NO IDEA, MATE

Illustration duo-doodlee-do Katerina & Elloise

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<p style="font-family: 'Shrikhand', cursive;"><b>Slink Events x Kat Drawing Workshop</b></p><p>Done some portrait drawings using Kat’s brilliant egg yolk face trick. What a really quirky way to set up your portrait drawings! I loved it so much I decided to incorporate the yolk into the final drawings! Having egg on your face never looked so good! It’s really made me think about how I approach my own portrait drawings and allowed me to breakout of those deeply trodden lines and shapes I would usually go for. Super interesting and pastiche-y! - Elloise xo

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Slink Events x Kat Drawing Workshop

I (Kat) held a drawing workshop on Sunday 7th March 2021 with Slink Events!  I got to do some fun blind drawing and continuous line drawing exercises with everyone before delving into an easy step-by-step method of how to draw faces. This involved using the shape of an egg and then getting the yolk to help us place the eyebrows, eyes and nose! We practised a couple of different expressions and then went on to create a final piece, complete with a frame of the attendees' choice! So many people said they had fun and found it relaxing which was all I could wish for!!! Hope I can do another one soon.

- Katerina x

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Shunga Drawing Class Pt.4

The top illustration uses a circular view finder to focus in on a particular detail in the Shunga piece. Where else could I have possibly gone? 

Shunga was usually made with woodblock printing, where blocks of colour were applied to the paper and then the line details were added after. The bottom sketch attempts to replicate this approach by applying the blocks of water colour first and then drawing lines in charcoal over the top. Again, it was a quick exercise, so I didn’t get as far as I would have liked, but it is interesting to see how the body forms are already starting to pop out of the negative space.

- Elloise xo

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Shunga Drawing Class Pt.3

It’s not all giant genitals!

The top drawing in my sketch book was a quick water colour study of the drapery seen in a lot of Shunga. It was a quick exercise so I didn’t get as much detail down as I would have liked, but it was an interesting approach to drawing all the same. The bottom sketch focused more on the environment around the two central figures. Each of these approaches brought my eye away from the outrageous genitals and explicit content of the reference pieces and allowed the me to take in and appreciate other visual elements that make Shunga what it is.

- Elloise xo

Original Shunga illustration: Kinoe no Komatsu (by Katsushika Hokusai) shows a nude woman receiving sexual pleasure from squid/octopus.

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Shunga Drawing Class Pt.2

The next couple of exercises were interesting: on the left was more of an exploration of the environment of a particular Shunga piece, while on the right we were encouraged to incorporate all the techniques we'd been through during the session. My favourite was drawing part of a scene within a small shape i.e. the circle on the top of the right page! I loved focusing in on the details, creating a little pocket of mystery. In the final exercise (just below this) you can see I started to get fatigued, shouting 'no, I can't go on!!!' pretty intense right!!

- Katerina x

Original Shunga illustration: Uta Makura (by Kitagawa Utamaro). Image found here.

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Shunga Drawing Class Pt.2

Sketchbook page spread of continuous line drawing responses to Shunga illustrations. The reference art was an illustration of an orgy. Breasts, vulvas, feet, heads and more where scatters across the composition, morphing into one giant beast. 

- Elloise xo

Original Shunga illustration: Illustration depicting an orgy with seven women and one man. Image found here.

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Shunga Drawing Class

London Drawing Group hosted a Shunga art class, which explored the erotic Japanese art style of the Edo period (1603 - 1868). My sketch book pages show blind drawing and continuous line drawing responses to Shunga art pieces shared with us, as well as an attempt at a selected section. One of the interesting things noted during the class was how much visual emphasis was placed on the clothing in these pieces. Bold colours and elaborate patters act as the positive space in the composition and the bodies act as negative space; voids, with most emphasis placed on over-exaggerated genitals. 

- Elloise xo

Original Shunga illustration: Fukujuso (by Katsushika Hokusai, c.1822-23) shows a man and woman kissing in an intimate embrace during sex. Image found here.

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Shunga Drawing Class

Shunga - what a beautiful type of art. As it's erotic art, it's quite graphic but at the same time has so many beautiful elements, for example the draping of the outfits of some of the characters. I loved this lesson, and particularly enjoyed the first few exercises of continuous line drawing and blind drawing (see left)! We also did another exercise where we picked a certain part of the image to draw and then once we'd finished, picked another section of a different Shunga piece to add to what we'd previously drawn (see right) - it really mixed up the composition and made it fun! Ngl though, those penises in Shunga art are ASTRONOMICALLY big, like trees. Honestly I couldn't believe my eyes, but I also loved how many of the vulvas were depicted as an almost divine force that was actually respected in the Shunga world. Super interesting!

