Three courses completed and still cheering

I have just finished my third online class with the Academy of Art University, and despite my woes about it being expensive, more difficult than a traditional art class, and missing the close interaction with instructors and students, I am very happy to say that my skills are improving.  Even if I only had these three classes and could take no more, I have improved as an artist.  And that’s what going to art school is all about.

So I just completed the dreaded Chiaroscuro class where everything had to be done in charcoal, which is not my medium.  I am a painter, but my last drawing looked pretty good and proves that I can learn how to do something I don’t like with good instruction.  I can only imagine what being in a traditional onsite classroom  at the Academy of Art University must be like.  It must be a wonderful experience.

So here are my last couple of projects for the class.

A plaster head form that was used for the assignment. These plaster pieces are very expensive. I am thinking about keeping mine in case I decide to teach.

After working with the Human torso shape, we then started work on the plaster head form as a model for our project.  I have always liked drawing people, most especially portraits so I found this to be a useful and interesting project.  The one thing that did bother me about this picture was the fact that our busts had no eyes.  It looks so creepy and vacant to me lacking soul and personality.  Perhaps that is why people who do the make up for horror movies like the contact lenses that are all white or all black.  Removing the iris and pupil from the equation certainly changes the feeling of the face.

Not my best work, but at least I look Human.

The next project was fraught with angst and anxiety.  First we had to get a picture of ourselves that followed the prescribed formula, and then worst of all, I had to take a picture that I didn’t absolutely hate.  I was in a car accident in 2002 or so and I ended up with a condition referred to as TMJ, which affects the Human jaw.  It aches and hurts, so one must do things to manage that pain and keep it under control.  I think I must have lost my ability to smile normally during the time after the accident.  We must have taken about 50 pictures and none of them looked right.  My husband kept saying to smile, and I was smiling!  At least I thought I was giving a broad smile, but instead I looked pissed or miserable in every photo.  So finally, I got one picture where I seem to be looking somewhat friendly.

Then the project itself was problematic since I drew one of the eyes too big and I thought I was going to have to start the whole drawing over, and the teacher suggested that I take my chamois and simply wipe the eye away.  I was skeptical.  Very skeptical.  This was evil charcoal that smears and smudges all over the place.  Well, guess what, it worked.  I guess those instructors really do know what they are talking about, so I was able to fix the eye and keep the same drawing.  It sorta looks like me.  It’s not my best work, but hey, at least I don’t look like a Picasso!

I am really proud of this piece, and once I move someplace where I have more room, I think I might frame it.

Then came the last project and I was bound and determined that I had to do well on this one to get at least a B in the class.  I personally, always want an A, but I have been repeatedly told that a B from the AAU is a respectable grade.  So this is my still life project in charcoal.  Had you told me at the beginning of the class that I could make something that looked this believable in charcoal, I would have thought you were being overly optimistic, yet here it is.  I am pretty happy with it, and that is a nice feeling.  I did improve after 15 weeks of hard work.

I am still not sure what grade I got in the class, but I am happy with the fact that my abilities are improving and I hope to put those skills to use in the future paintings and drawings that I do.  Don’t let people tell you that you can’t get better or learn something new.  It is possible.

G. Winkler ©2013

To Smudge or Not to Smudge? – That is the Question.

To smudge or not to smudge?  That is the question when working with charcoal.  And if you were expecting some New Age Magic topic…  Well, sorry I am talking about charcoal renderings.

Practice exercise of the nose in charcoal on charcoal paper

Smudging, smearing, rubbing, smoothing, and blending…
That’s what I am talking about when I say charcoal rendering…

Uh, and since my friend, Farren Robinson the poet, isn’t here to write another poem for me, perhaps I had better stick to just plain writing here and sharing a few photos of the projects that I have been doing this semester.  Some are better than others, but this is all part of the process of becoming a better artist.  One has to practice and learn not to be afraid to make a few blunders here and there.  One also needs to be willing to show their projects to close friends, family, and a few thousand strangers like here on WordPress. 

Practice exercise on eye construction and rendering

Practice exercise on the construction of the mouth

Practice exercise of constructing the ear, which is surprisingly complex.

Another important concept to understand and practice is how fabric falls and drapes.

Not everyone will like what you do.  That is a reality of any artistic endeavor, but learning how to deal with these potential rejections is an important part of becoming an artist.  Artists have to learn how to sift out the useless criticism and honestly evaluate the productive criticism.  A person willing to be truthful with an intelligent perspective can be very valuable to an artist.  So far all of my instructors for my graduate studies have been this kind of person much to my delight and relief.

