Train...

Exercise 1

still trying to learn how to use colour...
(only had 3 colours... 4 if i count white)

Where was I ??

Better late than never... Thanks to all of you who helped me during my "walkabout". You really made it amazing!

Summer!!

For the next month or so i'll be roaming around europe, so i won't be posting much. But I'll bee back in late August, hopefully with the story for my first serious attempt at a graphic novel complete. It is as i said before, inspired on one of the stories from Boris Vian, that concentrates on world war II. But.. who knows, maybe the trip will pull me in a completely new direction and i end up making one about something else.

Making a new one V

Not too happy about the rifle.


The hands were the main batle. still have a lot to learn...

Well... this is it.
I have a lot a trouble deciding when to stop. Every painting that i do, comes to a point where, either i feel that i need to digest it for a while, so that eventually i can come back and work out the details. Or, like in this In this case, i realize that i have to get some more experience before tackling the issues that still bother me. The hands for instance, it's perfectly noticeable that i had a war going on around that area. This is the way i do it... it's not very linear, i start out with the idea, don't make to many studies and planing, and most important of all i leave some room for accidents and risky improvisation. This one was thought as a part of a graphic novel (finally a friend taught me a less goofy expression for comic books), so as you can see i didn't mind too much about borders or outlines. I'll just crop it to the size it was intended to occupy.

Making a new one IV

Yes... it is different!

This is how it's going, much slower than usual...

A common thing that happens to me a lot is that i some times playing with my camera will find different layouts to the whole frame, and sometimes, like in this case, i like them more than the original. I would be bothered if this was a painting to put up on the wall. But as it is thought as a frame in a series of illustrations (i don't know why, but saying comic book seems childish...), i was already conscious that eventually this would happen when putting it together with other images.

Making a new one III

I've got to finish this... it's no good when they take to long. The felling for the original idea can slip away easily. I'm putting on too much "detail" i like it better when that nervous/fast touch seems to take over the composition. In many ways i'm just a spectactor, so I'm curious to see how it will turn out.

Making a new one II

Still a long way to go.

(have to start taking photographs during the day, the quality on this one is terrible!!)

Train...

another "old" drawing

Making a new one

The next few pictures i'm going to post show how i go about a new painting. In this case i photographed myself to get the pose right. I don't usually do this, as I like the feeling of creating something absolutely from scratch, from the pose to the lighting. But i'm not a fundamentalist so when i feel the need, the camera goes to work. Though, even using a photograph, ill just make a few sketches from it. Some artists, like to plan everything in detail, using a model and taking great care with the lighting. I'm thinking off an artist called Alex Ross, he works (as far as i know...) mainly on comic books. If you look at his work you'll see what i mean. I love his work, and i've even tried adapting to that sort of method ( work method, not style!), but it just doesn't work for me. Partly because i don't have the skill to do it that way. I have to admit i'm a bit chaotic, as the idea is always adapting. Besides, seeing what works and what doesn't, is something that you can only truly find when making the final work. Painting is in essence a changing process so i feel very comfortable with the lack of "pre-production". As long as the main part of the original idea is still there, it's alright to let room for improvisation. A mouse accidentally turning into an elephant might be a little bit too much of a change.

Colour II

I won't try to explain what the paintings mean. I'm actually very narrative, there's allways a reason behind what i draw or paint, but what i see in them isn't necessarily what someone else will, so i won't impose my interpretation. Some artist are more expressive, they'll just paint emotion and felling, while others tend to tell "stories". I usually try to be in-between...

(the las one isn't finished yet, i'm still digesting...)

