Clara Lieu

Illustration Rejects

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:35:39 -0400

These illustrations for my book are proving to be very tricky. Some seem to nearly draw themselves, (such as the sandwich seen above) while others have required a lot more troubleshooting. While I work on the final illustrations, I find myself second guessing my ideas all the time. I’m making spur of the moment changes all of the time in the imagery for this reason, which I think for the most part is a good thing.

I have already rejected numerous final illustrations because I didn’t like the way that they were working conceptually. Others have been rejected because I felt that the technical execution wasn’t as solid as I wanted it to be. This illustration of an ambulance below is one of my recent rejects; the perspective on it is not quite right, and therefore compromises the image.

Some of the illustrations get rejected because they don’t seem to have enough visual presence. I really like the idea of a potato chip illustration because it fits the text well, but when I sat down to draw it, the potato chip just wasn’t able to hold the space on its own. (see image below)

Crit Wall #9

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:25:00 -0400

Welcome to “Crit Wall“, where I offer online critiques of individual art pieces. To submit, send me a link to one image by commenting here, or by emailing the link to me at clara(at)claralieu.com. Please, NO ATTACHMENTS. Include the media, size, and title if you have one. Only submit original, finished works, no works in progress or sketches. Artwork created for a RISD degree program course is not eligible. You’ll receive notification if your piece is selected to be critiqued. Only one submission per person please, and know that I will not be able to critique every single work due to the volume of submissions. All images will be posted anonymously.

oil on panel

Overall, this piece is technically competent in the formal elements of painting. The composition is nicely set up, there is good contrast, the colors are effective and beautifully mixed. However, the painting doesn’t go beyond it’s technical achievements, and for this reason leaves the viewer wanting more. What this image lacks is interpretation, the artist’s opinion on the landscape. The emotional tone of the piece is lukewarm, and thus doesn’t invite the viewer to develop a strong reaction to the work. There is no mood to this piece, it feels neutral and therefore comes across as a technical exercise rather than an artwork that has a statement to make. The great landscape painters from history created paintings that evoked a presence that went beyond simply what they perceived with their eyes. In this painting, it seems that the artist has been too faithful to their perception, painting solely what they saw.

Technically speaking, the most successful aspect of this piece is the activity of the water in the lower left hand corner. In this area, there is a looser, more gestural quality to the brushwork that creates a sense of dynamic activity. The brushwork here is much more sophisticated than in the rest of the painting. In the upper section of the water, the brushwork becomes stale and obvious. The rest of the brushwork in the piece seems predictable and tight. The contrast in the rocks in the middle of the composition are quite effective, especially where the white of the water is splashing against the darkness of the rocks.

Compared to the rest of the piece, the entire sky seems flat and dull, While it is necessary to have some calmer areas where the eye can rest in a composition, the sky feels flat and lacks the kind of atmosphere that is necessary to activate that area. The area where the sky and the water meet is also problematic in that the crispness of the edge of the water is too clearly articulated, and therefore falls flat. Where the sky meets the water would be more effective if it was more suggestive and subtle. The sense of distance in the upper section of the painting could be pushed much further to make the space feel more palpable.

Refinements

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:45:00 -0400

I’m having a blast working on the final illustrations for my book right now. After working on my series of 50 portrait sculptures for a little over a year, working on these little quirky pen illustrations has been enormously refreshing and different. Most people think of me as a fine artist, so many don’t know that I actually have a degree in illustration. Technically speaking, this is my first professional illustration gig!

Above you can see the final illustration for the chickens and eggs that I did a sketch for in this post. I had initially thought that I was going to go for a much tighter look. However, when it came down to the actual drawing I realized that I tend to like to draw with a much looser hand, so you can see the strokes in the texture of the chicken feathers has a more gestural feel.

Conceptually speaking, the illustrations really range from literal interpretations, to metaphors and symbols that represent the ideas and content of the book. The idea is that with each page, you never quite know what image to expect so it will hopefully keep readers engaged in that way.

