Fun With Abstraction! (Due Nov. 24)

[Seedling]

The other day I was looking around for examples of abstract art and I stumbled across this series ( http://emptyeasel.com/2007/01/10/what-is-abstract-art-and-how-should-we-look-at-it/) of images by Roy Lichtenstein of a bull, drawn over and over, growing more abstract with each repitition.

To “abstract” is to remove the unnecessary; to boil down an idea to its essence. “Abstract” is often erroniously used to mean “non-representational”. But looking at Lichtenstein’s final abstraction of the bull, it’s obvious how the two have become mixed up: abstract an image too much and it ceases to have any resemblence to whatever it started as.

I want you to explore abstraction. Drawing from direct observation (i.e. from life), do a series of drawings (or paintings) of the same subject going from realism to super-duper abstraction. Beyond this, the specifics of the assignment are up to you – but as part of the assignment you are required to choose your goal and state it when you post your results.

Here are some goal suggestions for this assignment:

Composition/thumb-nails/storyboards: Work small, within several rectangles on a single page. Focus on making each step of the process into the most perfect composition that you can. Repeat the process with three or four different subjects.

Anime/stylization/character design: Use yourself, as seen from a mirror, as your subject. Start realistically, and then through the series of drawings turn yourself into a progressively more stylized anime character. Focus on keeping the drawing looking like you, even at its most abstract.

Color: Start with realistic colors: Then, through the series of drawings, try pushing those colors in a direction that you’re curious about, such as picking the two most dominant colors and letting them intensify and take over the image, or seeing what happens if you remove all consideration of value from those colors.

Simplification of complexity/speed-painting: Choose a subject that is made up of many parts, such as a tree, or the innards of a machine, or a pile of dirty laundry. Use the series to study how a complex subject can be captured in an image by means of abstraction. For this exercise, you may find it beneficial to start with the most abstracted version and work your way to the most realistic version. This sort of progression is used frequently in digital “speed-painting”, as well as in the hyper-realistic drawing and painting methods taught at ateliers.

Finish: Do this series as thumbnails. Then develop one of those thumbnails into a finished piece.


Pick one of these goals or come up with your own goal. Post your works-in-progress here as soon as you can, and also be sure to state your goal so that I can help you reach it. I’ll be by regularly to offer feedback. Please feel free to critique each others’ work. Have fun! This assignment is due in one week, on November 24.

[chaosrocks]

http://blogs.princeton.edu/wri152-3/nbisaria/archives/001985.html

roy lichtenstein was riffing on Picasso
check these out
crx

[Seedling]

Thanks Chaos! Those are more great examples, and I just learned something new!

[HunterKiller_]

Great thread! Thanks for the link, too Chaos.

I've never thought about using this process of drawing before, but I'm definitely about to start, because I would bet a few good bucks that I'll gain new insights through this technique.

[Seedling]

The first brave soul to post a WIP gets a cookie! Or a dead grouse. Whichever you prefer. ;)

[Whyatt Thrash]

Lol I just started on this and already feel I'm failing horribly...

Or maybe it's just me not being used to actually following classes. :D

[Whyatt Thrash]

Oh, and for the record, I'm trying to do an abstraction of a self portrait. I wanted to do a comic-style portrait but instead I seem to have started with a comic-style drawing and it's starting to look something like that bull-abstraction. I guess my starting point was just too abstract to begin with... :D :D

Edit: This is what I've got so far... Sorry for the crappy cellphone camera quality... I'm thinking about it, but I wouldn't really know where to go from here. I still wanna move in the comic-direction, but I'd also like to see where this takes me.

[alesoun]

*narrows eyes*
What kinda cookie? I like chocolate chip....

[Seedling]

Whyatt, that’s wonderful! You’ve done your self-portrait justice at all four levels. The weakest one is the upper-left, because in that one, you didn’t seem to have as clear an idea on what, exactly, you were trying to achieve. But it seems to have been a good stepping-stone to the third one, which has a strong graphic quality. I love that all that remains of your nose there is the nostrils – it works perfectly. The ears as silhouettes also work well. The fourth image no longer reads so much as your face in comparison to the first image, but the shapes you found there are spiffy. I love the nose, and the triangles on the forehead.

If you want to keep going, I’d suggest trying another series of four, and see if you can’t arrive at a comic-book version of you that you like.

The cookie (any flavor) or stinky dead bird is all yours. ;-) (And in case you are wondering, the poor grouse hit a window of our house and perished, and because I am an oddball I wrapped it up and stuck it in the freezer!)