Colour

Note

I keep forgetting to recharge my camera batteries. I'm taking care of it now, and tomorrow i'll post some of the things i've been working on lately, showing a couple of new pictures.
I've been taking up color more seriously. You will have noticed that colour has not made it into the blog yet. Well its not just by chance, i actually don't use it much, well... until recently that is. Colour is so hard and independent from drawing that i sometimes shy away from it. Personally i find it a lot harder to get the hang of the whole technical aspects behind painting, than with drawing. Colour isn't what it seems, the way it works, interacts. The balance between darker and brighter colours and the amount of light each reflects. All these things are somewhat simplified when you're just drawing, or painting monochromatically. It's the theory behind colour that gives me headaches, using the brush comes easy, and learning how to apply the paint also. But getting colour to work the way i want it to, well, sometimes i find it very hard. And that's why i started using oils. It's amazing, i'll just wrestle the painting until it gets to where i want. It's excellent for learning and exploring. Although a bit too forgiving... So, I'm also experimenting with water colour, which is a "do or die" medium. No second chances. You have to force yourself to be patient, and reaaally look before you even wet the brush. And this exactly where i want to arrive at, developing patience and concentration. Having these, everything else becomes much easier. Not just painting and drawing, it reflects in everything i do, be it sports, music or whatever. They function very well together, complementing each other. As far as i'm concerned, i don't see any advantage in concentrating on one thing only. Too spread doesn't do any good either. Just balanced... Eventually i'll get the hang of this colour thing.

hmm....

Soldier II

Soldier

There's a book by Boris Vian, a compilation of stories actually, called Les Foumis, i'm not a huge fan of his writting, but there's one story that i like a lot. The story follows a soldier through D-day and some other episodes, that eventually lead to his death (sorry for ruining the ending). The thing that i really liked is the way the story is told in the 1st person, in such a demented way, that it strikes me as some sort of analogy on the absurd o war. I don't know if that was his intention really, because everything i read from him is never quite "normal". This is the way it works for me... So, last year i started making a few studies more less inspired on the story and some of them came out nicelly. I've been thinking about creating some story based on WWII, and for a long time now i've been sketching a lot trying to find a stille that i'm happy with, it will be something close to this. (the ones with a more plastic treatment. i know... i have to find more contrast in the painting, but i'll get on it)

Train

Some "old" and simple pen drawings from my train rides.

Traveling

They seem so few...
It has been quite a while since i began using this brand of diary ( the black ones from Winsor & Newton). I started using them when i (finally) decided to go to college, 3 years ago . Mostly i draw and write on them when i'm on the train and subway going to and from my classes. Trains and subways are the best places to draw as far as i am concerned, you see so many things, different, weird, ugly, beautiful things. You can either get completely lost inside yourself, or in the world that is the passenger car. It definitely is a trip in more ways than one.
I've been lucky to ride the train for most of my life, and i'm not sure how much into drawing i would be right now, if it weren't for those train-rides back when i was still in High school. Then, in the beginning, the sketchbooks would be left forgotten everywhere, finishing one would be an accomplishment (that usually took a long looong time), but gradually, they eventually became what they are now, like underwear, and usually don't last much more than a month. One thing that really helps, is the simple fact that these sketchbooks i use now can withstand a lot of abuse (as a sketchbook should). I've been drawing for 10 years now, but only these survived. The others rotted away or i just lost them, it's a shame...
Having a diary is like having a free-pass to your memory. Just pick one up, open it, and so much comes back to you. It's like the marks my mother did on the wall keeping track of how much i had grown that year.
It's hard too make it a habit, and as much a part of yourself as it should be, but by the time it's there, you'll have learnt to keep yourself company. Your own little world...

Aqui vou eu!

Já de há uns tempos para cá que ando a falar em criar um site portfollio na tentativa de finalmente dar inicio a algo que se assemelhe a uma carreira (prefiro chamar-lhe percurso) nas artes. Uma vez que o site ainda vai ter de esperar, vou tentar navegar um pouco por este blog e ver onde é que isto vai parar. Uma Pequena aventura de iniciação. Quem me conhece sabe a aversão que eu tenho a estas coisas. Expor-me assim não e de maneira nenhuma uma coisa que me venha de forma natural. Mas aqui vai! Um auto-pontapé no rabo!

Ps: Quem me conhece também sabe o drama que a ortografia, por vezes, é para mim. Por isso mil desculpas para cobrir os proximos mil erros.

De futuro provavelmente escreverei as mensagens em Inglês: Já que vou apontar, ao menos aponto alto e sonho já com o lado extra-Portugal!