Ask the Art Professor: How can one regain lost satisfaction with their work?

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 21:27:54 -0400

Welcome to “Ask the Art Professor“! Essentially an advice column for visual artists, this is your chance to ask me your questions about being an artist, the creative process, career advice, a technical question about a material, etc. Anything from the smallest technical question to the large and philosophical is welcome. I’ll do my best to provide a thorough, comprehensive answer to your question. Submit your question by emailing me at clara(at)claralieu.com, or by posting here on this blog. All questions will be posted anonymously. Read an archive of past articles here.

Here’s today’s question:

“Ever since I started studying graphic design, I feel like I exchanged a bit of creativity for professionalism. Nowadays, I feel unsatisfied with my work all the time. I still love drawing but I used to feel a lot more satisfied when I was younger. I feel like something seems to lack in my art now. How can one regain lost satisfaction with their work?”

I know that the majority of the time, I don’t allow myself to indulge creatively. Usually I’m experimenting with some new method or subject. I challenge myself to do something unfamiliar and uncomfortable because I know that it’s good for me to be doing new things. I try hard not to sit around polishing my strengths because I want to target my weaknesses in order to build a well-rounded skill set.

I’m going to advise that you do the opposite of what I just described: give yourself the license to artistically indulge. Fully immerse yourself in your greatest strengths, working only with subjects that you feel very excited about. Pick an art medium that you are very experienced with, and can work with fluidly. If it feels good, then do it. Don’t worry about improving, experimenting, what other people think, etc. just focus on what will bring that sense of satisfaction back. Keep this up for several months and I am confident that you will be enjoying yourself again in no time. I had a professor as an undergraduate student who used to say all the time “if you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong.”

Another strategy that you can employ is to think back to all of the artistic experiences that you’ve had in your past. Try to home in on the experiences that brought you the greatest satisfaction, and attempt to create those circumstances for yourself again. For me, drawing from a live model has always automatically brought me satisfaction. At all stages of my life, life drawing is one specific activity that brings me a sense of stability and freedom at the same time. Life drawing reminds me of being an art student, and with that I associate the wonderful excitement and rigor of the learning process. Any time I sit down to draw the figure I know that I am always guaranteed to enjoy myself.

Book Illustrations

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:42:48 -0400

With the sculpture stage of my 50 sculptures series complete, I am setting that project aside temporarily to work exclusively on self-publishing my book, “Learn, Create, and Teach: A Guide to Building a Creative Life“. I’ve given myself an August deadline. The idea behind this deadline is so that I can get the book out there while students/faculty are still on vacation, (and have time to read) with an official launch happening in September when everyone returns to school.

My husband is doing the design work, so over the past few weeks we’ve been working together on fabricating a look for the book. One aspect I had been agonizing over was the use of illustrations and/or images. I really felt that the book needed one or the other to keep the book visually enticing. I finally decided on small line illustrations that would begin each chapter, making for 60 illustrations total. Above is a very rough, quick sketch for one chapter. (why chickens and eggs? You’ll have to buy the book to find out)

50 sculptures: finished!

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 22:01:58 -0400

After a frenzy of activity in the studio over the past two weeks, I officially finished my 50 sculptures series! Everyone always talks about feeling such a sense of accomplishment when finishing a big project, but for me I’m usually so wiped out from making the work that it’s more a sense of relief than it is anything else. I’m sure I’ll have more to reflect upon in the coming weeks, but I have to say that this was one of the tougher series that I’ve worked on in a while. Not only was it technically challenging to make this many sculptures with all of the modeling and casting that was involved, but I struggled immensely at the very beginning of this project in a way that I never have before. I went through the worst creative crisis in my career when I was conceptualizing this series, and had to wade through more failed attempts than I like to admit.

