Writers who can draw (or have other artistic talent)

pandaponies · Jun 18, 2012

I lightly shade over the whole area, then sharpen a charcoal pencil and roll my kneaded eraser both to a fine point, go through and add darker lines and use the eraser point to pull up charcoal for the highlights of the individual hairs. It's my least favorite part.

thebloodfiend · Jun 18, 2012

Sounds like a pain in the ass. I'm working with a charcoal still life for class and I can't express how much I hate it. I'm just glad it's not life drawing.

YeonAh · Jun 18, 2012

Forever impressed by people who can work in charcoal. And slightly jealous /pout.

Studying in Fine Arts, Design, so I'm getting to experiment with drawing and stuff to a degree. Sadly nowhere as good as most of the people in my class, but hey, it's a four-year program, maybe I'll get better eventually >.> I can make a mean photo-manip on Photoshop?

How does charcoal work when you're left-handed? I seem to have an issue of smudging over my work, constantly.

pandaponies · Jun 18, 2012

bloodfiend - LOL. It is a pain in the ass, definitely.

YeonAh - I'm right-handed, but I work right to left, so same problem.

Put a piece of paper underneath your hand and try not to move it while you work. Solves about 95% of the smudging problem for me.

Tepelus · Jun 18, 2012

I try to work left to right, because I'm right handed, to avoid smearing the paper with my hand, but it doesn't always happen that way. Like panda said, place another sheet of paper over the drawing, or learn to keep your hand from resting on the paper. That takes a bit to get used to. It is something I had to get used to when painting, so I try to do the same with the pencil, when I used to paint anyway.

YeonAh · Jun 18, 2012

pandaponies said:
YeonAh - I'm right-handed, but I work right to left, so same problem. Put a piece of paper underneath your hand and try not to move it while you work. Solves about 95% of the smudging problem for me.

That...sounds smart XD Thanks! I'll have to try that next time.

EDIT: And thanks Tepelus too! Didn't see your post before replying >< Painting doesn't seem to be an issue...just charcoal and pencil.

BigWords · Jun 19, 2012

YeonAh said:
Forever impressed by people who can work in charcoal. And slightly jealous /pout.

One of the ways I compensate for the heavy-handedness I have with charcoals is to work three or four times up (shrinking the artwork massively so that it comes out looking cleaner). Yes, it is cheating, but most of the uses I have for my art are in print or digital, and nobody knows the difference unless I tell them.

YeonAh · Jun 19, 2012

BigWords said:
One of the ways I compensate for the heavy-handedness I have with charcoals is to work three or four times up (shrinking the artwork massively so that it comes out looking cleaner). Yes, it is cheating, but most of the uses I have for my art are in print or digital, and nobody knows the difference unless I tell them.

Sneaky! And yet it makes perfect sense. How up-scaled are we talking here, from a 11x17 paper to 3x5, or even more drastic? Or do you just scan it in (if you can scan charcoal without it smudging?) at a super-high dpi so it gets blown up on the computer, and shrink it down then?

BigWords · Jun 19, 2012

Oh, I go nuts with the sizes - A3 (297 × 420 mm) shrunk down to fit on a computer screen.

And the fixative really does work, but you have to use it with ventilation, otherwise the effects on the user are pretty much immediate and last all night (don't ask, and try not to think of the mess). I don't mess with the image in Photoshop much other than fixing issues with contrast (making sure the blacks are black), but I sometimes take out the smudges and little marks which aren't meant to be there.

Pencil art, especially with high resolution, is much better for when time is an issue, but I sometimes can't help the urge to crack out the massive sheets of paper.

Archerbird · Jun 19, 2012

pandaponies said:
Archerbird - Thank you so much, you're so nice. <3

Something I've always been curious about is mixing media. I've seen some INCREDIBLY realistic drawings where graphite is used on most of the drawing (for the aforementioned ease of fine detail), and charcoal is added only for the dark parts for the range of value. I sort of tried it... once... but I found the shine on the graphite too distracting. It didn't quite work for me. I'd like to give it another go sometime though because the results look amazing. ...With something I'm drawing for myself (lol, like that ever happens) so I don't risk screwing up a commission.

