Work In Progress
I started to talk with folks in the world about their tattoo's, malls, pubs, restaurants, wherever, I would just spark up a conversation and I would walk away with some wonderful stories. I have to admit, at first, approaching some of the biker dudes was a little tough but they always seemed to be the friendliest. Much like art every tattoo had a story to tell. From the world of goth to those same biker dudes I contemplated many types of drawings but none of them seemed original to me, there wasn't enough contrast, they all seemed to fall into one category, their own. I wanted my viewer to see my drawing and let them create their own story. It came to me one night while watching the Academy Awards with my wife. The look and feel of the red carpet that year was Classic Hollywood, The dresses and hair style's were from another period but the modern day Hollywood starlet was quite different. A lot of today's actresses have tattoo's and when some them came down the red carpet the contrast between classic Hollywood and full sleeve tattoo's was exactly what I was looking for. I love classic Hollywood photos, the George Hurrell photo's in particular I've always loved, the lighting and mood of his shoots are spectacular to say the least. That was it! Classic Hollywood with tattoo's! Elizabeth Taylor, Maureen O'Hara, Barbara Stanwyck with a full sleeve, Imagine that! My journey just took a turn and my creative juices was now flowing. I love to collaborate on art projects, to brainstorm with fellow artist's is wonderful, so many great idea's come out of those sessions. I started to share the tattoo idea with a professional photographer friend of mine. (Cross photography,see link above) We started to brainstorm ideas and what I was trying to achieve, he fully understood what lighting i was after and gave me some great resources for finding a model for the project. I cannot tell you how many model portfolio's I looked at, endless amount, Classic Hollywood with tattoo's.... Yeah... slim and none on that front. I was patient, I had to believe the perfect girl would come my way, she did. I remember looking at Shellie's port for the first time, her name jumped right out at me, "Miss Shellie Minx." Loved it! It didn't take me long to realize that this girl had exactly the look I was aiming for, but could she sell it? It's one thing to play a part and it looks played, it's another thing to fully understand the part and present it from the inside out. It took one initial encounter and my search was over, I had found my drawing in the flesh. Shellie I have found to be an amazing soul, very passionate about her life and her work, it means something to her, she wants the best for you and she brings her best, amazingly prepared to bring what ever is needed for success. I asked her to give me 3 stages of a Starlet's career, The A list, the struggle to stay on top, and the crash of a movie star. we shot around 800 frames and Shellie worked very hard to get every frame just right. Great photographer, great model, no worries! The shoot was nothing short of amazing, what a wonderful day of creativity. With the help of some great people I now have all the tools in my hand to go to my old friend, my drawing table. Let's begin the work in progress. About the art:
Progress step one.
I always draw everything to about 90% and then do the final push to completion at the end. In this first WIP post I am basically laying down base tone. If I draw these areas to completion I may find as I draw other areas around this, that I've pushed it too far. So when I say I draw to 90% this means I will go back and bring the drawing to completion so I stay totally in balance. Progress step two
In this second update... all I can say is, HAIR! HAIR! HAIR! HAIR! HAIR! HAIR! It's taking me quite some time to layer the hair, I'm trying to keep the depth of black realistic so i render a layer cut in some hair with my eraser stick and then render another layer etc... I'm not allowing the deep shadows to plug, just a nice dark reflective shadow. Hair is one of the main focal points of this drawing and I have to nail the look and feel. I want the viewer to think the can brush it. The eye's at this point are still very unfinished, I'm not happy with them at all and will be my main focus on my next sitting. Progress step three
Ok, I've reached a transition point in the drawing. I'm about 90% done with her face and hair and am pleased with the likeness at this point, I'll revisit this portion when the rest of the drawing is complete to push & pull the highlight and shadow area's. I'm still on the table with her eyes and will save those for the very last. Now comes the challenge of the drawing... The TATTOO'S, I've never drawn them and am looking forward to the challenge. I'm going to use a different technique on some portions of the tattoo's. The edges are soft because of the way the ink bleeds into the skin but the inside has a very unique pattern. I'm going to try to achieve that look by applying small bits of charcoal with a felt strip. I believe the little patterns left behind will represent how tattoo ink mottles with skin. My paper is a bit textured and soft so I'm not sure how that will work. I'm also going to chat with a Tattoo artist to better understand the process of ink on skin. this should help a lot. Fingers crossed! Progress step four
As you can see we're moving along at a slow but steady pace. After chatting with the Tattoo artist I have reconsidered my original post and am basically drawing the line portion of the tattoos twice. I'll be laying down a thin outline and just blurring the edge a tiny bit with a petite tortillion. I will then apply the the line again holding the tonal shape for realism. It's very important that the tattoo's look real and not stuck on like a sticker. So far so good. I am pleased with the look and feel. I have to share my displeasure with this sheet of Arches 140lb HP paper. It's really giving me fits. I keep finding all kinds of blemishes and the charcoal and graphite are going down real hard. It's been a struggle. I have had great luck with this sheet in the past. At this point it's time to finish the drawing and the back of the chair will be a tough one. I always struggle with large areas in trying to make them "real" This part of the chair provides the shadow area that will push her arm forward giving the drawing POP. I have to capture it. Here we go! the final push! Progress step five
Complete! This pic is a bit washed out. The shadow under the arms are much more richer. Overall the web pics are not nearly as lovely to look at. I very pleased with the final piece. As this is my first WIP on my forum I will undoubtedly have more detailed one in the future. Thanks for following along.
marc.
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