I still have yet to figure out precisely what the final physical format of these images will be when I present them in a gallery context. For now though, the sculpting aspect of the project is complete, and I’ll take my time troubleshooting their final format in the coming months. I have two solo shows booked for the fall of 2014 at the Sarah Doyle Gallery at Brown University and at the Mazmanian Gallery at Framingham State College, so those two shows will likely feature this series of sculptures.

Crit Wall #8

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:56:40 -0400

charcoal on paper
70cm x 50cm

Overall, there is a loose, painterly quality to the charcoal marks in this drawing that keep the marks active and dynamic. The area on the shirt right below the neck has some excellent strokes in the charcoal that look very quick and gestural.

In terms of materials, it appears that the drawing is done exclusively with vine charcoal. Vine charcoal is great for the initial sketch of a drawing, but it’s not good as a final material because it’s too grey and not permanent at all. Mixing both vine charcoal and compressed charcoal is an effective combination, as the compressed charcoal has a richness and darkness that the vine charcoal is not capable of achieving. The compressed charcoal also has a heavier look which is great for expanding the tonal range of a drawing. Also, the using a kneaded eraser in combination with a white plastic eraser to subtract the charcoal from the page would be help the drawing look less messy and smudged.

The head has a good sense of lighting, it is quite clear what direction the light is coming from. Proportionally speaking, the nose appears slightly too large, the chin seems to be too small, and the distance from the left eye to the ear is too wide. The transition from the forehead into the hair is beautifully executed, with a great sense of volume to the hair.

There are some structural issues with the figure, in particular the hand on the right hand side looks awkward and the arm seems to be too thin. The positioning of this arm and hand is particularly tricky, since it is a foreshortened arm. Foreshortening of limbs in general tend to look strange anyway, so it’s a tough thing to make it look natural. In this case, the width of the arm needs to be expanded in order for the proportions of the hand to the arm to look convincing.

The tonal work and the line work are too separate from each other throughout the drawing. Mostly, the lines are too dark heavy and apparent and could be de-emphasized so that the lines sink into the tone more effectively. Areas where the lines are not as prominent tend to come across as having more depth and dimension.

The background is problematic because it appears to be a last minute effort that wasn’t as carefully considered as the rest of the piece. The fact that the right hand side is toned in and the left hand side of the background isn’t touched at all seems inconsistent and confusing.

Ask the Art Professor: What is the best way to simplify the human figure? As cubes or as spheres?

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 22:22:58 -0400

Here’s today’s question:

“What is the best way to simplify the human figure? As cubes or as spheres?”

The answer is neither. I see people all the time trying to reduce the human figure into a series of geometric shapes when they’re drawing from a live model. They draw spheres where there are joints (wrists, shoulders, elbows, etc.) and it always ends up looking like an awful mannequin. The problem with this approach is that cubes and spheres used in this manner have nothing to do with the actual anatomical structure and forms of the human figure.

When I teach figure drawing, I simplify the human figure into the three structural concepts listed below. If you draw the human figure with these structural concepts in mind, you’ll be pleasantly surprised that you’ll have a likeness of a figure in no time. The order of these structural concepts is important to maintain as well, as the largest forms are addressed first and then eventually working down into the smaller details.

1)Major Masses: Major masses are essentially the largest forms on the human figure. I recommend beginning a figure drawing by first addressing the torso, by far the largest form. The torso is where all of the limbs and the head intersect, so it’s critical to knock in the torso immediately when starting a figure drawing. The torso can then be subdivided into a ribcage and pelvis, which provides a sense of structure within the torso itself. From there, the head and thighs can be quickly added to provide more mass to the form. The limbs and the hands and feet should come in last.

2)Centerline: There is an imaginary centerline down the front of the torso and down the back of the torso. On the back of the torso, the centerline is easy to spot because it is basically the spine. On the front of the torso, the centerline starts at the pit of the neck, (the point in between the collarbones, aka clavicles) moves down the center of the rib cage, through the belly button down to the pubic bone on the pelvis. A centerline is highly descriptive of the type of pose that is being struck by a figure. Look at the centerline when a model is posing and ask yourself what the centerline is doing: is the centerline perfectly straight? Is it twisted, is it leaning to the right or left? If you quickly establish how the centerline is behaving in your figure drawing, you’ve won half the battle.

