Time is everything lately. With the day-job workload, re-working my first novel, and the imminent moving house, it’s tough to find quality time to sit and draw. But keeping up the practice is essential. draw365 was the answer. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

Started by Regina Agu, draw365 encourages the creation of at least one drawing, ever single day. That’s a tough call for those of us hardly finding the time to do anything other than work these days. But that is partly the beauty of the idea.

Any drawing is good. Whether it be a multi-hour piece or a simple scribble, putting marks on paper to represent something is a worthy exercise and, simply, you cannot improve without actually doing it.

Limited time and limited life

One of the strongest periods of my illustrative development came when I worked as an editorial artist for a daily newspaper. During the original Gulf War, I had the daily task of meeting the 12 noon deadline by supplying the appropriate diagrams, maps, illustrations for that day’s news. It taught m to work and think fast and to meet a very tight deadline at all cost.

draw365, to me, reminds me of that exciting time. I spend between 15 and 45 minutes on average on a draw365 drawing. Much less than I would like, I’ll admit, but that is about the limit of what I can slot into my day around the essentials.

Yet that time is enough. I have some specific aims of look and style I want to achieve when working in materials such as charcoal and compressed charcoal. The brief time commitment of the daily draw365 enables me to experiment and explore in a way I had not considered before. It loosens the inhibitions to try a new technique, a new style, because the time investment makes potential failure that much less painful: if I waste 45 minutes of my day, it really does not matter!

Just over a month

Each day I feel as if I am homing-in on my target. As I look back on the past month of drawings I see progress – progress based on my own, personal measure of whether a piece is successful or not (generally a set of parameters of what I want to achieve with each individual drawing). Sure there are some clangers in there, but the dead ends are as valuable as the triumphs.

draw365 is exciting and motivating. And using it for exploration and experimentation brings an extra level of value to me, making the time and effort that much more worthwhile.

My most recent draw365 creations can be seen in the sidebar of this blog’s home page, on my draw365 posterous blog, and on my flickr. Plenty more draw365 artists on twitter and flickr.

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Pet portraits are not overly challenging and very rewarding creations. When I did them years ago there were few artists working specifically on pets. So trying to inject more creativity into day to day life in 2009, I made the straightforward decision to start with what I already knew. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

I should have done my research first…

Now, the world is awash with pet portrait artists. Far too many are, sadly, awful. But there are some who are excellent, who can deliver character and a clear likeness, and push their work beyond simply duplicating a photograph. What has also become clear is that I cannot compete with these folks on pricing.

Pet portraits are heavily labour-intensive, particularly to get the quality I strive for. To bring my pricing to compete with most of the good, established artists around, I simply could not survive. Add to that I would need to be chained to a drawing board for 8-10 hours every day, plus the tasks of promoting, order processing/shipping, etc. I’m not sure how some of these artists are able to offer the pricing they do.

There is also the problem of growth: there isn’t any. There’s a maximum level of productivity for one person creating art. And with a saturated market, there’s very little opportunity to increase pricing over time. and poor opportunities to create additional works.

The more I looked into this aspect of the art business, the more I realised what a nightmare it could become.

I will still produce pet portraits here and there as commissions, of course, but will not be actively promoting them as a specific service.

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I helped in the background to get absinthe-shop.com online last year (where you can, of course buy absinthe!) which gave me a scant grounding in working with the Magento e-commerce application. Magento, though free in it’s basic form, is a very capable, heavyweight shopping cart and order management tool. For absinthe-shop.com, a more traditional online store with a specific range of stocked products, it was the obvious choice. To sell artworks, it seemed, at first, less than ideal. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

What is more important?

Online stores are most effective when they make the purchase process as straightforward as possible. After messing with a bunch of other shopping cart solutions (and knowing from the off that the level of complexity I needed prohibited a bespoke build at this time), I found all to be lacking in the practical requirements of managing stock, organising orders, invoices, and most importantly, integrating accurate shipping charges. This last point was the clincher. It became clear very early that a system which would ensure the goods were properly insured when shipped would win.

Add to this the need to create connections between groups and types of products (an original artwork and it’s limited edition prints, for example), and nothing could quite match the flexibility of the magento solution without significant expense.

Sawber.com was born just before the new year. Currently only stocking my artworks and prints (Jen’s coming soon), it makes life as easy as it can be to order and to manage those orders from the extensive administration. With full payment gateway integration, orders can be processed by PayPal or directly within the store, and the system presents only the most appropriate shipping options based on destination, package weight, and insurance value.

I think if we only stocked original artworks, then it might be far too hefty a solution. But having to manage hundreds of limited edition prints dictated the need for a more capable application.

