PICK OF THE WEEK

Pick of the week is shared this week by Gavin (Gargoyle top) and Vanessa (untitled bottom).

Possibly one of your strongest pieces to date Gavin.

Vanessa, I like the Phantom of The Opera tones to this one.
If any one has any unfinished work they manage to finish over the Christmas holidays please post it up on facebook or e-mail it to me.

Ok, this is the last blog post for 2011, I hope you all have a great Christmas  and I'll see you in 2012.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas to all my students past and present.

I'd get running if I were you.

NEXT FANTASY ART TERM STARTS TUESDAY 10TH JANUARY 2012

Next Fantasy Art term starts Tuesday10TH January 2012. To enrol contact Swarthmore, 2-7 Woodhouse Square, Leeds LS3 1AD. 0113 2432210

BERNIE WRIGHTSON

As you already know by now , I am a fan of  Bernie Wrightson's art work. I grew up reading comics that he had drawn, such as DC's Swamp Thing and House of Mystery. I was browsing http://www.comicartfans.com  found these gems (among others).

For my money, Wrighton is a master of composition and lighting. The beautiful art above is a cover for House Of Mystery  #195

Notice the balance of solid black and white space on the Batman drawing below.

 View more of Wrightson's work here

http://www.comicartfans.com/searchresult.asp?txtsearch=Berni%20Wrightson

WEEK 10 7TH December 2011

Here  is a recap of the last few stages of the final exercise so you can finish your artwork. Please scan or photograph your work and post it or send it to me on facebook  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=789280569

Most of you got to the inking stage on Tuesday. Remember the inking demonstration I gave you and how I applied  an uneven line to the stonework (see above) and how it gave a weathered and worn look. Crisp, clean, straight ruled lines will make it appear new and a bit too technical. Add pitted marks  and scratches to give a more authentic stone effect to the architecture and gargoyle.

As we are using sugar paper for this exercise,  it will be difficult to achieve a flat application with a  marker . Notice in the pic above that the colour is not flat. If this drawing were meant for anything other than a fun exercise, like,  for example, a printed publication  or book cover etc, I would produce this on appropriate material for using a marker to give a flat application. For example, layout paper or photocopy paper.

Once the rain has been applied, the uneven marker work will not be as noticeable.

Remember how I started at one end of the illustration and worked my way around .Try to complete your marker application in one continuous flow.

I created the moon surface using a chinagraph pencil. You can get them here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Royal-Sovereign-Chinagraph-white-pencil/dp/B000LCWBZO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323438198&sr=8-1

Or use a good quality white pencil  such as Derwent or Faber Castell

Here is some reference of the moon's surface.

 I used permanent white gouache and a no.2 sable watercolour brush which gave me more control when creating the highlights. The highlights should only appear on the upper outer ridges of the gargoyle and stone work.

I used a Pentel correction pen to create the rain. Quick, straight strokes leaves a broken line and make the rain visible but not too intrusive.

You should end up with something resembling the above.

All the exercises of this term (along with some other fun stuff that was not included) can be found in HOW TO DRAW FANTASY ART published by Arcturus Punblishing, available some time in March 2012 and will be available from www.amazon.co.uk and most book stores.

I will continue to post anything I find of interest over the Christmas break, so please check back some time soon.

Have a good Christmas Break. See you next year.