3)Boney Landmarks: Boney landmarks are areas on the human figure where the bone is directly under the surface of the skin. These landmarks are significant because they are consistent with every single person, regardless of how large or thin they may be. When you’re looking at a model, search for these boney landmarks and indicate them in your drawing. Some boney landmarks include: collar bones, elbows, kneecaps, ankle bones, shoulder blades, etc. Boney landmarks are considered to be details, so they should not be drawn in until the major masses and centerline are well established.

Transitions

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 22:08:07 -0400

I’m on the verge of a two big transitions which will be happening simultaneously. For one thing, finishing these 50 face sculptures is imminent. At the rate I’ve been going in the studio these past few weeks, I will have all of the sculptures complete by mid-June. The other big transition is moving out of Wellesley College and converting my garage at home into a studio space. To make this happen, I went on a purging rampage to clear out tons of old artwork out of my house and garage. (you can read about this process in more detail in this post.) It’s going to be a little while before I launch into my next series of 50 figure drawings, as I figure out the logistics of how to make my garage work as a studio.

Crit Wall #7

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 21:45:27 -0400

acrylic on canvas
8″ x 10″

The best aspect of the composition is the way that the banana wraps itself around the apple. Overlapping of objects is one of the easiest and most effective ways to show depth between objects. In this case, the diagonal placement of the banana breaks up the row of the tomato, apple and onion and thus keeps the composition from being too even and predictable. The diagonal line depicting the edge of the table is important as well, as it brings a sense of movement to the composition that contributes greatly to the composition.

The composition could be improved by cropping some of the objects. The fact that the tomato, apple, and onion are placed in the middle of the page, with nothing cropped doesn’t allow for the viewer’s eye to want to reach out into the corners and edges of the page. For this reason, the corners and edges of the page appear to be dull. The leaf helps a little but might work better if it was hanging off the edge of the table, so that it connects more to other elements in the painting. I would recommend spending much more time arranging the objects, choosing an arrangement that is more dynamic and allows for the viewer’s eye to circulate around the page more.

Probably the weakest part of the piece is the lack of contrast, both in terms of color contrast and light/dark contrast. Overall, the majority of colors in both the objects and the background come across as too muddy. Many more intense, highly saturated colors are needed in the objects to activate the color scheme. The tomato and part of the banana begins to introduce a bit of intense colors, but both still lack the kind of punch that the objects need to come forward.

Watch out for the bright white highlights on the apple and the tomato. They appear to be painted with white paint straight out of the tube, which usually has a pasty quality that lacks the luminosity needed for the highlights to read effectively. The pure yellow highlight on the apple isn’t effective either. Instead, mix a slight tinge of yellow into the white paint for the highlights. This will give the highlight just a little kick to feel more intense and luminous.

The method with which the paint has been applied appears to be all opaque paint. Even with acrylics, it’s possible to achieve transparency through glazing techniques. In glazing, the acrylic paint is thinned by adding lots of water, and is then applied over an area of opaque paint. This creates a depth to the paint and a variety that is significantly more sophisticated than just using opaque paint. A combination of both opaque paint and transparent paint is necessary for a painting to accomplish depth.

The brushwork could be handled with more confidence. There’s a hesitation in the brushwork that comes across to the viewer. Right now, the brush strokes are neither tight nor painterly. The brushwork begins to loosen up more in the onion, but could be pushed much further.

Hiding No. 46, 48, 48beeswax, dimensions variable

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:42:54 -0400

Hiding No. 46, 48, 48
beeswax, dimensions variable

Hiding No. 44, 45, 46beeswax, dimensions variable

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:42:16 -0400

Hiding No. 44, 45, 46
beeswax, dimensions variable

Ask the Art Professor: What do you do for art storage?

