Author: Jack Reed

 

Micron on paper, 9 x 12

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Suggested cropping and presentation:

The pleasure in these isn’t the still life or the space its in, its the texture and inventiveness of your hatching. I suggest cropping these so as to zoom in and indulge what they’re best at. A painter who comes to mind this way is Emily Eveleth, who’s famous for her close ups of donuts:

Micron on paper, 9 x 12

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Micron on paper, 9 x 12

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micron pen and paper, 9 x 12

I noticed your hatching style, which I love overall, works much better on the garlic and the pears than on the muffin (which looks a little like a giant garlic). That’s because hatching isn’t one size fits all (actually it can be, if you’re Morandi, but even he was careful to chose objects with smoother planes). The muffin is getting lost in there somehow. Consider changing up to different, more textural hatching:

I also snuck in a suggestion here to make your hatching on the table more studied and purposeful. Note how those horizontal lines really hug that plane, rather than moving it, as in yours. Also using a more broken line to make the light flicker.

Study the all time great hatchers: Rembrandt, Goya, Whistler, Picasso, Morandi, Robert Crumb, and Freud, shown here:

Click to enlarge, look and learn:

 

Consider also minimizing the background “noise,” as I’ve done to yours here:

And then give more thought to composition (with either a drawn border or an X-Acto).

 

This is a great page, but needs better photography:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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micron pen on paper, 9 x 12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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micron pen on paper, 9x 12

Love the quixotic and wistful relationship between the garlic and the outlet (a children’s book waiting to happen), but these are weirdly composed and don’t go far enough:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

micron pen on paper, 9 x 12

 

Just a little more TLC in editing would make this so much better. Crop out the noise around the border and move the Saturation slider all the way to the left to eliminate the incidental color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

micron and prismacolor markers, 9 x 12

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Note how it becomes so much more unified and coherent. I wasn’t even sure I liked this one, but now I do–a lot. Great contrast in the hatching for onion skin (perfect pairing) and the background hatching. Great composition as well–

 

micron on paper, 8 x 9

My fave–as my comments will attest. Curious how this would look in a horizontal format.

One of the earliest images in this genre–the single, isolated subject–comes from Albrecht Durer. A great part of its power is his clear devotion to what his eyes could reveal. Yours feels like it might be on a similar path, which would be great–maybe one incredible drawing of a chocolate chip muffin between now and May 5th?

I’ve always loved the work of Los Angeles artist Martha Alf. These are pencil drawings but very finely hatched.

Maybe play even more with the light?

Another California artist, 100 years old this year, Wayne Thiebaud:

Or, quite different than the artists above, you might prefre a looser, “cooler” hatching style (also by Thiebaud).

Okay, it’s official. It’s a California thing. Vija Celmins painted these there in 1964, but now lives in New York:

There can be something wonderfully dumb about staring at a single object, front and center, and she captures that feeling perfectly.  A lot of people (me included) think that this is one of the best paintings of the 20th century. Not kidding:

It’s like Magritte’s famous painting, but without the inscription. You just *know* that’s what it’s about.

Or, if you look at the rutabaga in this still life by Gregory Gillespie, you’ll see if you look at something long enough and intently enough it can become bizarre and grotesque (what Freud called “The Uncanny,” which we’ve talked about):

micron on paper, 9 x 12

micron on paper, 9 x 12

micron on paper, 9 x 12

All drawings completed with micron .08 on 9 x 12 paper.

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Hey folks,

Having spent last week getting used to the micron, I figured now would be a good time to focus more on subject matter than medium.

I dedicated most of my drawing time this week to the hatched perishables. I spent a couple of days at the beginning of the week toying with “ideas” for drawings. After too much thinking I figured I should just sit down and draw an eggplant.

Good things for both eggplant and other foods. I like the tomato best. Prob 30-45 minutes for each on first sheet. Tried to be faster with the second, prob took about 40 minutes total.

I was thinking about shape more than light. I told myself that I’d rather have accurate structure than shading. It was freeing to not have to worry about “correct” shadows. None of the perishables closely resemble their real life counterparts with regard to light, but that doesn’t bother me. Shape is conveyed, and there’s enough value differentiation to get the job done.

I also included a lesson from a drawing book on perspective. Helpful concepts, but I had a tough time applying perspective to things I actually looked at–hence the awkward plane around the eggplant. I intended to have all the foods “in space,” but then dropped the idea in favor of focusing on the food itself. To include perspective was too tricky.

Last, a sketch of some housemates on the couch. Quick, prob 4-5 minutes. I like the way it feels like it’s beginning to materialize, with the darkest/boldest marks showing first. I don’t like the way laptop-roommate’s head is too big and also weird.

For next week, thinking of doing more still lives. There’s a big kale in the fridge that I have my eyes on rn, as well as some wilting flowers on the kitchen table.