For this exercise I need to draw a cat or dog using any source for reference.
Susie Hamilton paints two life pictures of her beloved dogs from Hospital Rooms (digital Art school) YouTube. It is lovely watching her paint with such gusto and confidence. She is painting a Welsh Terrier (she refers to as her Teddy Bear Dog) in just 4 water colours explaining that all the colours relate well to one another. It is best to keep it simple with just few colours, and there is no need for a lot of equipment, just four brushes and some water & a square piece of paper. Cardboard can serve as a palette. After painting a broad background Susie dries and smooths down the paint with a kitchen towel. This is a tonal painting, mid tones are used for the ground/hillside and darker tones for the dog. Susie advises to look for the light and shadows. The light in a painting adds drama and illumination. She advises to find the basic shapes as bold statements and add the detail and any contrasting colour later . Susie likes contrast in marks which can be used with rags, brush ends, pencils, etc. and in fact she once used coffee for brown paint when she ran out of supplies !. She mentions the importance of foreshortening, making the front of the image larger than the back to add depth.
I have made note of the quote Susie provides ie from Matisse “you can exaggerate in the direction of truth”. I shall need to keep that in mind for this particular exercise.
11th September 2020 – Examples of Susie Hamilton’s work (added after course work four OCA Tutor feedback):- The feedback reminds that when discussing illustrators work, it is always good to show examples. These are portraits of Frankie whose photo Susie provided:-
Susie indicates the stages of her painting (1a, 1b, 2 and 3)
Susie adds further detail and colour to depict paw, ears, eyes and nose:-
And here is Susie’s completed picture of Frankie with additional detail as seen on the paws, around the eyes and a loving heart on his ear !
Now returning to coursework prior to feedback:-
For further inspiration here is work by Carmen Garcia Huerta (Spanish illustrator – born in Madrid in 1975) . This is digital pencil work interesting in that the designs relate to fabrics and furnishes to provide an image.
Although the image is easily recognisable as a Pekingese, you can clearly see how the fabric patterns have been put together to create the shapes . The tassel at the top left of the picture clearly indicates this is based on furnishings.
There is symmetry in the blue ears and attention is brought to the red eyes. The grey ring around the snout brings it forward. The frayed edges on the dog’s head and tiny little clips in the outline on either side of the “body” allow for fur and yet again also remind of the use of fabric. Further down the body the swirls are less symmetrical yet at the base the two upward curves can be identified as the dog’s legs.
In this photograph you can see the markings of symmetry in the dog’s head as compared to the rest of the body:-
For my picture I am selecting a puppy lying in the grass from a 2020 calendar. And then do a quick drawing as directed:-
This little puppy appears to be all ears and nose !
Then depict the image in five lines:-
From which I make a collage. The collage is made from images mostly of the great outdoors. A waterfall for the snout, ferns and mosses for fur and bristles. Fruit and sweetcorn from agricultural land, rocky ground. A flower pot makes a good eye. Perhaps this dog goes on walks to the shops for supplies so a shopping basket seems appropriate too:-
Now as a drawing this could be a dog having puppy dreams about walking or it could be giving its owner that pitiful pleading look deliberately intended to melt the heart asking “Can we go for a walk”-. so the sole of a shoe is the introduced element.
Looking at the completed image I am surprised at the difference from the original calendar photo in just five stages of design. I like the effect of the gentle humour encapsulated here which is so present in the personality of many pets and this is so beneficial. It makes me smile. The sweetcorn is a little distracting and if I were to repeat this exercise I would either omit it altogether or replace the curly dog ears with the sweetcorn as the wool is less imaginative and the sweetcorn ears would be more interesting.
So on that thought here is a simplified sketch with sweetcorn ears;-
And it seems worthwhile to provide a colourful version in watered acrylic paint with some detailed ink outlines:-
It does have that fresh sniffy outdoor ambiance so it has caught the personality of the puppy. I am glad I moved the sweetcorn to form the ears as this design is more comprehensible than the first drawing.
Further information (following coursework feedback):-
30th November 2020 I trial simplifying the design to develop a personality which hopefully is appealing :-
Heller, S & Wiedemann (Editors), (2019), The Illustrator (100 Best from around the World), Taschen. Koln.
Adelaide Art 