[drivebybaptism]

ok here is my attempt at a self portrait heading (sorry bad pun) towards a manga style. Sorry for image quailty.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/Obi_/031.jpg
First 2 are my self portrait then a little bit into manga

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/Obi_/032.jpg
next to are a little bit more manga then onto full blown mangage that I could do.

Be as mean or as nice as you'd like about this :)

[Alzorath]

Simplification of complexity/speed-painting: Choose a subject that is made up of many parts, such as a tree, or the innards of a machine, or a pile of dirty laundry. Use the series to study how a complex subject can be captured in an image by means of abstraction. For this exercise, you may find it beneficial to start with the most abstracted version and work your way to the most realistic version. This sort of progression is used frequently in digital “speed-painting”, as well as in the hyper-realistic drawing and painting methods taught at ateliers.

Hmm...would a digital painting of a manikin (well a group of them *I have 3 manakins, and can put in some skulls/still life objects :P*) be ok for this? Or would sticking to traditional be preferred (mainly I ask because I'm moving my studio atm - so breaking out most of my materials that would be good for this exercise would be a pain *So traditional would be in graphite, but I think I want to step away from my most common media for a while*)?

[Seedling]

Hmm...would a digital painting of a manikin (well a group of them *I have 3 manakins, and can put in some skulls/still life objects :P*) be ok for this? Or would sticking to traditional be preferred (mainly I ask because I'm moving my studio atm - so breaking out most of my materials that would be good for this exercise would be a pain *So traditional would be in graphite, but I think I want to step away from my most common media for a while*)?

You can invent your own assignment so long as it's in the general abstraction theme. :^^: Cheers!

[Asatira]

Here's my first attempt at abstraction. Turns out to be harder than I thought.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/112007a.jpg

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/112007b.jpg

If I can, I'll try another one.

[Seedling]

Hi guys!

Drivebybaptism – Good work! You seem to have had a lot of fun with the hair in particular. The first trouble spot you seem to have encountered is the proportions of the most realistic version – I’m sure you’ve actually got a bit more skull above your eyes than that. :) The second problem is that although you have arrived at a successfully manga-esque character, it doesn’t much look like the same person as the first image. That’s due to those same problems with proportions. What makes a good caricature is a knowledge of which landmarks and proportions on a face make that face an individual.

Care to give the assignment another shot? :) By the way, try photographing your drawing outdoors in the sun for a crisper image.


Asatira – welcome aboard! You’ve definitely got a good series here, and I’m glad to hear it challenged you. :) I love the way you reduced the head of the doll to those few shapes – especially the dark bit. I don’t think it would be possible to reduce that image any farther, which, I think, makes it a success!

If you do another, what would you like to achieve with it? It’s helpful to have a goal. :)


Cheers everyone!

[chaosrocks]

outsider --- note
best to photograph art in outdoor indirect light
bright cloudy days are best. then adjust values for monitors..but thaths themost accurate color

chaos

[enrigo]

Another evolution towards Anime, dude, this assignment sure is fun.
I probably come back for some more, maybe with the color one since I would need a lot of help on digital painting.


243867

[enrigo]

A bit off topic since we're doing some anime stuff, I just want to share a bit of Takehiko Inoue's manga art from Vagabond. I think it got a nice "abstract" touch to them, also because the artist use sumi brush for almost everything.

It would probably take a great sense of abstract to create a manga with hidden Zen messages in his work ,in visual form !


http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h95/enrigo/364_2.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h95/enrigo/sasaki_kojiro-1.jpg

[Whyatt Thrash]

Whyatt, that’s wonderful! You’ve done your self-portrait justice at all four levels. The weakest one is the upper-left, because in that one, you didn’t seem to have as clear an idea on what, exactly, you were trying to achieve.

...

The cookie (any flavor) or stinky dead bird is all yours. ;-) (And in case you are wondering, the poor grouse hit a window of our house and perished, and because I am an oddball I wrapped it up and stuck it in the freezer!)