The art business is slow

No surprises there, I’m sure. With the ongoing empty pockets of most people and the post Christmas period, we’re not seeing people buy original art at quite the rate we hoped. But it is very early days. Gradually, word is getting out and traffic coming in. We are building with the long term in mind, so though a big initial splash would ring well with our wallets, the last thing we want is to so rapidly run out of art stock that we are unable to replenish it!

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I was delighted in October to have my work accepted by the SGFA (Society of Graphic Fine Art), and Saturday was my first experience of one of their “Drawing days”. A group of members agree to meet at a location to chat and draw. The British Museum is a common target for these meets, offering such variety of subjects. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

This trip was specifically focused on the print room and an exhibition titled Revolution on paper: Mexican prints 1910–1960, but a meetup was also a big focus and my chance to learn more about other members of the society. Watch a video about the exhibition produced by the British Museum.

I learned a great deal wandering around the print exhibition with some people who understood much more about some of the print processes than I – plus a little help from Wikipedia here and there. Seeing the visual strength of some of the lithographs and lincuts, and the subtle tones of drypoint, I’m sure a printing press is in my future! (It is times like this I feel the gaping holes in my knowledge and experience having not attended art college.)

With so much to see and new people to chat to – many of whom wanted to natter with “the new boy”, I only managed one, brief sketch before having to head home.

Who are these people?

The members were a selection of artists and illustrators very much as I expected, and much like those I have worked with in various art and design studios in the past. I did not get to converse with everyone, but they were all a pleasant bunch to spend some time with and I did appreciate the chance to discuss “art stuff” in place of technology for a change.

The next drawing day, in 2010, will be a visit to the Imperial War Museum, which relates to the theme of next year’s SGFA exhibition in the Spring. It also relates to the second TableRappers novel now in planning (but no more on that just yet!). I haven’t been there since I was a teenager. I suspect I’ll have more than one drawing after that visit.

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The SGFA was founded in 1919 to “foster good draughtsmanship”, and refers to itself as “The Drawing Society”. On one particular day each October, any artist can apply for membership. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

The process involves submitting a short portfolio of work consisting of some finished artworks and either one’s sketchbook, or a series of individual drawings or sketches. Artworks are left with the society’s panel, then collected later in the day along with their decision. (The image accompanying this post shows one of the artworks I submitted.)

Particularly since I have no formal artistic training or history (other than illustration), it appealed to me that selection was purely based on the merits of the work. So I trudged up to London today to drop off my work for their deliberation.

I’m delighted to report that my work was accepted, and once the formal process of notifying – and me paying the annual subscription – I will be an Associate member of the society.

So what?

Membership of a society such as this offers opportunity for exposure and for those of us with very limited artist CV’s, and little professional qualifications on paper, some added professional credibility over and above any artworks.

The society runs members only exhibitions through the year, so there are additional opportunities for showing work and hopefully selling it. Plus there’s the networking benefits of connecting with like minded artists.

From a personal perspective, I am delighted that my work was considered good enough for the society. This is a particularly satisfying after seeing some of the superb pieces from existing society members today at the Menier Gallery, Southwalk Street, London.

To mark the success tonight, we ordered celebratory pizza!

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I have an everlasting fascination with the way our minds recognise patterns, even in chaos. Without this we would not have art, writing, or see Jesus in pieces of toast. We strive to see order in chaos and our minds form recognisable shapes even in the most abstract patterns. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

This first piece of art is something of a pilot – a proof of concept, if you will. It consists of 486 unique, abstract symbols, each drawn by hand using a hand-made bamboo pen and permanent ink, onto a sheet of A2 paper. The piece was created over several days, with only a few icons being drawn at each session.

What do they mean?

Each icon is an entirely random doodle, conceived at the moment of completing the previous one. There are repeating shapes and elements, some of which are deliberate, but others evolved and appeared as the work progressed and the need to find new shapes and patterns became an increasing challenge.

If you look at the piece for more than a second or two, you will begin to recognise some of the icons elements. In fact, your mind will crave that recognition, searching for shapes that resemble familiar objects or ideas with which you associate. But they are just random shapes, lines, dots on a sheet of paper.

That is what this and the subsequent pieces are all about.

But there’s another layer to this

My initial plan was to hammer out this first piece, work at it until it was complete. But after a few rows I realised I was beginning to repeat certain shapes, or at least had to fight the urge to do so.

In a flip-side to you looking at the icons searching for meaning, I found myself instinctively basing icons on the everyday thoughts skipping through my head. My mind was trying to inject meaning into what should be just random icons. Fascinating.

Hence my decision to draw them in brief bursts of 20-30. I avoided struggling with repetition and my mind did not drop into a daydreaming state to influence the icons. Still, some repeating elements only appear part way down the page, while others disappear after several rows.

