Day 13: Acrylic Picture Choice...

There isn't really much for me to post about today...rather than doing anything creative I watched Robin Hood...2.5hours of brain turn off if there ever were any! Still enjoyable though...!

Anyway one thing that has been rattling around today is that I have a space on a wall above a fireplace that I would like a picture for...I don't have one so I am going to paint one in acrylics.

I have painted with acrylics before...and have adapted a fairly simple and well developed style that I have seen in many galleries and pubs...it basically involves using 4 or 5 colours to depict shade...this usually means not mixing the paints at all...which is the bit that I am rubbish at...seem to get to brown just by touching one colour into another! I did a picture of Michael Jackson for my brother as a christmas present...he was a big fan...it came out ok...not the best I've ever done but it was instantly recognisable and gave the right affect. I stupidly don't have a photo of it to post here...the picture I have got was a commision from a friend that I did a couple of years ago...it'll give you an idea of what I am planning! 

I would like to do something similar to add a bit of colour...I have been reading A Louie Knight mystery called Don't Cry for me Aberystwyth...entertaining if a little strange...anyway it involves the story of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid quite heavily which reminded me of the movie...haven't watched it in years. There is a scene at the end of the movie where they are forced to meet their destiny and a bunch of bullets...it's a classic bit of cinema...and hence just what I want for a picture like this...something that is instantly recognisable (I grant you the one above isn't that!) with a lot of contrast in the picture...but that doesn't have too much going on to make the project a complete nightmare to produce.

The picture above is what I am planning on doing...it's probably 10-15 hours work...but it'll fly by with the radio on...will probably watch the film whilst painting it...I only have it on VHS so that will depend on if the VCR still works!!! Fingercrossed... 

Day 12: Italian Exchange

As I posted yesterday...I get asked to help with a lot of other peoples illustrations and I don't get much in return...one friend however is attempting to teach me Italian in return for help with Phd illustrations! I am quite up for it...I like learning...but languages really aren't my thing at all...the main issue is that it requires remembering an awful lot of information...mostly words and names...I find the names part difficult in english let alone in Italian.
Still I think I am making progress...slow but steady progress.
After the lesson we had dinner...fried asparagus and salmon with a cream and mustard sauce on penne...lovely! I'll do a recipe sheet at some point...another thing for the to-do list!

Day 11: Can you just...

One of the things I have come to expect and accept being an illustrator is that I am going to be asked to do various random favours...anyway this evenings efforts are in aid of a friend of mines masters...it took a couple of hours...and that is before I've done any ammendments! Doesn't leave me after work much time for myself but hey ho...friends are worth it.
This one is at least grateful...amazing how little thanks I get for my time sometimes. This is normally due to a lack of understanding of what they are asking to be done...or even more irritatingly...of how to explain what they want to be done! (This is worse because I have a stab at it...and then hear "Oh sorry that wasn't what I had in mind at all") It these ones that say "Can you just..." it's never as simple as that...never! You think Da Vinci had to put up with "Can you just..."?

Becoming an illustrator has really taken over my life...I didn't train to be an illustrator...I just got pushed into it...for which I will be forever grateful. It was so much not an artist at secondary school that wasn't allowed to take GCSE art...I didn't like writing the justification that went along with the picture....I just liked to draw...be creative...make things!

Day 10: P38 Lightning Stencil

Was away for the weekend...

Anyway I have finished my P38 Lightning Stencil. I have had to remove a few of the smaller islands that didn't contribute too much to the design. If you look at the previous P38 post you will also note a few other differences such as around the engines in the top part...this was almost how they were represented but on the other side of the image that I was taking the stencil from.

Some of the lines are possibly a little thin which might result in a little bleeding or in the card not being strong enough...I will give it a go and if they snap I'll have no choice but to thicken them a little.

Day 7: P38 Lightning Stencil

I really like the silhouette pictures that were given out during WWII to identify different planes from their shapes. I've not really considered why until this moment...they are a very simple but effective bit of illustration. They remind me of the drawing I had to do at secondary school of objects from 3 different sides. I recently found some of these on the internet and it struck me that they would make quite nice t-shirt stencils for a friend of mine who likes planes a whole lot more than I do...he is of the "polystyrene cement all over you fingers type" if you know what I mean...then you are probably one of those too!

As it will only be one colour I would like it to be a one part stencil...this means that there are no internal islands and that the stencil can be just one piece of card. So far I have redrawn this jpg in Illustrator ready for me to convert into a stencil. I've highlighted the islands in red. I have only drawn one side of the views from the front and bottom as these can be mirrored once I have sorted the islands out. Anyway it's been a long day so I am unlikely to finish this today...another ongoing project!

Day 6: Amarylis

My house mate was given some Amarylis by their girlfriend...they are such a beautiful shape that I couldn't help but draw them.

I don't just draw plants...but I do find them very varied, interesting and forgiving subjects when short of time...laziness on my part I guess...I'll try to find something solid and hard-lined for the next post!

Day 6: Instructables

I am a frequent visitor to http://www.instructables.com/. There is a fair bit of tat on here but every now and again there is something that is very clever and imaginative. Today for example I found this http://www.instructables.com/id/moresque-lampe/#step1

It is well explained what you have to do and the patterns are provided...very generous I'd have said to give away such hard work? the patterns are in PDF form...which means that I can import them into Adobe Illustrator and send them to print on the Graphtec robo cutter that I mentioned in an earlier post...only in card not ply...but still I suspect that it will when I find the time be very effective.