Kelvin Okafor art - The making of his hype real Adele portrait
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How does he do it?
That's the puzzling question anyone who sees one of celebrated artist Kelvin Okafor's incredible drawings asks themselves.
The 27-year-old Londoner's jaw-dropping portraits are made with black charcoal and pencils.
But they're so life-like it looks like his subjects have been photographed.
Here, in a video posted on Kelvin's YouTube channel, we get a fascinating insight into how he drew popstar Adele.
Watch as he turns a blank piece of paper into a stunning portrait of the Rolling in the Deep star.
You know what I find very interesting? I can’t draw to save my life,
but yet I’m a very good doodler. Don’t you think that’s ironic?’
Yes, Larry David, it’s somewhat ironic. And the star of Curb Your Enthusiasm isn’t the only one who has enjoyed a bit of doodling.
Leonardo da Vinci, Samuel Beckett, Mark Twain, John Keats and Sylvia
Plath all let their pencils and pens wander around the page, creating
all sorts of imagery when they might have been trying to concentrate on
something else.
However, there is evidence that doodling isn’t the result of an idle mind, but a keen one.
Numerous studies have been carried out in the past few years to get to the heart of what makes us doodle.
In 2009, research by Jackie Andrade, professor of psychology at
Plymouth University, showed that doodling increases our attention span
in meetings. The study made two sets of volunteers listen to a boring
phone message and then asked them questions about it. Those who had been
doodling had better powers of recollection.
Subsequent studies elsewhere have found doodling can help children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Doodling can also make great art. The most beautiful paintings aren’t
just conjured up out of nothing. They begin with a simple sketch.
But the appeal of doodling is that we all can do it, even if we are good at drawing or not. Just ask Larry David.
But were our teachers wrong? Were all those hours spent doodling away in geography class good for our brains after all?
Derbyshire-based artist Andrea Joseph puts doodles at the forefront of a lot of her work. She took up drawing seven years ago after a long break.
‘I always knew that drawing was the thing I was meant to be doing
with my life but somewhere along the way I forgot,’ she told Metro.
‘Even when I wasn’t drawing I was always doodling – playing around
with handwriting, text and doodles. I’d have the most decorative
shopping lists you could imagine.’
She agrees with studies which say doodling is not merely a case of zoning out.
‘Sometimes doodling can be paying a great deal of attention,’ she said.
‘Doodling through classes or meetings can often result in pages,
spreads or maps that have both illustrated the subject and stored it
away in our memory in a much more effective way than taking down notes.
‘Doodling is a way of developing creative ideas. I often find that my
preparatory doodles for a finished drawing are much more interesting
than the drawing itself.’
Next month sees the return of National Doodle Day,
run by charity Epilepsy Action. Now in its tenth year, the event asks
people to draw a doodle to raise money to support those with epilepsy.
Illustrator Neil Hanvey, from Manchester, is another keen doodler. He says anybody can do it.
‘You don’t need to be a great artist to doodle – you just need a little imagination.
‘I used to doodle on the back of bingo tickets, envelopes and anything I could get my hands on.
‘When I was young it was things like tanks, guns and sci-fi monsters.
Recently, I just doodle characters and just see where it takes me.
‘I zone out but that’s probably the appeal. I don’t have to
concentrate too much on what I’m drawing so I can let my imagination
take over.
‘For some people who never went to art school and spent years
learning about composition and colour, it’s definitely a way to get into
the art scene. It’s also cheap – everyone has access to a pen and
paper.’ Manchester artist Neil Hanvey is inspired by his own doodling (Picture: Neil Hanvey)
Mr Hanvey said doodling had become a credible part of the art world but that it also helps colleagues brainstorm.
‘For people in the creative industry, it’s definitely a productive past-time. It’s a good process for sharing ideas.’
He said doodling is about following your instinct.
‘Just draw what you want. If you’re planning it out or using a rubber then you’re doing it wrong.’
Miami-based illustrator and designer OKAT is the founder of art website Doodlers Anonymous, which has more than 9,000 members. Doodling is booming.
‘I would always daydream in class, so in order to focus I would
scribble in my notebook while listening to the teacher,’ said OKAT.
‘My attention span improved and I quickly got into the habit of
drawing out my ideas on paper. I never put the pen down after that.’
He said his love of doodling really took off when he was the creative director of an advertising and design agency.
‘I got fanatical about seeing a concept evolve on a napkin, on a
chalk board or in the margins of a creative brief. I started Doodlers
Anonymous to celebrate all of that.
‘Soon after, I got encouraging emails from folks everywhere with a
peek into their sketchbooks and daily post-it note doodles. Many were
from people that you’d normally not associate with a creative profession
and yet their sketchbooks and business meeting scribbles were just as
fascinating to me. Doodling like this can help us concentrate, studies show (Picture: OKAT)
‘I think looking through the pages of someone’s sketchbook is more
insightful and inspirational than seeing their final art on the walls of
a gallery. I appreciate the rough and the process more than anything
refined.’
He said the beauty of doodling was that ‘it’s an art form that
literally has no form and no specific medium or style that clearly
defines it’.
He added: ‘I don’t think there is any true formula to what makes a
good doodle. I’ve featured pages that look like they could hang in a
museum and others that were improvised on a random business card.’
Ms Joseph said: ‘I don’t know if there is an art to doodling. I see
it as a meditative practice. Like meditation, when doodling I
acknowledge my thoughts but try to go beyond thinking.’
People seem to get really scared when they're
asked to draw a human face. This is probably because
they're afraid that they won't be able to make the
drawing look like anybody. Sometimes, even if the person
feels that they can draw, they still don't think they
can draw people. It's not the person that's hard to
draw, it's the likeness that's hard to get. "Likeness"
is the quality of the drawing to "look like" the person
being drawn. Drawing a "generic" person who doesn't look
like anybody that is known is probably a piece of cake
for many people, but when they are asked to draw a
specific person, that's when they freeze up. Why are
likenesses so hard to achieve? I think it goes back to
the "logical" mind and its tendency to create "symbols".
The picture or "symbol" you have in your head of a human
nose doesn't look like the nose that you see on the face
of the person you need to draw. The eyes that you have
pictured in your head - the same eyes you draw when you
just "draw for fun" - don't look like the eyes of the
person you need to draw. So what you need to do when
drawing portraits, is the same thing you need to do when
drawing anything else: You need to lay your "symbols"
aside and draw what you REALLY see.
I think there are
three ideas that need to be understood in order to make
a decent portrait: Proportion and perspective, drawing
accurate contours, and creating accurate shading. We'll
look all three of these ideas in this drawing people
section.
A major consideration that comes into play in
drawing portraits is proportion and perspective. To
achieve a good likeness proportion is vital. If the
person's eyes are too close together, or if the mouth is
too large, the drawing will not look like the subject.
So to get correct proportions, you're going to have to
use your skill of measuring objects with your pencil.
You have to be really observant in your measurements,
too, because your own mind is going to really be
fighting you and trying to trick you. In portraiture you
really have to draw what you see, and trust the
measurements you take regardless of what your mind tells
you is "correct".
These lessons on portraiture are
going to concentrate heavily on proportion and
measurements and less on actual drawing technique, which
is covered in detail in DRAWING BASICS. I'm going to be
giving you some general guidelines on facial proportions
and typical measurements for the human form. All of
these guidelines are for typical or average faces. Since
no one is one hundred percent "average" or "typical",
the measurements you take for your drawings are going to
be slightly different than the ones I give here, but
these ideas will give you general rules about
proportions and measurements.
Singapore's premier art fair, Art Stage Singapore got its groove back in the third edition.
Drawing a record 40,500 visitors, up from 32,000 last year, the contemporary art fair, closed on all the right notes on Sunday.
The open layout, stronger works by Asian galleries, attention to
curation reflected in the healthy sales and generally happy faces.
The picture was quite different from the last edition, when fair
director Mr Lorenzo Rudolf left with a group of key collectors for a
tour of Indonesia hours before the fair closed.
We are taking a shortcut in the guidelines. Draw the hexagon housing
Misaki's face. Now draw the circle bisecting line and jaw guidelines.
See how far the larger Usui's guidelines are from Misaki. Now draw in
his circle bisecting lines, including eye, jaw, and shoulder lines.
Sketch them with a No. 2 pencil. Remember to do it lightly for easy
erasure.
