Michael's Prog Drum Blog: sketch

Showing posts with label sketch. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Cleanroom Sketchbook

These pictures are from a very strange sketchbook that I kept while I was working in a cleanroom, a factory where you have wear a special suit to reduce lint and static electricity. They use special paper in cleanrooms, it feels like it's made of plastic and it doesn't shed lint. I drew all of these with a ball point pen - not my favorite medium - but I like some of the drawings. There is a long ugly section of people eating, those are called Pie Hole I, Pie Hole II, etc... The drawings area about 2" x 6"

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Drawing Progression

I like those videos where you see a time lapse of a work so I decided to make one. This is a simple two-point perspective with a figure sitting on it. It's starts as a light pencil sketch and I begin adding more and more ink. It's just mechanical pencil and Sharpie on 8.5 x 11 printer paper. I took the pictures with a cheap digital camera and compiled them on a windows movie making program that came with my laptop.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Whiteboard Drawing

Unbelievable... No way..... It can't be done.... two posts in the same night on the same topic.... GET OUT! Okay, whatever. Anyway, as I said in the last post I'm covering medieval illuminated manuscripts and woodcut printing in the same lesson (wow, aint I innovative?). So, to get the woodcut idea across, I keep demonstrating by drawing on the whiteboard using a subtractive method. That is, I fill in a space with black dry erase marker, then "draw" by erasing, using a paper towel to remove the ink. In this case I drew the ribbon border, then filled the interior space with black and created the capital B and the pattern around it by erasing. I love the kind of unexpected shapes that you get by working that way. And, yes, that drawing is on a whiteboard. Can't tell you why it looks yellow, must be the light.

Whiteboard Drawing

Right, well it's been quite some time since I posted on the blog and it's likely much readership has fallen off. So be it. I still intend to continue this in spite of my own lack of consistency. Today's post is another whiteboard drawing done for my classroom. I'm teaching a unit on Medieval and Gothic art which contains an extensive look at illuminated manuscripts. I've devised a project in which my students will each produce their own illuminated manuscript based on their choice of a lyric, poem, or excerpt of literature. Each student will produce a recto (right hand page) consisting of the text, an ornamental capital, and a decorative border, as well as a verso (left hand page) containing a suitable illumination for the text and it's own decorative border.

In addition to illuminated manuscripts, which were typically hand painted, I've been discussing woodcut prints, a popular form in Medieval art. I'm asking the students to combine the techniques for this project. In the case of the recto, I'm requiring each to create a linocut (easier than wood) for the ornamental capital that usually begins the text. We'll print the block on parchment (modern), then add the text and ornamentation using markers. Once the recto is complete, we'll produce a verso consisting of a larger linocut image depicting, i.e. illuminating, some aspect of the text. We'll then add a decorative border to accentuate the illumination. All in all it should give the students an interesting introduction to medieval art (with a modern twist) using two of the popular styles of the day.

The whiteboard drawing that I've created uses dry erase markers to demonstrate the concept. The ornamental capital was created by filling in a rectangle with black ink, then using a paper towel to "cut out" the letter and leave patterned marks around it. This is meant to simulate the woodcut process, a subtractive method of drawing. The decorative border in this case is intended to introduce the students to the practice of creating weaving and branching patterns, something I had them practice several times as bell work. The text I've chosen is a "madrigal" by P.D.Q. Bach (Peter Schickle) called "My Bonny Lass She Smelleth". I thought it an appropriate choice because it actually parodies medieval music.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Five Year Plan

It's amazing to me, but it's been five years since I last did a painting. I've been busy with music, performing, teaching and of course I've been drawing and sketching all this time, but I haven't been painting. I've actually never been happy with myself as a painter so recently I hooked up with an old college friend whose paintings I admire. He really wants to play the drums so I offered to give him drum lessons if he'd let me watch him paint and give me tips (translate as Lessons, thanks Jon!). Well, here's the first result. If you've been following the sketches I've posted, you'll recognize that this is in the same line of thought. This is a hybrid of a Baroque triptych alter piece and a comic strip from the Sunday paper (that's why each panel is square). This is a mixed media with ink, acrylic, and collage elements on canvas. There are invented images as well as photographed images. There is ala prima painting and glazing. Each panel is 18" x 18". This is a very spiritual piece that explores my frustration with philosophy, religion, and politics. There's a strong sense of "walking into light" with the figure in the right panel. The death imagery, the flytraps, the flys, are all deliberate means to convey my current state of dissatisfaction. I'm very pleased with the shifting perspective in the composition. I also like the warm, dry, desert colors on the left in contrast to the cool, tropical colors on the right. The title is "Shooting the Bottle off the Buddha".

P.S. If you want to see some great work check out my friend Jonathan's blog. He's one of my "followers" in the top right corner above my picture.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Convention

I had to go to a charter school convention today and I was bored. The lady on my left had a craby look on her face. The key note speaker wore stripes and seemed very stern. There were a lot of spot lights in the convention center. Some guy raised his hand to ask a question. There was a cowboy painting on the wall. I started to feel like the guy in the middle.