Sat, 01 Jun 2013 22:08:39 -0400

Here’s today’s question:

“Do you have any advice on art storage? What sorts of projects would you recommend keeping? Are epic failures or pieces you hate worth holding on to?”

Storage of both art materials and artwork is a logistical nightmare for most artists. These problems only get worse as you get accumulate more supplies and create more artwork over the years. When I was an undergraduate at RISD, I thought transporting/storing all of the large scale oil paintings, drawings, and prints was bad. Then I did my MFA in sculpture, and storage became exponentially more difficult with all of the fragile, three-dimensional work I was making. Compared to storing sculpture, storing two-dimensional works was a breeze. Most of the sculptures I created were plaster casts, and every single once had to be tightly bubble wrapped and packaged carefully. The summer I finished graduate school I commuted from NYC to Providence to teach in the RISD Pre-College program every week. I remember taking multiple trips in my car, slowly transporting my thesis sculptures from NYC to Boston throughout the summer. On top of that, I had three nearly life-size figure sculptures as well. Each sculpture found a home with a local friend in NYC.

One of my storage closets with bins of art supplies

I rarely throw away art materials, and so I stock up on many, many plastic bins from The Container Store to store everything. I also have a rule that I always hold onto every tool, no matter how specific or obscure it is. You really never know when you’re going to need that tool or material again. Something always emerges unexpectedly years later that you could never anticipate. I once bought a really large rubber mallet that was specifically made for woodcarving for a woodcarving class I took during Wintersession at RISD. That rubber mallet sat untouched in a tool box for seven years, until I discovered during graduate school that it was the perfect mallet for chipping plaster molds. I ended up using this mallet intensively for two years during my graduate degree. Since then, I haven’t picked it up for nine years, but I don’t doubt that it could again prove to be useful in the future.

Coincidentally, this question is being asked at the same time that I went through one of the biggest “art purges” that I’ve ever done in my career. After five years at Wellesley College, I’m moving my studio back home into my garage. My garage has been housing the majority of my artwork for the past nine years, and it was filled to the brim with old sculptures, paintings, etc., with some of the work even dating back to freshman year at RISD back in 1994. My solution: a massive yard sale to give away all of my old artwork in the garage for free. I was so certain that I would be paying exorbitant fees to have a junk service take all of the work away. Some of the work was so awful, really heavy, and awkward that I couldn’t imagine anyone possibly wanting to own any of it. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the majority of work was taken at the yard sale. In my opinion, better to give the work away for free, knowing it’s being given a good home and is being appreciated by someone else. (I know it sounds like I’m talking about a pet, but that really is my reasoning here)

Some of you are probably squirming/wondering how I could possibly bring myself to part with so much of my artwork, and then on top of that, give it away for free. So much of the work is just so incredibly old that I’m completely emotionally removed from the work. The immense amount of space storing all of this work was so overwhelming that keeping the work was a significantly bigger headache than getting rid of it. I understand that I made that work, I learned from it, and that it’s time to move on.

Only you can really determine what is worth keeping. In my opinion, failed work and work you hate isn’t worth the hassle of storage. As long as I have good documentation of the work, it’s fine to let go of the physical work. With digital technology, that’s easier than ever. I always make sure that I keep my most recent projects, so that that work is available for exhibition for at least a few years. In this case, I consider “Falling” and “Wading” to be projects that I’m holding onto. Work from “Digging” and “Waiting” is old enough that I’m either actively selling the work on my Etsy shop, or have given it away.

The one exception I do make in terms of keeping old work is when it’s a large scale, framed piece. In that case, the frame itself worth several hundreds of dollars so that’s an financial investment that I don’t want to part with. When I had a solo exhibition at the Danforth Museum of Art back in 2006, I had a number of 2′ x 3′ woodcut prints matted and framed. These pieces in my opinion are worth the hassle of storage.

