Lanna Portrait Drawing

Hi everyone. Thank you for stopping by. Today's sketch is from my portrait drawing class at Scottsdale Artist School with Bill Lundquist. I missed last week's session on account of my recent illness. Last week was supposed to be my first session in the class with a live model, but with me missing class last night ended up being my first one. While I've drawn from a live model many times before, I've never drawn a live model with charcoal.

Bill started the class with a 40 minute demo, after which I began drawing this portrait. This sketch is about 2.5 hours of effort. In a sketch like this I'm aiming to make as complete a statement as I can (because after all, drawing is about communicating an idea,) but the time really seems to fly when I'm concentrating as intently as I do when drawing. Often times during a drawing I will talk to myself. Bystanders might think I'm mentally unstable or the obsessive artist type, but in reality it keeps me focused on solving visual problems. The dialogue during a drawing might go something like this:

Ok, I want to focus on the left eye first. I'll start with the pupil and upper eyelid shape. They connect there...ok, there's a dark underneath with two thin lines. That shadow shape of the eye socket connects to the eyebrow... is the right eye higher or lower than the left... higher, ok. How far is it from the left eye...let me measure that... it's a little over one eye length away. Does her right eyelashes look like a thick or a thin line? Does it go thick to thin?

People think drawing is about being loose and just scribbling, but it really is a deliberate effort of focus. It isn't mentally taxing the way writing a dissertation might be, but it is highly engaging work on multiple levels. What I just described above is simply the effort required to record the visual facts of the model. The true aim of art is creating a statement or recording a impression that a camera cannot. For example, in this drawing, I tried to capture her intense eyes and the wonderfully rich dark of her hair. I was trying to emphasize what time hasn't taken away, as the wrinkles reveal she isn't in the prime of her life. A camera cannot selectively emphasize or study a person like an artist can.

Lanna was a wonderful model from the Ukraine. She had a rather sweet disposition, but I didn't pick up on that until talking with her at the end of the session. From the beginning on she struck me as a rather serious person and I think you see that in this drawing. I absolutely loved Bill's drawing of her as even her eyes were smiling. She seemed like a gentle angel in his drawing. She's modeled for him extensively, so I think he knew that side of her better than I did.

Bill has been such an excellent instructor for me that I've decided to take another class he has in January called "The Really Useful Drawing Class." He and I can have wonderfully insightful discussion about my drawing. He helps me to correct proportions and see the true visual impression my eyes are receiving. The challenge in drawing accurately is drawing what you really see, not what you think you see. Bill has been instrumental in helping me to do that and I want to continue studying with him. This class has been one of the highlights of my whole life up to this point and I want to keep this feeling going. I just love to draw.

Butterfly Stool

Today's sketch a day is the Butterfly stool by Sori Yanagi. He recently passed away earlier this year. You may read a obituary about him by Jasper Morrison here :
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/18378/sori-yanagi-obituary-by-jasper-morrison.html

courtesy of designboom.

I first got to see this product in person at the MOMA over the summer in NYC. I was instantly struck by it's delicate, organic shape and the simple nature of it. To me it exemplifies what I so deeply admire about East Asian art and culture, particularly Japan's.
It has a wonderfully considered and poetic nature about it. It's simple, but also intriguing at the same time. It's modern, but also timeless. I visited Japan in 2007, when I got to see first hand how deeply ingrained aesthetic sensibilities are in Japanese culture. That trip fueled what will be a lifelong admiration and respect for Japanese art and design. Walking through the streets of Tokyo and Kyoto it is deeply apparent that Japan is a special place. The buildings, the graphics/logos of businesses and the city lights blaring at night are some of the things I miss most. I remember thinking to myself during that trip "Wow! This culture is light years ahead in design and creativity." I was at once humbled and inspired. I felt privileged as a child of such a young culture like the U.S. to see the wonderful aesthetic refinement of one of the oldest cultures in the world. Put simply, Japanese people inherently just "get it" when it comes to beauty.

This stool is such a wonderful design. It looks like it could have been designed this year and yet it was designed in 1956. Sori Yanagi is probably the best designer you've never heard of. He was passed over in my design school; although I'm disappointed, I can see why. His work, like much of Japanese culture, is quietly poetic. It doesn't scream at you like the Italians do and it doesn't generate the money American design does. But it quietly exudes grace that no other culture could ever dream of. Simple but refined, humble and unassuming. I learned a lot about the subtle nature of curvature in sketching this. This product is an exemplar of warm materials and restrained but elegantly fluid form.

The story behind this design is also quintessentially Japanese. Sori designed this stool after becoming inspired by the bent wood techniques pioneered by American design duo Charles and Ray Eames. Sori took their American technological pioneering spirit and applied elegant, timeless Japanese aesthetics to it. It is pitch perfect in this regard. New and old. Forward thinking while honoring the past. Japan may not invent technologies, but they make them better. Yanagi San, I love your work, you did well!

Tell me what you think!

