SBS QA JeanChristophe

Art Education and Relationship to Art
Art Education
Q : In the first assignment I was surprised by the quality of your human
characters sketches. There is a lot of movement and personality in your
lines and shapes, I know you've been drawing since you were a child,
but this skills came just by practicing, or you look for courses over time
to improve those skills faster.
A : Thanks a lot. No, I never went to art school. I learned by copying
some comics artists which is also a way for understanding their little
tricks and then, by practicing. There are a lot of specialties you can
learn by yourself, though I do not underestimate the value of Art
schools.
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Copying Artists
Q : Did you spend a lot of time copying Tintin comics before creating
your own drawings?
A: When I was a teenager I wanted to become a Comics author. So
instead of copying classical painters, I used to copy comics. Not only
Hergé and his Tintin drawings, but a lot of other French and Belgium
comics authors. This is how I learned to draw. it helped me
understanding their little tricks.
And little by little I became more comfortable and it helped me acquire
my no-style style ;-)
Favorite Artists ?
Q : Can you share your favorite artists with us? Thanks!
A : I’m afraid I can’t answer this question in a just few words. You better
sit down first. There are far too many artists that I love and who
inspired me for various reasons. So I’m giving names here as they pop
out of my mind. But beware, this is no Top 50 list and there’s no
ranking over here.
I’ll try also to give you names you not necessarily have heard from in
some of you countries
Starting with Comics authors, I have said I liked Hergé for his
outstanding sense of synthesis but Franquin, the author of Spirou is
probably my preferred one since he is the most virtuose humorous
author. Then you can add Tillieux the master at storytelling, Cosey, a
Swiss author with a very original way of telling and drawing his full of
psychology stories and Gotlib for his devastating humor. I’m an
absolute fanatic of Schuiten, for the amazing world he is developing
with its incredible architecture, Moebius-Gir for his unmatched
virtuosity and Floc’h for the clarity of his lines.
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Speaking of travel sketchbooks, I’m a great admirer of Titouan
Lamazou, (a former sailing sport racer) who masters gouache as
nobody else. I also love the color palette of Loustal’s watercolors and
the sailing boats and marine drawings of Yvon Le Corre.
Coming to painters, I felt in love very young with a few
painters :Toulouse Lautrec for the movement and the energy he puts in
his paintings. Norman Rockwell who managed so well to embody the
American dream through his paintings, and NC Wyeth because I am
always extremely moved by the evocative power and the strength of
illustrations.
There are a few painters I’m really in love with: Caravage for his
amazing and innovative way of playing with light and shadow, all the
Impressionist (with the exception of Renoir) with Monet at the front end
for the magic of his brush strokes, Mucha for his brilliant sense of
composition, Hiroshige for its composition of landscape scenes,
Hokusaï because I still don’t understand how a single artist could have
been able to draw everything on earth so wonderfully. The delicacy of
frescoes by Tiepolo almost makes me cry, while I can stand hours in
front of a painting by Hopper try to decipher the beneath story.
I have also a very special relationship to Mathurin Meheut, a post
impressionist artist. He drew marvelously marine animals and Brittany,
understanding he had a unique opportunity to paint a world on the
verge of disappearing. I also love Japanese like lithographs from Henri
Rivière, another famous painter of this Brittany I love so much.
Then, I collect youth books and there are also many great illustrators I
love. So I am not going to open the box, except to mention a few ones
like Pierre Joubert who created an everlasting boy scout style through
his unique drawings, Yan Nascimbene for his delicate minimalists
watercolors, François Roca for the wonderful light he puts in his
drawings or François Place an amazing storyteller both in text and
images.
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I don’t know exactly where I should classify Myazaki for the poetry of
his drawings and I have kept for the end Sempé and his whimsical and
poetic cartoons.
That’s all folks! Sorry, one more time to have been that long. And I
think I could have go on listing at least 50 more artists, not to mention
other teaches at Sketchbook Skool. Those are mostly classical artists
who are all fabulous drawers. I must humbly acknowledge I don’t
understand much to contemporary art, which hardly touches me.