I hope you have

The Human body has lots of little curves, dips, and folds.

enjoyed a few photos of the projects and exercises that I have done so far this semester, and perhaps when it is over, I will have a few more to share.

G. Winkler ©2013

When I work with Charcoal – I wear black

At first the thought of wearing black while working with charcoal,  may conjure up images of an emotional state of mind.  It is somber.  It is depressed.  It is full of resignation that I will have to endure something that I do not want to do.  So wearing black like I am going to a funeral or perhaps feeling a bit modern Goth seems very appropriate, but the truth be known, … it is for a more practical purpose than social convention or melodrama.   Ever since I started the chiaroscuro class where only charcoal is used as the medium, I purposely try and wear black or other dark colors.  The charcoal is a nightmare of smudges and powdery messes that need to be controlled.  It is a Sheldon Cooper or Felix Unger nightmare.

Basic shapes in charcoal – a practice in value and composition.

You see, while I may not be as obsessive compulsive as these other characters, I do have a dislike for nasty dirty messes.  So I am not the artist with a studio that has paint splattered all over the floors, walls, and table tops.  I have an inherent respect for my environment and see myself as being part of that of that coexistence of living and nonliving materials in this world.  So the idea of smearing a dirty mess all over myself, my paper, my work area, and so forth disturbs my personal feng shui. To be honest it would not be so bad if I could simply wash the stuff off or erase it.  At least dirt from gardening can be wiped up or washed out of clothing, but the charcoal has this clinging desire to be made part of the fiber content, so if I don’t want a good light colored shirt to be ruined, then I wear dark colors or even short sleeves.

A half rendered project to explore folds in fabric and how stripes can affect the appearance of fabric.

Thus this semester on my online graduate fine art education has seen an intense fashion of dark colors, not because I feel like being the stereotypical tortured artist, but because I am practical.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a tortured artist by being forced to take this charcoal infested class, but that’s not the reason for the black clothes.

I keep telling myself that this is a useful process to learn, the Chiaroscuro, and that all the other students are being expected to take it as well since it is required.  I just wish I didn’t have to use charcoal. 

G. Winkler ©2013

Ode to Charcoal

My most recent homework in charcoal. Three days of “argh!”

Okay, the charcoal class is driving me nuts, but I don’t think I am the only one who thinks that charcoal is some kind of medium of  torture.  I have noticed other students in my online class mentioning that they are having a tough time with the medium as well.  I suppose misery loves company.  But I think knowing that I am not the only person struggling makes it okay to be struggling.  I don’t want my classmates to be miserable.  I keep telling myself that this is not my medium of choice and not to be so uptight about it all.  This is hard because I am naturally a person who likes things done right the first time and has the attitude of  “why do something if one is going to do it half-assed?”  I don’t see the point in that, and yes, I do know that as time goes on, that I am becoming part of a minority.  Few people take pride in their work anymore….but that is entirely a blog topic on its own.

So I was frustrated the other day while working on my homework that I made a post on facebook describing my sentiments.

My facebook post:  More homework. Ugh, charcoal is stressful.  Charcoal is messful.  Why must I work with this? It is damaging my bliss.  Oh back to the days of acrylic paint where the sight of the medium didn’t make me faint. …….blah blah blah…..I need Farren to finish this. I am not a poet.

So my friend Farren did indeed see my post and she kindly wrote this poem for me.  And as you will read, she is a MUCH better poet than I.

ODE TO CHARCOAL

Charcoal is some lovely stuff
And useful in its place
But when I try to draw with it
I get it on my face

Instead of on the paper
I get it on my clothes
And even doing details,
I get it up my nose

It makes my pictures cloudy
Like they’ve gone up in smoke
Who would think this awful mess
could come from mighty oak?

O Give me back acrylic
Or give me pencil tone
For the thought of using Charcoal
Just really makes me groan!!

By Farren Robinson © 2013

Who says that arts do not cross boundaries!  She’s a poet and an artist.  And deserves a bit more admiration than what she has been getting.  She has also tried charcoal and found it to be a difficult medium to work with a well.

So why do art schools around the world require the students to work with it? Well, it’s way to teach blending, value, composition, and chiaroscuro without using super expensive tools and materials.  And there is another reason.  Did you see my drawing posted above?  It’s okay.  It looks like what it is supposed to be, but there are people so talented that you would think that you were looking at a photograph.  Go visit this website www.artrenewal.org, they have wonderful examples of incredible artwork.  They can be a bit full of themselves, but the artwork is generally superb.  The site changes frequently so just hunt around and I am sure you will something amazing done in charcoal.  Also, while you are away from the blog, go check out Farren Robinson’s book of combat poetry that sounds like it was written during Great War of 1914 to 1918 but is so very timely for our modern day concerns.  Farren’s book of poetry.

