Costumed Life Drawing

I really enjoy costumed life draw sessions. Since I like drawing goofy costumed characters from my imagination, being able to study the way cloth behaves on a real figure is right up my alley. And I love the relaxed, unpretentious, and friendly atmosphere at Helikon Life Painting.

Have to admit that I got burned-out on drawing and painting nudes in college and art school--nude pose was the only rule back then. And yes, it was great for learning the figure and anatomy, and I don't regret the experience, but give me a costumed figure any day at this point in my career.

In these sessions, I'm not into drawing and painting beautiful pictures to sell. I'm into studying and learning more about the clothed figure and trying out new media. Also, since seeing accurate values is not my strong suit, the exercise is definitely necessary and helpful.

I don't mind doing the occasional nude study...

...and these fishy-net stockings were cool to draw.

Partially clothed figures are always interesting...

...but being able to study a costume like this makes for a truly great session. This is Cayce, the director at Helikon Gallery and Studios, doing a three-hour pose in the medieval outfit from his own collection. There was so much detail to study that even coming close to finishing proved impossible, but what a learning experience!

Life Painting at Helikon Gallery happens every Saturday from 5 to 8 pm. Come and join us--here's the link on Facebook:

Weekly Life Painting

Thanks for reading!

Starting to Paint like Myself

https://www.facebook.com/mikeyzart/

Here I am, looking cranky, working on a plein air painting last Sunday. I'm not irritated at all--just concentrating. The morning was perfect for watermedia, being cool and cloudy with high humidity. And it was a gorgeous setting. The photos and painting above are by Mike Kloepfer, who joined me for an early excursion.

Since doing more plein air work (with the DIS Plein Air Club) my skill--and confidence--has grown. Both are huge, as both were needed.

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 The thing that excites me the most? I'm beginning to paint, finally, like me. Prior to hitting the plein air thing seriously, my style (kind of hate that term) was not visible in the studies. I'd get out there and work like a dog at painting what I saw, and the works were all over the board. This new emergence feels much better. This is the second time I've used gouache.

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 Here is the first--that paint is magical and a blast to use!

On Sunday, we chose to paint the same bridge, and Mike's piece was definitely more accurate. The atmosphere that morning was all misty and cool greys. I'd pre-grounded my watercolor paper with a warm golden brown, so my study looks like a sunny day. A mistake, but I still like the piece.

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Here's Mike's--he nailed it!

See more of Mike's amazing work here: Mike Kloepfer's Art 

and thanks for checking in!

I Like Blobs: Part 2

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The best thing about drawing blobs: The evolution on the page is always a surprise. Most of the time--when I'm sketching at least--I don't know what is going to unfold onto the paper, but that's always the case with blobs.

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Most always, I start with gestures.

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And lately, Colerase pencil has been the rule for gesture-drawing.

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My brother found this toad, and I know its blobbiness been a subconscious inspiration lately...

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...for sketches like this.

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A blob that morphed into a Norman-ish knight...

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...and one blob-sketch I kept messing with--probably to a fault.

Not sure what the next post will be--maybe more blobs. At any rate,

Thanks for checking up on me!

Ps. I'm on Instagram, and I'd appreciate a follow. You can click on the icon in the left column of this blog, or just search for tomsarmo_art  Thanks!

I like Blobs

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I've always liked to draw blobs--some sort of offshoot of the Humpty Dumpty fixation that's been with me since long ago.

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So that's what this short post (and the next) will be about.

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Here's a detail of a few. I can't find the original--pretty sure I finished it in pen and ink. If I find it, the whole pic will show up next time.

 

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Here's the latest in a string of recent blobs. Been drawing more than usual lately.

Thanks for checkin' them out!

 

Yep, Do it!

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The truth about the arts as an occupation: You won't get rich. 

In fact, you most likely won't even make a living.

Recently, I read a great post by Noah Van Sciver, whose words were aimed at comic artists, but they resonated with me. He wrote:

"John Porcellino once told me that every "professional" [comic] artist has a secret of some kind. Something like their grandparents died and left them a lot of money, or their spouse has a great job and supports them."