-Park

Portrait Sketch

I've been extremely sick this week. It came upon me very suddenly Friday and zapped me of my energy. As a result I missed my Monday night class. Bill is an older gentleman, so when I still felt so terrible, I thought it would be better of me not to bring it along with me. Sadly I missed our first session with a live model, so I decided to draw another sketch with the aid of a photograph. This one took about 2.5 hours as well and was a lot of fun to do. I tried to imagine having Bill looking over my shoulder saying "bring the nose in a bit... the eye's not right." His ability to spot inaccuracies is incredible. What is so wonderful about his feedback is that it's already improved my eye as well. On this drawing I was able to spot inaccuracies with much more confidence than ever before. He's also helping me to spot the lighting and structure of the head with greater accuracy. Over all I'm pleased with the likeness, but I need to make another pass with the blending stump and soften some of the edges. If I like what happens, I'll update this post with the refined drawing. (updated: the drawing has been blended with a stump to smooth out the values of the original.)

Let me know what you think!

-Park

Stool ideas continued

I'm sorry about missing yesterday. I've been extremely sick this weekend. Today I'm feeling better, so I managed to sketch some ideas today. I'm continuing with furniture because it's an area of design that I really like and I'm trying to refine some ideas for a possible future project. Overall I'm pleased with the page, but there are some nagging perspective issues. Take for example the drawing explaining the feet assembly. The ellipse of the felt tipped foot is too narrow, it should be about 5 degrees larger. The other perspective issue is with the far legs on the left side drawing. The way they arch doesn't match the near side legs. Oh well, things to work on for tomorrow's sketches!

Thank you for stopping by!

-Park

Apple Ear pods

Bleh, I need to sketch more...

Stool Design 2

So, today I decided to further explore the idea on the left of yesterday's sketch. I won't elaborate too much today, particularly because I'm not very pleased with the perspectives and proportions of these sketches. The legs don't seem to sit right on the seat pan and the legs on my largest sketch are a bit thick for my taste. One of those days where you just have to keep going and look for long term trends. ;)

See you all tomorrow!

-Park

Stool Design

This sketch page is a collection of stool and seat pan ideas I've been inspired to come up with after sketching furniture/ chairs. The idea is for an artist's studio stool. It's something that I explored in school but I was never truly satisfied with the result of my efforts. In these sketches I'm aiming to capture a "workmanship" like appearance- unassuming and solid, but I am also trying to arrive at a design that reflects the "zeitgeist" and has a elegant sense of proportions in the legs and seat pan. Something that struck me about the Bouroullec brothers' chair is that it has a blue collar / unadorned sensibility at first glance, but upon closer inspection it has spectacular refinement that only highly trained and experienced designers could accomplish. I like the larger sketch on the left, although the two right large sketches are also rather interesting. Let me know what you think!

See you tomorrow!

Park

Steel Wood Chair by the Bouroullec brothers

The sketch of the day for Monday was the Steel Wood Chair by the Bouroullec brothers. It was featured in their interview for the documentary "Objectified." Which I'm sure most of anyone who comes to my blog has seen. It's interesting to sketch this chair after watching that interview because they spoke of harmony and "solidity" in the design. There's a saying in the art world, which unfortunately has not carried into the design sketching world, that goes " Drawing teaches you to really see." In this case, drawing this chair made me realize how refined and complex this seemingly simple chair is. The arms gracefully flow into the back rest while the fillet on the arm rests blends into the fillet of the back. The complexity of this design also comes through in the stepped in surface of the metal which allows the wooden legs to be attached and flow with the rest of the design. All in all what strucks me as utterly fantastic about this chair is the it feels like something out of the American Puritan era at first glance, but in the details it feels completely modern and fresh. Unassuming, solid, and elegantly refined. These guys know what they are doing.

See you later today! (I owe you a sketch a day today, remember?) ;)

Keilani

This is my sketch from last night's class. This sketch took about 2.5 hours. The model's name is Keilani and Bill told me that she has modeled for him in the past. This drawing was based off of a photograph he took of her from one of their drawing/ painting sessions. Bill told me that she is half Japanese and half Irish, but spent much of her childhood in Hawaii. He also mentioned that she was Miss Arizona in 2000. :-)

Looking through the stack of photo reference is an overwhelming experience, as he brings seemingly hundreds of photos with him. Once I stumbled across this photo, though, I was instantly compelled to draw from it. The lighting, the perspective, and her salt and pepper hair struck me as rather interesting. Her eyes seemed to communicate a certain confidence and wisdom that comes from having a few years " in the books" so to speak.

This week was much easier with the charcoal as I've been practicing through out the week, trying to get better with the medium. Next week we will be drawing from a live model (who might be Keilani, much to Bill's excitement!) I'm hoping I can carry some wind from this week's class into the next one.