STEP 2.
Lightly sketch in the blush lines on both faces. Draw in Usui'a eyes.
You don't have to leave spaces in the upper eyelid (you can erase them
later).
STEP 3.
Draw in both faces mouths and jawline. Make sure to include Usui's laughter tears, ears and spiked hair.
STEP 4.
Lightly sketch in her hair. Give a curve to the spiked hair. Observe how the hair frames her face.
STEP 5.
I wanted to add her headdress ruffles as a separate step so you can focus drawing it without distraction.
STEP 6.
Sketch in his spiked bangs and hair. Take your time to sketch the shapes.
STEP 7.
Anime is a whole new thing for me. I figured out this hexagon with the
pointer is like a cartoon dailog bubble identifying the speaker. So
Misaki is talking to Usui while he's lost it! It'll be easier to use a
ruler for the straight lines.
STEP 8.
Last but not least, sketch in his shoulders and chain.
STEP 9.
Your drawing may look like this or you might have your own version. At
this point, you can color in your picture with a medium of your choice
STEP 10.
Here is the basic color combination of Usui laughing out loud. shirt.
Following this step are tips on sketching/drawing anime faces.
STEP 11.
Here are Usui's different mood expressions. This shocked me because I
didn't know moods were expressed with different shapes and forms. The
first picture is the same Usui boyishly uninterested. The second top is
him feeling happy and boyish. Yep, he's sooo cute. The lower is him
mysterious (deeply shadowed upper face) and dangerous (notice--no
mouth). He's almost like in stealth mode. The last is a Chibi style
(distorted large head and eyes with tiny body of 2 heads tall)...
yeah... Usui did an Oops! He got in trouble with Misaki and she knocked
him totally out of the building. These characters being themselves are
complex and wonderful.
STEP 12.
Guess what? Since this is learning how to do anime faces, here's a
chance to draw Usui's expressions. These steps will be very short. Draw
one or all to your liking.
STEP 13.
Here's the guideline shortcut that includes Usui's expressions.
STEP 14.
Here's the line drawings for you to compare with. Enjoy!
STEP 15.
Now Misaki's expressions are featured. First picture is her natural
state--pretty girl. Yep, the second top is what Usui comes against and
anyone else she is about to devour! The third picture is her in shock.
I'm amazed how the blank blindfold look represents the emotions of
shame, embarrassment. Here is Misaki is angry, perturbed, and under
stress, represented by drops of sweat and that furious look--loving it!
STEP 16.
You have a chance to draw Misaki's expressions too. You can draw one or all, whichever you'd like.
STEP 17.
Here's the shortcut step. You might need to click on the picture to see it better.
STEP 18.
Here's Misaki's line drawings for you to compare with. Enjoy!
STEP 19.
These are some basic Anime Types (so many)...like what type of audience
it is made for. CHIBI-Japanese for small child. Head is larger than
body, and body is equal to head or smaller. Express crazy emotions, like
wavy arms, heart beating out of chest. SHOUJO/SHONEN-Romance, magic,
animals make this anime fitting for girls. Shoujo is pastel, soft, light
colors, like Kiachou wa Maid-Sama. Shonen is bright & bold colors,
features guys with spiked hair, like Dragonball Z or Naruto.
MECHA-features robots, machines, science fiction, and large scale
battles. GEKIGA-"dramatic pictures," is known as the dark drawing style
of the anime world. Gekiga is often bloody in its portrayal of the
everyday lives of ninjas and assassins. BISHOUNEN-Pretty boy! features
stylish men as the protagonists. The men have long hair, trendy clothes
and feminine facial features along with a slight build.
ANTHROMORPHIC-Anthromorphic anime is an anime style that features
animals with human characteristics. I'll leave MokonaFlower's quote on
all of this: "LoveTheNekos is so good she has her very own style. Moe
means "cute" in japanese, like kawaii. Shonen is manga for boys. Shoujo
is for girls!" For a more extensive look at anime styles, try this
website:
http://www.ehow.com/info_8040846_styles-anime-drawings-there.html
STEP 20.