G. Winkler ©2013

 PS – I did not put in the weird underlined advertising links.   I can’t get rid of them, and I am NOT getting paid for them being there either.  Not very happy about this.   My apologies.

More Charcoal Woes

My third semester has begun and once again I am dealing with one of my least favorite mediums, charcoal.  It’s so messy and difficult to erase, but it is a practical and traditional medium to study drawing and the technique of Chiaroscuro, which is an essential component for creating good quality artwork.  So I am doing my best to stay on friendly terms with the medium.  Or at least keep a positive attitude and not let worries about achieving high grades to keep me from enjoying the learning process.

Despite my stress concerning charcoal, I am starting to feel more comfortable with the online education process.  I know, now,  that I should expect each instructor to be slightly different in their expectations regardless of the schools attempts to make the process as standard as possible.  Knowing this helps.  Being flexible and having an open mind before each class begins is effective.

Charcoal drawing of four basic shapes with unforgiving construction lines showing through.

I have also discovered that my experience with online education may not be typical.  A brother-in-law has expressed his disappointment and dissatisfaction with the online classes that he has been expected to take.  He said that he was bored and found the topics poorly presented and he felt like he was wasting his time.  I have been lucky.  The school that I have been attending has excellent information and good presentation that works to make the student be involved.  I also feel that my skill levels as an artist have improved since taking the online classes.  This is something I greatly desire.  I want to be a better artist.

So my first fully graded assignment this term in charcoal has turned out to be less than what I would want it to be, but despite my feelings of failure concerning this charcoal mess, I have realized that what I was taught in the two previous courses have prepared me for the current requested work.  I was taught how to draw the basic shapes; spheres, cubes, cylinders, and cones in a hand sighting manner as well as using a ruler method.  We were also instructed in concepts of how to test our shading work to see if it really matched up to the still life setup.  These will all help me as I battle the charcoal medium in my present semester and attempt to learn how to successfully use the chiaroscuro technique.  Perhaps if my next set of drawings are better than this one, I will feel more confident about sharing them. Wish me luck.

G. Winkler ©2013

Why Start online Comics?

I currently have three online comics or graphic novels.  I don’t currently make any money from them and have not received any awards or job opportunities from them, so why do such a thing?

It’s very simple.  I like to keep busy and learn new things.  I love to tell stories and do art, and a graphic novel is a wonderful marriage between the two arts.  I could never imagine spending my free time sitting around watching TV or playing videos games to pass my life away.  While I do like a very limited number of TV programs and enjoy a few video games, I find those pursuits to be lacking in any real substance.  What does one have to show for doing that?  It’s okay for some mindless fun to de-stress from an awful day, but it is not something I could do happily hour after hour and day after day. So back in 2008 when I lost my job due to a person in the office going insane, I decided I needed something to look forward to while searching for new employment.

Coffee Shop set and some of the office characters

The first online comic was for practice and exploration.   It is called Landsknechts Gone Wild!  My husband had made these wonderful miniature props for plastic toys called Stikfas and I figured it would be fun to place them in comical situations.  When one takes on a real life setup that has to create an illusion of an alternate reality, one really learns about photography.  I had to select good angles to shoot from, lighting that would allow for the best affect for each scene, I had to be concerned about leaving space for the text bubbles, and then thinking about how the props and furniture would work with the characters.  I think my photography skills have greatly improved and I developed a keen appreciation for the people that did stop motion animation.  It is so easy for one object to fall over and ruin an entire setup in a matter of seconds.

The second online comic was a major step out of my comfort zone.  It is called Order of the Red Cross.  This graphic novel is hand drawn.  While I love to draw and do what “art circles” would call fine art, I was by no means a commercial artist or one who was capable of drawing the same thing over and over.  This was a daunting prospect to me, but I wanted to tell a story that could not be told with the little plastic figures, so I had to make the decision to attempt to draw the same characters and places over and over.  I am still no where as good as a commercial graphic artist who draws comics for a living, but my drawings are getting better than when I first started.  My husband does the colorization of the line drawings in Photoshop.

