Thursday 29 January 2009

Shattered! 11" x 13" Mixed Media on pastel paper, 2009


I sketched this guy not too long ago. The date on the sketch says 19th of December, 2008- so that wasn't long ago - still had memories of him.

I really wanted to capture him in a still but tense mood. He was sleeping and most likely snoring- could have been the result of a hard day at work or something else more personal......

I went about this one, thus

1. Start sketching directly with daler rowney hard pastels on dark grey pastel paper.

2. I then add tones with the hard pastels.

3. When I have enough information for a balanced tonal face, I switch to soft pastels

4. With the soft pastels I make the face richer with more colour strokes are added wildly to project the mood.

5. When I have enough colour on the whole surface I re-draw the main features with the Pitt extra soft oil base pencil.

6. Thought I would end this with the chalk pastels but it still lacks the punch I need to see, so I switch to wax crayons.

7. With the wax crayons I can get more permanent marks and it also binds the chalk below.

8. With the wax crayons I feel satisfied and call it quits before the ruin...........

This transformation again is done without any colour reference but just a love and passion for human faces and everything about them!

14 comments:

jgr said...

Hi Adebanji,
Thank you for the comment! I am awed by your work so I am basking in the kind words. I am also enchanted by the human face. I'm making progress but I still have so much to learn! I'll be checking your blog for inspiration.

--Jane

adebanji said...

Thanks Jane!

Yes that work you did really struck me, I think it was fantastic, with a great technique to get those squares accurately too!

Dana Cooper said...

It's a beautiful painting, Adebanji. I especially like the drawing of the man sleeping. The tilt of his head really tells a story! Good job!!

Anonymous said...

Dear Adebanji, I was so excited to see your work as I need inspiration as I am just starting out in pastels and portraits. You use pastels exactly the way I hope to achieve one day, loose and exciting vibrant work, fantastic! Also thank you for sharing your process I think I will learn a lot from you.

adebanji said...

Carolann thanks! This is the way I would always love to use pastel because it is a great medium and all you need to do is apply, no need of mixing or scraping- just simple straightdforward application!

But then I hope to post a better picture of this one as I have noticed this picture is a bit poor.

David Larson Evans said...

I love this work...strong.

Robot Nine said...

Adebanji- Thanks for stopping in at Robot Nine. I am off to work at the moment but will explore your blog more thoroughly. I am thinking I might like to post some of your work. My initial thought is I love the last few posts, seeing the creative process, sketch becoming a fleshed out work. I might like to post 10 images (braking my usual nine image rule) five sets of before and after...
Hope that is interesting to you. Of course there will be a copyright and credit tag with links to your blog or blogs.
Let me know if that is ok, e-mail me at RobotNine@GMail.com
Off to work. Ick!
Alan

adebanji said...

That's cool Alan! Thanks for stopping by too!

Fito said...

Thanks for your concept on my work, in fact you are very generous and gentile, with much humility treatment to surpass every day to me although I am a veteran in the subject of the illustration, thanks for its visit and their words give much breath me. A great greeting, Fito

adebanji said...

Thanks Fito! I just could not resist the beuaty and elegance of what I saw!

Thanks for visiting too!

Fito said...

Hello adebanji, forgot comentarte to me that accidentally I had visited you in your blog PASSION FOR SKETCHING the Norman segment, Road Belvedere, I set out my admiration by your fresh work and free outline, a Fito hug there. it pardons but my Inglish is poor and use the translator

adebanji said...

Thanks a million Fito!

You are doing tremendously well and this is what Art is all about, it has no language barriers and breaks down any other such hindrances.

When I saw your works I didn't need to understand what you where saying, everything I needed to see was right there before me.

You have done well to go as far as using the translator and I'll surely have to do that too with your site. Infact your lines made my day!

Fito said...

Friend, that you specifically think on the resource or the use of the photo like support or reference in the art and in the illustration? are many the illustrators among them great artists who have used the photo as she helps in his works you consider that this is not very creative?

adebanji said...

The use of pictues is a great resource and I think one can use pictures to the death of the picture and artwork produced but I also know that pictures can be used CREATIVELY and I love to use pictures creatively!