Saturday, May 10, 2014

Party Progress, Portraits and Other Pictures

I'm a little late with this week's post. I finished rendering for the figures in my long-gestating "Party of Two" project and was debating whether to hold off showing it off until next week when I would (ideally) have the whole thing finished. I decided that given how much time I devoted to the project this week alone, I may as well try and get a bit of feedback before jumping into the home stretch. 



Some of the bigger changes since last time include making the sky all black and replacing the tree with a street light to try  put more focus on the couple and make the space they're in seem more tranquil. 


Continuing my trend of drawing portraits from "talking head" interviews, here are two giants of science fiction television, Patrick Stewart and Rod Serling. 



Just for fun, I skimmed though the "Misc" folder in my inspiration files, drawing rough thumbnails of whatever struck me as the most interesting. I think this could make for an interesting exercise in brainstorming ideas if I were looking though a collection of pictures that had a consistent subject or artist.

Now I want to hear from you. What do you think of the things I share in these posts? What do you like the most and what would you like to see more?



6 comments:

  1. AH, the square headed girl on the bicycle. A classic of art class that I never mastered.

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    1. haha. I guess there is kind a rectilinear look to my figures.

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  2. Digging the "Party of Two". Though I must admit, I liked the backyard feel you had going. But I grew up in a more rural/suburbia atmosphere, so I'm sure I'ma a bit biased. Like the girls leg position too.

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    1. Thanks. Its still a backyard, but I thought the fence was too confining.

      Glad to hear the girl's leg meets you approval. I was worried it might make her look to shut off. My intent was to show that these two were both a bit cagey, after being hurt by previous relationships, but were warming up to one another as friends. Its a tough balance, and I wasn't sure how natural it would look, so your vote of confidence is very welcome.

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  3. I do like how its coming together!

    I have a question that springs from pure curiosity into how artists (or at least you, individually as an artist) work:

    Do you think this piece would have come out much different if you hadn't shared it on your blog and gotten feedback along the way? Do you have an image in your head still of what you first imagined? Or is this just a regular part of the process for you, getting other people's feedback to kind of get yourself on the outside of the project, looking in again? OR-or... Is this a new experiment for you, seeing how it changes what you're doing?

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    1. Thanks Derek. Wow. These are some great questions!

      I think I would have continued to pursue the project even if I hadn't gotten such great feedback, but those comments have been invaluable in keeping me going. I know this because I actually first had this idea about a year ago, were the initial sketches were very different and I ended up just passing on it after a while. See for yourself here: http://erikjohnsonillustrator.blogspot.com/2013/03/party-of-two-process-and-progress.html

      Posting the process shots is still kind of a new thing. Since the start of the year I've wanted to have weekly blog posts to try and gather new viewers, cultivate an interest in my work and show potential clients that I work on a pretty regular basis.

      Showing the original work in progress shots was a big hit when I first started and really built up anticipation. But now that I've been working on this for two months and not much else I'm really starting to wonder if I'll ever be able to finish with satisfactory results and am brainstorming about how I can re-elevate the way I work.

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