Hehe thanks! :) I suppose you mean the top right one is the weakest one, cause you're dead on. I didn't quite have an idea of what I was doing, and that's when I initially posted my frustration about "failing horribly"... :)

The only grouse I'm familiar with is Famous Grouse, and I'm quite sure you won't be handing out one of those, so... Just take that grouse you've got and cook up something delicious for your husband/boyfriend/girlfriend/whatever and say that it's a gift from me. :D

Attachment 1
I had another go at it and tried to do some comic versions (upper left two) but as you can see I quite quickly just spaced out and lost focus. So I guess I'm not too interested in doing a comic version after all... :D :D

Attachment 2
So I tried again today with a portrait, but this time from photo reference. It was quite different from working from life, where I could visualize the abstraction in terms of volumes instead of just shapes, hence the triangles in my initial self portrait. In working from a photo, visualizing volumes became a lot more complicated, so I ended up just simplifying the shapes as lines... Nevertheless, here's another go. Adriana Lima, for those not in the know...

[ElementalMist]

I love the stuff people are doing for this! I kinda hopped in late this week and Thanksgiving and School seem to think they need some attention. I will try to post something if I can find the time. I really need some help with my work in general.

Thanks for putting this together seedling!

=^_^=

[PaTXiNaKi]

Here is my try!! Its me, sad but true >_<

[Whyatt Thrash]

Pretty sweet stuff Patxi! I think you could have tried harder in the third one to follow the jawline and keep the long forehead to make it more recognisable as a portrait. You've already made a quite distinct jawline, might as well make it accurate in its motion.

Nice work! :)

[Seedling]

Hi guys! I’m tearing myself from Assassin’s Creed right now just for you. ;) I’m impressed with what you are all doing!


Enrigo – You did a lovely job of simplifying the image while retaining your personality. You found everything that wasn’t necessary and you took it out. :) The middle two images are interestingly bland (I’m surprised to see this is a common trend in this assignment). The final drawing is by far the strongest of the bunch, particularly the nose, mouth, and chin area, because those lines are so sparse and confident. If you want to explore this assignment some more, try perhaps using two mirrors to get a profile view of yourself. Thanks for the links, btw. :)


Whyatt – I seem to have trouble differentiating left and right. Thanks for making sense of my mistake. :) Your version of “spacing out” is quite amusing! On the abstraction of the woman, I’m not so much seeing volumes, but you did boil her down into some elegant configurations of lines. In the upper, um, right (checking carefully this time) I really like the connection you’ve made between her finger and lip. (The line representing the edge of her upper lip, however, looks like a mustache!) The third drawing retains its face-ness, and even still has the personality of the original image, even though the lines are so sparse. The fourth one is hilarious! I can’t tell if I would be able to read it as a face if I hadn’t seen the previous drawings, but next to them, it’s obvious. Nicely done!

If you would like to keep going, and if you would like to take another stab at volume, try a subject that doesn’t flatten as easily as a straight-on face. Working from life will help overcome the flatness, too.


ElementalMist – hop on in, the water’s fine and swimsuits are optional. :)


PaTX – Very nice! And don’t be shy, lol! Good job of keeping the drawing looking like you throughout the abstraction. And each drawing in the series is equally strong. Are you deliberately going for an Art deco look, or did that happen by accident? (It’s rather cool, and if you didn’t do it purposefully, you should go research Art Deco, because I bet you would like it.) The way you tried adding elements that aren’t there in the original – the line below the right eye, and the curve across the final drawing – those added some fun design elements.

I’m starting to feel like a broken record, but if you would like to explore this theme some more, a good thing to try would be your face in profile, seen from two mirrors. Or, alternatively, get someone to sit for you. (I bet they would be amused at being drawn in Art Deco caricature!)


Okay, back to my game! :uzi: :uzi2:

[Whyatt Thrash]

D'oh! You're right, it DOES look like a mustache! I guess it was an unnecessary detail... In the fourth one I did add the hand afterwards, which makes it a bit more recognizable, but too lazy to take another picture.

I think I _am_ gonna try it again with an object with more volume, as I said, it was really hard reading the volumes in a photograph (quite obviosuly).

Hey Seedling, thanks for taking your time out to do this. It's a great gift, you know. Especially for someone who's never taken a real drawing class in his life, and absolutely abhors going to school... You're the dog's bollocks. :)

[PaTXiNaKi]

Woza! im here again, i think im gonna try another abstract,I m enjoying a lot this class.

