Still Life: The Spirit of Adventure

It's been 7 weeks on my first official Still Life at Angel! And WOW! What a project!

The items I chose mostly belong to me except for the sketch book that belongs to my schoolmate, Thibault, and Andy's globe. The time is set over a 100 years ago during a period of discovery where sketching was still the popular of documenting objects and scenes. The camera had already been invented, but I bet paper, ink and colours where still more affordable to the masses.

While working on this project, the track from Pixar's Up! kept playing in my head: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeAObKaq3pM

Here are some skills I picked up during this tenebrist project:
(The method is called 'tenebrim' as it uses extreme dramatic light and dark lighting to set the stage.)
- Use Liquin - a synthetic, durable medium that dries within a day into a flexible rubbery substance that won't crack your paintings.
- Being able to control and let dry the different areas instead of trying to finish everything at one go.
- A reminder to use the little square cut out holes to determined the initial local colour.
- The dragging method produces sharp and crisp edges for objects in the foreground.

Watch the setting up of my props here:

http://youtu.be/06gOPFFjsu4

Drawing stage on a brown-red campitura

 Establishing the darkest areas

 Next, finding the lightest

Adding a general colour in 1st painting

Putting all the details in the 2nd painting

Intro to colour studies

I am finally officially introduced to colours while painting the human figure. I am painting a series of body parts and this will last for a almost the entire term; which includes working on applying the method of mixing colours from a limited palette of burnt umber, red umber, green umber, raw umber, black and white. 

A little venetian red is added to further enhance the pinks in the fingers.

Demo: Short pose

Here it is!! There were some requests to see the short pose live in action. Here are a few 5-minute ones for your viewing pleasure.  These were done using a china marker on a 49cm x 34.5cm sketch pad.  Feel free to share if you like it.

http://youtu.be/adiUfgmEpLI

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If you are interested in getting my sketchbook of short poses, Figuring Out - the long and short of it, the link is right here:
https://www.booksactuallyshop.com/products/figuring-out-the-long-and-short-of-it

Ciao Firenze! by Alvin Mark Tan

Florence, Italy is the birthplace of the Renaissance.  Its art, architectural heritage, culture and politics still has an influence in today’s world; and is rated as one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. Resident artist Alvin Mark Tan documents everyday life in the city from Giotto’s Bell Tower to the best gelateria. 96 pages of Firenze filled with ink, watercolour and gouache!

Excerpt from Ciao Firenze! - View of the lovely city from the steps of the Romanesque Basilica,

San Miniato al Monte. Beautiful sunlight afternoon, peaceful quiet.

Santa Maria Novella is one of the four big churches in Florence. 

This is the view you see if you arrive in Florence by train. 

Here's me sketching the Duomo from Giotto's Bell Tower with fellow urban sketcher 

and inventor of The Perfect Sketchbook from Singapore, Erwin Lian.

See me sketch live in front of a mobile book vendor! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9EDLD-mTNk

Get your copy at: 

Paperback Exchange

Via delle Oche, 4Red, 50122 Firenze, Italy

Or order it online: 
(Books Actually ships worldwide!)

http://www.booksactuallyshop.com/products/ciao-firenze

5-day Art Challenge - Day 5

Day 5 of the Facebook 5-Day Art Challenge

Rules: 

Participants who are nominated are to post 3 pieces of art for 5 days; and may nominate another artist to take up the challenge. And don't forget to post the name of the artist that nominated you. 

Nominated by: 

Dawn Lo, Lim Han Seng and Vicki Sullivan

I nominate:

Rinna 

I had a fun 5 days sharing my art. Thank you for following my work and stay tuned for more to come...  

Firenze 

Ink + Jump Expresso, 50cm x 70cm - sold

(Available in A4 prints)

This sketch is found inside Ciao Firenze! a published sketch journal created here in the city of Florence.

Clock Tower, St Jean Pied du Port

pencil + watercolour, 35.5cm x 28cm - sold

This sketch is inside Thirty Days on the Camino, my first published sketch book documenting my trek on the Camino de Santiago. (Currently sold out, 2nd edition out this summer.)

I worked on a project with one of Florence's finest restaurants, il Santo Bevitore. 

Ink

5-day Art Challenge - Day 4

Day 4 of the Facebook 5-Day Art Challenge

Rules: 

Participants who are nominated are to post 3 pieces of art for 5 days; and may nominate another artist to take up the challenge. And don't forget to post the name of the artist that nominated you. 

Nominated by: 

Dawn Lo, Lim Han Seng and Vicki Sullivan

I nominate:

Ambrus Diossy

In March of 2012, I heard about Urban Sketches Singapore and thought that it'd be a great opportunity to meet  established and budding artists.  It's an international organisation that meets every end of the month in many cities around the world.  I caught the sketch bug and found myself buying lots of sketchbooks!  This was when I It's no turning back from here. :) It was during this time, I began to think that maybe there is a possibility of being a full-time artist and make a living out of it. 

Formerly called the Telok Ayer Market (1825), this market went through many architectural modifications until in 1991, when the old market reopened as Lau Pa Sat (old market) - a modern food court catering to tourists and workers in the Central Business District area. 

June 2012

ink on a sketchbook

My new sketch book: a 7-m long Wall Mural at Coleman College

Oct 2013

Acrylic

Watch it happen here: https://vimeo.com/51574494

What a treat! I got to sketch inside the kitchen of Il Santo Bevitore in Florence, Italy.  Serving dinner are chefs Pierluigi, Milena and Ruwan. Very organized and meticulous, easy going and cheerful they were that made this form of art seem so effortless. Via!! This sketch was used for the menu of the restaurant. 

30cm x 42cm, ink on Windsor and Newton

Sept 2014

Watch the sketch demo for this piece!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBkv7T6E93c

5-day Art Challenge - Day 3

Day 3 of the Facebook 5-Day Art Challenge

Rules: 

Participants who are nominated are to post 3 pieces of art for 5 days; and may nominate another artist to take up the challenge. And don't forget to post the name of the artist that nominated you. 

Nominated by: 

Dawn Lo, Lim Han Seng and Vicki Sullivan

I nominate:
Rebeca Arriola

In the last post, I mentioned briefly that Animation school got me using traditional tools once again. It was during then I was introduced to short poses with a live model and sketching animals. After the animation programme finished end of 2011, I bought myself an annual zoo pass to the Singapore Zoological gardens and made it my thing to visit the zoo every week, which I did faithfully.  :) Live animals were the closest thing I had to a live model. And what's neat about this is that the animals don't pose for you. You have to capture them as they are... moving. This trains one's speed. 

This happened for the next 16 months. I grew to love and understand animals a  whole lot better just being able to observe them. There was a point I even thought I could communicate with them. Every city I visited, the zoo was on the list of things to do. Shanghai, Seoul, Perth, Los Angeles, Bangkok, Yokohama, Rome and Pistoia. The one and only that I missed was the zoo in Paris which was under construction when I was there in the winter of 2013. Yes, there's an ongoing debate about animals being locked up in a zoo which can be discussed another time. And Yes, one can tell how a city/ country respects animals by looking at their zoo. 

Nyalas and giraffes at the Singapore Zoological Gardens

ink, gel pen and watercolour wash

Rhinoceros and penguins at the Pistoia Zoo

ink

Kangeroos and an elephant at the Perth Zoo

ink and watercolour wash