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This is part of a series of illustrations for the mini-project ‘Narcissus’ that I am going to produce. There’s a number of styles and techniques that are utterly new to me with this little project, so I’ll try to enumerate many of these details.

This digital painting was first started on December 4th, just three days ago, and took altogether 8 to 9 hours to complete. Looking back, 8 hours is a very long time to dwell on one painting! However, some processes justified it. Progress shots follow after the final version, shown first:

First of all, it was the first time that I’m learning to use Autodesk’s Sketchbook Pro. The workflow is highly intuitive, which certainly helps, because I believe that if it was another CGI painting program, I may take an even longer time to produce a piece like this. From concept to the final product, I used Sketchbook; I have had made no other sketches to help ferment this idea. Second, I was actively aiming to go with a different visual style: To translate my style of colourful realism to something that is more like a fashion editorial illustration. I went with a monochromatic drawing with bold, curvy shapes and used colour only on the eyes and lips to make them pop.


I had a hard time at first because her facial structure is still fairly fleshed out like a realistic figure, although her eyes are scaled larger.

I scaled back her chin to make the proportions look more otherworldly. In order to try to achieve a more fashion editorial look, I completely restricted myself from using any sources. I had an idea in mind – big curls and these daring, neon eyes – and I started playing with shapes. After about 4 tries of getting the hairdo just right, I started in on different values.

From the lines going across her right eye in the previous drawing, I had realized that her forehead was too high, almost as though the hair was floating above her head. Started developing some wispy bangs that were much smaller than the bouncy curls, kind of like the smaller, non-flight feathers of a bird.

I knew that, much beyond the dramatic hair, I had wanted to go with avant-garde make-up from the beginning. This was something that I haven’t ever explored before. The reasons behind this might become more apparent when I create more pieces for the ‘Narcissus’ series. I must’ve struggled two hours with the proper “look” of the make-up, so that I am not merely making pretty dark shadows with the blue in the previous process shot. I did this Mardi-Gras decor first, then had my six hours sleep, woke up and played with a more edgy, Eye of Horus inspiration. Finally, I have found the dark, fantastical couture that I was aiming to achieve.

 

Just my take on the glossy magazines, the glamour, the end of the night…

I have been doing a lot of sketches of different materials lately – marble, hardwood floors, now in the form of still life. I love this form of reconstructing and deconstructing paper through the pastiche of drawing. Execution took under 2 hours.

Progress shots and final for an interior architectural illustration, 2-point perspective. Graphite pencils. So far: 2B, F, HB, B2.


An illustration from a skeleton in life drawing class. I’ll leave it up to you to pursue the irony.

Chalk pastel, Bristol board (we were being thrifty. I’m not sure why).

 

 

In the summer of my grade 8, I made sure that if anyone was going to be stuffed in a locker, they would at least get stuffed inside a pretty box. Ergo, fantasy locker murals! Both took altogether 80 to 90 hours to complete painting. Inexpensive acrylic wall paints don’t give the brightest shades and layered blending at times, but it is fairly durable. The fantastical tunnel in ruins was especially fun to paint, though the chromatic dragon was much quicker to complete.

Dragon was sourced from Julie Bell’s fantastic fantasy paintings, which I’m ever an adroit fan of. I’m afraid I don’t remember the artist for the tunnel painting. Didn’t get paid for this because I was in grade 8, and the school puts so little in creative arts besides.


Here is a series of figurative drawings in varying styles and mediums.

First two were done with conte and pastels respectively, from live model, in 2006.

This one below was completed less than two weeks ago. It was drawn on capriciously beautiful textile recycled paper, which made the whole process very unforgiving, because any erasing would cause damage to the fibres. It also prevented me from layering as much as I tend to like to do, enabling me to only “mix” two colours much of the time. Thus, I chose bright tones that are close to the primary colours to generate flow and pop in the illustration.

The last two are hand drawings, using graphite and ink respectively.