Digital Work - Bullrider

While I've not been in the printmaking studio (other than to plant up our seedlings for the summer...), I've done a little bit more preparation for some printmaking in the future.

We used to attend the Williams Lake Stampede, but haven't been for a few years. I took lots of photos at the last two with the intention of turning them into something artistic at some point. I had done a few mixed media images from some of the photos: semi-blind contour sketches followed by watercolour monotype and coloured pencil crayons (if I manage to dig up one of those pieces, I'll take a photo and post at some point), but nothing much since. I hadn't decided how else to use the images, then the other day I thought maybe I'd try playing around with GIMP and my Wacom graphics tablet like I did with Murri, and see what came out of it.

So I started with a photo that I'd scanned a while ago, and cropped a little:

I tweaked the image so that it was then just greyscale:

Using a new layer and the Ink tool in GIMP, this is the first sketch:

While I was pretty happy with it, Dave & my cousin, Len, commented that they couldn't figure out where the bull ended and the rider started. I've highlighted the problem area here:

It seemed to them that the chaps of the rider were actually the back of the bull, and thus the leg disappeared and didn't "read" properly: it seemed like the rider was positioned side-saddle. We chatted about what I could do to improve the image, and we decided that as long as there was some kind of distinction between the back of the bull and the chaps of the rider, that it should probably work. Here is the second attempt:

While the leg still disappears to a certain extent, I'm thinking this will probably be it. I do like the composition better, and with a black & white simplification, you definitely can lose detail, but that's something that appeals to me, personally. Any comments or suggestions?

There will likely be more of these as I can take the time to do them; there's already another under way.

Happy Father's Day

Well, we're still waiting for Dave's father's day to be official, but pretty soon it'll be applicable... In the meantime, I did up this silly little digital illustration based on a conversation Dave & I had about carpet pythons - Dave naturally came up with a great play on words (he's very good at that), and this is the result.


As you can see from the long delay in posting, I've not been very creative artistically lately, and that hiatus shall continue for a considerable amount of time, I'm afraid, as I get thrown into the deep end of being a mom. However, I am super keen to get started on the print mosaic project when I'm able to sit and carve again (both physically feel like it and have the time and energy... that will definitely not be any time soon, though!). Hopefully, I'll feel like doing some more sketches in the interim, because I do still have lots of ideas. Anyway, we'll take it as it comes; my creativity will be directed at something a little different for a while, instead :)

Print Mosaic Project - Work in Progress #6

I've been out of town over the weekend; while I've not been idle sketch-wise, I've not had time to post up to the blog. So here are some further additions for the print mosaic project.

One more for the Algae collection:

Algae pattern #4

and some variations on the Tubeworms (although these look a lot more like shells):

Tubeworms pattern #2

Tubeworms pattern #3

Tubeworms pattern #5

This one being especially in the spirit of the Zentangle process:

Tubeworms pattern #4

Print Mosaic Project - Work in Progress #5

So another thing that I'm really enjoying about this process is that I was feeling kind of stifled in my typical style: I was literally interpreting an image into a print. While there's nothing wrong with that, and I really do enjoy puzzling out how to get from start to finish of a reduction cut, I was craving a more abstract approach, but couldn't quite figure out how to get there.

I often manage to combine the best of both worlds: realism with abstraction. But I wanted to somehow introduce simplification into that abstraction.

This project is enabling me to be a little more creative: I'm starting with a very literal interpretation and breaking it down into a simplified pattern, and even getting to play with that original pattern to achieve various results in differing values. From there, it'll be broken down even further as it gets deconstructed and reconfigured in the collage process.

That, and I'm just having a heck of a lot of fun!

Here's today's contribution to the print mosaic project (6"x6" ink on paper sketch):

Tubeworm pattern #1

There'll be quite a few riffs on this one, I can already see it... stay tuned!!

Print Mosaic Project - Work in Progress #4

One of the things that I'm finding really entertaining about this project so far is that the images that I've used as a start for the patterns I've created can be looked at in a lot of different ways. There are so many natural sources that those patterns could have come from. The "Aggregate Anemone" sketches could be based on stoma (under the leaves of plants), cactus, limpets, etc. The "Tortoise Shell" sketches also remind me of the Bungle Bungles, a huge geologic formation in Western Australia. These "Algae" sketches could be based on algae, lichen, coral, all sorts of wonderful natural patterns. So you decide what you see in the end result!

