More practising

Another exercise in Painter

Scribbles

I try to practise a little now in Painter. I don't like the idea of throwing all those scribbles away, but to save them all seems a bit overdone too. So I'll just post them every once in a while.

Yesiree!!!

I'm slowing getting used to the feeling of drawing with a 'mouse pen' on the computer, and I'm loosening up.

Old sketch upgraded

"Doormural"

My "doormural" is ALMOST finished..I'll post the final picture in a week or two.

Woeiiiiee!

Photoshop scribble

I now wonder if it would have been nicer to put one large drop of blood in the background, instead of these little ones?

Anatomy

Starting yesterday, today I finished copying my finest book on human-anatomy for artists..456 pages! Wow, I'm very contend, because it's been such a long time since I really sat down, and STUDIED anatomy. It was like a breath of fresh air to go over all these pages, full of muscles, and pictures covering the human body from almost any angle. I once photocopied my exemplar at home using the book I had borrowed from the library..I had never seen such a detailed and clear book written for artists on anatomy.
Unfortunately, I didn't copy the title of the book, but I know that it is written by Gottfried Bammes, a German artscholar. His own drawings are aesthetically speaking not top-notch, but they are very clear and precise. Alongside his own drawings, in the book their are dozens of sketches from artists from all over history and the text is accompanied by many photographs..it's the BEST book. On amazon.com, you can buy some of Gottfried Bammes books. I think this one most closely approximates my version: "Die Gestalt des Menschen" (Hardcover). See the accompanying picture. Never mind the text is German, because the pictures speak for themselves.

'Blogger pause'

It's late in the evening and I'm still working on a paper...so what you see here is my 'blogger pause'..

Today I watched a bit of the movie Casablanca (never seen it before..argh) and Ingrid Bergman seemed somehow so familiar to me..I didn't understand until I realized that she had a striking resemblance to Isabella Rosellini. I later found out Isabella is in fact the daughter of Ingrid. Here are their pictures (top is Ingrid Bergman) and you can really see how much they look alike.

On a further note..having only seen bits and pieces of the movie, I now understand the relevance of those famous taglines you hear in songs every now and then. Taglines like 'Here's looking at you kid!', 'Of all the gin-joints (...) she walks into mine!' or 'We'll always have Paris'. I always like those kind of quotes; when they originate in popular culture and become a common way of expressing feelings.

Fairytale sketches

Sketches for a fairytale project.

It's kinda strange..; on the one hand drawing these sketches is liberating, in the sense that it's devoid of all difficult elements drawing-wise (is that even a word?). One the other hand, drawing too much of these sketches makes me lazy and perhaps even forgetfull. If I were to draw 'below' the level of complexity I can handle at a certain point in my development, I bet in the long run it will lead to a decrease in quality of my pictures. So it's always necessary to draw your best, to always push the envelope and improve your work -and with that the sophistication and complexity of it.

(btw: it ofcourse requires a lot of energy to do so ;)

Gaspard Caderousse

I've recently read 'The Count of Monte Cristo'. Here's a scribble of Gaspard Caderousse; one of his loathed enemies.

My 'doormural' in progress...more to come!

More reallife practise..!

Two sketches I made today, of my niece and our cat. I coloured her in Painter.

Thumbnails

Thumbnails for a very large painting I'm doing right now for my studentsclub. It's a woman posing in a Mucha-like fiche frame. She's painted as large as a real-life person. When I'm finished I'll take a picture of her with me standing beside her.

Another video

Another video to fill up some space...(mind you, the background-music is a bit annoying)
It was sketched from a fashionmagazine.

QUIST

This photo was taken about a year ago, when I was on a weekend-gettaway with my dispuut "Quist". Within my studentsclub in Utrecht, the dispuut Quist is formed by 24 people with whom I have contact on a more regular basis. Every two weeks we come together and spend the Wednesday evenings; eating, talking, going out, laughing and having a great time! I really like them. By now I've collected many photograph of my dispuut, but this one I fancy alot; it has such great appeal!
(coincidentally it's also my first photo-appearance on my blog ;)

More reallife sketching

Man, I have to do this more often, because I find it difficult and I'm to much out of shape..! I hope to post more sketches from reallife in the next couple of weeks.

Playing with Photoshop

My father in his studio

Interiors

These last two days I've tried my hand at some interior sketching...quite difficult. And a lot of fun!

Bunch of sketches

Scribbles

These are some scribbles I made before I started working on an illustration. I like the simplicity of it!

Layout sketch

A quick sketch as a possibility for an illustration. It was made actually on two pages so I squeezed them together in PS

SERGIO MARTINEZ

GREAT NEWS!! Sergio Martinez has his own blog! See the link on the right. His art is very VERY beautiful.

Alec Severin again

I recently received a package over the mail from mr. Alban, the administrator of the Alec Severin website. Thank you very much! I hope you receive this message and here's a sketch mr. Severin once gave me..perhaps you like it.

doodles

Some doodles I made today of people around me. It's been quite a while since I last drew people from real-life. Much more difficult than from a photograph...I was a bit out of shape.

An old sketch of Scarlett Johanson and a nude.

Doodles

Doodles from a fashion-magazine. Great to do that again!:)

weirdo

It's a thrill to see yourself draw (!), but the whole process of recording is too elaborate for my taste. It actually gives me an uncomfortable feeling. So here's my last video...

Sketching from a fashion-magazine

One day I'll fly away

While still thinking of 'La Dame aux Camelias' I set out yesterday to go and watch 'Moulin Rouge' for the first time. I've read it's partly inspired by the book. Or if you ask me a great deal. I was very delighted to discover that Satine (Nicole Kidman) sings 'One day I'll fly away'. This song (which is in fact one of my all-time favourites) makes for me the movie especially valuable. Here's a memorysketch I just made of Satine and some musical scribbles of the song. Somehow for me it was extremely difficult to figure out which exact chords to use. The melody is somewhat melancholy and eery at the same time. It allowed me to put in many dissonants, and I always like that.

LA DAME AUX CAMÉLIAS

Today I read the whole book of 'La Dame aux Camélias', also known as 'Camille'. It doesn't happen to me often that I'm 'sucked' into the story. Instead of drawing all day -which was my intention in the first place- I was transported to the world of 19th century Paris. And in the end I just sobbed tears while reading the heartbreaking story of the love-affair between Marguerite Gautier and Armand Duval.
Perhaps one day I'll make a painting regarding the story and name it 'Marguerite'; a name I've come to appreciate very much.

Blue Too

Feeling blue

stuff

Some sketches of the prince I posted earlier on, and a quick illustration.

thumbnails

A week ago I asked a girl from an Alpha-course I'm following, if I could make a portrait of her. She said it was OK, and tomorrow I can shoot some pictures of her. But I totally forgot to work out some composition for the painting/photos!! These I drew just now, ...some of them taken from Sargent-paintings, others from the net or just from the imagination. I want to make it work, because it seldom happens to me that I can use a real model!

warming-up

A warming-up drawing I did yesterday (from a photograph), while preparing to do a caricature-like painting; hopefully very soon. It's drawn at my maximumspeed, but I like its spontaneity.

Garden of Ed(i)e(n)

With the weather today, my parent's garden was truly enchanted! It covers a large area of rockformations, old twisted treetrunks, little rivers and the most peculiar plantlife. Here are three shots I took today of a portion of it.

Fairytales#2

Another illustration for the 'fairytale' series I'm working on. As soon as possible, I'll post the link of the wonderfull website where the illustrations are used.