Last but not least, I want to show you how great a pencil is. And you
can get these same effects with a regular No. 2 pencil. The first
picture shows how to hold your pencil for Overhand (great for writing
& details) and Underhand (great for shading large areas in wide
strokes). You can practice tone shading and take it a step further with
the Tone Exercise. I'm closing now. Let me know what you think of this
tutorial. I love hearing from you. Fav, comment, or click on "Love it,"
to show your support! Luv and hugs to you all!
The images you are seeing above and below are of one of the most detailed mazes
I have ever seen. It looks too complex for anything other than a
computer to have created, but it turns out it was drawn by a single man
over the course of seven years.
The maze was found by Japanese twitter user @Kay74.
She discovered the maze, most likely while searching through some
forgotten boxes at home, when she came across this large sheet of paper.
It’s A1 in size, so about 33 x 32 inches, and the entire sheet is
covered with intricate pathways.
It turns out this is the work of her father who created it about 30
years ago and then just stored it away for safe keeping. You’d think
he’s some kind of drawing specialist, or at least has a career that
explains why he’d take the time and effort to produce something so
detailed over the course of 7 years. That’s not the case, however.
@Kay74′s father works in the athletic’s department of a university. His job is as a janitor.
Since uncovering the maze and tweeting about it, @Kay74 has been
bombarded with requests to share it. Clearly there’s a lot of people out
there falling over themselves to try and figure out and solve this
super complex maze.
So far all she’s done is take pictures of the maze and created a
version she can have printed, which she has done on to clear plastic
film as well as paper.
It’s unclear whether the maze is solvable as even the father admits
he’s never made it all the way through. But surely he designed and drew
it with a way out?
I doubt we’ll be waiting long to find out the answer to that
question. Even if the maze isn’t solvable, it makes for a fantastic
piece of art and will surely appear for sale somewhere, even if it’s
just an Etsy shop. And the other good news? Apparently this isn’t the only maze. There’s another one we have yet to see.
via Spoon-Tamago and Kotaku
A drawing, which was so controversial it had to
be covered up, is now on full display at a library in New Jersey. So,
why would the Newark Library display an art work that depicts oral sex?
Because the piece, by renowned African-American artist Kara Walker,
is, like so much of her other work, an exploration of race, gender,
sexuality and violence. The title of the piece, "The moral arc of
history ideally bends towards justice but just as soon as not curves
back around toward barbarism, sadism, and unrestrained chaos,'' (a
reference to Martin Luther King's more optimistic quote "The Arc of the
Moral Universe Is Long, but It Bends Toward Justice") says as much. The
drawing is consistent with Walker's style and content, as Paul
Sternberger, an associate art history professor at Rutgers-Newark, explains:
"For
many years she has been exploring themes of race, gender and
oppression, often in a quasi-historical context... Often those themes
include violent and sexually charged imagery.... That's what she
does.... It's frightening."
The piece, which was
put up in November, depicts the era of Reconstruction and Jim Crow, and
contains violent imagery and images of the KKK. But the aspect that most
found so disturbing was that of a white man pushing the head of a naked
black woman, whose back is to us, into his groin. Kendell Willis, a
library services employee, recalls,
"I didn't notice it at first.... Then I looked up and was blown away."
Willis sent Library Director Wilma Grey an e-mail complaining about the
art work.
He wasn't the only one upset by it. His colleague
Sandra West, a library associate, said, "It can go back where it came
from.... I really don't like to see my people like this. We need to see
something uplifting and not demeaning."
Grey was surprised by the
negative response to the drawing, saying, "It evokes man's inherent
ability to be unkind to people.... It's meant to evoke some kind of
emotion that says all of these terrible things happened and that we
should not be complacent." A day after putting up the drawing, however,
West had it covered in fabric, out of respect for her staff.
Walker lamented the decision to conceal her artwork:
"I
am sorry that the staff is so put off by the work that they feel the
need to prevent others from seeing it and making their own call to look
or look away....I don't advocate any kind of censorship. The promise of
any artwork is that it can hold us, viewer and maker, in a conflicted or
contestable space, without real world injury or loss."