Hang on, I'll try that again....

Edit; Sorry.

If you want to use graphite; I know that some people who use graphite like to darken with diluted acrylic/ink before laying the graphite lightly on. It shines just as much but you might be able to get a darker shade than with the graphite alone. Probably worth experimenting with too.
(Done. I think.)

Just a suggestion.

BigWords · Jun 19, 2012

I have a lot of time for mixed media, this was an ink base (regular art pens) with the blacks filled in with Indian ink, shading with pastels and charcoal, then tweaked in Photoshop. I know it is looked down on by some, but I do each panel individually then piece the page together, cropping some images and opening others out. Takes an incredible amount of patience, but it looks (hopefully) unlike anything which others are doing.

Alessandra Kelley · Jun 19, 2012

BigWords said:
One of the ways I compensate for the heavy-handedness I have with charcoals is to work three or four times up (shrinking the artwork massively so that it comes out looking cleaner). Yes, it is cheating, but most of the uses I have for my art are in print or digital, and nobody knows the difference unless I tell them.

How is that cheating? It sounds great to me. I thought it was industry standard to do artwork much bigger than the reproduction. One of my friends did big, stippled drawings of fish and fossils and bones to be reduced to a quarter the size. And paintings for mass market paperback covers (finished size: 10.5 cm x 17.5 cm) are, or were last I checked, routinely done at 61 x 91.5 cm (that's 24" x 36" for us backwards USers). Comic book pages are, or used to be, drawn almost twice the size of the magazines.

BigWords said:
I have a lot of time for mixed media, this was an ink base (regular art pens) with the blacks filled in with Indian ink, shading with pastels and charcoal, then tweaked in Photoshop. I know it is looked down on by some, but I do each panel individually then piece the page together, cropping some images and opening others out. Takes an incredible amount of patience, but it looks (hopefully) unlike anything which others are doing.

It's very nice. Very atmospheric.

But again, I'm confused. What do you mean "looked down on?" Are there actually people who say there are rules you must follow about making art, rather than whatever works to make it work?

I'm probably jumping to some conclusions here. I'd like to hear more about what you're doing, rather than spout opinions which may be based on my misunderstanding.

Oh -- and what's your opinion on spray fixative? I'm not sure I like it (worried about permanence as well as not breathing the stuff, and it's left a few drawings blodgy). On the other hand, I don't know if one can really use charcoal without it.

BTW, anybody using dust masks when using charcoal? It's not nearly as hazardous as pastels, but charcoal dust can still cause lung irritation.

BigWords · Jun 20, 2012

Alessandra Kelley said:
How is that cheating? It sounds great to me. I thought it was industry standard to do artwork much bigger than the reproduction.

This is much bigger than normal - two up is pretty much standard among everyone I talk to, but I can go up to twelve times bigger for certain things.

Alessandra Kelley said:
But again, I'm confused. What do you mean "looked down on?" Are there actually people who say there are rules you must follow about making art, rather than whatever works to make it work?

Pages are normally done-in-one. Piecing them together from different pages of artwork (so I can endlessly play with positioning and gutters) seems to work better for me than fitting everything onto a page straight away. I still use thumbnails, though I'm less reliant on them than most

Alessandra Kelley said:
Oh -- and what's your opinion on spray fixative? I'm not sure I like it (worried about permanence as well as not breathing the stuff, and it's left a few drawings blodgy). On the other hand, I don't know if one can really use charcoal without it.

The Daler Rowney one (big white tin) only needs a light covering - you may need to do a second covering of spray five minutes after the first - leaves a nice finish on pieces, and hasn't marked any of the covers I slip the art into. Make sure the page doesn't have any lumps of charcoal on it, or it might end up sticking to the plastic sleeve when you come to remove it later.

zanzjan · Jun 20, 2012

Alessandra Kelley said:
Are there actually people who say there are rules you must follow about making art, rather than whatever works to make it work?

You're joking, right?

