Further to yesterday.....

Here's a thing...something I don't normally show you! This is how i'm seeing the composition at the moment. I'm usually very reluctant to show such a complete concept..(at least as complete as it can be at this stage!) Having photographed each of the sketches I showed you yesterday, I've fiddled about with each one to bring them all into appropriate scales and perspective, and printed each one out...then assembled them in the order you see above...

the next stage is to trace the complete scene and then there will be much overworking and refining of each figure until it's ready to transfer to the watercolour paper ready for dotting. this might be a few days away yet...anyway, you're welcome to come along for the journey and see what's in store in the month's ahead!

PS. I found a great deal on amazon for Rotring Isograph pen nibs (you'll remember the that I ruined a number of them last week!) So all being well...I'll be set up for the return to full colour again soon...who knows, maybe this current idea will see colour....?!

Development - 8

I was out for most of the day earning money in my role playing guise.Again it was towards the training of benefits assessors who will ascertain the validity of Incapacity Benefit claims. I like to think it will help towards the training of astute assessors who will be able to bring help and support to the genuine claimants and prevent fraudulent claims from the greedy  and corrupt.

I have therefore not put in the length of hours I would have liked. but anyway, here's a poor resolution image of the individual drawings I have rendered for each of the tennis girls.I'm looking forward to starting dot work on the dark haired tennis girl first.See you tomorrow!

Development - 7 Giving beauty a face.

I developed one face, and then traced and retraced it until I reached the dark haired face in the middle...I'm not totally sure about her hairstyle, but I'm a step closer to a final version. I like to produce many faces on tracing paper so I can try as many in the composition to see which one works better.

Development - 6

A bit of a fragmented day...I had to go to Ikea this morning to help look fir various things. It was nice...especially the breakfast. But it interrupted the way I get ready for work in the day. I did manage to trasfer the tracings to the final paper today ( see above )...but this is only the beginning...as you know there are probably months of work here. I've purposefully chosen a smaller format to work in to reduce the time involved. But in my heart of hearts, I just want to go bigger...who cares if it takes a year if I'm producing what I really want to? For now however...'White Ladies' will begin!

Development - 5

The time is drawing very near when I shall begin the actual dotting. Although I am at my happiest when I'm producing the final piece, I find great satisfaction from assembling my ideas in the way I've described over the last few days. It's a journey of discovery and  is all part of the process. Below you can see something that I like to do occasionally when I'm not sure about figure placings.I took a series of 3 photos of the Tennis Girl line and if you look closely, you can see various faces on tracing paper that I've drawn I try different ones out and also add in a cut out drawing of The Mad Vicar. I'll now be able to sit down with my pencil and fiddle about with each image adding in various details.

I shall be considering weather to have the Mad Vicar in front of or behind the girls...the looks on their faces will add to the story behind the characters . In the meantime, I've prepared a tracing f my drawings which I will use to transfer to the final paper.Below you can see the basic outline of the figures displayed against a white back ground....they are ready to be transferred. They will need feet adding at a later date...the faces can be added later too.

Development - 4

This evening See's me having spent the day working purely on securing the composition, Here is a photo I took this morning which shows my sketch of a clergy man holding a model of a space shuttle.I've used this sketch to produce a more accurate and slightly differently posed drawing (to the left). He will be featured in the final piece. I'm reluctant to show you what I have for the whole as it will probably change.I have also drawn the faces for the tennis girls  which as you know usually change considerably before I'm happy with them. But all in all, I'm feeling pretty positive about things this time around. I'm aiming to transfer the drawings to the watercolour paper I'm to produce the artwork on by the end of the week!

Development - 3

 Here you can see the line-up I'd originally created last week. However, I had come to several problem areas, namely the arm possitions and hands. It wasn't looking good, so I decided that to move the girls a little further apart would perhaps rectify the problem.So slightly overlaid in the above picture are tracings of two figures with the extra spacing.

 Above is a little more clearly visible...work still needing to be done on the hands. It's at time like this that I wish I had some live models to work from...all my problems would be solved !

Above I have transferred the new tracings to paper for more working.(not that visible until I overwork them in pencil, but if you enlarge the image it might be more apparent!) The hands are the major concern right now.I draped a shirt over the end of my bed and stood so that I was visible in the mirror. I lifted the material as if it were the hem of a tennis dress, then observed the position of my hand...reached over and drew what I saw remembering to 'feminize' the proportions of my hand so that it looked right.I've been working on these drawings all day and i'm fairly satisfied that i'll be able to proceed to the art paper later i the week. Next up is to finalise the faces of the girls facing the viewer....shocked...down turned...passive....laughing...?