But
after more discussion, the library changed its mind and redisplayed the
drawing. Willis, who initially complained about the piece, explained,
"They said there are a lot of things in artwork we don't want to talk
about, and that made absolute sense." Scott London, a longtime art
collector who lent the drawing to the library applauds the library's
brave decision, saying,
"Libraries
have a view to the future; their custodians recognize that ideas that
may be unpopular today may have influence tomorrow.... It is reassuring
that the Newark Public Library chose to maintain and uphold this
principle by unshrouding and continuing to showcase Ms. Walker's
drawing. It was not the easy thing to do."
The
library has invited Walker to come and speak about the piece and has
posted a piece of paper below the drawing where viewers are encouraged
to write their thoughts and reactions.
http://jezebel.com/5977608/new-jersey-library-displays-drawing-of-oral-sex
1. Draw a vase and a beautiful arrangement of flowers
2. Draw a picture of the inside of your stomach and the food in it after a big meal
3. Draw your idea of Paradise
4.
5. If animals could draw, what would their artwork look like? Draw their
artwork. 6. Why are people afraid to visit cemeteries at night? Draw
it.
7. Draw a necktie and design an interesting pattern on it.
8. Draw a medal for yourself. It must be designed for the thing you do best.
9. Draw a city on another planet.
10. You are a toy designer; draw your new toy.
11. Draw a logo for a t.v. show.
12. Draw a picture of yourself the way you will look 20 years from now.
13. Draw a picture of the perfect garden for your house.
14. Draw a scene from your early childhood.
15. Draw a parade.
16. Draw your dog or cat.
17. Draw a picture of where you would like to fly to.
18. Draw a poster to advertise your favorite movie.
19. Draw a construction site.
20. Draw your view from an airplane window.
21. Draw a scene on another planet and include another kind of being.
22. Draw a picture of an ideal wedding ceremony.
23. Draw a picture of someone you would like to visit.
24. Draw what you think a garden would look like from the view of an insect. 25. Draw a sandcastle.
26. Draw a house built underground.
27. Draw what a spaceship commander would see on his video screen.
28. Draw a view under a magnifying glass (include the magnifying glass).
29. Draw the boat you would like to travel in around the world.
30. Draw a scientist’s top secret project.
31. Draw a new piece of sculpture for the museum’s sculpture garden.
32. Draw a picture of yourself if you grew flowers instead of hair.
33. An imaginative architect has changed the look of the skyline with an innovative new building; draw the building.
34. Draw a modern house which would still look good in a neighborhood with older houses.
35. Draw an idea that came into your head by thinking of food.
36. Draw an idea that came into your head through your ears.
37. Draw an idea that came into your head through your fingers.
38. Draw an idea that came into your head through your feet.
39. Take any one of the ideas you have already drawn and revise it – - redesign
Drawing Idea List
it.
40. Write a large number in the middle of a page. Turn it into a person/animal. 41. Make a design using your address.
42. Combine a plant and an animal to create a new life form.
43. Add a machine to a shape (square, circle, etc.) to create a new
invention. 44. Draw a picture. Cut your pictures into squares. Paste the
squares into a new design.
45. Draw a picture. Fold your picture into a fan. Cut little shapes out
of the fan (like cutting snowflakes). Open the picture up and glue onto a
second sheet. 46. Illustrate a famous saying/quotation.
47. Draw yourself in a mood.
48. Draw things that make noise and illustrate the sound.
49. Draw things that float.
50. Draw things with a flavor.
51. Draw your greatest fear.
52. Draw things that close.
53. Illustrate “the way things were”.
54. Draw the world from the point of view of a frog/toad.
55. Draw your own game board.
56. Draw a “how to” poster.
57. Draw yourself with wings.
58. Draw things that come from eggs.
59. Draw a comic strip with your own characters.
60. Draw your dream room.
61. Design an advertisement for yourself.
62. Design a new license plate for Kansas.
63. Illustrate words such as up, upside down, apart, crazy, sane…
64. Design new methods of transportation.
65. Design an ad for your favorite music.
66. Design a new map.
67. Create an imaginary alphabet.
68. Draw the internal organs of the body.
69. Design a costume for 2090.
70. Draw old-fashioned puppets.
71. Illustrate: If you were the tallest person in the world.
72. Draw a view of the jungle.
73. Draw a lost dog.
74. Draw the trail of an imaginary insect.
75. Draw how you would be if you were the last person on earth.
76. Design a new CD cover.
77. Draw yourself dressed in clothing from the 1970′s.
78. Draw your best friend.
79. Draw your birthday wish list.
Drawing Idea List
80. Draw an illuminated letter for your best friend. 81. Draw
yourself in the style of your favorite artist. 82. Draw your “dream
car”.