Crit Wall #6

Thu, 30 May 2013 21:23:12 -0400

digital photograph
dimensions variable

Probably the most successful part of this piece is the banana peel sitting in the cup on the left side of the composition. The banana peel doesn’t reveal it’s identity immediately. The identity of the banana peel is somewhat elusive initially, and it takes some visual investigation to figure out exactly what it is one is looking at. The banana peel is suggestive of other forms in nature: a fish, a leaf, etc. The fact that the banana peel is able to be transformed into other forms keeps things ambiguous and slightly mysterious in an engaging way.

In terms of articulation there is an effective contrast between the fuzziness of the warm pink shadows in the background against the sharpness of the banana peel. The pink shadows have a light, airy, painterly feel to them while the edges of the banana peel are quite crisp and detailed by comparison. This makes for a lovely combination between the two contrasting areas.

The color is handled well in this piece. There is the feeling of a monochromatic color scheme, yet when one sits down to analyze the colors, there are many more colors than seen at first glance. The intense sharpness of the alizarin crimson color in the center of the glass on the right is a nice surprise. This juxtaposed against the soft pink and yellow tones makes for a nice contrast. There is a brilliance and luminosity to the glass on the right hand side that creates a compelling sense of light and transparency.

Composition is the greatest weakness in this piece. The two primary objects are placed smack in the middle of the page, which makes the composition predictable and static. Placing your subject dead center is generally not a good strategy when it comes to composition. Generally speaking, having your subject matter slightly off center is a better way to layout the composition. Additionally, there is almost nothing to sustain the viewer’s attention in the background, and thus a good portion of the image is wasted. If a large chunk of the background was eliminated, and the piece would be considerably stronger in terms of composition. The horizontal and vertical lines in the background are also too stable and therefore appear to be static and dull.

Ask the Art Professor: Where is a good place to start with graphic novels?

Sat, 25 May 2013 21:22:45 -0400

Here’s today’s question:

“I want to get into graphic novels/comic books but I have nowhere near the experience to do it. Where is a good place to start? How can I get people to notice my stories?”

If you’re completely starting from the scratch, I would begin with purchasing Scott McCloud’s book“Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art”. This book is the quintessential book about comics. The book itself is a graphic novel, and it talks about the history of comics, as well as techniques and approaches to making graphic novels which you can follow to help you get started. After you’ve done that, look at the big guns: Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Will Eisner. Nothing substitutes taking the time to understand and analyze what makes a strong work effective.

I don’t have hugely extensive expertise in terms of technically making graphic novels, but I do know that having one solid story that you can focus on is essential to the process of getting started. It’s great to have multiple stories and ideas floating around in your head, but if you really want to make concrete progress, I would recommend focusing on writing one story that you can pursue in great depth. Keep the story short and simple, so you can get more complex and involved with the actual telling of the story. Make sure that you can sum up your story in a single sentence. If you find that you can’t sum it up in a single sentence, your story is too complicated and needs to be boiled down further.

Be prepared to do a monstrous amount of preliminary sketches which address panels and layout for each page of the novel. The composition of each panel and the positioning of the figures in space is critical in a graphic novel. Be sure to keep the compositions for each panel visually dynamic so the viewer is engaged at all times. Read this article I wrote about how to create an effective composition.

Another aspect to consider is what kind of stylistic choices you want to make for the graphic novel. Visual consistency is key for a graphic novel to look cohesive. Every time I start a new project, I always assign a set of “rules” for the visual look of the work. Ask yourself, what are the visual “rules” for your project? Write down that list of rules and follow them throughout the entire making of the project.

In terms of getting people to notice your stories, it’s essential to have your work online. Read this article I wrote about how to get your artwork noticed online. Many artists are also self-publishing hard copies of their graphic novels through platforms like Lulu and CreateSpace, which they then promote online. Self-publishing is significantly more involved than simply exhibiting your work online. For this reason, I would recommend starting with building your online presence first, and then looking into self-publishing once you get more established and experienced. In fact, many artists are now bypassing self-publishing hard copies altogether and opting to keeping their work entirely on the internet.

