samedi 13 octobre 2012

Tribute to JB.Monge / Drawing exrecises

One of the advantages of being self-taught is that you pick up your teachers as you wish ; you take the ones you prefer . The down-side is that you never really meet them, or rarely. You can only guess what advice they would give you and  have to observe their work intensely in order to hear their voice whispering into your ear.
I think I started copying drawings on comics at the age of seven or eight . I was a fan of Asterix, drawings by Uderzo , texts by Goscinny. I still am . I have learnt a lot with Uderzo.
Many years after I keep learning the same way. If you follow this blog you have noticed that I copy a lot. I love it. I love putting my own small feet in masters huge footprints.
Sometimes, when I have time, I copy just for fun and not for work.
Here are a series of drawing I did a couple of years ago when I discovered the marvelous work of Jean-Baptiste Monge. His drawing are so beautiful and funny that I could not resist the pleasure of letting my hand be guided by his.
The last drawing of the series is not by Monge but a representation of myself, playing the guitar  ( I was learning how to play Classical Gas the same week as I did these drawings).

I loved this one, you can see that he sings out of tune.

This one reminded me of Poortvliet, another "teacher" of mine.

Monge is a master at facial expressions.

This little guy is actually riding a mouse.

Simply so cute!

This one is "my" drawing in the style of Monge

For those who want to learn how to paint and who do not know what to start with, my advice ( not original I am afraid) is that if you cannot draw you will have trouble painting and will get stuck at some point. A good drawing is the key to success and progression.
For those of you who wonder how to learn without a teacher I would suggest to do what I am showing in this post , copy, when you feel you have understood the style of the artist you have picked up invent your own drawings "in the style of", then pick up another master and do it again and again ...it worked for me...

3 commentaires:

  1. how cool that you kept these drawings! I love the last one. His fingers are in the right place for A flat

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  2. I did not even know it was an A flat...yes I keep those preciously, I so rarely have the time to have fun painting and drawing and learning , I hope I will find time to take classes as well. I even think I will add this to the text of this post . A good teacher is precious.
    THanks for your comment Lynne.

    Pascal

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  3. Pascal; I read every Asterix book as a kid and am so proud that my daughter has picked up that interest. I read each book many many times to her. Asterix in Switzerland and Asterix in England are among her favorites. I learned to draw hands by drawing Getafix the druid. I learned to draw trees by drawing those walks that Obelix and Asterix would take through the forest. Then I discovered EH Shephard's "Winnie the Pooh" drawings, and then on...

    Copying has always been my teacher. Perhaps I've lost something in terms of individuality, but I think individuality is over-rated: I am too busy trying to figure out how they did it in the first place.

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