- Katerina x

Original Shunga illustration: Beanman and Beanwoman prepare to attack the Vagina (by Utagawa Kunisada, c.1827). Image found here.

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Final Cup

Yay! We made it to the end! For our final lesson we revisited the original mug we sketched to face it in battle once again. Looking for redemption, armed with pencils and erasers at the ready, we applied every ninja drawing skill Old Willy had bestowed to us, to rise victorious, master artists! We would regain our pride, dignity and honour. And to be honest, yes... this mug looks a lot better, guys. Right? I think so.

- Elloise xo

Lessons with Will Kemp on LinkedIn Learning

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Final Cup

You thought it was over but it’s not!!! The final cup. This definitely has more depth than my first cup (which actually didn’t have any depth at all, so not hard to beat really) and I managed to incorporate some of the pattern too which was fun. If it’s possible, I’ve used too much tone? My beret and long cigarette went a step too far and I got carried away! It defo needs some more tonal contrast in there, I probs could’ve shone a lamp on it to achieve this - like you would on a little chick to keep it warm. Overall though I’ve found these lessons refreshing and it’s been a great reminder of all the different ways you can draw things, here’s to the next No Idea, Mate project!

- Katerina x

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Still Life

What a kerfuffle I had with this one! I decided to create my own still life composition with some objects I had about the house. I wanted to do this so I could create my own picture plane out of a real-world scene (not a photographed composition). However, by the time I’d set up and laid down the basis of my drawing, 3 hours had passed and I needed to get on with the rest of my day. Unfortunately, I had to pick it up again several days later and the light was completely different, so there are a few time-travelling shadows and highlights going on. Although it’s not a perfect picture, I think there is a nice variety of texture here. I just wish it had some strong tonal contrast!

- Elloise xo

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Still Life

The icing on the cake! What a journey. I found the still life that the lovely Kempy prepared for the session had some interesting shapes and shadows which were quite satisfying to draw. Again it was nice not to worry about the details and just focus on the techniques learned throughout the classes. I think the scale of my drawing is pretty good but I definitely could’ve done with a darker pencil / stronger eraser to emphasise the lighting and different tones. Also, the shadows are looking a bit wonky! Hindsight, yeah, it’s great.

- Katerina x

Lessons with Will Kemp on LinkedIn Learning

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Light Logic

What a magical thing a bit of shading is, ey! All the exercises we’ve done up to this point had an element of pppbbbbbb to them. My own issues, not Will Kemp’s (that lovely Brummy chap). I felt this lesson really pushed my understanding and appreciation of tonal contrast, it introduced me to the idea of light logic (which I’ve pretty much worked on instinctually until now) and taught me about Leonardo DiVinci’s Sfumato technique. An Art & Design a-level and four years of art school under my belt, and I’m finally learning how to draw!

- Elloise xo  

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Light Logic

Like in the previous tonal study, I was a big fan of this shading exercise. Although after looking at my outcome some more, I think I could’ve used much darker tones to highlight the light contrast and made the cone look a bit sharper. Elloise’s cone in this exercise has really helped me to see how I could improve mine, who would’ve thought a cone could be that atmospheric though? Hats off to you, Els! <3

- Katerina x

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Perspective

This exercise felt very architectural, which I guess it is; focusing on line and perspective. I found it hard to ignore the details of the door and focus in on the angles and overall shapes present. We always want to rush to the fun parts, you know, make the objects come to life. I’m slowly learning that drawing is very much a step by step process, and when trying to be accurate or true to life within your drawings these initial stages (the foundations to any piece) are fundamental to the success of it all. Build solid foundations, ya’ll!

Elloise xo

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Perspective

This exercise was definitely useful in terms of thinking about perspective and where certain lines should go/what angles they’re at, for example if the top right corner of the door frame goes here, where does the window begin etc. At the same time I was also like, where’s the shading? I definitely realised that colouring in is the juicy part for me!

- Katerina x

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Negative Space

I hated this exercise! Focusing solely on the space around the flowers was quite disorientating and once I finally got my bearings it was very clear how wrong my lines were. I think I found it tedious, because it so clearly highlighted faults in my sizes and forms. It is understandable why this is a helpful drawing technique, but it takes some getting used to.

- Elloise xo

Lessons with Will Kemp on LinkedIn Learning