Crit Wall #5

Fri, 24 May 2013 21:54:12 -0400

oil on wood
50cm x 65cm

This piece immediately demonstrates a sense of mystery through it’s narrative elements. The presence of the wrinkled pillow on a chair in the foreground implies the past presence of a person. This combined with the dark figure in the far distance creates a kind of story in the piece which is intriguing and piques the viewer’s interest. The ambiguity of the narrative keeps the viewer wondering and thinking about the scene. There is an ominous quality to this painting that is foreboding and menacing.

In terms of composition the piece is quite good, the painting is divided up into two zones, creating two spaces within the composition. The large light grey wall in the upper right hand corner is an important part of the composition in that it creates a resting place for the eye. The organic quality of the form of the pillow is also a nice break from the rigid architectural aspects of the painting. There is an excellent range of large shapes, medium shapes, and small shapes distributed throughout the composition. This creates a very good balance throughout the composition.

Technically speaking, the wrinkles in the pillow could be articulated better. Since the pillow is in the foreground, the expectation is that the pillow will be the most crisply articulated out of everything in the painting. Right now the pillow is a lacking a level of sharpness which would aid it’s presence in the painting.

The figure in the distance appears to be too flat, it’s been reduced to three highlights on the right and pure black. The highlight that implies the nose is particularly distracting, it’s too large and could be removed. The figure would be more effective if it looked more dimensional. This could be achieved by making the figure a bit blurrier, and adding some shifts of value within the body of the figure. Also, the architectural elements that are above the figure are confusing, and seem to lack structural integrity. These architectural features are important as they break up some of the space above the figure, but currently they look haphazard and seem like they’re not convincingly attached to the wall.

Overall, the light and dark contrast and the sense of lighting in the painting could be more dramatic. There could be more dark greys, as the painting feels like it’s largely dominated by light greys. The sense of luminosity feels a little lukewarm, and could be more brilliant and intensified. This could be achieved by physically building up the white paint thicker in the light passage. Thin, transparent glazes of grey could be added into the other areas to tone down the other areas, thus making the bright passages appear even more intense.

I can feel myself anticipating the finish line for my projects:...

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:33:16 -0400

I can feel myself anticipating the finish line for my projects: both the 50 face sculptures and the self-publication of my book will be complete by the end of July. This timing with my book isn’t by accident, the idea is to start selling the book in August. I think this is a good month to self-publish because in August many people are on vacation and have time to sit down to read a book. I’ll do an official book launch party when school starts up in September and go from there.

Crit Wall #4

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:34:00 -0400

Mixed media
24″ x 18″

This is complex piece, it is taking on the massive issue of weight loss. For this reason, this piece is engaging conceptually, and is not just about creating a pleasing visual aesthetic. I appreciate the effort to use multiple symbols to express the idea behind the piece: the scale, the tape measure, the feet. However, the consequence is that the piece feels too crammed with symbols. The symbols tend to compete for the viewer’s attention and it’s tough to know which one to focus on. Pick one of these symbols and focus on that one symbol for the entire piece. The work will be more coherent and potent in this way. Right now the tape measure is likely the best candidate out of all of the symbols. The legs aren’t particularly interesting visually and the scale is too obvious. The tape measure is visually compelling, moves throughout the composition quite well, and talks about the topic in a more indirect manner.

Be cautious about using text in an image. The problem with having text in a visual image is that with text, people can’t help themselves; they will be attracted to reading the text before they look at anything else, and many times text can be very distracting in an image. The text in the background that is lighter and not so dark works well. It’s obvious that there is text buried in the background, but the words don’t call too much attention to themselves. The very dark words in the bottom right hand corner seem to overstate the obvious and are not necessary.

