Back to the Drawing Board
© WoodyHill.co.uk 2005
Just when I was getting disillusioned about my artistic aspirations along came the Artists & Illustrators exhibition.
I invested £7 in a ticket and as I walked in, was immediately disappointed. It looked a lot like the art section in Woolworths and I didn’t expect to spend more than half an hour looking around. I pushed my way through crowds of grey haired old ladies, one group had settled around a table and were happily cutting up bits of coloured card. I imagine it's the kind of activity organised in old folks homes to stop the inmates causing trouble after lunch.
I wandered in and out of the stands where various coloured papers and equipment for cutting and sticking (handy crafts they called it) were for sale, not my kind of thing at all. Fortunately the day was saved by some more interesting stands tucked away in the corners. This was a golden opportunity to
talk to the professionals and pick up some tricks of the trade. It didn't take much effort to muscle in front of the old ladies so over the next 3 hours I learned some things that got me inspired all over again.
Terry Harrison
I stopped to watch a demonstration for a while. Terry was showing a small crowd (yep that's right, old ladies) how to draw trees. Each of his examples looked convincing and if I had to tackle them would probably have taken 5 – 10 minutes a piece (and ended up straight in the recycling bin). He did them using water colour and specific brushes (which he was selling) and they took him about 5 – 10 seconds. It was fascinating to watch and what I learned was; it’s all about technique. I don’t suppose you could do a whole painting in this way but if you know some short cuts it must take a lot of the hard work out of it.
I stopped to watch a demonstration for a while. Terry was showing a small crowd (yep that's right, old ladies) how to draw trees. Each of his examples looked convincing and if I had to tackle them would probably have taken 5 – 10 minutes a piece (and ended up straight in the recycling bin). He did them using water colour and specific brushes (which he was selling) and they took him about 5 – 10 seconds. It was fascinating to watch and what I learned was; it’s all about technique. I don’t suppose you could do a whole painting in this way but if you know some short cuts it must take a lot of the hard work out of it.
Bob Elcock
Bob was busy doing a large pastel drawing of a lion which was taken from a photo pinned to his drawing board. It was in the very early stages and he was good enough to stop and have a chat with me. We talked about the kind of board he was using and where he gets his inspiration. The finished lion picture would be about 40cm square and he said he expected it to take about 3 days to complete, that didn’t seem unreasonable to me.
Bob was busy doing a large pastel drawing of a lion which was taken from a photo pinned to his drawing board. It was in the very early stages and he was good enough to stop and have a chat with me. We talked about the kind of board he was using and where he gets his inspiration. The finished lion picture would be about 40cm square and he said he expected it to take about 3 days to complete, that didn’t seem unreasonable to me.
Bob was selling some videos he had made called ‘Anyone Can Do It’. I took some time to examine his finished work and - not wishing to sound immodest - it didn’t look that much different from my ‘Tigers Eyes’. Now I’m starting to think pencils and pastels may be my best medium.
Stephen Ormerod
This is where the inspiration really kicked in and my thoughts about favouring pencil were confirmed. Stephen is a professional artist and was in the middle of a picture of and elephant. He was very friendly and spent some time talking to me. I learned a lot from him.
This is where the inspiration really kicked in and my thoughts about favouring pencil were confirmed. Stephen is a professional artist and was in the middle of a picture of and elephant. He was very friendly and spent some time talking to me. I learned a lot from him.
He was taking his drawing from a photo given to him by a friend. He had divided it up into squares and was using the grid to transfer the image to paper. I said I thought that was cheating and he seemed surprised. I explained that I thought proper artists did their work wearing a beret and squinting through one eye at some distant landscape. He told me some professional artists project an image onto the paper and just draw round it. The skilful bit, he said, was how you do the colouring.
Then I noticed he had made coloured marks down the side with each of the pencils he was using. I’ve seen this done with water colours and asked what it was all about. He told me it makes it easier to compare the colours and tones to the original image. It’s a better way to pick the right pencil than by trying to decide from the colour painted on the end.
Finally, Stephen showed me some of his completed work hanging around him. I was caught out here because I had assumed they were the photos he was using for his inspiration. The work was excellent and in fact I recognised some of it as the artwork that Derwent use in their sales leaflets. I was impressed; I think I have a favourite artist ;-)
I came away from the exhibition feeling much more enthusiastic than when I went in. So much so that it’s time to take some lessons; I’ve booked a course of night classes to see me through the winter. It’s cost a bit more than a £7 exhibition ticket so I'm hoping it wont turn out to be full of little old ladies.