Tag: People

Painting with Gouache

Gouache on hot-pressed watercolor paper, 7″x11″
Click here to enlarge

I’ve been wanting to experiment with painting in gouache (opaque watercolor) and today finally got the chance. I so adore the artwork of Maira Kalman and the painterly, juicy way she uses gouache….which reminds me a lot of the kind of oil painting I want to do–John Sonsini is one of my current favorites…and his work reminds me a lot of Alice Neel, one of my major art heroes, who, at the age of 80, did a wonderful nude self portrait of herself painting herself.

It turns out gouache, at least on the two relatively small pieces I’ve tried so far, actually combines the best of watercolor, acrylics and oils. You can blend easily, paint with bright juicy colors, it dries quickly but not too quickly, you can paint over areas, and it cleans up with water. I had some ancient tubes of Winsor Newton Designer’s Gouache and bought a few new tubes since some of mine had turned to cement. I love it!

I’ve been trying to paint in that juicy, painterly way with acrylics and oils but haven’t succeeded so far. I haven’t worked out the balance between working quickly, free and loose, and still trying to capture a likeness of my subject and getting to detailed and tight. Then there’s the problems associated with the actual media–acrylic dries too fast too do much blending and oil dries so slowly that I keep having to stop and let it dry for a week before continuing.

I’m excited about the possibilities with gouache and enjoyed this first experiment, which was inspired by a dream. I posted the original sketchbook image here.

If you want to see more of Maira Kalman’s art, she’s had a monthly art blog on the New York Times website and the work is stunning. It will be published in a book in October. The NY Times offers a free 2-week subscription, which I took in order to look at the whole year of her art blogs.

Tags People

Cartoon art Digital art Dreams Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

Still Dreaming…

Dreamt I was at the movies with my blind husband (don’t have one) and another blind man and they were showing off by walking from side to side on the stage being tricky and funny.

Dreamt I created a company called “Subsidiary” that makes devices to make shoulders more comfortable while sleeping.

Dreamt Cody was a kid again and a funny old grandpa was in the kitchen showing him how to eat cereal from those little fold-open cereal boxes.

Dreamt my mom wanted to come live with me but I remembered I had a husband I had to ask first. Then I remembered I wasn’t married anymore but had a roommate (a former friend I don’t see anymore). I asked if she minded and she said she’d inherited a fortune and was going to be buying houses for 13 friends and I wasn’t one of them. Mom was sorting through papers in an envelope marked “Dec 06” that she’d found in her piles of junk stacked around her on her bed.

These are all drawn in ink in my sketchbook, then scanned and colored in Painter.

Tags Painter Digital Art, Pen and Ink, People

People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Drawing

Ink in Moleskine sketchbook
To enlarge, click image, select All Sizes

Just a few people on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) — our version of the subway — on the way to the Sketchcrawl Saturday. This is being another killer week at work, leaving little energy for much else. I’m determined to get in some drawing tonight and I’m looking forward to a long weekend and my annual one week birthday vacation next month.

I have an idea for a personal sketchcrawl while I’m on vacation — an hourly drawing, no matter what I’m doing or where I am. I’d set my watch to chime on the hour and every time it chimes, do a drawing of something I’m seeing or doing…for 12 hours straight. And maybe I’ll use a pre-determined different drawing technique or implement each time. So 7:00 a.m. might be a blind contour sketch, 8:00 might be using a fat felt pen, 9:00 might be using a brush and ink, 10:00 could be cross-hatching with ink or shading with a soft pencil…. It sounds like fun and gives me something to look forward to while slaving away until then.

Tags Pen and Ink, People, Subway drawings

Cartoon art Drawing Illustration Friday People Sketchbook Pages

Illustration Friday (redux): Citrus (Juggler)

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date May 12, 2007
17 Comments on Illustration Friday (redux): Citrus (Juggler)

Ink in sketchbook then digitally painted in Painter

My Illustration Friday post yesterday was lame. I didn’t have a single interesting idea of what to do with citrus other than a literal drawing of a lemon. But today I had another idea and quickly sketched it and then spent an hour or so coloring it in Painter. Now I feel better.

Actually, I feel better about my IF post and my back is feeling 50% better today. The work my physical therapist did on me yesterday and the exercises she gave me that I did today seem to be helping. I do miss being able to lay in bed with my laptop looking at blogs but she warned me that it’s about the worst thing I can do for my back. I’ve had lower back problems forever and know how to care for it but never had upper back pain until I started reclining with my laptop.

Yippee! Getting better…makes me want to jump for joy and dance and juggle citrus!

Tags Painter Digital Art, Pen and Ink, People

Drawing Dreams People Sketchbook Pages

You’d think all I do is dream…

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date May 10, 2007
11 Comments on You’d think all I do is dream…

…it’s just that it’s been an exhausting few weeks at work and I haven’t had the energy or brain power to do much more with art at night than color in dream drawings (and sleep). Here’s a few more from the past week or two that I colored with Photoshop (though I prefer Painter for digital painting). At the end I’ll explain what I do to remember my dreams since people have asked.

(left) Dreamt I visited a kindly doctor who pinched my hand to test for something.
(right) Dreamt I kept dropping stuff and knocking things over in a store. (not too far from reality…I can be a real klutz sometimes)

All in one night
2. I was at some sort of spa/camp and people had to share beds. It was too crowded so I complained to the manager who told me to go find some other bed and climb in with those people. (maybe my 2 cats were crowding me off the bed?)

3. Also at the camp/spa the toilet tank was leaking and I kept trying to tighten the gasket but it just kept spinning and wouldn’t tighten

4. Walking down a dark street I saw a spinning lawn sprinkler that was shooting out fire instead of water and it was glowing beautifully in the dark, along with pretty blue lights on a police car blinking on and off. There was a weird gas leak in the house and danger of explosion so I ran in and rescued a cute, scared little dog.

(left) I was at a workshop and people were all talking and I couldn’t understand what they were saying and I kept telling them I couldn’t hear so they kept repeating but I still couldn’t understand them.
(right) My house and garage were leaking and flooding in the rain and my old gardener was trying to solve the problem and I was sitting with him like he was my sweetheart.

Dreamt Marcy and I were jogging on a beach alongside a cliff when a huge wave hit us and pulled out to sea and I was waving my arms and yelling and a strong, handsome guy pushed us back to shore.

How I remember dreams
The only way I’m able to remember my dreams is to stay in a half asleep state when I wake up in the morning without opening my eyes for a few minutes. At that point I can usually remember the dream I was just in and as soon as it comes back to me I quickly jot it down. As I’m writing the dream it will often segue into the dream before it, and the one before that so I just keep writing. Also, while I’m asleep and an interesting dream ends and I realize it’s just a dream, I’m conscious enough to tell myself to remember it. Once they’re written down I usually will draw them right then if there’s time and if not, I’ll draw them that evening. Often while I’m drawing more pieces of the dream comes back to me too. One other thing is that I don’t use an alarm clock to wake up (I have two cats instead).

By the way, I wanted to say thanks for commenting–it’s so great to know you’ve stopped by for a visit. I’ve not been able to visit others blogs much the past few weeks or respond to comments the way I’d like to because of back pain that is aggravated by sitting at a computer. I’m trying to get better fast and am learning to work smarter — no more using a laptop while reclining in bed, it’s definitely not ergonomic and ignoring a little ache led to a great big one!

Tags Pen and Ink, People, Photoshop painting

Dreams Painting People Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Drawing dreams: Like being a kid again

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date May 8, 2007
11 Comments on Drawing dreams: Like being a kid again

(above) I dreamt that Shirley (from Everyday Matters) was a graphic designer who had done the covers for some Curious George books that were being published by the organization I work for. I thought of her in the dream as Shirley hemend (the last name is actually part of her email address and it was lower case in the dream too).

Drawing dreams is so much fun. It’s just like being a kid again, sitting around like I used to with crayons and scrap paper drawing whatever came to mind next, like the people in the picture below. Except for me and the singer, the rest of the people just appeared randomly: a guy with a bozo haircut behind the singer, the old lady beside her, a guy with a beret and lady with a big hat, all just random people floating around in my subconscious waiting for a chance to come hang out for awhile.

(above) Dreamt I was in a big meeting room at work where a young goofy looking singer-songwriter guy was singing a song so beautiful and heartbreaking that it brought tears to my eyes and I fell in love with him — until I realized he was too young. I’m always 25 in my dreams and then at the end I remember I’m more than twice that.

(above) Dreamt that Leah and I were on the hike we took Saturday where we saw so many beautiful butterflies, but this time there were hundreds instead of dozens.

All images ink & watercolor in Handbook Company Journal.
To enlarge, click images, select “All Sizes”

Tags Pen and Ink, People

Cartoon art Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

More Dream Sketches

These are all sketched in ink in my morning dream journal in ink and then colored in Photoshop. They can be seen larger by clicking image and selecting “All Sizes.”

Dreamt I was hanging out with Michael and a lovey-dovey hippie woman who was handing out crocheted flowers and I realized I was wearing ugly sweats.

Dreamt I was in the hospital and all I wanted was someone to bring my my toothbrush.

Dreamt I was painting and someone told me I should take out insurance on my paintings in case of fire.

1. Dreamt my mom was visiting and Marcy planned a hike but invited her friends and the hike was too hard for my old mom.

2. Really bad icky dream about people stealing from homeless bums.

Dreamt my mom called to tell me she heard on TV that if you go to a “Big 3” (?) college you make more money the rest of your life. She often reports random information (usually about celebrities) that she hears on the TVs that are contantly on in every room of her house.