In terms of composition, the best part of the piece is the way that the tape measure weaves in front of and behind the legs. This creates a sense of movement and gets the viewer’s eye to jump around the composition in a dynamic manner. The placement of the legs and feet in the dead center of the page feels static and predictable, and the legs seem to abruptly appear out of nowhere. A smoother transition could be made from the top of the legs into the background. The feet could be drawn better as well; right now the toes on the leg on the left look mushy and lack anatomical structure. The red dripping works well in that it binds together the various elements of the work. However, much more contrast is needed in the red drips, the value of the red is mostly the same everywhere and therefore feels monotonous and predictable.

Ask the Art Professor: How do I know I’m ready to start selling and approaching galleries?

Mon, 20 May 2013 06:44:28 -0400

Here’s today’s question:

“Should I wait until I have a more “mature” approach to start selling and approaching galleries? How do I know I’m ready? I’m almost afraid, right out of school, and I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting, picking up new media, dropping old ideas, and basically making some massive disasters. What’s in my head and my dreams is always miles ahead than the ability of my hands, so I’m never happy. My parents are pressuring me to show and sell but right now I just want to experiment, make a mess, and be left to my own devices.”

Before you approach galleries, the most important thing is to have one cohesive, mature body of work. Most artists have at least 15-20 finished works for each body of work that they create, so quantity is certainly something to consider. The body of work should be thematically unified and be consistent in terms of the technical execution and use of materials. Galleries don’t want to work with artists who are unpredictable in terms of their work. They’re looking for a body of work that has a distinctive style that they can then promote and sell to their clients. The majority of galleries have a certain type of work that they show, so it’s also important that your body of work fits into that.

From what you’re describing about your current process, my advice would be to hold off on approaching galleries at this point in time, despite the pressure that your parents are exerting on you. Considering that you are right out of school, I think it’s actually quite appropriate that you are experimenting with your work the way that you are. I’m sure that it’s probably quite liberating after working within the constraints of an academic setting for several years. What you’re doing is an important part of your development and transition from being a student into the professional world.

So how do you know that you’re ready to approach galleries? Eventually, your work will start to form patterns and routines in your technical process and your conceptual thinking. You’ll notice after a while that the level of experimentation will start to die down. You’ll begin to focus much more on a single theme and material. My recommendation is to never force a body of work on yourself prematurely, the work will end up looking contrived.

Do you show your work in galleries? How did you know that you were ready?

Crit Wall #3

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:30:11 -0400

“Sink”
oil paint
30″ x 24″

The most striking aspect of this piece is the loose, painterly approach to the oil paint. The brushstrokes are quite gestural throughout the painting, and there is a sense of movement in the individual brushstrokes that is lively and strong. The multiple directions that the brushstrokes move in are also quite effective, and get the viewer to continuously move their eye through the piece.

Probably the most successful part of the painting is the yellow area towards the bottom of the painting. In this section, the light and dark contrast is quite successful and there is a good balance of highly saturated colors and muddy ones. The upper portion of the painting tends to get too muted in terms of the color choices, and therefore the colors don’t tend to jump out of the page as successfully. In terms of light and dark contrast, the upper section of the painting feels too grey, and needs more highlights and darks to increase the sense of contrast.

Compositionally, the set up of the piece feels static and flat. This is due to the strong presence of horizontal lines and vertical lines in the piece. In general, horizontal and vertical lines tend to look too “stable” in a composition and therefore make the composition look stiff. This painting needs some bold diagonals to break up the piece into a much more dynamic composition. This could be achieved by taking on a different point of view of the sink. Look at the sink at an angle so that diagonals are apparent. Right now the point of view is straight on the front of the sink, which appears to be rather dull and obvious.

One aspect of the piece that calls too much attention to itself is the heart shape in the upper left hand corner. I find the placement of this symbol confusing, it’s not clear whether this is a piece of paper tacked on the wall, whether it’s painted directly on the wall, etc. The piece would read more coherently if the heart shape was removed. Just because something is there, it doesn’t mean that it has to kept in the painting, take the initiative to edit and remove if something in your set up is distracting.