Future World Travellers

[DRosen]

My first post here, hope that the quality of the work is up to snuff.
A little project i've been working on, titled "future world travelers". Pencil on Paper, 40X50cm each. Thanks.


http://www.happyfamilylife.net/Art/futureTravellers/01.jpg


http://www.happyfamilylife.net/Art/futureTravellers/02.jpg


http://www.happyfamilylife.net/Art/futureTravellers/03.jpg


http://www.happyfamilylife.net/Art/futureTravellers/04.jpg


http://www.happyfamilylife.net/Art/futureTravellers/05.jpg


http://www.happyfamilylife.net/Art/futureTravellers/06.jpg

[Fiete]

great! I appreciate your skill. How long did it take you to finish them? You surely drew from life, didn't you?

[rlamunyon]

great concept and use of white space..!

[DRosen]

great! I appreciate your skill. How long did it take you to finish them? You surely drew from life, didn't you?

No, I worked from (my own) photos here. I think you can tell from the poses, that some of these would be unnatural to hold for a long time. I do some sketches / studies, and then each of the final drawings took maybe 3-5 hours.

[beer]

nice restraint and high contrast which i always find tough with pencil.. and nice clean contour drawings for the luggage too. no real crits since technically good and we see what you were going for.

[Sharon Knettell]

I do like the way you posed your figures and designed them.

I think however you would benefit from a lot of life drawing. Your drawings have the rendered look that comes from copying photos- an all too commom trait today. It makes so many artists look alike.

[Azospin]

I have to agree to rlamunyon, the void surrounding the children is not "empty" at all, so the perception/imagination of crowded public spaces pops up immediately , except maybe the last piece, the luggage. This sheet maybe points out how good you solved the problem of "white space"/composition on the others, so I think on this one the figures are to big and so leave the context to "show" two objects and not a scene.

By the way: Why future? Aren`t these children yet world travellers? I know, that is a bit niggling, but your work is worth it to have a tight look on it.

Hope to see more....

[DRosen]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone.


I have to agree to rlamunyon, the void surrounding the children is not "empty" at all, so the perception/imagination of crowded public spaces pops up immediately , except maybe the last piece, the luggage. This sheet maybe points out how good you solved the problem of "white space"/composition on the others, so I think on this one the figures are to big and so leave the context to "show" two objects and not a scene.

By the way: Why future? Aren`t these children yet world travellers? I know, that is a bit niggling, but your work is worth it to have a tight look on it.

Yeah, looking at them now I agree with you, there should either be more space around them, or perhaps the suitcase on the right should be removed.

And why are they "future" world travelers? Because children are not generally part of the global jet set. In these images they are kind of acting out or 'trying on' the kind of behavior they will display as adults, much the same way that kids play 'house' or play 'doctor'. So i guess I set out with the idea of looking at children and kind of imagining where they would be in 10 or 15 years. These ideas of transience, mobility, and displacement inform at lot of the work I'm doing these days.


I do like the way you posed your figures and designed them.

I think however you would benefit from a lot of life drawing. Your drawings have the rendered look that comes from copying photos- an all too commom trait today. It makes so many artists look alike.

It is true that more life drawing always helps. I haven't had as much chance to do life drawing as I would have liked to, especially recently, and I am well aware of just how limited my skills are. Be that as it may, I think the use of photographs as reference here is necessary. These days the content of the images is much more important for me than technical mastery or elegance, and the use of photography allows me to capture things like momentary gesture or subtle interpersonal relations much more easily . I'm actually ok with people thinking of these as a kind of photo-manipulation or as a photography project .

[marktheman]

copying photos is always a good practise!

[Angroc]

as of now, they seem more like studies than finished pieces. I find myself a little bored by that fact. I think some minimalistic, "suggestive" background could solve that, I think. nothing much, just some blurry strokes in the back to suggest the scenery. (in my opinion)

but thats nit-picky stuff, though; I just love these drawings. they are excellently performed. good job!