Art not a living ?
Q: I am BAFFLED you're not making your living in a fine art field. What
-do- you do for a living? Do you enjoy it? Do you have aspirations to
make a living in the fine art field?
A: Thanks for your compliment. What do I do for a living ? I run a
service company on the Internet, which is a full-time job. I do enjoy it,
because I have recruited over the years a nice skilled team I love. And
I’m trying to find the right balance between my day job and my passion
for drawing. So I organize myself to spend less time on time-wasting
activities.
No I don't necessarily have aspiration to make a living out of art.
Actually you really need to be an outstanding artist to make a
comfortable living out of your art. From time to time, I'm doing some
commissioned work and found out it is very different to draw for your
pleasure or draw to fulfill an order.
Books From You ?
Q: Spectacular sketchbook for Sketchbook Skool! Would there be a
chance you would publish ?
I would love to buy prints/ books of your work. Where can I do that?
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A: Unfortunately I have no short-term project to publish a book, mostly
by lack of time.
But don’t despair, I know I'll probably do one within the next 2 years.
May be all I need are a few fans to cheer me. ;-)
Doing Comics?
Q : Did you ever tried or thought about doing comics? Because I can
really see that would be amazing to read stories in your lines and sense
of humor, this area is an interest of mine, and the travel sketchbook can
be a good way to start.
A : Thanks for your encouragements. I wanted to be a comic author as a
young kid. My parents suggested I took a degree in engineering, which
they said allow almost any job. ;-)
I have a project in mind for writing and drawing a Comic series. Maybe
Someday I might start doing it.
Kids Drawing ?
Q: Do your kids share the same sketching/drawing passion? Do you
sketch together while traveling?
A: Though 3 of my 5 kids are able to draw quite well, but they have
other passions (music, video game, etc...). So none of them is practicing
with me , which makes me a lonely sketchbook. This one of the reason
where I very often just do a quick pencil drawing and finish it later with
the help of photos.
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Materials
Inks
Q: I see that the result of your watercoloring on FlinFlin's covers is
incredibly uniform, how do you come to this result? I'm new to
watercoloring but I know it is very hard and messy to handle.
A: For the Flinflin covers, I use colored inks, not watercolors, to get a
flatter, more uniform coloring in the style of Hergé.
Q: just one question concerning Colorex ink....... Do you have any
problems with fading as long as you frame with UV glass? Have you
noticed any fading in your sketchbooks over time? Thanks!
A: No I have used these inks for years and never seen any fading over
the time, even among the oldest ones that I made 25 years ago. It
seems Pebeo Colorex is a very persistent ink. However, I have made
sure none of these framed drawings received sunlight directly
Q: Is Dr. Martin's Hydrus Fine Art Watercolor (concentrated liquid
watercolor) the same as your watercolor ink? It's the word "ink" that's
confusing. I bought a small set last year and am eager to use.
A: I have not tried yet Dr Martin’s miraculous watercolor (I must order
one set), but from what I have seen in various demos it seems to be the
very same principle: liquid bright watercolor inks. So you should get
the same result with vibrant colors
Pencil
Q: I love your pencil, what brand is it? I know you bought it in Europe,
but you never know what can be found on the internet. Thin pencils
hurt my hands and your pencil size seemed great. Much appreciation!
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A: Like you I love pens with a large grip. I bought my pencil at Ordning
& Reda on trip to Stockholm. I'm afraid they do not manufacture them
any longer because I tried to buy them and couldn't find any more.
However some SBS students have been kind enough to point me at
Sakura's Sumo Grip mechanical pencil (
http://www.sakuraofamerica.com/pencil-mechanical) or to consider
purchasing pencil grips that slip over pencils to help improve your
grasp on the pencil. There are a variety of types available: soft foam,
triangular, etc. They are relatively inexpensive and can often be
purchased at places like Staples or Walmart.
