Saturday, December 26, 2009

Illustration Friday: Pioneer



I was talking to one of the art teachers at my high school, and she was telling me that one of the things she has her advanced art students do in their sketchbooks is to copy pictures of various masters, and that was an idea that really resonated with me, since I want to develop enough skills to someday be able to do black and white pen and ink illustrations for middle grade novels, and I have a LONG way to go. Another thing I need to work on is narrative in pictures. So I decided that rather than just "study" pictures of illustrators I admire, to actually "copy" certain aspects of some of their pictures. I teach creative writing, and one of the things we do with poetry is called "copy-changing", where you copy the structure of a poem, and then change the content to make it your own. It's an excellent exercise for learning how to put poems together. And since I want to learn more about putting pictures together, this seemed like a good idea.

So here's my picture: The earliest pioneers were the heroes that myths are made of...


The little color picture is the original Arthur Rackham illustration...

15 comments:

  1. What a fantastic exercise! Really well done.

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  2. I guess we're not in Kansas anymore.... What an ambitious project--and very well done! I also like the heros/myths/pioneers concept. All the best!

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  3. Wonderful pen and ink style! Great depth!

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  4. super! you work equally well in black/white and color. creative writing would go beautifully with these illustrations!

    if you have a moment, please send me your e-mail address at artsyville (at) gmail (dot) com - i'm very curious to find how close our front porches are to each other!

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  5. Excellent drawing. And a great idea, this copy-changing. Might not be as pure a form of imitation but I bet it is more fun for the copyist! ;-)

    Thanks for your nice comments on my own IF post. Happy Holidays!

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  6. YOur lines are always gorgeous! and what a clever idea - good luck with your work! :)

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  7. very cool, i like this concept... may give it a try.

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  8. I discovered your blog because you posted comments on my blog, http://melbradleymakespictures.blogspot.com/
    and it took me awhile to figure out whose pen work yours reminded me of: Barron Storey. If you get a chance do a web search and check his work out.

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  9. What a great idea! Very well done, love your style!

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  10. Very cool. Funny, I've been doing the same thing basically, looking at this guy's stuff: http://fredericksfreisergallery.com/zaxart/sketchbook/

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  11. copying the works of the masters is actually a very old and honored tradition among artists. even when you try, you always end up adding your own signature to the work. nicely done!

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  12. Beautiful pen work. I like your idea of copy changing. Think I will try it too! Happy New Year.

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  13. your ink drawings are fantastic! those details representing different textures and subjects are simply great. Happy New Year!

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  14. This is an excellent idea, and your interpretation is superb Theresa! It looks like quite a challenge.

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  15. I think this is my favourite work so far, excellent texturing with the pen and a great way to assimilate and learn. We never stop learning do we?

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