Poseable plastic figures used for reference

This second graphic novel has also been a major learning experience as well.  I started with panels that are two to a page in a notebook, which I suspect is not how the professional comic book artists do their drawings.  My original art starts out very small, and once I reach a certain stage in the story, I am considering changing this practice.  I also bought some small very poseable humanoid figures to help me learn how to draw the characters in various positions since I did not want a dull static set of drawings where the characters are just seen talking to each other in a simplistic setting.  For example, the Peanuts cartoon, which is one of my favorites is drawn very simply and the characters will stay in the same setting for several panels at a time being shown in the same point of view.  I wanted my scenes to be more dynamic and engaging.  After all my story was designed to be a science fiction action adventure, and if I placed my characters in a Charlie Brown and Linus leaning on a brick wall scene talking, then it would not be very adventure like, would it?

I am still learning how to drawing the characters over and over and struggling with poses and angles.  Hopefully, the story itself is compelling enough to keep the reader’s interest and the artwork will catch up as time goes on.

Basic color pencil idea of how the color scheme should go for this panel

The third graphic novel that I am working on is called Jagdgeschwader I.  This is my historical project, which has turned out to be tougher than any of the others.  The story itself is based upon historical data and past life data and I have merged the two together to present the story of the Germany’s first super flight squadron.  In this graphic novel I wanted to have the pictures be as historically accurate as possible, which meant purchasing unusual books that are not commonly available in stores here in the US.  The uniforms alone are a major undertaking to get done correctly.  Most movies about World War One on the German side do not show the correct uniforms worn by the German fighter pilots.  There was no real standard uniform for the airforce or Luftwaffe since the concept of a Luftwaffe was in its beginning stages.  The navy and the army had air units within their command structures and not much stock was taken in the new machine called the airplane.  Soldiers volunteered to join the flying units or observation units, so the pilots often wore the uniforms from their old regiments.  And all the old regiments had distinct attributes that were centered around various types of cavalries, infantry, artillery and so forth with unique attributes to each uniform from the region that the regiments came from.  In simple terms, not many of the uniforms matched.  It has been a very complicated process, and sometimes I have had to guess on some uniforms because much of the data concerning German World War One history had been destroyed during World War 2.

Needless to say this left me needing to micromanage how my husband colored the pictures for the Jagdgeschwader I series.  I had to develop pages in sketch books to develop certain color schemes and uniform styles for certain characters in the novel.  At least I did make one improvement to my process for drawing the panels for Jagdgeschwader I, I placed one panel per sheet in the notebook.  This has allowed me to draw the images bigger, which is vital since the Jagdgeschwader I panels are more sophisticated than the Order of the Red Cross drawings.

I now know that it will probably take me several years to complete these graphic novels, but I think when I am finally done that I will have something to be proud of and hopefully something that others will enjoy reading for many generations to come.

All three of them are currently shown on ObservationPost42.com, and I hope to have them published someday in paper bound books and in an ebook version as well.

G. Winkler © 2013

Revisiting the “What an Artist should avoid Blog”

Altered portrait originally painted by Wilda Gretzinger of Lake Oswego, OR

Since composing the “What every Artist should avoid doing” Blog, I have discovered many more details concerning the “noble gentleman” that I referred to in the article.  It turns out this person is not noble at all in any fashion.    I also suspect that he had me alter the portrait of his daughters without his real mother’s permission (She is the artist of the portrait.).  This is actually a very sad story about person who obviously loves money and con games more than his family or anyone who would be fooled into being his friend.  Any person who would have a portrait of their daughters that was painted lovingly by their mother and  altered to be used in “scenarios” for fooling people into believing this person’s delusions about noble heritage and intellectual standing to gain money, power, and favors from others has got to be the lowest of low.

I really hate being used and lied to and I feel deeply concerned that my artwork could be used to fool another person into believing this person’s lies.  First of all I painted the heraldry and never received anything for this effort.   I was under the impression that this man was indeed a member of a noble family and that he was legally licensed and educated as a Doctor of Psychiatry since none of his family or friends ever said otherwise to me.

Heraldry that he requested to be put on the painting and according to the von Bothmer family in Europe, he has no claim to use.

So here is my advice to anyone thinking about associating with this person, check and research everything he claims.  If he says he retains the right of a noble title from the von Bothmer family, then write to the family in Europe and ask them.  Or if you can’t find them, contact the Germany Consulates here in the US.  If he claims to be an expert in some profession, then contact those that regulate those kind of professionals.  Heck, ask him to write an intelligently composed paragraph by himself.  Don’t get robbed of your time, your energy, your dreams, your ideas, your friends, or your money.

This is my opinion, and I think anyone working with this person should do the research I suggest.

G. Winkler ©2013