Toned paper
Q: What is your lovely brown sketchbook ( and paper ) I think it's not
ordinary kraft ?
A: For my brown paper sketchbook, I am desperate: it was a Bilman
sketchbook with a very beautiful recycled Kraft paper and I can't find
them anymore. If anyone knows where to find them, I'm interested.
And someone in the audience pointed me at a Toned Tan (also available
in gray) (looks just like the kraft paper) sketchbook made my
Strathmore. It is the 400 series and their stock is 80 lb. or 118g/m.
Fold-out Sketchbook ?
Q: Your "crowd" of people in the fold-out sketchbook is pure delight. I'm
wondering what inspired you to create it. And curious if you made that
sketchbook or if it's something available for purchase. Thank you!
A: I am not patient enough nor do I have much time to manufacture my
own sketchbooks. So I buy them. Actually it is a Moleskine Japanese
album which you can find everywhere I think, in 2 sizes.
The one I used is in 3 ½" x 5 ½" (9x14cm)
There is also a larger size (13x21cm)
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What inspired me to do this ? As a daily exercise, I have been drawing
20mn portraits for quite a while and wanted to change and draw
people. I looked for a small size sketchbook and found this one in the
shop. I immediately envisioned that, instead of drawing one character a
page in a standard sketchbook, I might have more fun using this fadeout sketchbook to draw a long frieze of characters picked here and
there.
Paper ?
Q: What Kind and size paper were you working on for this lesson? ( I
realize I don't have to do the same, but it looked quite large).
I noticed that you use another piece of paper to develop your vanishing
point so that your drawing would be more accurate. I have never seen
anyone do this before. Can you explain more about this? I suppose I
am asking the when, why and how you do this.
A: I'm buying large sheets of paper at the Art shop (50x65cm) which
I'm cutting in an A3 format. I have tried different papers over the years
Canson lavis Fidelis and currently Schoeller Mat Durex. Basically it is a
paper smooth enough so that you can ink drawings pretty well but thick
enough to absorb watercolor (around 180g/m2).
The reason why I'm using another sheet of paper here is that
sometimes, the vanishing lines of your building may not cut the horizon
within the paper you're drawing onto. In which case I am extrapolating
the size of my sheet of paper with a very standard A3 paper (80g/m2).
This way I can be sure lines are going in the right direction and that my
building won't be too wonky.
Fountain Pen
Q: What brand is the pen you were looking for (Melanie Reim’s pen)? I
lost all my fountain pens in Brazil so I am in the process of replacing
them slowly...
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A: It's a Pelican Fountain Pen Soveran M200 (around 80 €)
Glue
Q: What kind of tape do you use in adding the A3 paper to extend your
vanishing points? Is it the same tape you use in your sketchbook
additions?
A: I use just plain scotch tape to fix it on the back of my sheet of paper
with just a little trick: I pass my finger on the sticking ribbon first to
remove some of the glue, so that when I remove it, it doesn't rip the
paper.
And in my sketchbook, I just use a plain stick of glue like the one I drew
in my material (UHU) but it could be any other paper glue (Scotch,
Pattex, etc...)
Q: Do you glue your extra brown pages and extensions with the regular
glue stick or you use a different one to get a stronger bond?
A: I just use an ordinary stick of glue , but I make sure I have put a very
uniform layer of glue on the back of the paper to avoid ripples.
Drawing desk
Q: As you mentioned you do not make your living drawing. But you
definitely draw a lot and from watching your sketchbook videos, you
draw intricate sites that take hours to finish especially indoors. On your
demo of the Flinflin cover, you draw on a desk. Do you draw on that
surface all your sketches or you have an inclined surface? If not do you
think is important to have an inclined surface to draw?
A: Yes this is my drawing desk. I have always drawn on a horizontal
surface. I tried once with an inclined surface and it never worked for me.
My desk is too messy for this ;-)
Satchel and Right Tools?