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I know a lot of artists who work at convincing their fans that they're amazingly successful doing art full-time. Maybe they believe that the truth would hurt their sales, or maybe it's just an ego thing. In either case, it's dishonest. If you're being helped along the way, fess-up to it.

 I agree with John Porcellino; every artist I know--without a day job--either has a trust fund, parental support, or a supportive spouse. Some have all three. In my case--day jobs all along the way,  and I have a supportive spouse.

 

And if you want to do the starving artist bit, that's fine with me--just fess-up to the "starving" part. In fact, I'da gone Bohemian for awhile if I hadn't wanted to get married. But to mislead others--especially young artists--well that's just not ethical.

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 When I was an art teacher, many of my students would tell me that their parents wouldn't allow them to become artists, even to the point of pulling their college money if a "lucrative career" wasn't pursued. Sheesh!

I was lucky: When I told my pragmatic, scientist father that I wanted to be an illustrator, he gave me his blessing. "Do what you love," he said. He did not say anything about "money following"--he found the pursuit of money, and conversation regarding it, pointless and boring.

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 Nobody would ever say that being an artist of any kind is easy. But in my case at least, not being one would have been a disaster. If I'd have chosen a more "lucrative" path, I'd have been miserable. 

No, a quantity of money didn't follow--but so what? My life probably hasn't been any harder than anyone else's. It's been good, actually--and I'll take quality over quantity anytime.

Anyway, click on the link below to check out Noah Van Sciver's full post. It's a good one (way wiser than mine, and the illustrations in it actually make sense)!

Noah's Blog

Thanks for reading!

 

 

An Illustration Sequence

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For Rent (detail)

Mixed media (pen and ink, brush and ink, white acrylic gouache, acrylic inks; on brown paper).

This was a sketch done for a workshop demonstration a few years ago at Foothills Art Center. I'd brought it to a convention a few weeks ago, and a curious fellow asked about my thought process and sequence. Here is a step-by-step of the thought and work behind this picture:

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1. Gesture. 

This was done on a scrap of paper--even before I had the complete idea for the finished piece. I was just trying to get a lively stance for the tree. At this point I knew I wanted a bowing Ent-like tree in the picture, but not much else. I like to let details emerge as I work.

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2. Choosing forms

This is what's inside my head. After the gesture, I try to visualize the forms that will make up the picture. The idea for the bird arrived after the gestures. ( Again, I don't actually draw this onto the paper; here just trying to show my thought-process.)

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3. Thinking about connection of forms

More progress inside my head as I piece the thing together. Sometimes I will actually draw this part--lightly--onto the gesture, especially if I'm unsure of the forms.

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4. Pen and ink.

I draw it out with light pencil--I like H leads--then I often use a fine brush to outline the piece. Next, I begin cross-hatching the values with the crow quill pen.

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5. White highlights.

When most of the values are established, the highlights are added with white acrylic gouache. In this case I wanted the light to come from the egg.

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6. Colored acrylic inks. 

I thin them down a bit with water so they don't ruin the highlights. After the color dries, I go back in with pen and ink to deepen the dark areas if needed.  

Feel free to email me if any of this needs clarification. I definitely don't mean to leave out info or be purposely unclear or ambiguous.

Coming up: 

I'm doing a watercolor workshop in May--great for children's illustrators or anyone who wants to learn new watercolor techniques! Check it out here:

Sarmo Watercolor Workshop

And thanks for reading!

New Mornings

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Detail of crow skull study

I'm an early-riser; that's just a fact, not some badge of honor. But it does let me get a lot done, especially if I have a plan in place.

My old mornings:

1. Grab coffee

2. Grab laptop and do social media

3. Grab an art book and look through it

4. Start painting in the studio

My new mornings:

1. Grab coffee

2. Grab still life object(s) and paint a one-hour study

3. Start painting in the studio

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Some of the studies so far

They are small--the largest is 4" x 5.25"--so I can pretty much finish them (or not) in an hour.
Will this became a habit? Gonna try to make it so. I'm not much of a rule-bound or goal-oriented person, but if I find something that fits, I'll wear it out. So far this seems to fit.

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Set-up I used for the first crow skull study

 I'm using a darkened basement room instead of my studio for this:

 A. Because I can leave all the materials there without them being in the way in the studio, and 

B. Because it's always dark down there.

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Details of two studies

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Set-up I used for the bottle study

 I read about using a box like this on an internet site for still lifes. Not sure I see the point--but I will keep trying it out. The slot in the top is for controlled lighting--I can cover it partially or all the way with cardboard. If anyone reading this knows what the advantage of this kind of set-up is, please let me know, as it's escaping me.

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Detail of lantern study

I'm drawing them first--so far at least. For this study I used a black watercolor pencil for the initial drawing; for the crow skull and bottle I used a red Colerase pencil. No real reason for either--just trying things out. I used a 1/4" flat for most of the paint, changing to a round if necessary for tiny details. I'm keeping the sessions to an hour, even if I don't quite finish them. And when the weather warms, my plan is to do same but with one-hour landscape studies as well.

Also, so far, I've only used Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna, and white to mix up neutrals. I def want to eventually go with color, but I'm in no rush.

I do miss my art books, but not the social media.

Thanks for reading!

Scribbling in a Scribble-Book

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The word "scribble" has always killed me--it just sounds funny. When I was a kid and only wanted to unthinkingly make marks on a page, the adult comments ranged from the condemnatory "You're just scribbling" to "Quit wasting paper with your scribbling." 

But I didn't quit; remember how amazing it felt to zone out while the pencil or pen or crayon glided across the page and left multi-circles or wads of illegible marks?

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I'm still a fan. And even though I seldom make illegible marks--on purpose at least--I love the sensation of scribbling out sketches without really thinking.

 

I'd realized that I'm not always in the mood to think while sketching, but I'm too antsy to sit around with my family--just talking or watching TV--without drawing. So I grabbed this little, lined notebook and a pen, just for the purpose of mindlessly scribble-drawing. 

The only rule for myself: Use ballpoint pen only. 

It's been an interesting experiment. Here's what I've discovered:

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 1. My scribbles got better (well, at least more like my other sketchbook drawings) even without trying. Here's the first page, looking suspiciously similar to the drawings I did way back in middle school.

 

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2. As I messed with it more, my scribbles looked a bit less mindless, but they still were.

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3. I started reaching for the scribble-book more often than the sketchbook. Probably because I was enjoying the lack of pressure to make "good" sketches.

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That's really the point of any sketchbook, but somehow limiting myself to un-erasable pen on lined paper just added more freedom.

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4. I found myself developing ideas for finished works without having that goal in mind.

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 And, just like the "thinking" sketchbooks, the images that developed are sometimes getting used for finished artworks...

 

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 ...like this detail of a work-in-progress.

 

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So stop thinking a bit and scribble--it's been a great and fun thing for me, and I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the visit!

 

 

 

Character, Outline, and Texture

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I'm working on many pieces simultaneously right now, using a variety of media. As always, I am studying--and hopefully growing as well. Three ongoing chases:

1. Character

2. Integrating outline

3. Texture

 The Night Walkers. Honore Daumier.

Daumier is one of my favorite artists. Three aspects (among others) strongly appeal to me: 

1. His characters

2. His use of outline
(Scientific studies have shown that the outlines in his oil paintings are either lithographic crayon or charcoal.)

3. His use of texture.

Recently I've adopted him as my mentor.

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I'm continuing my life drawing practice with an eye on character.

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 St. Joseph the Worker (detail).
Just completed a commission in which I used both charcoal and black paint for the outline.

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And this work-in-progress is a study in character, outline, and texture. It's also prep-work for an upcoming project.

If I can produce a good painting and learn more in the process, it's been a good day. Thanks, Daumier!

And thank you--for stopping by!