…and another

I can almost tell each drawing session by the style of the icons. Though unencumbered by influences from stray thoughts, I could not avoid influence from my overall state of mind. Sometimes passive, sometimes stressed, sometimes frustrated, you get the picture.

Icons in each session seem to reflect that, on a very subtle level of course. When tense or frustrated, for example, I would take less care in loading the pen nib correctly with ink (one loading lasts but one icon), so lines tend to be thicker and flow into other lines due to the amount of ink being placed. Other, early morning icons tend to have a less certain hand with shapes that do not quite close or that break over the defined boundary.

What’s next?

I have a string of ideas along similar lines. From much larger pieces (same size icons), to sheets with just one icon, to sheets that do reflect actual ideas and object, to icons that are based on stories, books, songs.

So far this first piece has taken me on a very unexpected journey. What was to be simply a grid of random little shapes, became a surprisingly expressive process. I’m sure there are more surprises to come.

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PetPortraitArt.co.uk ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

This currently very modest site will be a focus for promoting pet portraits and hopefully generating a few commissions. Little more than an about, how-to, and simple ordering process right now, I hope it will grow, particularly in featuring new works as I complete them.

Many similar sites (and there really are many) also feature technique articles and videos, so I am pondering something similar. Perhaps some live streaming when I am working on a piece as there does seem to be a fascination in how images like this are created.

With my current schedule I can just about manage to produce a couple of these portraits in a week, so here’s hoping the orders do not start flooding in just yet! But if you know someone with pets who might appreciate a portrait, let me encourage you to point them at the site.

This does mean that I will not be doing many freebie sample drawings from now on – as a few of you have asked – unless I have nothing else in the pipeline to work on.

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This is the latest drawing: pencil on Bristol Boad, around A4 in size.

I’ve been experimenting with different papers recently. This and the previous drawing ( a very cute Miniature Schnauzer ) were created on Bristol Board – a very hardy, white paper that despite its smooth, hot pressed surface, accepts pencil very well (if a little challenging creating rich, even-toned blacks).

For Bella the Bloodhound (based on an original photo by Superfantastic [flickr] ) I used Canson 110lb Bristol Board and found the surface far more predictable and durable than the 115lb Winsor and Newton Bristol Board I used previously. I’m sticking with Canson from now on, it’s a terrific drawing stock.

Using Bristol Board solved one of my key frustrations with a great many pencil drawings (mine included, sometimes): lack of contrast. Not only are the whites very white, but the blacks can be very deep withought risking gouging or tearing the paper surface. Proper erasing technique tends not to damage the surface allowing the erased part to be re-drawn without any noticable difference in texture – something one can rarely achieve on standard cartridge paper when drawing in this detailed style. For example, the background in the above drawing was much more extensive and darker, then erased back near to what you see now, with some additional tonal adjustments added after erasing.

Next up: a hedgehog!

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Having this week purchased additional gear to make the most of drawing and sketching on-site (as opposed to snapping photographs and sketches then working purely in my “studio”), I set out in the glorious sunshine to visit a few locations tagged earlier as “possible places to draw”. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

First it was the roads

I am sure Britain’s drivers were conspiring against me. No matter where I tried to end up, something would spring up to bar my way. Inconsiderate parking, traffic queue, or simply no access to the particular area without a long walk (by long I’m talking a mile or more).

Two near collisions in the car later (people were mad this morning!), the sprinkling threat of rain showers, and the total obliteration of the initial good sunlight, forced me to head home in a stressed huff.

When the roads improved, the weather did not

I tried again later. This time heading to a particular church which now was in the closing stages of a wedding, with the accompanying hoards of cars removing all hope of gaining access. The light then failed once more.

This time, however, I did stop back at Maidenhead bridge for a little – and I have to say desperate – look around. Sadly, I could not “see” the drawings there, either. Perhaps all hope was lost on the day, so I returned home, in a double-huff.

Let it stew

I needed a task that was so straightforward that I could leave the day with having achieved something, anything. I opted for “watching some television”. I succeeded.

Determination (read: bloody-mindedness) kicked-in and I began pondering once more about those places I had visited. The detachment of time and geography allowed my mind to filter out the details and work purely on visual composition, contrast, and the image as a whole. A few spontaneous scribbles later and I had three strong potential compositions of and around Maidenhead bridge.

Too much information

I have this problem in supermarkets where on being sent to forage for a particular item, I fail to spot it in the cacophony of colours, shapes, and words. My brain struggles to filter out the noise to find the one detail I need.

Visiting a location to draw, I think I must have the same problem.