These are 6"x6" ink on paper sketches for the print mosaic project:

Algae pattern #1

Algae pattern #2

Algae pattern #3

Print Mosaic Project - Work in Progress #3

More sketches (6"x6" ink on paper) for the print mosaic project:

Tortoise Shell pattern #3

Aggregate Anemone pattern #1

Aggregate Anemone pattern #2

Aggregate Anemone pattern #3

Print Mosaic Project - Work in Progress #2

A couple more sketches (6"x6", ink on paper) for the print mosaic project:

Tortoise Shell pattern #1

Pussy Willow pattern

Tortoise Shell pattern #2

Work in Progress - First Sketches

Here are the first couple of sketches for the blocks that I'll use for my print mosaic project.

Bamboo pattern

Walnut Branches pattern

These are both ink on paper, 6"x6".

Zentangle #2

Here's the next one - this time using sepia ink.

Getting Invigorated

I have been introduced, thanks to Jill Elhert of StoneyGround Studio, to the process of Zentangle. If you've not heard of it, it's a great doodling technique; quite meditative and a really good way to engage the right-hemisphere, and to just get some marks made on paper, without feeling committed to the final result (and hence without getting stuck on the starting point).

I've been in quite a creative slump for months. Mostly I've been stuck because while I enjoy doing realistic work, I wanted to somehow incorporate more abstraction to my realism.

Thanks to the Zentangle, I think I've figured out a way to do so.

It's been percolating in my mind actually for at least a year: I somehow wanted to print and collage and get something out as a result.

The plan (and please bear with me, because it's going to take an awful lot of work to get to the point where I have a finished product):

1. Create multiple, uniform sized blocks that are each carved with a unique pattern (based in nature to start, but also I'd like to use man-made and geometric patterns).
2. Print off those blocks, either a full sheet of one block prints repeated, or combining blocks to fill up a full sheet.
3. Cut the prints into shapes and collage in a somewhat random, spontaneous manner, onto a canvas support.

Now, I can either leave it at that, just as interesting monochromatic print collages, presented either individually or in an array or mosaic, like tiles. Or, I can continue:

4. Add acrylic washes and brush work, maybe some texture work, still keeping it abstract, using colour themes for example, or playing somewhat with colour theory.

5. Or when I'm composing the collage, be deliberate and follow a specific composition (realistic or not), using the darker prints for the darker values, and lighter prints for lighter values, etc. Then add colour to build a painting on top of the collage, using the values created by the print collage to dictate the values of the final piece.

As you can see, there's a lot of opportunity for play and spontaneity. I'm hoping this will help give me something to work on, yet not get frustrated that I'm not "finishing" anything very fast.

I find patterns, either in nature or man-made, extremely compelling. I love the rhythm produced by repetition, and I love trying to make shapes more graphic in my work. I am quite looking forward to working on this project. Stay tuned; I'll continue to post my Zentangles as I work on them, just so you can see some of the process of thoughts and creativity behind the project, since it's going to take quite a lot to get a finished piece!

Some Sketches

Wow, have I ever been slack! Nope, practically no time spent in the studio for months. I do have a reason... more on that in a few months :) But I'm also shockingly lazy.

I did get a couple of semi-blind contour / colour sketches done a few weeks ago that I posted on Flickr but forgot to share here.

"Jars - Apple Slices"
(c) 2010 Amie Roman
Pen & ink with watercolour & pencil crayon

"Jars - Carrots"

(c) 2010 Amie Roman
Pen & ink with brush-tip felt pens

The brush-tip felt pens were really fun to use; I'd never really used them other than just "colouring book" sort of colour blocking. This sketch was done treating them more like watercolours - blending the colours while still wet. It was a lot of fun. I will have to do more like that (one of these days!).

Creativity in Craft

Remember my lovely little Wacom Bamboo graphics tablet? I'm still having fun with it (although less time spent on art lately than I'd like, sigh). Anyway, the little tablet has no protection when I travel back & forth with my computer, so I crocheted myself a Bamboo Pocket. See my post here for the details, but this is the end result:


WARNING: Christmas card spoiler - if you don't want to be surprised in your mail next month, read no further!!

Here's my latest creation - I don't have time this year to carve and hand print Christmas cards, so we're going with digital ones, based on a riff off this original digital sketch:

For those of you real digital artists out there, fear not, I realize this is quite amateur, but what the heck, I had fun. I would never call myself a digital artist (check out crackskullbob for an extremely talented selection of mostly digital illustrations); I just goof around with my tablet & GIMP. The real purpose ultimately is to create templates to carve for my relief printmaking, but sometimes it won't get that far. This is one of those times. Sorry for the cop-out this year, folks. Better luck next year.

Make It Small

Sometimes, the big picture is easy to capture and I sketch along happily. Other times, like last week, I can't seem to wrap my brain around perspective or proportions, and I have to make do with making it small. Dave & I spent a few hours of a hot sunny afternoon at the Cowichan Bay fishermen's warf, me sketching & photographing, Dave just looking around (which he enjoys doing and, bless him, he's got lots of patience for me when the inspiration to make art rarely rears its head).

Fishing Gear - pen sketch
© Amie Roman

Inspired by Dean Russell Thompson's recent exhibition of his "hidden landscapes" of machinery & industrial artifacts, I thought I'd focus in on some of the more interesting paraphernalia liberally strewn about the decks of the various fishing vessels.

Float - conté watermedia crayon on paper
© Amie Roman

I took heaps of photos, though, so I'm hoping to get at least a few prints eventually out of the trip. There were some great shapes & colours that would translate beautifully into block printing.

Theme & Variation

More graphic tablet entertainment! Here's the black & white version:

And a mosaic of colour versions (if you go to my Flickr account, you can see larger versions of each individual colour version, too. Vote for your favourite!):


Again, black & white:


Mosaic of colour:


Woo-hoo!! So much fun!! Gotta go back to work again tomorrow and have family visiting this week, so probably won't be playing again until later in the week or even next week. But I'm really getting such a charge out of this, and, apparently, am inspiring many of you to dust off your graphic tablets and give 'er a go - good on ya!

Addict

I am having way too much fun with this digital art stuff. Here are some more:



And a little colour:

Murri makes such good subject matter! And these are all from mediocre photos, they're good enough to use as a template for digital sketching, though. These are going to make some great relief prints!

Does anyone have any favourites?

Graphics Tablet Coolness

I splurged and invested in a Wacom Bamboo graphics tablet at the beginning of this year. I've been using it to play with GIMP, figuring out some of the bazillion things that can be done in that program. And is it ever fun. Allow me to demonstrate.

(BTW, please do not think that this is in any way, shape or form an exhaustive or excellent demonstration of the resources available with either of these tools, I'm just getting started and I've never used any kind of real image manipulation software before).

Start with this:


And then play a little bit with paths, feathering and gradient fills, add one ferry trip between Duke Point and Tsawassen, and Beginning GIMP, to get this:


While I think photo manipulation is fun, and I'm sure I'll do more at some point, I really wanted to be able to use these tools to draft ideas for printmaking, one way or another. I thought I'd try using a few of the tools I'd used in that exercise with this photo:


drew a path around Murri, copied & pasted into a new layer in another file (which I'd started with a black fill as background), then used the Ink tool to draw elements over top of the cut-out of Murri. I would hide the Murri cut-out layer intermittently to check my inking progress. It's quite a challenging tool, because it acts quite a lot like an old-fashioned cartridge or fountain pen in that if you're not careful, you'll blob ink everywhere! But the gorgeous variation in line thickness and shape, I just can't resist. I added a few gentle details using the regular Pen tool, too.


I went back to the first photo:


and did the same thing:

Then I thought I'd do a reverse of the colour scheme, black on white. So from this:


I got this:
Click on it for a larger view. I think it's my favourite so far.

One more:




Kind of similar to my earlier pen & ink Murri sketches on paper:



but much easier (especially as this photo Murri doesn't move around!)