Vand Dyke, Lempika, Boticelli… what a surprising title for the week’s lesson and yet, in a little over an hour and a half Glenn takes us through a trip of discovery: what have those apparently unrelated artists in common?

A fantastic lecture that really opened my eyes on many things: oppositions between objects, and what happens when you take a line from say a character, his forearm for example, and prolong the line… what does it become, where does it lead your eye? what can you do with it and all the rest to guide the viewer’s eyes through your work exactly the way you want…. and it works! scientists have constructed systems that follow to the millimetre the movement of the eye, they show you an image and can construct a map of what path you eye followed and how long he staid where – the old masters knew this intuitively.

The assignment of the week was: a single figure in an uncomplicated surrounding/background/thingywhatever (remember we are getting into modern art possibilities if we want to, and of course we MUST use color)

I decided to do two rough drawings (related to two of the main characters of my comicbook). I decided to challenge myself a bit more that usual and do one with the cintiq (same as drawing with pencil or pen, but on the computer, and the other also on the computer but…. with a mouse! OK, dont try this at home kids, I had painted with a computer mouse some ten years ago (it’s on my facebook wall, scroll down you’ll get it) well, at the time my wrist did hurt. Ten years older… it hurts a lot more!!!!! so dont do this, ok? (unless you are really very young, in which case does your mother know your are painting on the cmputer at this time of night instead of sleeping or oing your homework? lol)

Here are the two paintings, left: cintiq, right: mouse

Glenn comment was particularly interesting (even more than the usual I mean) The left one, done with the cintiq is more “refined”, yes he could see what I wanted to do with the lines of the arms, the shelves, the fallen books, the round panels repeating the round head shape. But it did not seem to satisfy him. I think he was expecting more of me .

About the clumsy drawing on the right (down entirely with a mouse…. I must be mad) he was far more interested: it’s more direct, less wishy washy and the many games I play with lines from and to the character work, the play on color which did not even appear in the other painting here work: look where the purple are, I did keep orange for very specific places on the image.

Mouse wins clearly, and I think I know why: I had to think more before doodling/noodling my drawing because you cant just do any old thing and see what it looks like when you are painting with a brick (which is what a computer mouse is!)

Some of my class mates are reaching very high levels of quality, and of finish in their work this week, their works look publishable, mine dont, but then I really feel I’m the less gifted one: I should thing “music” while drawing, and I keep thinking “story” or “litterature”.

Thank God Glenn is there and pushing me in the right direction while letting develop at my rhythm, my style (no my style is no the mouse drawing! “grrrr” to anybody who thought that :-D). I’m getting there slower than some of my friends, but I am building as solid as they are – does this make sense? slower architect but normal solid house!

see you next week for some unexpected….art on my part.