83. Draw a “fantasy” house.
84. Draw a bubble.
85. Draw a leaf.
86. Draw the sky.
87. Draw a mirror and all it reflects.
88. Draw your favorite animal with a human face. 89. Draw yourself as a robot.
90. Draw your favorite song.
91. Draw your favorite photograph.
92. Draw your favorite person (from life).
This entry was posted on Sunday, March 18th, 2012 at 8:18 pm and is filed under Illustrator Alley. You can leave a comment and follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Local artists to recreate Sittanavasal murals on canvas
Lotus ponds, elephants and dancers painted on caves more
than a millennium ago may make a re-appearance in drawing rooms of 21
century households, thanks to a team of city-based artists who have
taken up the task of recreating murals of Sittanavasal on canvas.
Sittanavasal,
a cave temple, was an abode for Jain saints, excavated around the
seventh century. The paintings here are regarded among the finest
examples of murals in caves and said to resemble the works in Ajanta and
Ellora. “When we talk about talk about cave paintings in India, we
immediately think of Ajanta and Ellora. But closer home we have
Sittanavasal, whose frescoes resemble the famous caves in Maharashtra,”
says Suresh, proprietor, Kalanjiyam, Tiruchi-based art gallery that is
sponsoring local artists to take up the project.
“The
monument has been the focus of maintenance and restoration only
recently. Many of these paintings have been vandalised by shepherds and
sundry visitors and only traces of some paintings remain,” rues artist
Village Mookaiya, who earned his sobriquet owing to rustic themes of his
paintings. The paintings have been done using vegetable dyes and
include lotus ponds, birds, women dancers.
“These
paintings are yet to come to light as few visit the site and photography
is not permitted,” says Kumar Shankar, an artist who reproduced three
works, exhibited at a city expo recently. Kumar along with the team
hopes to familiarise art lovers and households with the works of
antiquity. Around 30 paintings have been planned, according to Mr.
Mookaiya. Apart from recreating the murals, the team comprising four
Tiruchi-based artists would sketch the Jain stone beds and caves that
Sittanavasal is known for.
The paintings have been
done on acrylic as it dries faster than oil colours, said Kumar . “I did
a small pencil sketch on the spot and did the painting later. As the
paintings are barely visible, they can be recreated only by artistes who
have studied them and possess in-depth knowledge of anatomy and
techniques used,” says Mr. Kumar, a Kumbakonam Arts College graduate who
spent time researching the murals. The artistes have invested a touch
of imagination in the choice of colours.
“I was keen
on reproducing the murals on canvas but I did not have the opportunity
or backing to do so until Kalanjiyam offered support,” says Kumar,
underlining the necessity of support for local artist.
The race for Pep Guardiola's signature has well and truly begun. The former Barcelona manager
revealed he will return to management this summer after a year's
sabbatical, prompting Europe's biggest clubs into a scramble for his
services.
While
reports that Guardiola has agreed to manage Bayern Munich are wide of
the mark, meetings have taken place between both parties, with 'FC
Hollywood' ready to move mountains to land the man they think will take
them back to the top of Europe.
The 41-year-old could perhaps
link up with old Camp Nou colleagues Ferran Soriano and Txiki
Begiristain at Manchester City after revealing his wish to manage in the
Premier League.
Or he could be the man to finally take over the
reins at Manchester United, with Sir Alex Ferguson himself hinting the
Spaniard could be the man to fill his shoes.
Guardiola tries London, Manchester & Munich on for size
Google has just opened up
the 2013 Doodle 4 Google competition, and are currently accepting
submissions. This is the 6th year that Google has held the contest.
Each year, Google asks student aged K-12 to create their own Google
Doodle. The winners are broken into grade brackets, and national
finalists receive a small prize. The grand prize winner always receives
tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships, grants, and other cool
swag.
This year’s prompt is “My Best Day Ever…”
“The judging starts with Googlers and a panel of guest judges. This
year our judges include journalist and TV personality Katie Couric;
music maestro Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson of The Roots; Chris Sanders,
writer and director of Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon; and Pendleton Ward, creator of Adventure Time; among other great creative minds,” says Google.