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Q: where did you get your small leather "sac" for your small kit? It's
perfect for/when you are on the run everyday, and want to do quick
sketches. If I see something to draw and I want to get it fast, I always
find myself struggling to find the tools to capture the moment.
Sometimes I loose that moment
A: Have you noticed you always find things when you're no longer
chasing after ? This is basically what happened with this satchel. For
years I have been chasing something convenient to bring my material. I
mean something smaller than a backpack. I finally gave up until I found
one in something smaller than a backpack. I finally gave up until I found
one in a delightful tiny village in the middle of nowhere in France, There
was a temporary flea market. I found this old leather satchel with I
bough for a fortune: 5€ ($7) ! ;-)
It happens also sometimes to me that I haven't the right material. In
which case, I do a quick drawing with what I have and then back in my
studio, redraw it with the proper tools. But I don't see anything wrong
with your drawing: makes me feel I'm in Southern California
White Pens ?
Q: My question is about the white pen you use. To date, the pens I have
found around town lack the opaqueness to give a nice white line, or
they are super fine – not fabulous for going over large areas.
Sometimes I find it hard to tell in-store how a pen will behave in the
wild between my pages.
I like the look of the white in your sketchbooks. Any recommendations
of white pens you have used to date??
Q: I agree these pens are very often a problem. I used Posca pens
http://www.posca.com (1mm) for the small lettering. Not sure they sell
them in every country.
And you need to shake them well to be sure to blend homogeneously
the gouache inside just before using the.
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For larger areas of for all my bigger lettering, I simply use a tube of
gouache, a pencil and patience
Drawing
Photo Based or Real Life Drawings ?
Q : Hi, Jean-Christophe! Thank you for such a fascinating and wonderful
class. I would just like to get your opinion on drawing from
photographs. I noted that in one of the sketchbooks you showed, you
drew the creatures from the aquarium from photographs. Also, that
you carry around a camera. Do you think there is a huge difference
between your drawings that are from life and those that are from
photographs?
A: Excellent question. First of all, one of the reason I have very often a
camera with me is that I mostly travel with my family. So it is not
always easy to tell my kids were going to stay in a specific place an
hour and a half, time for me to draw, even though I also draw live
outside.
Yes there is a difference of course between drawing from a photo or on
site. From my experience, drawing from a photo is more comfortable:
You're sure nothing is going to move, you are well sat with all the
material you need. Therefore, you can create great piece of art, closer
from a drawing than a sketch. It is rather satisfactory, but my
experience is that it may lack spontaneity.
On the contrary, when drawing outside, you're forced to go quickly.
There is often a better sense of the overall movement of your subject,
and last but not least, the light to render volumes is much better
because you see things in 3D while a photo stays in 2D. So working out
helps you acquire a better sense of synthesis, and to fasten your
execution. However you may feel your drawing hasn't the neatness of
something you would do in a studio.
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So I tend to think both ways of drawing are complementary and I enjoy
doing both.
Use of the Eraser
Q : You said in your video about sketching people that you didn't really
erase too many lines from the pencil drawing - just the ones sticking
out after adding the black ink lines.
I realized during my pencil drawings, that I'm still overdrawing - I make
too many lines with my pencil because I feel too safe that I can erase
them.
Do you have any idea how to train to not add too many lines?
I really love using a pencil or a mechanical pencil (I love my Japanese
mechanical pencils - currently the Kuru Toga series from uni /
mitsubishi) and can't really get used to Danny Gregory’s permanent ink
only rule.
A : A quick remark about the pencil/no pencil rule. The reason why
there are many teachers at SBS with so many different techniques is to
let everybody find out what the best technique and tools are that suit
him. If you feel more comfortable with the pencil, fine, just use it and I'll
plead your case with Danny. ;-)
Q : With time, you'll get more confident and will probably learn not to
overdraw your drawings therefore doing less pencil lines. The
important thing however is you need to be able to clearly see which is
the right line to follow when inking your drawing. A little trick you can
use, is to do you very first pencil lines (to set the right volumes) very
lightly by using a HB lead an not pressing too much the pencil. This
would allow you to do a contour drawing with a softer pencil 2B.