One of the reasons I eventually jumped the fence from art to writing was an inability to deal with the whole "my way/style/medium/vision is the One True Path to Art" attitude that seemed pervasive, at least around where I was.

(Also, because writing takes up a lot less space in my house and garage.)

L M Ashton · Jun 21, 2012

I had no idea there were "rules". As far as I'm concerned, and I'm no artist, so what do I know, if it works, it works.

Speaking of me being no artist, I've recently been trying my hand at graphic illustration. I'm at the very very very beginning stages. I've never been one to sketch or paint or whatever. I stopped as soon as fingerpaints ceased to be mandatory in elementary school. I think I was too tired of the mocking and belittling.

So, emotionally, starting to sketch on my iPad with a stylus is a pretty big deal. Learning how to do graphic design is a pretty big deal. And the odd (from my perspective) thing about this is that a. I'm not nearly as bad as I thought I was (although I have no particular talent - just that I'm not absolutely horrible) and b. I'm enjoying it far more than I ever thought I would.

My impetus is that the husband is a mobile developer, and if I can get good enough to contribute some simple graphics, that would be great. I don't expect I'll ever be a true artist like a lot of people I know, and that's okay. I'm aiming for competency and good enough.

WildScribe · Jun 21, 2012

I can't draw worth anything (I'm always impressed by people who can, though!) but I am a more-than-average photographer. I apparently just sort of have an eye for composition. I used to write songs, too, but I am a merely average singer and don't really bother anymore.

Esper · Jun 21, 2012

I got my associates in art before I switched to a writing degree for my bachelors. My art tends to have some storytelling intent behind it.

I distinctly remember my 2D Design professor telling me I couldn't tell a story or create a scene on one of the projects. It irked me so bad and I ended up with a C on that project because I couldn't find a way to put any heart into it.

zanzjan · Jun 21, 2012

WildScribe said:
I apparently just sort of have an eye for composition.

That's no small thing, actually.

thebloodfiend · Jun 26, 2012

My midterm. Wish I had more time to work on it. We had two days. There's a lot I'd fix and I'm not particularly happy with it. Oh well. Onto my final. Maybe I'll re-draw it in a few months when I have more time. Chuck Close is a beast to imitate though.

Chumplet · Jun 26, 2012

I haven't worked in charcoal since college but I've always enjoyed chiaroscuro. My preferred medium is watercolour, and the subject is usually horses. But I also do dogs, cats, birds, sailboats...

Filigree · Jun 26, 2012

I'm from the down-n-dirty world of commercial art, where we smile at MFA puppies who declaim 'my Art is the One True Path' - and then we eat them for breakfast. Or worse, seduce them over to the dark side with cash and valuable prizes. Whichever path, medium, or technique gets the job done quickly and with the least material and labor cost - that is the day's One True Path.

I've found that freedom in different fiction genres, too.

icerose · Aug 23, 2012

Well I finally got up the nerve to post my work. It has lots of flaws. I have a long way to go, but not too shabby after not drawing for 10+ years due to having kids who liked to scribble all over it.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.514055928620558.139859.100000484663338&type=1&l=dcc7cb0bf2

If anyone can tell me how I can improve my drawings and make them better I'd be open for practical suggestions.

L M Ashton · Aug 24, 2012

I started sketching and drawing and going through video tutorials on youtube, and then found my way to the ConceptArt.org forums. I've joined as LMAshton. The forums are quite extensive and include a section for sketchbooks, where you upload what you've drawn and people can comment and offer criticism.

Icerose, you might want to check that out. There's also a section specifically for critiques if you want something more indepth than people tend to give in the sketchbook section.

From what I've seen of what you've done, you're quite good. I'm in a beginner study group there that's currently going through bone and muscle structure so we can get better at drawing the human body. There are other study groups there as well.

icerose · Aug 24, 2012

Thanks, I'll definitely check it out. I just wish I had a better scanner because my scanner is about 5 inches too short and three inches too narrow for most of my sketches.

L M Ashton · Aug 25, 2012

You could scan it section by section and then stitch it together. Most photoshop-like programs can do that, I believe.

Writers who can draw (or have other artistic talent)

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