Week 39: The Role-Reversal Tango

For some reason I associate the Tango with red (possibly because it's the color of passion?), so there ya go. An incredibly red pallet. Incredibly tall woman leading because why not? And yes, Hetalia fanart. Listening to El Tango de Roxanne from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack on repeat certainly helped.

Week 39 Does Some Self Improvement

So after having another look at my inked version of this drawing I realized that just cleaning it up wouldn't be enough and the whole thing was sloppy. That being the case, I totally re-inked it digitally and it looks much better for it. Yes I inked it in sort of a burgundy because when I think of the tango I think of red, and I'm going to use an entirely red palette to color this.

Week 39 Gets Inked

I mean that in the literal sense. I inked it, and man is it still smudgy. I'm going to be coloring it digitally so I can touch up the smudgy bits and get bright colors out of it.

Week 39 Puts On Its Dancin' Shoes

It's been ages since I last tried a dancing pose, and the reason is mostly that they are not easy. References or not, bending your mind around drawing two figures in sync with each other is difficult. Regardless, I was bored of single-character drawings and also inspired by "Tango de Roxanne" from Moulin Rouge.

But just to throw a wrench in the works, the taller/lead dancer is female. The shorter one is the guy.

Week Thirty Closes

 Okay, this thing looks pretty darn cool. I have no idea what my professor will say on Wednesday, but I have no intentions of doing anything drastic to it.

Also, another sketch just for fun, Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester from Supernatural. Well, a more comic-style interpretation.

Week Thirty is Almost There

Hopefully this is "abstracted" enough for my professor, because that's as abstract as I'm willing to make it. All that's left to be done is to add a bit more to the flame at the top in the very corner. I had to make a frame for this painting. It was a fiasco that I don't want to discuss.

I also finally did some art for myself. Just a simple character sketch.

Week Thirty Is Stubborn

At the mid-critique yesterday, the professor stepped onto his soap box about none of us doing Abstract Expressionism correctly. One of his major complaints was that they were all too "figurative", though he didn't spend time on mine specifically he was referring to a few of them.

At this point, however, I have to put my foot down. It reminds me of my earlier years in school where I threw fits about having to do abstract things that I hated, but as a senior now I feel that I know what I want, whether it's exactly what the teacher is looking for or not. I'm not going to ruin something I'm proud of for the sake of a grade.

The painting isn't done, but if the professor wants the figure to disappear completely he's out of luck. I spent too much time planning and executing this and used too much paint to turn it into something I hate. So yes, there will be alterations, but I'm not going to destroy what I consider the integrity of this piece.

Also, a Google search turned up abstract expressionist art that does have a figure to it. So there.

Week Thirty-Ish?

So while I haven't started any new personal work recently, this new painting assignment is really exciting. I'm not usually into abstraction but the movement and going crazy with the brush strokes is really fun. It's probably fairly obvious, but the idea here is fire dancing. There's a lot of neat videos on YouTube that make for great inspiration.

The in-progress critiques for this is on Monday.

Week 21: Lyrical

Yesterday was great for a sort of "last hurrah" for taking walks on weekdays. It was sunny mildly breezy, and regardless of the lack of Farmer's market the "Friendship Square" area where I sat was far from boring. There were two young women hanging out playing guitar which was lovely ambiance for drawing. One of them made it onto my paper a couple times. I made sure to thank them for the background music on my way back home.

No adventures in Photoshop yesterday, but instead I started on another art commission for a friend. So far, so good. I do so enjoy drawing couples, and dancing poses are always an enjoyable challenge.
Right now I'm killing time before I leave for work. I set my alarm to 7 am - a good hour and a half before I even need to be there with only a five minute driving time from my house to work. I may try for half an hour later next week because now I'm practically pacing the floor being a combination of nervous, excited, and caffeinated for my first day.