I should explain for the non-initiated: Rarely does a scene make for a good piece of art entirely as it stands. You know the phrase “artistic license”? Our minds work differently when looking at art compared to photography. Somehow, we understand a photograph represents a true capture of the scene. But far more consideration, particuary to composition, must be made in order to draw the same scene with success.

One must move a tree a little – for example – or remove it entirely. Perspective must be distorted, tonal values altered to increase contrast and represent depth. Thought must be applied to the focal points of the drawing, deciding what to leave in and what to leave out. Without these considerations, one might as well just have a photograph.

This is what I have learned today: I cannot simply turn up at a place and immediately “see” the means to render it artistically. I must visit, look, sketch, photograph, then allow all that information to simmer, allowing my mind and memory to let go of the details that are irrelevant to the scene, while enhancing those that matter (to me).

I suppose the devil really is in the details.

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I stand at one side of the gated entrance – the most interesting composition in that particular light – and peek up from my sketch pad at the church-goers passing before me in their cars after morning service. Some smile, others stare in bemusement (probably at my hat). ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

I sketch, car and foot traffic continues.

A family laden with flowers hunts out a gravestone, then huddles in clear grief at the sight of it. Within a few moments the initial reaction fades and they are snapping digital pictures of the large, white cross and themselves beside it as if it were the latest exciting addition to the Blackpool beach front.

Another car pulls up, parking just outside the gate. I see from the corner of my eye two figures peering in to the church grounds, then disappear behind the hedge heading for the entrance proper. Moments later they return, a cloud of expensive perfume leading the way. I sense they are heading straight for me.

“Can we borrow your pencil, we need to make a note of a number.” She asks with a tone that recommends I not refuse, and sporting an accent that suggests she can amply afford her cloud of perfume while still only purchasing it at the duty free en route to the twice annual vacation in Monaco.

Not one to be as rude as the person making such a request, I agree. Who knows, they may like the drawing and want to buy it: keep the punters happy (for now).

The husband appears. Marks & Spencer striped shirt and slacks. Interesting: not quite the available funds for a tailored shirt on a Sunday, so the Monaco trips are likely just to maintain the impression of wealth. He hands her a till receipt, the only piece of paper he can find, apparently.

“What’s the number?” She asks, poised to write while searching for something to rest on as she has only now realised I have given her a sturdy, metal mechanical pencil. The husband has forgotten the number, and heads off to find it again. She’s not entirely happy at the delay.

“Look at the state of this place. Isn’t it terrible that they don’t keep everything tidy.” (It was clearly no question.)

Me, having lost my only pencil, cannot simply continue to draw in an attempt to ignore the clearly irate woman. I look at the graveyard with its wispy long grass and wildflowers. In the morning sun it looks quite stunning. “I see a lot of graveyards like this.” I reply, being as non-committal to an opinion as possible.

“It’s disgusting. My mother’s buried over there,” she points to the rear of the church, “but with it looking like this I don’t think I want to go to see her grave. We have paid for a plot around the back there but I don’t think I want to be here now. We’ve come from a long way. My mother was married here, I was christened here. We telephoned to complain about the grounds before, they told us it was all to do with the butterflies. It’s in a terrible state. It used to be a lovely little church, quite unusual. Butterflies. They say they let the flowers grow for the butterflies. I think they just can’t be bothered.”

I am feeling the cloud of perfume, which has gratefully dissipated (not quite as expensive a product as it first appeared, perhaps), replaced with a cloud of agitated, middle-aged woman. My immediate reaction is to make it quite clear I am nothing to do with this church, just in case I become the target for a continued string of anger release. I should also note that I have not had the pencil returned to me as she clutches it still waiting the husband’s return from the telephone number quest.

She continues: “You are sketching [no shit, Sherlock] What will you do with that?”

“This is just a study for a larger, more finished piece.” I am tempted to say: Are you interested in a drawing of the church? I can make the grass look whatever height you prefer? But something warns me that even if I do manage a sale, she is never going to be satisfied and, frankly, at this point, the interruption to my concentration is threatening a sudden infliction of tourettes.

The husband returns, with the number. She makes a note of it on the receipt and finally returns the pencil (no thank you).

It is now his turn to rant: “We rung them up about this last time. They just don’t want to know.”

“We’re going to call them up again and complain.” She interjects. Why does she not simply pop into the church right then and speak to real people face-to-face? I wonder. “Thank you for the pencil.” OK, that’s a minor point in their favour at least. They turn and head back towards their car.

Just one pace, and the husband swings around to me once more, leaning in so as to stress whatever he is about to say, “They probably don’t have enough money. But they have plenty for the immigrants. Good day to you!” He barks then whirls to evade any response and marches to his car in the sure knowledge he has made his point and triumphed with the final word in an argument that that did not really exist outside his own head.

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