materials such as watercolour, wool, thread, pencil, pen and digital edits which is relevant to my work.
Above: Commission created with pencil and weaving cotton through paper.
Above: Bernal's expressive portrait of Frida Kahlo
I love the intensity of the feminine colours used for this portrait because it reflects on Frida Kahlo's personality and portrays a strong, bold image. I like how Bernal has used Frida Kahlo's face as a focal point and the incredible realistic detail to convey a beautiful portrait. Monste has used small textured marks to suggest the texture of the material being worn by Frida Kahlo - I also like the way she has used white/blank spaces as a colour to highlight sections of the portrait as this increases the depth of the drawing making it hyper-realistic yet abstract at the same time.
Once again, Bernal has stitched and embroidered her drawing which complements the colours of Frida Kahlo's gown and is not overpowering the rest of the image. She has created a subtle contrast between abstract mark making and highly detailed shading which complement each other and makes a fantastic, contemporary sketch.
This illustration by Monste Bernal above relates to my current theme of overlaying materials and portraits to express captured moments in time.
The image above could be a reference to layout in the future when creating my final piece. I like the natural hue and realistic chiaroscuro qualities of the portraits.
John Stezaker
(1949-Present)
Stezaker is an English conceptual artist who attended the Slade School of Art in London, Graduating in Fine Art in 1973. His work is surreal and is often made by layering photographs and collaging pre-existing images such as postcards and film stills. Turning post-modern images into Pop Art/ popular culture. Stezaker is a major influence on the young British Art Movement.
Above: 'Old Mask IV' (2006)
(24.5 x 19.5cm)
I love how the arches of the building look like the open windows through the eyes into the soul. The collage suggests secrecy and possesses a hint of mystery as the person behind the photograph cannot be identified. The contrast of monochrome/greyscale tones and sepia tones creates a focal point and also highlights that the two photographs are separate pieces of art, vintage photographs.
Claire Pestaille
Claire Pestaille's work explores historical and contemporary iconography, examining the construction of femininity through the disruption of photographic imagery. Other-worldly and intricately delicate, her work portrays both beauty and horror, glamour and subversion. The key material for her work includes portraiture from the Golden Age of Hollywood incorporating film stills along with contemporary and vintage photography. These snapshot images create a sense of nostalgia and identity which are transformed and re-imagined through the act of photographic collage and painting. Pestaille creates her masterpieces by deconstructing an existing image and pairing it with another. Pestaille adopts a variety of methods in order to produce her work, which frequently possesses in-depth psychological qualities. Her work questions ideas behind the image and the viewer's relationship to it, offering an alternative way of seeing and understanding the collective memory of images that are apart our popular culture.
Pestaille lives and works in London, UK. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2000 and has since exhibited internationally. Her work is in private collections such as; The Saatchi Collection, Project New Art Netherlands and Soho House.
Physical collages - not digitally corrected.
Below I have manipulated my own photography in Photoshop to recreate whole new images entirely which exudes separate moments in time.
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