On May 1st, once the state winners have been selected, the public vote will open. Winners will be announced on May 22nd.
The winner of this year’s contest will win a $30,000 college
scholarship, a $50,000 technology grant for their school, and will see
their doodle appear on the Google homepage for a day. Pretty sweet deal.
Below is last year’s winner; Second-grader Dylan Hoffman’s response to the “If I could travel in time I’d visit” theme.
Seven educators have returned to the studio to create work for Turning the Tables, says Tina O’Sullivan
TURNING
the Tables, at Cork Vision Centre, presents the work of seven art
educators. Usually, their job is to train the next generation of
artists, but for this exhibition they have gone back to their own
practices.
The seven are Evelyn Egan-Rainy, Declan O’Meara,
Mark Ewart, Daniel Sexton, Sandra Norris, Tracy Cronin and Zara McDaid.
Most of them paint, though Egan-Rainy works with thrown ceramic
vessels in two- and three-dimensional pieces, and O’Meara uses digital
media tools, such as Photoshop.
Ewart says the title of the
show plays on the shift from educator to artist. "It was a play on the
fact that we are normally teachers, but now we are turning the tables on
ourselves — we are going to be artists, just to see what it would be
like to play the game from a different angle."
Ewart had not
exhibited for two decades, so Sexton’s invitation was particularly
welcome. "In terms of sustained practice in the studio, it’s 20 years
since I’ve done it," he says. "It’s a bit of a shock to the system. It
was a bit nerve-wracking to realise that, at some point in the future,
you are going to be under the scrutiny of the people you are teaching.
"There’s this whole thing of being able to practise what you preach,
and prove that you can do the stuff yourself before you can teach other
people how to do it."
Ewart presents traditional, painted
landscapes alongside work constructed on the iPad. On entering the
studio, he considered the conceptual, but felt that landscape was at
the heart of his work.
"My interest in the landscape has been there for a long, long time," says Ewart.
"As a child, I had these images etched into my mind of landscapes and
skyscapes. One, in particular, that’s always stayed with me is when I
was walking over to my grandfather’s house when I was living in
Sunderland. The sun was setting, a great, big, flat sun in the sky, just
hovering over the horizon.
"Smoke was rising up from
vegetation that was being burned in the allotment. The way the
shimmering effect from the smoke and the heat in the fire was affecting
the colours in the sky, and the shape of the sun, stayed with me
forever.
"I think that was my first recollection of being
affected by the power of nature and the beauty of nature, and it has
just stayed with me ever since.
"To this day, I would look out
over the horizon when the sun is setting and have that quiet time,
being moved by the beauty of the colours and the stillness."
Ewart had doubts about returning to landscape painting. "You see
people doing conceptual work and intriguing, new media practices and you
think ‘are you a little bit old-fashioned and a little bit boring’?"
"But when I entered the studio over the summer, I decided, quite
quickly, that I had to remain true to what was important to me, to
things that move me as a visual person, so it was back to the skyscape
and back to the landscape," he says.
New technology means the
business of making and teaching art is rapidly evolving. Ewart says the
students are streets ahead of most of the teachers in their media-savvy
skills. But he has embraced the iPad as a tool and has used it to
create some of the work in this show.
"The beauty of the iPad
is that it’s so spontaneous: it’s portable, but it’s intuitive as well,"
says Ewart. "You can layer, you can experiment with brush sizes and
textures quite easily. What I found useful about it, as a creative tool,
was that when I was doing paintings and sketches, I would photograph
them, import them into the brushes programme, and layer on top and do my
own textures.
"So it was this dialogue between works-in-progress and images that were created from scratch.
"I liked that you could use the technology to support what you are doing or make something brand new."
*Turning the Tables runs at Cork Vision Centre until Jan 26
If
you're like me, then you can never have enough storage space. But as
much as I like to keep things, I also like to keep them out of sight. So
when you think you are out of storage space, start looking outside the
closet. One great unused space for storage is under the bed. In most
cases by using this space for extra storage, the only think you will be
displacing is dust bunnies. And the best thing to keep your belongings
safe from those pesky homeless dustbunnies is to use under bed storage drawers.
irls Who Draw are a small group of female
illustrators who collaborate in order to publish a limited edition
postcard book once a year. Each book is based on a different theme and
is accompanied by an exhibition.