Whyatt Thrash > Thanks man for the crits, i have taken a look at ur sketchbook and love ur style,it remind me a lot to that graffities at the streets. ^^

Seedling > Im not shy,its only that i dont know how to express myself in english, (almost not as well as in spanish) but im doing my best to understand some comments and to expose my criterion.
I promise that look was an accident!! but sometimes i feel better drawing and coloring with less complexity,i love to do quick things like those draws.
Assasin's Creed roox but i cant wait to have my MetalGearSolid 4. ^^

[enrigo]

Coming back to look at it, my second image looks terrible. And about the 2 middle images, is it because the simplifying process is going too slow? Interestingly bland doesn't sounds like a good thing to me. :P

I don't think I can really set up the 2 mirror profile so would it be okey to use photograph instead (seems like a bad idea from what I heard).

I'll try to work on the confidence of the lines because it really is becoming almost a permanent problem to me.

[iwantjelly]

I chose the speed painting thing.

These days, my house is like a big pile of dirty laundry, so here's two trys showing the most representative samples of my numerous piles of dirty laundry. I prefer the abstract version, it stinks less...

I should draw less and wash more... Draw less ? NO WAY

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/2434/abstractfa5.jpg

[enrigo]

wow pretty cool coloring. I can really feel the stinks from looking at it>:| .
The one on the bottom right corner reminds me of some old school game with 2d graphic.

[enrigo]

here's my second portrait, hopefully a bit better than last one.
Now I know that there's one thing more embarrassing than posting my photo on the web, and that is posting my self portrait. :dur:

I have an upcoming work for art class at school to draw a self caricature and maybe this assignment would really prepare me for that. :confident

245732

[Asatira]

iwantjelly: Not bad. Glad to have a piece in color. I think you did a good progression from abstract to realistic. That's all I've got.

[Confuzed]

I find my abstraction is abit arupt...ah, what do you think? D:

[Seedling]

Wyatt – I almost just now changed my title to “the dog’s bollocks” thanks to you. ;).

PaTX – your English is better than some folks who only speak English. :)

Enrigo – Terrific! I think this time you did a much better job at making each stage of abstraction strong in its own right. And you have nothing to be embarrassed of! :) And I bet this will help with your caricature assignment. By the way, one way I’ve found to make myself less shy about doing self-portraits is to do them with goofy faces. You’ll be forced to draw faster if it’s an uncomfortable pose, but it’s great fun, especially if you’re exaggerating the expression.

Iwantjelly – ROFLMAO! You’ve made my day with your piles o’ laundry! Looks like you had some trouble bringing the left one all the way to non-abstraction, but you nailed it in the right one. Funny, I’m getting the same impression as enrigo about that last one – the colors and the hard pixilated edges remind me fondly of earlier computer games. ;) Any way, if you were to carry that image forward one more step, I would say go for the edges – soften them up here and there, maybe put in some soft highlights, and pick a few hard edges to emphasize. Wonderful work!

***********

Thanks for participating, everyone! I hope this was fun and edumacational. If you want to submit anything else in tonight or sneak it in tomorrow, I’ll give one last round of feedback. Otherwise Ilaekae should have a new assignment going up soon. Cheers!

[Ilaekae]

I definitely wouldn't call that too abrupt. It's a nice progression as it is. The secret of abstraction of this type is to keep eliminating all that icky little bitty stuff step by step until we end up with a image that is composed of only the primary lines and or masses of the thing we're drawing. The more complex the original is, the better the resulting abstraction is. For example, an apple...becomes a ...ummm...circle. Blah... A face or an animal or a bus full of drunken nuns wearing clown hats is just so much cooler to work with... :P

[bonaparte_jones]

Ahhhhh!

I've only had enough time to doodle around with this idea without putting in the time I needed to.

With that said, nice work everyone who did post their work. There is definitely some cool stuff (I especially liked Whyatt Thrash's woman from photo reference). Keep it up everyone. Hopefully I will finish something for next week.

[LeBlah]

To be fair, I did have this finished on time! Really! Exclamation!
But my internet threw a wobbly (again) before I could upload.
I think I might have deconstructed it a little too much. So, um, leeway, please?

[Seedling]

Hi LeBlah! I’m sorry I’ve procrastinated all week on giving you feedback. There’s no such thing as too much deconstruction if the purpose is for learning! I think it makes for a wonderfully amusing sequence. Woman melts into big pale thumb! :) I wasn’t sure about the change in the skin color, until my brain kicked in and noticed that you had shifted all of the colors into that funky pastel range. In the bottom left image in particular, you wrangled the colors into a nice harmony. I love that you used the shapes of the glasses and lips as focal points, and the chin melting away is a riot!

I’ll leave this up just a little while longer in case you have comments.

The new assignment is up here! ( http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=112394)