An artist and his muse

Jamal Ahmed is a successful Bangladeshi artist with 41 solo exhibitions to date. Pagla has been featuring in his work for many years now. With many artists you see a recurring subject, model or colour something they keep coming back to. Do you have one?

The reference for both these pieces have been taken by Anil Advani for his SoFoBoMo project and used with  permission.

Below I’ve tried a close crop of the digital painting made of Pagla. I’m not sure if it is better or worse.

Jamal 12″ X 18″ charcoal in my sketchbook.
Pagla digitally made using Art Rage 2.

Fake Dane’s Portrait

Read about Fake Dane’s request to Jana to make his portrait on the Every Day Matters Yahoo Group and off I went to Jana’s to check it out. She’d mentioned that there was an invite to join in. It looked tough and I thought that I’d give it a miss. But the thing about digests is that when the next person jumps on board you get to read about it again and then the next. I went and checked out the photo references on his blog. This time I decided to give it a go. Here’s my version. I’m writing asking for one in return and I hope he will oblige. Shall update this post when I hear from him.

Update: Mar 28, 2007 : I heard from Fake Dane earlier today and he liked my version too. Here’s the link to the post on his blog. He dabbles in photography, film and not drawing as so has decided to give making mine a miss He’s looking out for more so if you’re interested download one of his photo references from the links above and give it a go.

Quite a few people have asked me about these “digital scratchboards”.   I’ve put down my process below. I have to admit that I haven’t used a scratchboard IRL as I haven’t located one in the art shops here.

1. I’ve used Art Rage 2 to make this and the earlier digital scratchboards.

2. The first step was to create a template for the background. I used the roller tool set at 34%.   Black paint was applied with horizontal strokes overlapping slightly followed by similar vertical strokes.  This is the process I follow for applying gesso on canvas.

3. With this one I made a slight variation. After saving a copy with a new name I added another layer and made a rough sketch with a red marker tool.  This stood out very well against the black background and also would not interfere with the white lines I was going to erase.

4. I then went back to the original layer and used the eraser tool at 1% width to erase using the red lines as reference.

5. mistakes were filled in with the roller tool set at 1%.  the only problem was that it looked darker than the shade made with the larger roller tool.

6. for the background the eraser tool was changed to 8%.  In retrospect i think I would’ve liked the lines to be spaced out more.

Few thoughts for the next attempt.

to check out some scratchboard samples on the web to see how shading negatively is handled.

to draw out a value scale of 3 or 5 prior to starting the drawing.  this area could certainly take a lot of improving

to add another layer for making the background.

If you have any other suggestions or advice please do leave me a comment.

Another Scratchboard

Sujata, a friend from Delhi, has sent me some lino boards, cutters and ink and I’m thrilled.  Hoping to try out some print making soon.  Until then I’ve saved a digital template of a prepped scratchboard.   This was made from a photograph that I took yesterday.  And while it is incomplete, I like the effect – lines and all.

Yesterday, at around three in the afternoon, two friends and I drove along the road from Dhaka to Ashulia to look for our subjects.  We spent and enjoyable hour taking many photographs of quite an enthusiastic bunch of people.   We were surrounded at each spot fairly quickly.  Some even came forward and asked us to take their pictures.  They were all thrilled when they saw the results on our digital panels.  We made several stops.  You can see some of the photographs here and here.

Digital Scratchboard

Had some time on hand and did not want to do the painting exercise I’m meant to Decided to try out something new digitally. Made a scratchboard and erased out a friends portrait. Need to do a few more before I get the hang of reversing the lines.

Along with my art resolutions I’ve made a personal one to lose some weight.  I’m hoping to start walking a couple of times a week starting today. Wish me luck!

Digitally Done

Project Andrew Wyeth continues….  I just cannot seem to resist drawing Andew Wyeth from his photographs.  He has so many interesting lines on his face most of which i could not capture and so this is going to stay WIP until I learn a bit more on tackling lines and wrinkles.   The first one was made a couple of days back.

Made digitally with oils in Art Rage 2 .

T’is the season to be jolly….

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Made with Art Rage.

Trying to create transparency

Every once in a while, I try to draw something other than a face. Here’s tonights attempt, the brush holder on my desk. I have been shying away from attempting transparent objects and this time I decided to go for it. It certainly is a step in the right direction.

Added the real background using layers. It’s a bit too cluttered. Somewhere between the two would have applealed to me more.

Black Box Invention – It eats money

After hearing what my husband had to say and few other comments that I received, I realised that I had not expressed my thoughts adequately in the painting above. Not that I am any better with words but I would like to give it a try.

Background: Eleven years of work experience followed by six years of unemployment. Most of these out of choice. I realised that I did not want to go back. Four of the last 6 years has been spent looking for the one thing that would provide enjoyment and a little income. When over 2 years ago I rediscovered my love of drawing I decided that this had potential. Draw, paint and sculpt. Put in a couple of years and see if there was a possibility of earning some money. At least enough to cover the art supplies and book expenses.

It’s been well over two years now and of late this thought has been on my mind. Yesterday I saw it come out as a painting. The painting above started as an illustration for this weeks topic “invention” on Illustration Friday. Normally the drawings made for these challenges are single objects or standalones. Yesterday, I proceeded along the same lines with an idea of a box but I got lost in its making and it took a life of its own. I felt I had more to say and just the box on it own was not enough.

Invention: The black box eats a lot of money and occasionally spits out a painting. Some good, found hanging on my walls, and some bad on the floor. All still with me! And then there is me standing on the right with weighing scales in my hand to show that if I look back on the past two years, a lot of money has gone in for the few pieces that were made.

Wouldnt it be fantastic if the box could take my paintings and spit out some money? More and more, I want this interest of mine to support itself. I will take notice and consider steps to bring the scale to a more balanced level. And if the attempt is unsuccessful, I will look at part time and other options. Notice that there is no talk of giving up on painting

Here are a few sites that I’ll be looking to try – CafePress / Zazzle / Art.com. Etsy and ebay are not amongst these as I’m unsure of the effectiveness of the postal system here.

This piece is digital and has been made with Art Rage 2. Like the “Man with the Pipe“, I would like to make this in acrylic too.

Man with a cap

I’m having a problem with the portrait that I’m painting for a Portrait Swap. Went to WetCanvas! to look around and found the November Challenges thread in Painters Alley (digital forum). Here’s my attempt at drawing one of the references provided – the Man with a Cap.

There is a problem with likeness and I seem to make everybody without exception look much older than they are!! I know now that harsh and dark lines are the main reason and I’m trying to keep that in mind while drawing. I’m also trying to be concious of the the 3Dness of the subject so that makes one more addition to my list – practice shading to give an object form.

Digital.  Made with Corel Painter IX.5.  I’ve used various shades of Conte crayons.

David and Goliath

Both are from photo references. Both are WIPs. The first made with Art Rage and the second using Painter. My comfort level is plain to see. The first is a bit more finished as I was able to blend the layers with a brush and knife. I tried to do the same quite unsuccessfully with the later. I have since discovered the blending brushes in Painter and will try them soon.

The one clear advantage that I see for Art Rage over Painter is the ability to get on with your art and not having to keep changing types of brushes, layers and what not. I’m sure in the next 2 months I’ll understand and be able to use Painter more efficiently and will probably like it more. But I will still love Art Rage for how easy it is to use and how simple they’ve kept things so that you can immerse yourself in your painting and forget about the rest.

Below is my first scribble in Painter and another piece where I’ve tried the watercolor brushes that they offer. Definitely need to do some reading. And there’s quite a bit of that available on their website and for those who’re interested in trying it Corel offers a 60 day trial version.