Yo dawg, and welcome back. I’m really bad at introductions,
so I’m just going to jump right in with the #30in30for30 project. If you didn’t
read the original post, you didn’t miss too
much (although the entire description of this project is kiiiiiind of important if you want to know what the hell I’m talking about),
but if you want to play catch up and see one of the two better portraits of the
30 I’ve produced so far, click here and be super entertained!
But enough of that. Let’s just get cracking on the next day.
DAY FIVE: Completed March 16, 2014
Medium: Charcoal/Pastel
Hold on, Dorsey,
I’m sure you are saying to yourself. Wasn’t
day four on March 14th? Did you skip a day? You filthy slacker! You
suck! Well, to that I say yes. Yes I do suck. I took that Saturday off of
the 30 portrait project for two reasons: One, because I am a horrible person
and I can’t stop procrastinating, and two, because it was my birthday.
Okay, so you caught me, my birthday was actually the 16th,
but the 16th was a Sunday and come on NO ONE goes out on Sunday
night. So I had a nice celebration with my buddies on Saturday night, and tried
to avoid all mention of the portrait project. Then on Sunday I buckled down and
drew my third famous comic artist, an artist that you probably already know!
Not looking familiar? Maybe this’ll help.
Still no? Okay last chance.
THAT’S RIGHT IT’S TEX AVERY!
But on a really serious note, there’s not a lot of
excitement with how I applied the medium here. Working with charcoal and pastel
is a lot like working with pencils, just a little (read: a shit ton) more
messy. I also got a chance to practice blending, which is something I (as per
usual with this project) have not had the opportunity to do for a couple years.
If anything, the biggest challenge was finding something good to use for a
background. I didn’t want anything too crazy, but I wanted something that would
be a good contrast for Charles “Sparky” Schulz’s yellow shirt. I had already
done complimentary colors in day 3, so I had to choose something else. SO PULL
OUT YOUR COLOR WHEELS, KIDDIES. IT’S TIME FOR AN ART LESSON WITH DORSEY.
The lesson today is on split
complimentary colors. Look back up at that wheel and find the yellow color.
If you remember from the previous blog post, you’ll know that the complimentary
colors lie opposite each other on the color wheel, making the color compliment
to yellow purple (which us artsy folk call violet).
Makes sense, right? Well, split complimentary isn’t too much more
complicated…it’s just the main color (the yellow on Sparky’s shirt) and the the
two adjacent colors on either side of the compliment (red violet and blue
violet). So that’s what I did!
This was overall a pretty quick piece, but there’s still one
thing I feel I should mention. Like I said before, charcoal and pastel are both
a lot like pencil, only they get friggin’ EVERYWHERE. And that, unfortunately,
also applies when the materials are put onto the paper. If you aren’t careful
with either of these, instead of having a great work, you will find yourself
with more of a giant piece of work.
Fortunately, with the power of science(!), I managed to spray on an adhesive
fixative that keeps the material on the page, for the most part. I spray
constantly, and in the case of this portrait, I sprayed after I finished the
face, the shirt and arms, and then gave it a solid two coats after finishing it
up. Charcoal and pastel both can be pretty tedious at times, but when you do it
well, it’s totally worth it.
DAY SIX: Completed March 17, 2014
Medium: Colored Pencil/Ballpoint Pen
This is where things get fun. Earlier in the day (read: as I
wasn’t paying attention in class), I was trying to find a good medium that I
could meddle with, so I looked at a little pen doodle I did, when it hit me.
Colored pencil! As soon as I shaded in that little doodle, I
was eager to find my next subject. There was only one problem: I had to find the subject. So naturally, I posted
onto Facebook and Twitter, hoping I could get a volunteer or two.
I got about 40. Apparently my artwork is good??? Anyway, one
of the first people to respond was my friend Cody, who lives just across the
hall from me. I sat him down and sketched him up.
After that, he went back to reading his book and I ran off
to do some coloring. This color palette, while it ended up looking mostly complimentary, is actually a work
in cool/warm colors. So Cody, the subject, is a conglomeration of oranges,
yellows, and reds, while the background is a little blue, violet, and green.
They contrast beautifully, although this picture doesn’t quite show it that
well.
Overall, the mixture of mediums gets an A+. I kinda wish I
could have had more time to spend on it, but I don’t really have that time in
that project, so I grabbed my crayons and prepped for day seven.
DAY SEVEN: Completed March 18, 2014
Medium: Crayon
That’s right, you heard me. I did this sucker in crayon. Crayola crayon. To be fully honest, I actually wasn’t running out
of ideas at this time. In fact, I was super excited to do a piece in crayon.
The really fun part of this piece is that I really didn’t
want to draw it in the traditional “coloring book” style that five year olds
and college freshman color in. Maybe that’s the snooty and pretentious art
major in me, but regardless, here’s the thing about crayons. They’re basically
oil pastels only less oily. I figured that it’d be good to get the hang of
crayons before I even touched the oil pastels I bought for this project,
because I knew that would be a rough time. I also decided to try a split
complimentary thing again (I could do a couple repeats). So not only did I have
the challenge in working in inferior art supplies, I decided that I wanted to
use only three separate crayons.
Suprisingly, it turned out pretty neat.
DAY EIGHT: Completed March 19, 2014
Medium: Pastel
I completely spaced on taking pictures of the in-progress pictures,
so I’ll do that when I use pastels again (still got at least ten or so to go,
woohoo). This was kind of a struggle, as I had to not only work in an
unfamiliar medium, I had to work backwards in terms of shading. As you can
hopefully see, this portrait was on black paper, so instead of darkening in the
shadows, I had to darken in the highlights. I think I managed okay enough, but
I also am pretty proud that I managed to go about this portrait in an entirely
different way.
See, you can’t really tell in the picture, but I actually
did nothing in terms of plotting out the sketch. I just sat down with my friend
Sam and went to town. It was a matter of layering shapes down on the paper to
get a finished result, which is entirely why I’m pissed I didn’t take any
progress pictures, because it was a really cool and fun method and I’m
definitely kicking myself for not taking the pictures.
Sooooo next time? Heh…
DAY NINE: Completed March 20, 2014
Medium: Graphite/Pen/Watercolor
This is a prime example of me throwing things together on
paper and hoping for the best. Seemed somewhat fitting to do it on the portrait
of the Abraham Lincoln bust that we had to do.
I think I did okay, although painting watercolor over spray
fixative is kind of a bitch. You can kind of see where an interesting texture was left, if you look at the left side of the portrait closely enough. Also, although I like the composition, I don’t
think I’ll be mixing watercolor with graphite anytime soon, or at least not like this. The two together just look kind of ugly together, but that's just my opinion. Overall, I'm proud of this. Rarely (and you will see this next week) do I draw realistically, and it's even more of a rarity when I do it well.
AND SPEAKING OF NEXT WEEK: Days 10-Maybe 15, my sudden and inexplicable loss
of skill, and one of my all-time favorite portraits from the entire project!
And remember, if you want to catch up to where I am completely, be sure to check
out my Instagram account, @dorsilicous, and follow #30in30for30. Also, ignore the picture of me posing next to a snow-penis. I'm pretty sure that that picture has no real artistic merit, at least on my part.
Until next
week!
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