1. Dreamt I was visiting my bubby (Jewish grandma) only she was Mexican and named Rosita and illiterate so I was reading a letter to her from a friend in Mexico. I was trying to translate it into Spanish but she told me to just read it in English.

2. Marcy and I were going to LA to visit our mother and I was packing and telling myself to pack light for once but I realized none of my pants fit and we had to hurry and leave and Marcy was still sleeping.
——–
Hmmm, seems like my dreams are reminding me that it’s been too long since I’ve visited my mother and that I need to buy a plane ticket and go see her soon.

Tags Painter Digital Art, Pen and Ink, People, Photoshop painting

Drawing Faces People Portrait Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Drawing Faces

Graphite and watercolor in Aquabee 6×9 sketchbook
To enlarge, click images, select All Sizes

These are two more faces from my project of drawing faces from a book of character actors acting that I explained in a previous post here. This actor was supposed to be a soccer dad whose daughter just scored a winning goal in the first picture and a Hells Angel preparing for a confrontation in the bottom picture. Drawing the top picture I could really see what all the muscles in face were doing to pull his skin here and there.

I had to draw the first one twice–the first time I didn’t get things lined up at all. I seem to always want to make faces and their features symmetrical whether they are or not. I try to straighten tilted heads, make mouths the same size on both sides of the face even when the head is turned so that it’s shorter on one side. The second time I looked more carefully at angles and where features lined up with each other and their sizes in relation to each other and I got closer to reality.

Tags Faces, People

Art theory Faces Other Art Blogs I Read People Portrait Sketchbook Pages

Drawing Famous Faces & Copyright Info for Artists

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date April 10, 2007
19 Comments on Drawing Famous Faces & Copyright Info for Artists

Ink (Pentel brush pens) in Aquabee Deluxe 6×9 sketchbook
To enlarge, click image, select All Sizes

My painting group buddies Lea and Susie are taking a monthly portraiture class from local artist Myrna Wacknov. One of the homework assignments they’ve worked on during our painting group sessions is to take two sheets of watercolor paper and divide each into 8 sections using strips of tape. Then on one they draw the same person 8 times using different colors, techniques, lighting, etc. on each image. On the other they do eight different people but unify them in some way. Judith isn’t taking the class but jumped in anyway and is painting a sheet of 8 angelic portraits of George Harrison from an old Rolling Stone cover.

Then I found the book “In Character: Actors Acting” at the library, with 250 pages of photos of character actors’ faces showing every kind of expression and feeling. I couldn’t resist joining in. I bought a used copy of the book and plan to go through it, flipping it open to a page and making drawings or paintings in my sketchbook. This is the first one. There were two photos of this guy on the same page and I got distracted and accidentally drew his left eye from one photo and the right eye from the other photo. He was looking in different directions in the two photos–he’s not really wall-eyed, poor guy.

Copyright issues:
I did some research about whether I need copyright permission to use these photos in drawings. The answer is yes and no… BUT since I doubt anything I draw will look “substantially similar” to the original photo (or the person I’m drawing!), I’m probably OK.

Here’s what I learned on a page about copyright rules for illustrators:
Q: What are the rules when it comes to illustrating celebrities?
First of all, if you’re not working from your own photographs or memory, you need to obtain permission from the photographer who created the photo you will be using as reference material. (You do not need to get permission from photographers if you create portraits or caricatures based on dozens of photographs from different sources and you are careful to not to include elements that would make it obvious you copied from a particular photograph.)

Q: Can I use someone else’s photograph as reference material for a painting I’m creating?
If you’re copying a photograph, you must get the photographer’s permission…Even though it’s in a different medium, you’re violating the photographer’s copyright if you copy a photograph in your painting.
BUT….
To constitute a copyright infringement, a “copy” must be “substantially similar” to the original work. If your finished illustration looks different from any of the originals you used as a reference material, you shouldn’t need to obtain permission.

Tags Faces, Ink, People

Dreams People Sketchbook Pages

Goofy sketches and dream tidbits from AM/PM journal

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date April 5, 2007
5 Comments on Goofy sketches and dream tidbits from AM/PM journal

AM: Dreamt Tim was holding up an eggplant and painting it.

PM: Memory drawing of old Chinese lady I saw today who’d converted her umbrella into a carrying device (known as a shoulder pole I learned by googling “Chinese over shoulder carrying”)

AM: Dreamt I was sitting in front seat of truck with Blake from American Idol and another couple. We were watching a movie displayed in the air in front of us and I kept fiddling unsuccessfully with the remote trying to fast forward.

AM: Dreamt that this doorman named Jack got a phone call and they dropped the phone out the window to him, almost hitting two lady shoppers.

PM: Memory drawing of Richard from the back as he worked on my computer wearing a jacket and cap because he was cold and so was I but didn’t think of turning on the heat.

Tags Pen and Ink, People