Today’s Featured Sketch

Last fall I posted a few "quick and dirty" sketches done from life for my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. The subject of those quickies was my wife's cat, Lilly.

Well, she's back today. Only this time you might actually be able to tell from the drawing that she's more than just a hairy half-a-lump on the sofa. That's because this one was done from one of my photographs.

Yes, I wised up and now have the old Cannon SLR locked and loaded for any good photo ops that present themselves.

I'm proud that I was even able to get such a clear reference image from this little play session, since she moves so fast and the light was less than good.

I have a feeling I'll have lots of cat reference before long.

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Featured Sketch and Some Facts of Interest

Did this colored pencil drawing for my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. It’s from an old photo - Fred Perry I think. He was the last British man to win the gentleman’s singles title at Wimbledon. That was in 1936. Sux to be a British tennis fan I guess.

Anyway, I like looking at old images and reading about history, so it only follows that those things would find their way into my art right? Right.

On the painting exhibit front, it’s almost spring which means there are a few new exhibits coming up for me. One is a group show at a gallery in McMurray PA, and another is the 14th annual Art All Night event in the Lawrenceville section of the city. I’ve only done that show once before, but it’s a really cool and fun time. More on these and other upcoming shows in future posts.

The Pittsburgh Society of Artists annual exhibit is going on right now at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh’s gallery on the Blvd. of the Allies in downtown. Thats a really nice show (and not just because I’m in it). However you only have a few days to see it because it ends this Friday (January 28th).

Lastly, since our Stillers’ are goin’ to the Super Bowl, wanted to share a link I found on the origins of the teams names, so you’ll know just who your watching come Sunday, February 6.

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Digital Sidebar - New Toy

Yes, I know it’s AFC championship week, and I’m excited about that. However it’s also the first week of the 2011 Australian Open tennis championships and I’m kind of excited about that too (although much less so). Put this all together with the fact that earlier this week I just cracked open my new Intuous4 Wacom tablet, and this becomes one pretty cool week, (for being the most depressing time of the year that is).

To celebrate the start of the 2011 ATP season, here is an image I shot and manipulated.

Now about that Wacom tablet... Pressure sensitive drawing tablets have been around for a long time, but I’ve never really used one until now. I’ve seen the work people do with these things and I think the results are amazing. I just started to scratch the surface with my tablet and set up the preferences for it. I can already see myself gushing about the thing in future posts.

Mine (pictured below) is the smallest in the new line of Intuous tablets that Wacom makes. It connects to the computer via USB, and the cord is nice and long. Also, Wacom designed it for lefties and righties by putting ports on both sides and putting two different cords in the box. Ambidextrous you might say.

I can program the buttons and scroll wheel on the left side to do different tasks in different programs, though I’ll use it mostly for Photoshop.

The active area of the pad is automatically mapped to the dimensions of the computer monitor it’s hooked up to. This can be a bit tough to get used to because it’s totally different than using a mouse, but it’s a preference that can be changed. Haven’t decided yet weather I’ll do that or not. The holder that the pen sits in opens up to reveal a bunch of different nibs that can be used too.

So all in all, a real nice addition to the digital tool box.

Did you ever get the feeling that they’re aren’t enough hours in the day to work on cool stuff?

joe@joewinklerart.com

joewinklerart.com

Today’s Featured Sketch and Some Composition Concerns

Because I’m still fired up about the Steelers win in the AFC divisional playoff on Saturday I wanted to feature another drawing of what might become a Steeler-themed oil painting. Unlike many recent sketches I’ve posted, this one is not from my “Sketchbook Project” sketchbook.

This was one of the last drawings I did from life in my old studio before getting married. Like the drawing in the previous post, I drew it from life, then shot the still life in various lighting set ups to use as reference for development into an oil painting.

Two things about this drawing:

One - I took great care to get the lettering on the towel correct. As I stated two posts ago concerning tracing reference images, I’ve done that as a time-saver, but since I was under no deadline on this piece I enjoyed working totally from life and nailing the thing really right. Always good to work from life at least some of the time.

Two - I havent taken this piece any further because I couldn’t come to grips with the cheesy hand-held Steeler “fan” thingy I used in the still life. I may just remove that totally if I do this up in oils.

I initially considered sticking a football in that spot and just throwing it (pun intended) into shadow. But then I was concerned about visual size issues. The helmet is a miniature replica and if I put a regulation-sized football next to it, the helmet may look really out of whack. By the same token, if I put a small football next to the helmet, the size relationship may be true, but may still make the overall piece look really strange. Right now I think that removing the fan, and cropping real tight on the helmet and towel (as shown below) may be the way to go.

 If you've any better ideas please e-mail me.

In any case, I’m way too nervous about the AFC championship game next Sunday to do anything about this composition now, so this piece will sit in the “to do” vault in my head along with a bunch of other subject ideas for a while.

