ABBA

A drawing a day keeps the boredom away

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The last month I was working in different places in London and the best way to kept me going was illustrating people on places such as tube, offices, street...

I focus on figure drawing and incorporate it in every kind fi theme in which I can mention: food, advertising objects, places...

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On my way to Birmingham, on the train. 

Observing and sketching. 

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Sketch of the day. 

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Portraiture. I rely on figure drawing and I struggle with colours. Even though this painting does not relate to my theme I felt like I wanted to create a visual response to the artist whose work inspires me to try new things such as cardboard painting, which I am including in my final booklet.

My response towards Jamel Akib’s work was using one of his paintings as a guide. Started with a blue background in an A4 cardboard. What I struggled was using sharp and quick strokes for both background and the portrait. If some areas in the face appeared smooth due to thin acrylic I would go over again but without combining acrylics with water. 

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Researches: Jamel Akib (Artist, Illustrator)

Even though this artist does not focus on food I am choosing as one of my inspirational researches for my work. His work is very expressive in comparison to Piet Mondrian and different from my techniques I am using. However the post of the woman represented through blocks of colour; it does relate to this artist. 

Jamel Akib was born in Leigh-on-sea, Essex, England, on the 4th November 1965 to mixed English and Malaysian parentage. He gained a BA honours Degree in Illustration in 1989.

What I love about his art is that he choses canvas over digital drawing. He feels like a graphics tablet couldn’t quite capture the energy of real painting. In most of his paintings he starts with charcoal and simple sketches and proceeds by instinctively choosing the colours.  His work is simply energetic and colourful.

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More Photoshop experiments of fruit.

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In the previous post I said I wanted to include cardboard painting technique. This is an example of the technique and one of the pages of the book. In my book I want to include some digitally drawn artworks and others created by hand and experimenting. The photo above of a grape was drawn with card (no brush). I aimed to keep the image clear through simple card painting. 

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From the photographs I proceeded to some experimentation on Photoshop. 

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Since my theme is ‘Student meals’, the best way to proceed in visual responses and experimenting with sketching/painting techniques was to take some photographs. Many students would say this is a luxury food. Yes it is true but my choice has always been food rather than aclohol. 

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Combining markers, different colours, with fine liner in order to clarify the image. I also like the idea to clarify the colourful lines and block of colours (I am thinking to include card painting acrylics in some of my pages) with a fine liner.

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Experimenting with lines.

In the previous post I stated that I wanted to focus on lines and simple graphics to show in my pages. This is an experimental piece.

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From this eavesdropping and the following ones I focused on what people would say about food, recipes, snacks and everything that links to food. What I aim to do is to visually represent simple recipes. Usually I compare what they conversation include and compare to what I eat. For example: When the woman suggests to cook something, I thought of how to represent in simple graphics what I usually make.

-What if I make the same thing your mum made? You know the steak and kale chips,- the woman said.

-Mhhmm. Ok I’ll help you. We need to buy food first,- he responded simply.

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FOOD

The theme I want to use is ‘Food’. In the following posts I will rely on some photographs, photoshop experimental bits and the style of representing my work. So far the idea of using lines and colours are top two. 

Another idea is food. The reason that I chose food was because somehow I want to represent meals I make. Being a student is about drinking, going out, money struggle, managing money and definitely cooking. There are students who cook but there are many students who are scared to put pasta in a boiling water. 

The theme I am thinking is ‘Student Meals’

Easy visually represented simple dishes. 

The kick start and the inspiration for this theme were many eavesdrops from people in different places. 

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Ideas of choosing the theme.

At the moment I like the idea of using colourful papers to represent emotions (different emotions every day) and intertwining with my sketches. 

For example: the colours I could use are

-Red: Passion\anger

-Yellow: Hungry (yellow reminds me of food)

-Blue: calm (represented above with a simple sketch)

-Black: Depression/ sad/neutral

As a theme is very interesting but I love the idea of using mixed media for my final module. So far I’ve stuck with my sketches and coloured papers to represent this book and i am not sure what to say with it.

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This experimental bit does not link to the themes, however including lines, grids and block of colours (inspired by Piet Mondrian ) were the reason why I proceeded to the digital sketch.

One of the themes I was thinking to include is Fashion. I used a clothing line as an inspiration for the poster and also including Piet Mondrian’s technique. 

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In response to Piet Mondrian’s art I used the technique of grids and block of colours (including primary and secondary colours + black and grey) in my sketch. 

Right now i am undecided about the theme.

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Researches: 

Starting from lines and colour one of the artists who impressed me with representing an artwork is Piet Mondrian:

Piet Mondrian was a famous abstract painter, born in the Netherlands in 1872. His most recognized works are abstract paintings of coloured squares, rectangles, and thick black lines. Two of the picked pieces are:

-Molen Mill, Mill in sunlight which shows how the artist started focused on abstraction whose work was a mixture of bright colours and shapes. 

Piet Mondrian proceeded to creating all of his paintings using a grid-like format, painting squares and rectangles of mostly solid colors. This is represented in the first photo I picked.

-Composition with colour planes and grey lines.