Each illustrator has with their own unique visual language. Their
work is very diverse including slick digital graphics, quirky hand drawn
characters, and humerous sequential imagery.
The contributors so far:- Anke Weckmann, Gemma Correll, Karoline
Rerrie, Sarah Ray, Yee Ting Kuit, Jane Anderson aka Currentstate, Mary
Kilvert, Helen Entwisle, Kate Hindley, Ruth Green, Amy Timms, Michelle
Turton, Zoë Darnell, Clare Power (Bogus baby), Jess Bradley, Yee Ping
Kuit, Tanya Meditzky, Beth Morrison and Alys Paterson.
Follow our upadtes on Twitter
Hot off the presses, our NEW postcard book Magic is out now- see our links page for a list of stockists.
Here I am trying to show you
how to draw cartoons. I will try to make as simple as possible. Drawing
cartoons is very amusing. You will enjoy learning how to make figures.
And maybe, you will also discover a new talent in yourself. This
techniques can be applied on paper, but also in any digital photo
editing program such as Photoshop.
Eager to start drawing a cartoon?
But FIRST, you should practice these lines....take a large page
(newspapers are best for this practice), start drawing horizontal,
vertical and diagonal lines. Draw some curves.
Go on practicing the lines. After this you wont find yourself with
shaking hands while drawing the cartoons, and you will draw with
confidence and firmness of the lines.
So build your foundation solidly.
Step 2
We
will start with drawing the head. Most important thing to remember
while drawing a cartoon head is the shape of the head. Here I am
mentioning few important shapes.
1. Round head
2. Square head
3. Egg shaped
4. Pear shaped
5. Rectangle shaped
6. Glass shaped
So you can create complex cartoons from simple shapes.
Step 3
How to draw a cartoon head:
Some people think that cartoons are a way of getting out of drawing things right, but good cartoons are well drawn.
step 1. Draw the shape of the head. I am drawing circle. Add guidelines. This way you will get the anatomy right.
step 2. Draw the eyes.
step 3. nose
step 4. draw ears and mouth
step 5. Now add hair style
step 6. Not that one? May be this one?
Step 4
A
face can be looking up or down or anywhere. Guidelines are very helpful
to get the head facing in right direction. So first draw the head then
put guidelines. Then add eyes, nose, mouth.............etc.
Guidelines are for your help only. So draw them very lightly. You can aways erase them once you are done.
Step 5
Facial
expressions are an important channel of nonverbal communication.
Emotions are expressed mainly through the eyebrows and mouth
for example
Anger is denoted by drawing the eyebrows in a V-shape low over the eyes.
Ecstasy is shown by half closed eyes and a huge smile. To draw a scared
cartoon expression make the eyes wide. for a surprised face draw big
eyes and o-shaped mouth.
You can see some expressions drawn below.
Step 6
Here I have shown step by step process of drawing a cartoon head.
There are 3 heads, egg-shaped, pear-shaped and rectangle.
First draw the guidelines. Then you can draw eyes, lips, nose etc..........
Now make the outline of the head clearer and give it some hairstyle.
Step 7
Draw the movement of action for your cartoon. For this draw the guidelines.
Draw circles to get the shape of the body. Then draw the facial
expressions and the body. After all this, draw the clothes and other
accessories.
Step 8
Mouths is an important characteristic of a cartoon character. It changes the expressions.
You can always draw a mouth using a line or a circle.
Just try different style .Once you found the one that you like the most, practice and practice again until you get it done.
Here are some examples.
Step 9
A
person's thoughts can be ascertained by looking in his or her eyes.The
eyes are simply the most expressive part of funny cartoon faces, and
almost every emotion can be shown through the proper illustration of
eyes.
Here I have tried to capture a few expressions.
Step 10
Hands
First draw a circle, second step is add the thumb and then add fingers....Erase extra lines
Step 11
These hands are drawn with the same process described above...Its easy....just keep practicing .
Step 12
Using these simple steps, you can create your own cartoons.....
View gallery
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