Pages

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

"Old Glory"...work in progress

I've been working on this new piece the last few days. I felt the name was perfect for both the flag and the old basketball and shoes. I hate to admit it but these are the type of basketball shoes that the guys wore when I was in high school! The older I get the more "dated" I feel...and I don't mean that "dinner date" feeling!

...Old Glory...

I took some WIP photos while I was working on the drawing,
but didn't take time to computer edit and post until I was finished. I was really in a zone with this one and didn't want to break the rhythm. Hope you enjoy. I realize the lighting isn't very good...had to take these in my studio as I was working at night, still don't have that lighting figured out very well yet! I may come back and use this for a tutorial at a later date, if I do I will work some more on the WIP photos that you see here. The color is a little off and the contrast could be improved...the photos simply need more work, but I wanted to get this posted.

"Old Glory"...step one
You can't tell too much here because this is only the top portion of the drawing...but it is an American Flag draped behind an old worn basket ball with a pair of old basket ball shoes in front. I have the top portion fairly done (for now), and starting to do the shadowed folds of the white stripe behind the basket ball.

"Old Glory"...step 2
I've worked on down the paper, finishing the flag and basket ball (the flag was hard, the ball was fun), and am starting on the shoes to the left. From here on I will be working pretty much left to right in order to keep my hand out of what I've already drawn. These shoes are going to be really time consuming.

"Old Glory"...step three
Well, as you can see "shoe #1, to the left is almost done", I have filled in more of the flag in the background and done some on the toe of the other tennis shoe...working my way down the paper adding some tone value to the foreground.


"Old Glory"...finished drawing
This is the finished drawing...it will sit around a few days before I spray it with fixative. There's aways some final tweaking to be done. Also, keep in mind that these are photos corrected by a not so good "photo shop" person. You'd think that I would eventually get better at correcting the color and lighting...honestly, I don't find it enjoyable, I would rather be drawing!

I'm having all my new pieces high resolution scanned in a couple of weeks and should have them posted on my website by June 1st...then you will be able to see a much better photo with all the subtle detail that a camera photo just cant capture. This one will for sure be offered in Open Edition Prints.

Gotta head back to the drawing board...want to get two more drawings done before I do the scans. Will keep you updated.



Links:
Website ...Marsha Robinett Fine Art
My Squidoo ...Drawing Techniques


PS...make a "Point"...leave a comment

4 comments:

hbedrosian said...

This is a very interesting and moving piece, and technically very good, as usual! Thank you for posting your progress photos - I am always interested in seeing how different artists work.

Terry said...

Its fascinating to watch you work! How many hours would you guess this took? When I first started drawing I thought 3 hours was adequate; when I did my first 12 hour drawing I thought I was being extreme. Then I took some workshops with Tony Ryder and discovered it was easy to spend an entire week on a drawing and still wish for more time....

Marsha Robinett said...

Holly,
Thank you, I always think I'm going to take more photos as I work...but I get involved and forget. I'm glad you enjoyed the process.

Terry,
My drawings are small, by standards, for a reason..."Old Glory" is 8x10 and took around 20-25 hours (for the shading). I spent probably another 4 hours completing the line drawing, transferring it to my good art paper and then double checking things again for accuracy.

I absolutely LOVE my carbon pencil...but it's also quite unforgiving. There is very little room for error. My initial drawing has to be exact.

Thanks for your input...by the way, I'm a fan of yours. Really enjoy your paintings, especially the last post "Things You Can Stack".

Marian Fortunati said...

Hi Marsha!
You are not only an amazing artist, but quite an amazing person as well. I love the piece and I LOVE the double meaning in the title. Titles are surprisingly important aren't they? I so admire your patience, and agree with how once we get in to our art that we lose track of time.
Be well.

Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin