Sample page from El Grande
So what else have I been up to? Not much. I watched an interesting documentary last week. The Human Camera on Channel 5. It was about the extraordinary works and mind of Stephen Wiltshire. Hopefully the link to his site will explain more, but in short, he has the ability to look at detailed buildings for a short time draw or paint in an accurate but “artistic way” At the aged of three, he was diagnosed as autistic. His ability can be compared to a photographic memory but he does make creative choices in his work so regardless of his memory, in my mind he’s an artist. It got me thinking about memory and how we use our memories as artists. When I do observational drawing, I always try...”try” to draw what I see. I rarely go back and try to finish the drawing. If the subject moves from the pose, I stop. I’m wondering now, If I look at something and remember it, then draw it, is it still observational drawing? Does Stephen draw from observation? My process is (like many others I’m sure) , I look at the subject, then look down at the paper to make a mark. I believe it is at this point I’m using my memory to make that mark before I look up again. Stephen however seems to do the looking in one block, the remembering in another, and then the drawing. What I’m interested in is expanding that window for when my memory has to come into play especially for action poses. Now I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do what Stephen does, but if I can only retain an image for 2 seconds, surely I can expand it to 10 or 20. I was at a rugby match on Sunday and froze because I wasn’t sure how to go about capturing the poses. This thing of,” am I cheating” got in the way. Once again, I’ve imposed another ridiculous rule on myself, which hopefully will be remedied in future drawings. Did anyone else see the documentary. What are your thoughts?
Anyway last couple weeks have been doodles at work, and some observational drawings edited in Photoshop to make things look more interesting. Thanks everyone for the comments last post. I found it really informative. Honesty amongst us helps us grow.
And Again....
Wes
28 comments:
Howdo. Just surfing by.
Just wandered around El Grande.
This artwork is bloody supurb. Well enjoyed. Ta
lovely stuff man. lovin the monkey and the spock! the first one of the houses is bangin. man! i missed that show. i would of loved to of watch that. i find that stuff well interesting.
i just went on his site. his work is amazing. i'm gonna watch the video on it now.
Man, I just watch the videos on his site. He plays the piano as well. I know that autism can affect the way you respond emotionally and I suppose it has many negative effects, but I can't really think of him as someone’s who’s disabled, are you technically disabled if you have autism? And if so, that would be funny because his disability makes him more able artistically than most so called able people.
I read this interview once with the autistic mathematician. He held the world record for reciting the most amount of numbers back to back. He said that he could visualize each number and that they each had a shape, colour and texture. And if he wanted to multiple the numbers he would visualise the two numbers, and that the negative space in-between the two numbers would give him the answer. It was amazing to listen to him. I think he had just published a book or something, I would love to read it.
oulaaa, the level is so high on here !
I wonder if I have to give up or not !...
When I grow up, I want to be as strong as you are !... ;)
continue...
(sorry for the english, I'm just french !)
maaaaaan ;) haha
those houses sketches are freakin amazing!!
so is the office one, or wherever that is.
I saw this documentary once of an autistic guy (not sure what he was called) who would look at something and perfectly reproduce that on paper without even taking a second glance.
crazy... it made me very jealouse haha. but being autistic cant be fun.
anyway, i also love that drawing and design of the floating girl.
very awesome.
thanks for the comment and for your advice on male models!! i hope next session will be better.
see ya
hey dude your building studies are rapidly improving. they were always good but gettin better anyway! But I think you misplaced a line on drawing 3. Yeh. 5th line down 10th across. Its wrong mate. Sorry.
Oh and that Stephen dude is some man. I dont know how he does it. But I read somewhere that the mind stores most of the information it sees without us realising it. I guess its just a matter of tapping in. Hmmm. Easier said than done...
Im digging your imagination sketches too. Nice self portrait - oh wait thats Spock!
WAHA!
No crits here
Ken :D
Hi Wes, i'm Adam, the guy that's sitting in the desk you sat in last year @ LAS. Remember me? We spoke briefly, still got your drawing on my wall. Anyway been enjoying your blog for some time now, loving spock & monkee in this post & also the boxer, he looks so sad. I wanted to talk about the 7th drawing tho, the pretty lady. I say pretty because it's something i'm looking @ for one of my characters. It's final project time @ LAS & on some advice from one of the tutors i want to try and make one of my characters sexier. There's 3 witches, u can see them on my blog if u click my name, i would appreciate any input and/or advice on how to pretty up the younger one, particularly the face, i really struggle to not make women look butch in the face. If you get time, i realise you're a busy man these days. Keep up the great work, thanks, Adam
LOL @ ken
Thanks guys....
Jihad: El Grande looks really cool. Lots of work has gone into it. Looking forward to when it drops next year. As for your blog it’s er.....interesting? (WARNING: NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!)
Timbo: He definitely is a marvel. He has a gallery in central London. When I come down, gonna check it out. Do remember the maths guys’ name? Would love to read it.
Kristian: C'mon K, I'm not that bad...am I? You have an interesting theory bro. It’s true he doesn’t really draw people. I don't know if you saw the documentary, but a common trait in people that have Autism is that they don’t like change. If their routine changes, they become frustrated and uncomfortable. On the documentary the experts claimed that he gravitates to buildings because they don’t change. It would be interesting to see if he does draw people. The monkey was inspired by seeing the DVD at borders. Gonna do a pic for my friend as he wants to put it on a T shirt.
Stivo: Thanks man, but in the world of Blog, the levels that can be found are even higher especially in france, and your stuff is awesome also. Great graphical style.
No need to apologise for the English, its 10x better than my French.
Maarten: Thanks bro, your right autism can't be fun but then, Stephen looks like he's having lots of fun. He just draws and seems not to care about what people think.
The floating girl was supposed to be storm, but then I was kind of thinking of Kida from Atlantis, now I dont know who she is lol.
Mr Anderson: Yeah dude, I'm trying to tap into that resource. It’ll probably take a life time. So you think I look like spock huh...””Why Mr Anderson, why do you persist?”
Adam: I remember you Adam, Welcome to world of Blog. Remember what we discussed? You have to put a drawing on top of my one to continue the tradition. Pile them up baby. In answer to your question, I’m gonna respond via email if thats Ok. I need to think about it and send you some examples of what I’m talking about. What about the rest of your class mates? Where are their Blogs? When’s your end of year show by the way. I want to come down for it. Let me know.
Luke: Thanks man and cheers for the Link, I’m gonna check it out.
Maarten: Think that’s funny do ya? lol
Hey Wes..great location sketches my man. Thats something I've got to work on more often. Love the Storm sketch as well. As for the photographic memory thing...I think we could all benifit from working a little harder on using our minds more effectively!
Very nice work here, I like your character sketches, the way you frame your cityscapes!
yes yes yes wes!!!!! finish the animation for us!!!! yeeeeepheeee!!!i'm back soon
Wes, you seem to be blazing right now! SO many good drawing coming through. I was interested by your thoughts on drawing. I suppose I have that quandry too, when a subject is in front of me I just go for it, you never represent exactly what is in front of you, and I guess that might be impossible. All you can do is create you mental representation of what your senses are telling you coupled with a lot of accidents in my case! When drawing without a subject, I think that you are still guided by a mental representation, its just that now you have nothing to compare your mental image with. In a way I don't see the two processes as too different its just that without a subject, instead of checking back with reality, you check back with the memories of reality you formed previously and are constantly updating. It means you have to take a more objective stance with your work and step outside the drawing process, so the drawing will be different. I think it perhaps has less life if you understand what I mean, can't think of another way to put it, but has more technical accuracy because you can take your time. Anyway thats what I think.
Loving the buildings btw, with comic art your focus is always drawn to the characters initially but then I always find myself coming back to the page to look at the picture as a whole. Landscapes start to become morw awesome and are really important I think, Anyway one day I may even finish a piece that incorporates both and then I can comment properly I suppose!
Take care man, hope you make it back for the anniversary thing.
Wes,
Thanks a million for the shout out about "EL GRANDE." It really means the world to Elio and I. Come by the blog around 4-5:00PM Eastern Time tomorrow and you'll like what you see. Elio and I have cooked up something special to say thanks.
Also, that page with the Spock image on it is straight fire. Great cartooning.
Ciao,
Joe y Elio
Hi wes,
I sent you an email, did u not get it? Anyway my address is abarteluk82@yahoo.co.uk. Been doing the animatic this week as it's gotta be in on friday but i should be done tommorow so i'll have a day or two to finalise the character. Today was the 10th anniversary night for the course & all the work from every year was shown on loads of little tellys. I wish i'd spoken to more people tho.
Very cool sketches! Great work!
really beautiful draftsmanship! Keep on posting, man!
Hi^^ Expecially, I love the girl with white hair!!
Hello,
I like your work
I'll came back soon!
Awesome variety!
great drwaing as usual..
loved dr spok..
hey wes,
haha yeah that was really inspiring.
funny you say that, a dude at my previous life drawing class was quoted saying: 'if you can write you can draw'
thanks for the words man. I wouldnt be half as motivated without the comments of you guys.
waiting on updates here!
come on man. I mean, what do you do all night after work? surely you can fit in a couple more posts in a week.
Oh wait... you dont blog... you write essays! waha!
yeah, kens got a point there's more writing on here than drawings :)
just do an amazing sketch and post it!
wow, great work..!
yawn...
Holy Grande that is an awesome sketch book. Bows down.
Whoa, epic postage Wes. I got to wandering the internets and I thought I'd drop in. I haven't been to sketchgroup in a while, but I intend on making a return.
Maybe it was down to the threat of creating an art blog before I came back... kidding! But I created one all the same, and hopefully it'll be a motivator to embrace the arting. If you'd like, you can find it here http://ladoam.blogspot.com
See you around dude,
Michael
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