Christina Ricci Charcoal

This is a charcoal wash sketch from a class I'm attending at Scottsdale Artist School. The class I'm taking is on Monday nights with a local professional artist by the name of Bill Lundquist. The class is called "Capturing the Drama of Charcoal Wash Portraits." The class is 3 hours long and this is the product of the first class. I've never really worked in charcoal before, particularly vine charcoal. Bill provided photo reference that we could use and I chose a picture of Christina Ricci. I mention this because I did a particularly poor job of capturing her likeness. I'm not distraught by this, but I am focused on making sure each drawing is better than the last. Although this is a relatively quick sketch, I'd like my next drawing to reflect my ability to manage the lights and darks better, refine the edges and capture a stronger likeness. Part of my struggle in this class is that Bill is encouraging me to use a comparative measurement system and to use a "Chain of Puzzle Pieces" approach to the drawing. Typically I follow more of an "Envelope" approach, deciding on the outer limits and working in. Bill had me start with the left eye, develop it to a satisfactory level, and use that as the "measuring stick" for the rest of the drawing. This class is also fun in that he works quickly. I'm used to spending anywhere between 15-30 hours on a portrait drawing and this one was done in 3 hours. As the name of the class suggests, the technique we are using is a combination of painting charcoal powder with water and brush, in addition to using charcoal pencils/ vine charcoal sticks to draw the face. This interplay of soft / suggestive, and precise / descriptive is what makes drawings like this so much more engaging than a photograph. My next session is tonight. You'll be seeing the results of that class soon!

Work Lounge by Manuel Saez and Partners

Work Lounge by Manuel Saez and Partners of Brooklyn, New York. I'd love to intern / work there some day. I made the proportions too wide and short. Darn. I keep doing that. I have to make my next drawing taller than I think it should be and it probably will be spot on. I always have to focus on improving. One nice part of this drawing is that it's all ball point pen! I haven't drawn in pen in a while. Enjoy Sunday everyone!

Emeco Chair

The Emeco Chair by Adrian Van Hooydonk of BMW DesignWorks USA. This was a fun design to draw, as it is simple, solid, and very American. Emeco was well known for its all aluminum chairs designed for the U.S. Military during WWII. This chair is a reinterpretation of the Original designed in the 1940's. This chair features a fiber glass seat pan and back with aluminum square tubing for the frame. I've sat in this chair and I can say it really is comfortable, given the materials it's made of. I think what makes it comfortable is the highly organic / sculpted seat pan. It fit my "bottom" quite well and I didn't feel an incessant need to shift around in it. What inspires me about this chair is that it's a reinterpretation of a classic symbol of American design, yet it feels fresh and contemporary even today. It feels and looks solid as well, speaking to an integrity in American design and manufacturing that is all but gone in today's globalized economy. I'm not nationalistic, but I can't help getting excited about hearing an American muscle car roaring down the road, or in this case, sit in a high quality chair made in the USA. It's more about the integrity of doing a product well than making it in a particular country. If a company takes the time to make it here (because it's insanely expensive to do so here) they usually also take the time to make it well. I really hope to own this chair some day!

Thanks for stopping by everyone!

-Park

More Chairs!

Sketching Chairs. Couple of Marc Newsons in there, the classic Panton Chair and a stool whose designer escapes me. Happy Friday everyone. Enjoy the weekend!

Alta Chair Sketch

This sketch is of the Alta Chair from CB2 by Manuel Saez and Partners. I admired it in person at the CB2 boutique in SOHO, a short distance from the design studio it was conceived in (Brooklyn). The design is really elegant, simple, and deceivingly fluid. My sketch loses some of the subtle shaping in the backrest so wonderfully executed on the real product. I've also made the legs too short. Overall I think my line weights are pretty good (although they tend to favor the heavier side, a few key lighter line weights would add a great deal of dynamic to the sketch.) One of my last projects at Quirky was a furniture piece and it was in the process of designing it that I fell in love with furniture. A couple of key themes emerged this past year (eyewear, furniture and cars). I'd love design all three someday. But, I am happy just drawing. I love my time with pencil and paper. I feel fulfilled and at peace when I'm sketching.
Thanks for stopping by!

See you tomorrow!

-Park

New Beginnings

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay this summer. If you didn't know already, I spent the summer interning at Quirky.com in New York city. That experience will require a whole post in of itself, so rather than get too in depth here, let me just say I have a very different perspective on design and life in general as a result of my time back East. It's funny what happens in a 12 short weeks, but it was such an intense (in a good way) experience that to not walk away different would be insane. Case in point, I've updated my website to be simplier, cleaner, and more minimalist. I also updated my logo (the process to arrive at my new one will be a featured post here soon). I've decided to separate my website and blog management to simplify the process of content management. I found on my last website that I was spending more time on content management than actual creative work. What does this change mean? More frequent updates on both! This blog will mostly be a sketch a day blog, but occasionally I might decide to feature a project from my site or share a favorite website, book, product, etc. Don't worry, though, it will all be design related.

Enough rambling. Enjoy today's sketch. (Sunglasses again, I know). I will be drawing furniture soon, along with cars and all sorts of products! It's good to be back and to be in a leaner, cleaner, and more efficient platform. Take a look around my website ( www.parkerbrowndesign.com) . Feel free to send me any comments or suggestions on it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but if you see any glaring uglies/nasties I want to hear about it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Park