Why is art right or good? because we set up a system of rules that we use to decide what is good. What entertains us, what we like, what impresses us. With representation it’s often the craft that makes us think, “wow that’s so cool, it looks real”. Just look at how Thomas Kinkade or any current comic book artist is judged.
In talking with Michael Fiffe for an interview I couldn’t quite explain what I was going for in my drawing. There’s a process to drawing, choosing a line length size and weight, that’s actual visual thinking. That process from Cezanne on has been part of painting, but because comics drawing is about creating icons that process is hidden. Drawing are done cleanly and the artist doesn’t “think”. The artist is creating a world so you shouldn’t actually see any thought. Time and time again I want to leave the thought in, but then the thought takes you out of the narrative and can comics have that kind of drawing?
I know I should be doing postcards on health care reform or workingon paying gigs and not drawing from photos but sometimes you need to recharge the batteries.
Everyone picks the same colors over and over again, so to expand the pallette you can do two things, paint from life or study the “old masters” and see what you can swipe. This is a Bonnard painting drawn in Flash and using the Advanced color style to adjust the hue and tint.
It feels somewhat blasphemous to treat Bonnard this way because the Color style sliders allow you to overlay colors like your glazing ala the old masters but with a cleanliness you never could get in oils. Bonnard who manipulated color to carry so much emotion didn’t even think of his canvasses as forground, middle and background the way I am breaking things down Just a nice way to challenge oneself.
