Thoughts on Drawing

This semester was the first time I was formally introduced to drawing or taught drawing techniques. In elementary and middle school, I used to sketch and doodle drawings in my notebooks but I never drew landscapes or still-lifes. Thus, there was a great deal I learned during this past semester about drawing and about art in general. I used to think that drawing was only a precursor to other forms of art, such as painting. In my mind, drawing was only making the outlines but the painting and coloring was what really brought the art and piece to life. However, throughout the course, I've learned that drawing in and of itself can be very interesting, even without a full spectrum of colors. For example, by varying line weight, a great variety of textures can be added to a drawing even without any shading.

[1]

Even something as simple as adding variety to the pressure of the pencil against the paper can produce such a great effect. The line drawings that we started with in the class didn't have shading or "filling" but by varying the line weight, a lot of depth was added to the drawing. Even as we added shading to the drawing, there was an absence of "color." Still, I was surprised to find that even the shading could add texture, depth, and light to the drawings. Although there weren't any vibrant colors, the shading was able to still make the drawing interesting and compelling.

[2]

Also, using different mediums, such as charcoal as opposed to pencil drawings, was very informative. I particularly enjoyed charcoal because it could be manipulated to blend and create strong contrasts while also being unpredictable at times. The charcoal was also interesting because of the shading possibilities that were added when using charcoal as opposed to graphite pencil. The shading felt smoother and more organic and the drawings followed in suit.

[3]

After the class, I've gained a much greater appreciation for well composed drawings that make clever uses of shades and shapes to create an interesting and compelling story. Through drawing, I actually began to appreciate my surroundings more and took notice of the beautiful scenes that surround me on a daily basis at Duke. Though drawing is challenging for me, it is very rewarding and is an activity that I want to continue to do even after graduation.

Citations:
[1] http://thevirtualinstructor.com/line-quality-cross-contour.html
[2] http://willkempartschool.com/how-to-shade-a-drawing-light-shadow-part-2/
[3] https://www.pinterest.com/pin/569001734140674679/

Steve Butcher is a world renowned tattoo artist, known for his immaculate realism style tattoos that are almost too good to be real. He had always been an artist growing but he started tattooing in 2011 (which isn’t that long ago) and he got into tattooing when one his friends, who was a tattoo artist at the time, saw one of his paintings he was doing for art school. Steve decided to give it a shot and started tattooing anybody who would let him. When he first started tattooing he do any and every kind of style that exists. He was originally interested in doing Oriental and illustrative tattoos but he also always knew he wanted to do realism tattoos, since they are currently the most popular. Steve prefers to tattoo in color since he finds it more challenging than tattooing in just black and white (which it is), but he still does both. 

Steve’s favorite kinds of tattoos to do are sports pictures (like the one above) especially basketball, since that is his favorite sport. He expresses his love for the NBA in many interviews and raves about how much he enjoys doing basketball tattoos. He also does other sports as well as comic book characters, animals, movie characters, etc. In addition, he also enjoys doing large, oversized projects, like a back piece, that will give the “wow factor” when it is complete.

His ability to capture very fine detail in his work makes him one of the most recognized realism tattoo artist in the world. His tattoos generally take a large amount of hours, so he spreads them out over a couple days.  

Sunga Park: Harrison Taee

Sunga Park: Harrison Taee

Sunga Park is a Korean artist living in Bankok, she is a graphic designer and freelance illustrator who's unique work catches the eye. She is self taught and utilises a blend of watercolour and pen to create dreamy images. Sunga Park enjoys the "unpredictable" nature of watercolour and states that: “Watercolours taught me about life, because I created tons of failures over repeated attempts.”
Her work includes intricate architecture of the places she has travelled, from India to Europe. She therefore boasts a wide variety of interesting structures:

 Figure 1: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/park-2.jpg

Figure 2: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/sunga-2.jpg

Figure 1, Park depicts an Oxford cathedral and Figure 2, a German cathedral. Here you can clearly see her drippy depictions of architectural landmarks. She allows the entire painting to fade from a marvellously intricate detailed structure to a wash of unprecedented colour. This creates a dreamlike image that is profoundly simple and beautiful.

Figure 3: http://7d226md26g2oy8ec2xkndfl2.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/73094bfa8471c47c765c245791f19963.jpg

Figure 4: http://7d226md26g2oy8ec2xkndfl2.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/b7689c56d893e1804652a3b388817ae1.jpg

Figure 5: http://www.peopleofprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/FeatureSungaPark002.png

She also produces portraits which are immaculate in colour, beauty and expression. She emphasises the wrinkles and withering shape of old faces in an extremely provocative way. She also shows an overwhelming amount of colour as well as using her fade technique to add to the mystery.

Sunga Park means a lot to me as I used to try to copy her style throughout high school. I completed a project on her my senior year where I tried to reach out and retrieve an interview. Although that failed, she remains one of my favourite modern day artists.

REFERENCES:

Park, Sunga. Behance. n.d. Graphic. 19 Feb. 2017.

Jobson, Christopher. “Dreamy new architectural watercolors by artist Sunga park.” Art. Colossal, 22 Aug. 2016. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.
Parkin, L. (2013, November 11). Sunga park. Retrieved February 19, 2017, from http://www.peopleofprint.com/solo-artist/sunga-park/