the art of Dennis Bellinkx: februari 2010

"An invasion of armies could be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come." (Victor Hugo)
Key concepts:
- Fear: let drawing be about your experience and curiosity, not final product. You create the fear so rid yourself of it! It will only slow you down.
- Risk: you must be willing to fall on your face to pursue creativity.
- Opinion: you must see the truth in order to form opinion (clarity!) (>< "kind of"-mentality).
- Hierarchy: work from big to small, from most important to least important.
- Contrast: contrast creates interest! Wacht out for symmetry, parallel moments, etc.
- Affinity or unity: pick what repeats in the drawing (2 feet, hands, patterns in shape, tone or color, …). Parallel lines create unity.
Every mark on the page has meaning.
Push drawings to their forceful extremes. Pushing poses helps you define character.
Rhythm must continue through the figure.
Line weight: add more pressure to marks that are undergoing force (eg: gravity, …).
Beware of the relationship of forces.
If you disconnect from the impact/ the feeling that a pose gives you, and start measuring, you'll lose that feeling in your drawing.
Always think about weight!
Angles:
- A perfect horizontal of vertical line on the page is far less dramatic than a 45° angle. This is the most dramatic angle on a page.
- Angles are created by the relationship between two forces (or one force and gravity, which is also a force of course).
- Angles can be used to see the figure abstractly for placement, but more important, to understand how they relate to gravity and then rhythm.
Stay aware of gravity (weight!).
You are as limited as you knowledge an experiences. To form opinion in drawing, you must have vast wells to work from.
Don't copy the model. Go after an idea, one clear point of force. Look for curves!
Straight to curve!
Look for relationships. (Eg: hand to face, …)
Silhouette => clear readability.
Don't second guess your choices!
Defining direction in space (depth):
- Curved lines imply form
- Size difference
- Overlap
- Convergence (perspective)
- Denial of tangents
- Location
"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he or she grows up." (Pablo Picasso)
Shapes:
- Don't jump in to shape too early, this can make your drawing weak and unstructured.
- Abstraction of shapes:
  - Triangle: point down = dynamism, athletic; point up = solidity
  - Circle/oval = friendliest shape
  - Square/rectangle = strength; lying down rectangle =stability
- Forceful shape = straight against curve.
- The key is seeing shapes even though you are looking at a line drawing.
- Curve represents force, straight represents structure.
- Forceful triangle: points itself into a direction (force!).
- Having one forceful triangle point itself to another creates rhythm with shape.
Force = hierarchical -> look at it from big to small ideas.
Bounding boxes can be used for two different things:
- Space (spacial bounding box)
- Size relations (ratio bounding box)
Seeing abstractly is one of the keys to great design.
Symmetry causes disinterest in art, contrast creates interest.
Division of layout: rule of thirds.
Use the concept of proportion to state your opinion.
Think of the power of simple shapes, but keep them fluid.
Draw an entire pose with just rectangles, then go back and fill them with the fluid shapes and proportions that you predetermined.
"… I'm more interested in character than style. Character comes out of the work, style is implied or imposed on the work. Style can be a prison!" (Elaine de Kooning)
The clear storytelling of a character comes across in the silhouette. Another quick read on character along with posture is facial expression.
Color definitions relative to character:
- Red: anger, evil, love, hatred, blood, hot, active, emotional, …
- Orange: warm, danger, …
- Yellow: exited, happy, light, …
- Green: organic, rich, digital, grass, money, …
- Blue: friendly, sad, diffused, calm, …
- Indigo: royal, …
- Black: evil, fear, cool, emptiness, …
- White: heroism, holy, cleanliness, …
Don't work in too many saturated colors (except for children's illustrations).
Use the colors to make a statement.
Never be afraid to try something unique.
Never be afraid of a bad drawing, or constructive criticism.
"It's very easy to become a slave to your reference and all you will find yourself doing is attempting to copy your source material. You have to allow the reference to spark some interest in your heart and then you have to run with your gut and don't stop. Confidence is key, but it comes at a price. Pure confidence and no fundamentals won't get you very far. You have to learn and practice observational drawing as well as drawing characters from the ground up with solid underlying forms and structure. With a solid grasp of the fundamentals, when you begin to impose your opinions on a drawing they will be grounded and will begin take shape as one clear idea." (Phil Rynda)
Try different ideas.
Paint in order: back to front, dark to light and dull to bright.
It's much easier to hide behind much rendering than to put yourself out with clear-cut decisions.
"Sometimes I get a random thought and have the strong desire to experience illustrating that idea. I am sure you have all felt that. Do not let it pass you by! Seize the moment! Go fulfill that artistic desire…" (M. Matessi)
"Don't fear the page. Throw something down… get something down and move forward." (M. Matessi)
"The idea of what type of dominant line to use, in itself, is a creative choice for you relative to what you are trying to say. (Straight, curved, thick or thin, …)" (M. Matessi)
"Working in black and white is another great way to consider and practice the clarity of design." (M. Matessi)
As soon as you have more than one person, you have new dynamic. The relationship is what you are after!
See people as shapes, individuals or crowds.
Far shots give us location where horizontal, closer shots tell us a more intimate story.
After learning your trade with basic tools, go and play with what you think feels right to your experience.
Detail on top of pushed design makes it believable.
When looking at people, imagine their personality, lifestyle, occupation, and family. Use these ideas to feed the design. (This goes for animals as well!)
Know human anatomy and how to compare it to animals.
"I saw the angel in the marble, and carved until I set it free!" (Michelangelo)