Highlights, Digital Painting, 748x768px, 7 January 2012
In the version on the right, I tried experimenting with a more sketchy, anime like style. I wanted to see if such a style would suit me better than my usual style which would belong to the one on the left.
With the one on the right, the bold outlines makes it look like a comic, at the same time providing more definition of the forms. The colours also seem to appear more vibrant due to its flatness and lack of blending. In a way, it is more stylised than my usual style.
However, the one on the left has more defined form, along with the highlights and shadows. There is also a shine in the hair.
Personally despite trying a new style, it is difficult for me to simply abandon my old tendencies, as I do not only find pleasure in viewing the final result of the artwork, I greatly enjoy the process as well. One of my favourite parts of drawing/colouring is in adding shadows and highlights to the subject matter, seemingly bringing it to life with each and every stroke.
Hence, in adopting such a style on the right, there is not much opportunities to shade or highlight. However I will not completely disregard it, under certain circumstances I may still adopt this style to suit, but for now I will probably stick with my current style.
Once again another artist from Deviantart. I do not know much information this artist, other than the fact that he/she is Japanese and I personally do think she's a she.
I came across this artist pretty early, say in Secondary Two when I was still developing my digital art skills. She provided a great source of inspiration for me. Even so, I tried as much as possible not to imitate her style too much, and rather, learn from it.
What I consider as a successful artist is when one embodies a distinctive style. This artist has done it.
The human figure - a subject matter that will probably never be unused in the aesthetic world has been portrayed by many artists before. It honestly is not easy to develop a unique personal style that can be easily identified. Even I myself have faced problems and difficulty in terms of developing a unique style of human form that solely belong to me.
This artist, Takenaka had successfully created her own style of drawing humans, it has made her artworks easier to spot and sets it apart from the others.
In her works, although she may not do detailed modelling as do some artists do, the forms, are still able to be presented well and suits the atmosphere in the artwork. Even the little areas where she does actually shade is strategically well done; such can only be an indication of her experience and capability as an artist. Clearly, she also likes to make use of patterns to give the images some texture and detail, in which case worked very well for her.
Below are some artworks I have done based on inspiration from tknk.
Geisha, Digital Painting, 700x1100px, 25 July 2010
Geisha 2, Digital Painting, 1520x2128, 10 December 2010
As seen, I have adopted the subject matter of Geishas, and not surprisingly it seemed that I had an obsession over it during a period of time. Similarly I juxtaposed many elements and trying to create intricate and detailed head pieces and hairdos for the Geishas. However, upon reflection now, the difference in levels is still jarring. It will probably be a long way to go before I can achieve such great standards.
Geisha 3, Pencil, edited with Photoshop, 1576x2299px, 19 July 2010 in pencil, edited in 30 May 2011
This piece however, didn't disappoint me quite so much. Perhaps it was the flexibility provided by the mechanical pencil, I seemed to be able to add even more intricate details easily. Furthermore, I sought to take reference from some Japanese prints paper that my Aunt got from me from Japan for the prints on the Kimono.
All in all, I hope to continue improving my drawing skills not only in terms of digital painting but perhaps I could brush up on my line art as well.
By chance, I cam across this exremely skilled artist on deviantart.com, a community of artists.
Her page is here : http://agnes-cecile.deviantart.com/
I was appalled by her unique artistic style in using arbitrary colours to present a representational forms of the human face, which I am fascinated in as well.
In her works, it is as if every stroke or spot contributed to the very composition and detail of the painting. The seemingly abstract washes and splatters of paint actually gives the viewer freedom to imagine or visualise it as different things such as flowers. This could perhaps draw some link to impressionism as the details are vague and could be interpreted as mere impressions. Since the paint do not seem to take up every inch of the paper, it could be seen to be not fully complete, contributing to the impressionistic style. Moreover, there seems to be a balance between the warm and cool colours that provide a suitable contrast that pleases the eye. Despite the odd use of colours, the forms do not look unrealistic or absurd, instead it gives the artworks a sense of intensity and emotion.
Another connection could be to surrealism as real humans are defnitely not coloured that way and in the third image it is impossible for a bird to be embedded within a person's head.
Apart from that, as shown in the video, the artist does not seem to bother with using a line-art, she simply starts painting and adding on, wowing us with her professionalism and experience. I truly to aspire to attain her level of capability.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work is highly unique. How would you describe this artwork to one of your peers? Use art specific vocabulary, as well as adjectives to answer.
CHRISTO AND JEANNE-CLAUDE
Wrapped Coast, Little Bay, Australia, 1968-69
Their works are not the ordinary type of art that can be exhibited in a Museum. To them the exhibition is the site itself as the works are site specific and thus hold greater significance and impact at that specific location itself. Moreover, Christo and Jeanne-Claude seems to be highly interested in manipulation of materials. They transformed everyday objects and juxtaposed them together in a certain way. An example is their methods of wrapping objects, in doing so it manipulates the fabric in the way that it takes on the form of the object below. Also, fabric is easily moved by the wind, hence their art breaks away from being 2D or 3D, it had reached a level of movement being part of the art itself.
In your own words, what is the subject matter of ‘Wrapped Coast’? What was the purpose of creating such a monumental work?
The subject matter of the 'Wrapped Coast' in my opinion is not only the coast itself, nor merely the fabric, the subject matter is both of them together, when the fabric drapes and falls over the peaks and dips in the coast, creating a fluid, soft effect. Furthermore the use of a solid colour fabric omits the rough textures of the coast, allowing us to focus only on the form of the coast. However, the work is not completely texture-less as the creases of the fabric adds a different form of texture that would otherwise not be present at the coast.
The purpose of creating such a monumental work is to leave an impression, while projecting the message of the frailty of art. This is because the more monumental it is the harder it is to preserve it. In this case, if the work was to be left there permanently, the fabric would eventually wear and tear from weathering conditions, destroying the image that was to be portrayed. In a temporal form, it makes the work more valuable as it is no longer there. What are left are photographs to prove its existence, capturing the prime of the artwork.