Proportions
Q : I was wondering How do you calculate the size of the people in your
sketchbook? You always get them inside your format. Mine are always
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cut at the feet. Am I going to make this proportion right through time or
is there a proportion calculation that you do before you do the
drawing?
A: No doubt, that with time you're going to have a better evaluation.
But to help you, the head is roughly 1/8 of the overall height of an adult,
while if you draw an horizontal line at the point were legs start from the
torso this line will cut the body in the middle of the height
Black and White
Q : How do you decide which areas to darken with black in homework 1
project? Is it random or do you look for shadows in clothing ?
A : Both actually. ;-)
If you look closely there are 2 ways I darken areas in my accordion
Moleskine.
1. Either random: I decide which areas are going to be colored in plain
black and left in white. That's what I did in my demo. I choose to color in
dark the scarf in feathers (while it was a light color in the photo) just
because I thought it will outline the swirling movement of the scarf.
There's no shadow here. It's just deciding which piece of the dress is
going to be dark and which one stays white.
2. Or playing with light (in white) and shadows (in black). This is what I
did with the group of pilots in their flight suit.
Use of Watercolor
Q: In your parting gift series, the last drawing is the Eiffel Tower street
sketch. You have a blue sky behind the intricate and very crisp
webbing of the tower. Which did you color first? And how is it that,
whichever color was first (and I presume dry), the whole thing didn't
become blurred when you added (wet) the second color on top?
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A : You're asking a pretty good question here. Looking at my drawing
again, I actually did the opposite of what you described.
The first color I laid was the cerulean blue in the sky. I went Wet from a
building to the other and up towards the bottom of the page. Then
added some light yellow up to the bottom until I reached the place I
stopped with the blue so that the blue and the yellow gradually fade in
each other.
I let it dry, so that it is really dry. Then I added the brown in a rather dry
mode. therefore colors did not melt
Q: I use permanent White Designer Gouache to take out passages of
watercolor ....when I try to work in that area the white mixes with
whatever color I am using...does it have to dry for a certain length of
time...? also...when you have used white gouache to remove, say an
unwanted hat....you can not watercolor over that area...or is it a matter
of it not being dry enough? I have had to switch to finishing a painting
in acrylics as I no longer can use watercolor where gouache has been
used.....is it true that watercolor can only be done on the plain
watercolor paper surface..paper, so no errors are allowed? I have let the
gouache (and have tried 3 different kinds( dry overnight and it still
reconstitutes itself and acts like it is wet...Perhaps one should only use
it as a final touch ?
A: This is an excellent set of question that you asked, and... Well, I'm
afraid I have sad news for you. Because actually Watercolor is probably
among the top most difficult media . One of the reasons it is difficult, is
because there is (almost) no way you can rework a mistake.
It's a very transparent medium. That's the beauty of it, because it can
bring a lot of light into your drawing, but the bad side is that there's
absolutely no way you can apply another layer of color to hide any
mistake.
This is one reason why it is recommended to start by light colors to
darker one. If you're wrong with a light color, you can some time try to
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make some corrections with a darker color. But you can't go the other
way.
Gouache is easier because you can add a new layer of color above your
first layer if it is wrong. It's an opaque medium, then you can start
again. Even with a lighter color.
Sometimes, I add some white gouache above my watercolor as a final
touch but you can't do it before the paper is absolutely dry (not only the
color). then you'll have a plain white area as you wish to. But you can't
add watercolor on it unfortunately.
What I have done sometimes, is simply use a pair of scissors and cut
and paste a piece of paper of the right size on top of the mistake and do
it again
And, yes before using watercolor, choose a paper suited for watercolor,
which can absorb water. If you take a glossy paper, the water will run
on the paper, the paper is going to wrangle and in the end you’ll get
nothing than a corrugated paper with horrible spots of paint.