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Featured Sketch

Thought this was an appropriate drawing to share with you during the AFC divisional playoffs.

I Did this drawing from life for the Sketchbook Project and had great fun doing it too. This is one of those miniature 75th anniversary helmets. I just positioned it right next to the little 19 inch flat screen the wife got me for my studio, sat in my recliner, and using one of those laptop supports, sketched away!

So while I was doing this up really right, at the same time I was able to watch the Jets beat the Peyton Mannings last Sunday evening in the AFC wildcard playoff game. I put some finishing touches to it the next day which is why it’s dated Monday 1/10.

What a great way to spend an evening - Art and football. I was so happy with the finished drawing that I took a bunch of reference photos of the helmet lit dramatically so I’ll be able to execute a nice painting from my sketch.

Speaking of the Sketchbook Project, I mailed mine in the other day. Here is a shot of the book for posterity, (since I’ll probably never see it again).

Like the Beatles White Album style cover?

I knew you would.

joe@joewinklerart.com

joewinklerart.com

Today’s Featured Sketch and a Rant

This drawing from my Sketchbook Project 2011 sketchbook, is of my sister's dog. A rather snobbish but cute bitch maltese named Chelsea.

To me this drawing brings to mind the age old issue of whether it’s okay to trace an image as opposed to drawing it freehand, as a means of starting a final piece (weather the final piece be in pencil or oils or whatever medium).

My view on this issue has always been this: Tracing light guidelines down weather it be with a projector or a lightbox has no bearing at all on the success of the finished piece because a piece of realistic art such as this, is made up of VALUE MASSES not lines. There are no lines in reality, only edges of objects.

Starting a painting or drawing with line placement only, does not mean that one will be successful in rendering light and shadow masses correctly or convincingly.

I have actually used both methods with success in my career. On this piece, because of time constraints, I used a lightbox to place light guidelines down for position of the dog only. Here is a detail of the final rendering where dog meets two areas of background mass.

These edges are soft to convey the illusion of fur. That kind of thing can’t be rendered with a single line only, even if the piece is started out in that way. The only lines that are present are there to show hair texture. Again, you can’t trace shadow mass.

If you are a realistic, representational artist who feels like using a projector or lightbox is a bad thing I want you to do two things:

One: Remember that Vameer, Rembrandt, Norman Rockwell and thousands of other major artists throughout history, that you love, have used a projector (or the equivalent thereof for their times).

Two: Do what I do and keep drawing freehand to keep your observational skills sharp and just use the projector and/or lightbox as a time saver in order to get to the really fun part of the process - slopping paint around.

Look at the charcoal sketch of a womans head I posted two posts ago. That was from a bust I have in my studio that I placed before me and did totally freehand from life.

It was acres of fun!!

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Featured Sketch

This page, which is out of my Sketchbook Project 2011 sketchbook, is an updated version of a sketch that I did back in 2003 from an old photo out of a tennis history book. This sketch is done with a Burnt Umber Prismacolor colored pencil.

My original sketch was a simple outline done in pencil. My usual method for an accurate and detailed drawing of a full figure from a reference photo is always the same.

I do the head first, taking care to get proportions correct. Then I place a grid on my paper using the height of the head for a distance between lines. Next I place a grid over the photo using the height of the actual head in the photo. Going forward in this way gives me the same proportioned grid over the photo as on my drawing, allowing me to sketch in the rest of the figure very accurately.

My main goal on this sketch was to get a bit of variation of line weights on different parts of the figure. Many times it is not good to have a totally uniform outline all over the drawing.

The only other thing I wanted to do was indicate a bit of motion, as well as ad some interest, with the horizonal background lines in a few select places. These lines also help to push the subject forward.

If you think these horizonal background lines look familiar you’re right - think renaissance-era drawings (although mine are a bit too heavy-handed I think).

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

The Sketchbook Project

Well here it is January 2011 already and the Sketchbook Project Tour is quickly approaching. For those of you not familiar with it, it's like a concert tour only with sketchbooks!

For the next few weeks I'll be featuring a page out of my book, and hopefully some pages of one or two other artists.

Artists' sketchbooks have to be postmarked by January 15th in order to be included in the tour which starts in February and now includes nine different cities all across the U.S.

An overview of the project can be found here. Specific dates and cities right here.

Joe@joewinklerart.com

Pictures of the Year - Part 2

A few more photos I was able to shoot from the year that was 2010...

joe@joewinklerart.com

Pictures of the Year - Part 1

Happy New Year to you and yours!

As much as I love oil painting, I thought I'd kick off the year with a different subject - photography.

I love to shoot reference for my paintings but sometimes it's nice to just process the raw files up really right as a fine art photographic print.

Here is a selection of photography which I consider among my best shots of the past year.