rmwillustration

The rmwillustration blog has moved!

2013-01-30T06:47:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks I've been very busy building a new website for my art and blog.

I'm going to continue blogging on http://www.willem-art.com/blog/

Hope to see you there!

This Week's head sketches #1

2013-01-25T04:43:00.003-08:00

To get better at drawing portraits, I have a sketchbook that I only use for drawing heads. I try to make one sketch-a-day. Here is a page with this week's sketches.

Drawing: Small Brook in a Garden

2013-01-23T08:51:00.001-08:00

Small Brook in a Garden

Charcoal on paper

This is another one of the drawings I made for the "Stenberg" series.

Gouache portrait painting

2013-01-21T06:45:00.003-08:00

I love illustrations from the 50's, and the artists from that time often used gouache paint.

After browsing through some old car magazines, I wanted to try and paint a portrait in gouache.

I always found the paint a little difficult to work with.
Oil paint stays wet much longer and that makes it easier to blend and to make soft edges.

For this illustration I used heavy canvas paper.

I had used gouache before on watercolor paper, but never really liked the results. The paper seemed to absorb the paint too much.

I'm not yet getting the smooth blends I'm after, but I feel that moving the quick drying paint around is easier on canvas paper.

Finding Inspiration

2013-01-18T03:03:00.001-08:00

While I usually don't wait for inspiration to come before I start drawing or painting, there's often a clear "aha" moment somewhere in the process.

When I create something -it can be song, a painting, a story- there has to be an idea, some kind of spark to get started.

Inspiration can come while I'm alone or in a room full of people. It can be anything really. Something somebody said, a look or pose, the branches of a tree, an abstract pattern.

When I'm lost for ideas, taking an "artistic break" from working always helps -especially when I've been struggling to get it right.

I like walking around the neighborhood with a camera, or driving around at night with a pile of CD's on the passengers seat (that's my old 1953 Buick there on the picture).

A break put things in perspective, I get a distance from the work and suddenly I know which direction to take.

From the sketchbook

2013-01-16T23:59:00.002-08:00

Some more sketches from "Drawing the Head and Hands" by Andrew Loomis:

Portrait Painting in black&white oil - PART II

2013-01-15T10:34:00.002-08:00

This is part II of my attempt to paint a black&white portrait as shown in the book "Creative Illustration" by Andrew Loomis.

In part I I finished the charcoal underdrawing. In this post I'll show some photo's of the beginning of the painting stage.

The black paint I used is a mixture of Ivory black (a blue and cool black) and Burnt Umber. I pre-mixed four values: An almost white gray, a light grey, a dark gray, and an almost black gray.

1. I started blocking in the darkest parts and the background.

2. Adding the whites and a light gray for the skin.

3. Adding more details on the hair and face.

I felt this was a critical moment in the painting, how to continue?
You can see how the painting turned out in the upcoming part III.

Drawing Grid in Photoshop Elements

2013-01-11T05:47:00.000-08:00

When drawing from photographs, I often make use of a drawing grid. When I copy my own sketches to a larger canvas I also find this the best way to go.

By drawing and not tracing, you keep training your eyes and improving your skills. Depending on the subject, sometimes a line through the middle and one across is enough to hold on to.

In Photoshop Elements it's easy to display different kinds of gridlines in the preferences window: Photoshop Elements -> Preferences -> Guides & Grid

You can switch the grid on and off from the view menu: View->Grid

To display a grid with a lines through the middle point and quarter points, select Gridline every: 50 percent and Subdivisions: 2

This shows a rectangular grid (depending on the size of the photo) with middle lines, and lines at quarter points:

To display a square grid choose a fixed measure, for example Gridline every: 2 Inches, subdivisions: 1, the grid looks like this:

I usually draw directly from the screen, with the laptop on my drawing table. When painting it would be more convenient to print out the image with grid, but so far I've not been able to print the picture and the grid from Photoshop Elements.

As a workaround I take a screenshot and print that out, but that's not ideal. If anybody knows how to print an image with visible grid lines directly from PSE, please let me know!

Van Gogh Drawings

2013-01-06T04:54:00.001-08:00

I found these two prints of van Gogh drawings in an used&antique store. I spotted them the moment I walked in the door. The drawings are professionally framed by O.M. Knudsen in Oslo.

On the back there are labels that say in Dutch and English:

Arenlezende Boerin, 1885, Woman Gleaning

Maaiende Boer, 1885, Peasant Reaping Corn

Drawing: Woman in Long Dress

2012-12-31T05:12:00.002-08:00

Woman walking in long dress

Black pencil on A3 Canson paper

Drawing: Cabin in the Woods

2012-12-28T10:14:00.001-08:00

Cabin in The Woods

Black prismacolor pencil on Canson paper

Illustration Friday: Glow

2012-12-23T06:12:00.003-08:00

Amidst all the christmas preparations, I made a quick illustration for this week's theme "Glow". This one is a bit of an experiment. I had fun painting it with ArtRage, a free digital painting program.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Plaster Cast Portrait Drawing

2012-12-22T04:16:00.000-08:00

I bought a small cast of a head in an antique shop to practice portrait drawing from life. It's nice to have a patient model and to be able to turn the head and light-source any way you want.