Lettering in Hergé’s Style
Q: My question is about lettering in the Hergé style. Do you simply
copy his style by looking at his books or do you have a certain
procedure? Do you use a ruler to line up the letters?
A: HaHa, one more Tintinophile :)
Yes I' have copied them so much that It became almost a second way of
writing for me.
There are however fonts that you can find on the Internet (just type
Tintin fonts) and install on any computer. But I have more pleasure
drawing them with plain Indian ink
No I never ever use a ruler. I just draw 2 simple lines (with the hand, no
ruler) and put the letters in between. So my lettering is always a little
bit wonky. Therefore people understand it's done manually.
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Coloring in Hergé’s style
Q: What about coloring? How do you manage to make it look so much
like Herge's?
A: Hergé’s style for coloring is not very difficult. He used to paint very
uniform areas of color, with no shadows. So it’s pretty much like your
kid’s coloring books. Make sure you have a paper that is suitable for
watercolor and will absorb the water. Otherwise it will make horrible
ripples with spots of darker color.
I blend colors first in a palette until I have the exact set of color that are
found in Hergé's books and here I go. I do trials on a side sheet of paper
to check. It's however the most difficult (and annoying) part of the
drawing because you can ruin 8 hours of work within a minute
The last one is a very good question. A typical French answer would be
'ça dépend'. It depends whether the drawing is a complex one with a
sophisticated background or an easy with very few people. A Flinflin
drawing like the one I did for the lesson would typically take 10 to 20
hours of work. 3/4th of which are spent on doing initial sketches until I
found the right composition.
Lettering
Q: I love your drawings and also I love the lettering you do, especially
the ones in the video of your sketchbooks. My question is:
How can I learn to do such lettering? Do you have any books to suggest
or internet sites? Did you invent them? Thanks!
A: Unfortunately I do not know any books on this topic. Basically, I treat
writing like a drawing trying to mix different calligraphies and lower
and upper characters.
But I'm currently working on a short video to give a few tips about it I
hope I can finish it before the end of the week
Meanwhile, maybe other students have books to suggest
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Lettering in White
Q: I noticed that you have some lettering in white in the sketches of
your material. I would really like to know: How did you do that?
A: For years, I did it with a thin saga brush pencil and a tube of white
gouache, until somebody pointed me at Posca markers
http://www.posca.com
They may not be available in all countries though
So I use them for little letters and keep using a brush and a tube of
gouache for larger ones
Hatching ?
Q: How to hatch or anything in black and white ink drawings. Any
advice, how to do / learn it, any artist to study?
A: Actually, I do not hatch very much since my style of drawing is more
a ‘ligne Claire’ style. But , if you have access to the Beginning course of
Sketchbook Skool. You may want to look at the supplementary video
Tommy Kane posted on cross-hatching. It’s the ultimate lesson of
Kross hatching. Ever !
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Creative process
Finding Ideas
Q: I love your sketches and would love to be able to do something
similar. Where do you get all your ideas?
A: Ha ha. Very good question. I do not know exactly because there’s no
good answer to this question.
I'm trying not to be pretentious, but I'd say it's probably a state of mind.
First of all, as a kid I used to read a lot of comics magazines and books.
There was in those magazines a special sense of humor I have grown
with.
So very often, in most situations, I’m trying to find the humorous part of
it. And last, my kids and my wife also share this state of mind. So we
almost continuously joke about ourselves.
And then while doing a drawing, I always have what I called 'a
background task in my brain, trying to grab ideas that could fit in a
drawing'. If I'm in the tube or in a boring meeting which both are rather
unpleasant experiences, I may 'withdraw' and escape within my
thoughts. So sometimes, when I came out of it, I may have an idea on
what to add to my drawing for instance. So it's an ongoing process
And finally when I draw, my thoughts are wandering trying to gather
and assemble what
Inspiration on Frieze of People ?
