loose leaf

My latest watercolour drawing. I am glad it's different from the usual stuff I do, and I think the colours are very successful. In terms of being significant or having meaning, it doesn't really. It just looks pretty in an interesting way. I feel like it should be on a t-shirt, or a curtain, or the packaging for looseleaf tea. The composition is definitely a bit too rectangular overall.

Recently I laid out all my recent drawings, and realised that they don't look good from afar. The shapes aren't interesting and there isn't enough significant blocks of dark or white - contrast from afar. I guess my drawings are meant to be seen at the distance of reading a book, for example.

fitting together

The first version of this drawing was freehand, without much forethought. Basically a doodle. I liked it, so I remade it about three more times, trying to make it better planned-out, and fitting together more. I'm pretty happy with it in the end.

I see it as an illustration for a non-specific fairytale in which adults and animals are the enemies of children, and adolescents are unsure what to do about it.

Seed Stealer

A human being discovers the mystical plant which bears the fruits, seeds and leaves of many useful plants. And she cuts it down in order to take it away!

It might be obvious that I used a photo reference for this drawing. And it ended up looking too similar to me, in my opinion. Her face really bugs me because I tried to make it different from my face, but it only ended up being "bizarro-Joelle."

But I'm pretty happy with the drawing! We'll see... Sometimes the art projects I put the most effort into end up being the least admired by other people. Think I might do some goofy black-and-white cartoons next.

Toenail Tree

Magically fertile soil - anything planted here will grow.

This image may be too small to tell what's going on, in digital version. It's weird that I thought of that before I even uploaded it. It's almost as if I'm intending for my drawings to be seen only on a screen... : \

Back to black and white!

After a long time with watercolour paper, I got myself some nice smooth Bristol paper, because I missed making black and white drawings! I love the feeling of a steel nib skating across the surface of this paper. And brush drawing is silkier when the paper is not so absorbant.

This drawing was inspired by some imagery in Les Chants de Maldoror, a proto-surrealist book by Compte de Lautreamont from the mid 19th century. It's about an evil anti-heroic, satanic figure who does these strange little battles with angels and God, sometimes defending prostitutes and sinners, sometimes victimizing the innocent. To me it's kind of metal, and kind of disgusting, and super HILARIOUS. There are surprisingly beautiful descriptions that show a fascination and respect for natural history. There's a passage where Maldoror has not moved for hundreds of years, and as a result, various fungi have grown on him, while little creatures and amphibians have started living in his body and taking it over.

But this drawing is not about Maldoror as a character. It's another ambiguous myth, an origin story about humanity. I like the idea of the human race, in all its banality, being the offspring of gods, of the personification of a swamp (with the mushrooms and reeds and toads) and of the night sky (perching on the earth and with constellation hair). I will probably always return to the theme of two abnormal parents creating a normal child, in some way.

For a long time I've intentionally avoided specific cultural references in my myth-illustrations (or tried as best I can), and I realised this is kind of pathetic and arrogant in a way. Who is the intended audience for my artwork? An audience that has never heard any story, does not have its own mythology. I'm pretending that the story I tell is the first story ever told, as if the audience is a newborn baby, a tribe of innocents. That's kind of funny to me.

And this is just supposed to be a sweet little cartoon drawing. I really like the way the faces are angled, and the way the man's legs bend around, although it bugs the hell out of me that I forgot to draw the woman's other leg and foot!

I really enjoy the challenge of using a sable brush with ink. As well as mentally preparing for every long stroke before I make it, I have to really be conscious of how the bristles are twisting around when I turn it around a corner. If I had the inclination, I would probably wax on about how spiritual and special this process is :p

two new things

There seems to be a cerain type of around-1900s way to make cartoon faces, which inspired me to make this. I see it in Little Nemo comics (Winsor McCay) and on some retro lithographic posters in european-esque cafes. And I tried out some fancy shading on the woman's body, which is from a life-drawing sketch. Overall, I'm not sure thrilled with the colours.

The second picture is inspired by men who tell stories about their horribly bitchy ex-girlfriends. It's not really from my own personal experience. It's one of those drawings I made without pencilling or planning beforehand - I like to imagine that the awkwardness lends it the right type of charm. It's a tricky line to straddle, though, between "meaningfully naieve" and "shitty."

Another creepy drawing

I think I could do a few of these. They creep me out a little, but they express something. I think.