Week 14: Artist Study

Hello hello!

So for week 14 we are returning to our group theme choices, and this week Su decided to take is in a more traditional route. When we were studying in college, we used to do a number of artist studies, where we would copy a piece of work by another artist to better understand their way of working.

I think it has been a really long time for all of us – but it was a great exercise and something we will keep on doing!

Su’s Piece

Materials: fineliners, Pro Marker, watercolor
Alphonse Mucha was one of the most important artists of the Art Nouveau movement. I love how his paintings have areas of flatness, texture and shadow, his use of line is sometimes precise and sometimes loose, he uses a lot of different techniques in individual paintings.
I was careful to use the right balance of 0.1mm, 0.5 and 1m lines, noting the outline he used around the model, ironically something my art teachers would always berate!
The thin lines of her facial features make her look dainty and fresh eyed while the thick lines for her hair make it look luscious.
I’d like to have used more of soft lines with grey watercolour to give it more of a 3 dimensional quality like the original. I found it quite a challenge to not add extra marks, shadows and texture, testament to the artist’s ability to illustrate with minimal line.

 

Vicki’s Piece

Materials: Chalk pastels

I chose a piece by one of my favourite Japanese artists, Yoshitomo Nara. I’ve loved his work since I was in college and have adored the simplicity of his work. His designs are bold but so expressive – using a variety of emotions. He has such a distinctive style and paints children to explore ideas of innocence, feelings and the world around us. He was one of the first artists that I discovered through Takashi Murakami’s “Superflat” movement – which explored a range of Japanese artists in the modern era using cute, non-traditional styles to create evocative artwork.

As it’s a little hard to get paints here in Japan, I tried to recreate the rough, textured feeling of his work by using chalk pastels. It also felt a little more childish, which really works well with the subject matter.

I haven’t worked with raw materials like this in a long time, so it was really refreshing!

 

Next week we will still be working on our own choices – so if you want to make a suggestion please leave a comment and we’ll work on it in the coming weeks!