Portrait painting in black&white oil - PART I

2012-11-30T00:31:00.003-08:00

I'm a big fan of the art books by Andrew Loomis. Every time I read "Creative Illustration" I find something new and I often think: "Why didn't anyone show me this before?"

On page 116 he writes about a painting technique he calls the soft approach. Large tones are painted in directly and edges are softened immediately. After that details are added while the paint is wet.

I have drawn quite a few portraits in pencil and charcoal that turned out well, but I find portraits in color still difficult to do. Taking one step back to black and white paint is a good exercise.

This is the first of three blog posts of the painting in progress.

I started with copying the charcoal underdrawing on Canson Figueras oil paper. This paper has a linen-like surface and can be painted on with oil or acrylic without further preparation.

I made the drawing fairly quick. Looking back I found that it is essential to take the time to make an accurate drawing first. My aim was not to get a perfect likeness, but next time I will be more careful to get the proportions right. I always seem to have problems with the jaw line and had to correct this later on while painting. Checking the drawing in a mirror is something I should do more often.

Another problem came up while fixing the drawing. The paper doesn't absorb the fixative very well and the charcoal started running. I quickly laid the drawing on the floor to let it dry. Lesson learned: It's better to spray on three or more very light coatings than one.

Ready to start painting in the next part!

Tree drawing in black chalk

2012-11-10T07:17:00.001-08:00

A drawing of a tree in our garden. I thought I could enter it for this weeks illustration friday theme: tree.

Illustration Friday: Shy

2012-11-04T23:14:00.000-08:00

Halloween Witch

2012-10-29T07:37:00.001-07:00

For this week's illustration friday theme 'haunt'.
I started with a small sketch in one-point perspective:

After painting the shapes in photoshop, mostly with the polygonal lasso tool, I merged all shapes of similar color to one layer. So all the windows are on one layer, the moon+street on the next, the shadows of the building on another, and so on.

Then I stretched and moved these layers a little to obtain a screenprint-like effect.

Finally I added a paper texture and some scratches and dirt with various brushes.
A similar technique is used in my illustration 'lost'.

Concorde flying over city skyline

2012-10-21T02:33:00.000-07:00

Once when I was in London I heard an airplane flying low overhead. I looked up and saw the very distinctive silhouette of the Concorde. It must have been one of it's last flights; soon after this the Concorde was grounded.

As a guide to get the perspective of the buildings right, I studied drawings from the book "Perspective Made Easy" by Ernest R. Norling. He points out that the tops of all the buildings are made with square corners, but that it's not a hard and fast rule.

Swimming Illustration, 50's style

2012-10-14T10:02:00.000-07:00

For this week's illustration friday theme: water.

How To Make a Simple Reed Pen

2012-10-12T01:12:00.001-07:00

I like experimenting with different drawing techniques and materials for inspiration. Making a reed pen is fun, here's a quick and simple way.

All you need is:
1. a few pieces of reed, some kinds of reed or bamboo work better than others, experiment.
2. a hobby knife
3. black ink

1. First cut the reed in a shape like this.

2. Square off the end.

3. Carefully cut the split.

That's all. There are more advanced ways to make a reed pen, but this works. It does help to soak the reed in water for a while before cutting.

I like the variation in line width you can achieve. Here's a drawing I made with a reed pen:

Two Airplanes Flying in Formation

2012-10-07T03:17:00.002-07:00

Two airplanes flying in perfect "mirrored" formation. A comic drawing for this week's illustration friday theme "mirror". Sketched and colored in the free SketchbookExpress.

Website with 2012 paintings is now online

2012-10-06T03:28:00.003-07:00

Tuscan Village

Acrylic on Canvas

50 x 60 cm

This is a new series of abstract landscape paintings. Check it out at http://www.willemgallery.com/

Illustration Friday: Burst

2012-09-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

There's nothing more sad than a clown bursting into tears.
I started this illustration with a marker sketch. Then I tried a few color schemes in photoshop and ended up with a monochrome blue with a dark background.

Illustration Friday: Teacher

2012-08-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

This week I wanted to try a cartoon-like illustration. As always I started with a pencil sketch on paper. Then I used ArtRage Studio to add black outlines to the drawing. The coloring was done in Photoshop elements.

Inspiration from old newspapers

2012-08-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

Today, while re-decorating the house, I found out that our bathroom walls are insulated with newspaper! Old newspapers from the year 1966 and 1967.

I spent the whole afternoon sitting on the floor with a scissor, cutting out inspiring 'retro-style' advertisements and cartoons...