Q: Your "crowd" of people in the fold-out sketchbook is pure delight. I'm
wondering what inspired you to create it.
A: What inspired me to do this ? As a daily exercise, I have been
drawing 20mn portraits for quite a while in a standard sketchbook and
wanted to change and draw people. I looked for a small size sketchbook
and found this one in the shop. I immediately envisioned that, instead
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of drawing one character a page in a standard sketchbook, I might have
more fun using this fold-out sketchbook to draw a long frieze of
characters picked here and there.
So I adjusted the size of the characters and decided to draw it in black &
white to bring unity to this crowd of people.
How long ?
A: Finally, I am wondering how long it typically takes you to finish one
of your "Tintin" covers?
Q: It depends on several factors.
It depends first on how clear an idea is in my mind and how fast or not I
can translate it inton a satisfactory detailed sketch. Sometimes, I can
strike right very quickly, in which case this creative phase can be rather
short (2 to 3 hours). Sometimes it’s a far longer process because I am
not satisfied with the composition or the story behind the drawing, in
which case it can last sometime far more 5 to 8 hours.
It also depends whether the drawing is a complex one with a
sophisticated background or an easy with very few people which will
require more time to ink and to color.
A Flinflin drawing like the one I did for the cover lesson typically takes
10 to 12 hours of work. 3/4th of which are spent on doing initial
sketches until I found the right composition. But sometimes I may
spend far more
Flinflins Name ?
Q: I am also interested in knowing more about how you came up with
flinflins, is this a play on words?.
A: Not really a play on words. I wanted to pick a name more or less
evocating Tintin. So I took the letters "flin" from our last name, Defline,
and then doubled it to rhyme with "Tintin". The Flinflins were born.
With time our friends even finish by calling us The Flinflins.
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Primary sketch(es) ?
Q: I was wondering how you proceed from your first sketch to your
second more detailed sketch. I noticed in the video that you made this
detailed sketch on a second piece of paper. Do you trace or copy it in
some way or do you start again from scratch with the first sketch as a
reference?
A: Ah..ah...very very good question.
I went into a long process for this. So if I can shorten it so that you avoid
my stupid intermediary steps,
When I started to draw Flinflins cover, which requires a very neat and
sharp ink stroke., I was redoing the entire drawing form scratch. I
quickly found it too time consuming boring.
So I used to put my drawing on a window with another sheet of paper
on it and reproduced my former drawing, selecting only the right pencil
stroke. A tiring process.
A friend of mine suggested I should buy one of those light tables that
photographs used to have to select Ektachromes.
So I have one now. I do my first sketch, then redo another one by
transparency, changing things here and there, moving a character by a
few inch to position it a little bit different.
However this doesn’t work in sketchbooks. So in sketchbook, I do only
one draft directly on my sketchbook. It’s also a way to push me to draw
more rapidly
To be or not to be in Control ?
Q: "Take time to understand your topic and think about what you want
to tell through your drawing" from the 2nd video ... I don't really get this
... how you could really manage this...?
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I usually draw or paint instinctually. I have for sure visual references;
color story in mind when I start but the story is either coming along as I
work on it, or in the end I can "recognize" it in ...It is like it was done on
sub-constitution level. I don't want to sound precious or anything... but
being in control from the beginning it might result in a better focused
piece on the idea you want the viewer to recognize in it... but on the
other hand it feels like is rather a designed piece and not an art
piece...do I make sense J-CD?
A: Good point. Like with any technique, you have people that feel things
instinctually and other that need to think about the decisions they are
going to make. And let's be more precise, the world is not a binary one
with 2 kinds of people.
What I tried to say here is don't rush to reproduce right away what
you've seen. Take the time to 'digest ' your topic; for some people who
draw instinctually, it is very easy to see what they are going to do. For
some other, it is a longer process.
And then, I absolutely agree that you start with a certain idea, and that
during the execution the drawing evolves according to your
feeling...but you better have taken first a good start. That's what I
meant. Sorry if it wasn't this clear.
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