More self-portrait

I used to think training myself as a portrait painter by drawing self-portraits is a good idea. Yet it is still sort of a good idea except you have to put up with a bad model.

Salute to all the models I have painted. Now I understand how difficult it is to hold a smile that doesn't look actually creepy. 

The inevitable self portraits

I think it's quite obvious that I developed a distinct passion in making portraits. I can comfortably call myself anti-social but interestingly I can connect to people by looking at them, not by talking to them. I believe everyone was born with a unique kind of beauty, but it's way too often destroyed by the popularity of photos. Actually people are so used to look at photos they lost the ability to appreciate the beauty of men in their purest form. They are trained to admire makeups and photoshops instead. How sad!!

Every portrait painter that I love with all my heart, namely Rembrandt, Velazquez, Van Dyck, Mancini and Morelli are all famous for their self-portraits too. This may feed the common misunderstanding that all artists are narcissistic but no, it’s not (always) the case. The fact is, to make a good portrait you need to feel connected to your model, if there is one at all. Therefore self-portrait is inevitable in the journey of becoming a portrait painter. Who else, except yourself that you can understand better? Of course not everyone understands themselves that well to begin with but that’s exactly what makes self-portraits interesting too: they change with time. It reveals a lot about the painter’s inner self, probably more than he would love to, but there is no way to hide. Real art can’t lie.

So the purpose of writing the above paragraph is 2-fold: 1) to let readers understand how important it is for a portrait painter to make self-portraits and 2) to mentally prepare readers that there will be A LOT of self-portraits coming in this blog. Yah I mean it. And no I am not narcissistic. I promise. 

Quick update

No I haven't given up anything: I am still drawing (and now painting too!), reading, cooking, home decorating, exercising, learning french (among many other things) and wanting to write my blog.

But from the extended list you understand it's really hard for me to find time to sit down and write, especially when I (still) have a full time job :-P

So last week, as part of my routine, I got myself some white flowers. Yes always white. Whatever they are, they have to be white.

Peruvian lily is always my favourite. But they are from Amsterdam and we do not always have them in Hong Kong. It happened I bumped into something as lovely as this one. I have been calling it

*My secret fountain of grace, elegance and inspiration*

I am not exaggerating. 

Totally inspired by this beautiful *secret fountain of grace, elegance and inspiration*, I made 5 drawings at home. I cannot be more grateful for how they stayed exactly the same as the photo for nearly 2 WEEKS! My dear, I really can't ask for more.

So here are my works, in chronological order of the time I made them. :)

I promised myself I will write more often *ahem*

A sketch of eternal elegance

I have been really into Hepburn recently. She is an inspiration to me in many ways. Of course no woman on earth doesn't want to look exactly like her. But chances are even if you do, you can't get her grace. It's beyond the clothes you wear, the handbag you carry, the make-ups you put on. 

So much has been said about how inner beauty is eternal, I am not repeating the trivial facts. Everybody knows what is the right thing to do but why there is only one Hepburn?

Because it's all too easy to forgive oneself for making the mistakes everyone else is making. It's comfortable to be average, and it takes way too much energy to be different. 

(Er well...this is a getting a little embarrassing but really, ** never say never ** :p )

Portrait of a real model

This is by far the drawing that I am most satisfied with. He's a friend of my teacher and he was very kind to come to the studio last Sunday and let us draw him.

This drawing didn't take me very long but when I was done I just couldn't take my eyes off it. I know it's not perfect but I, for the first time, feel a hint of the presence of the person that I drew. 

Yes I know, presence is a very abstract word. But this is how the drawing of a photo and a real person is different. If properly done, you feel life, you feel the personality, you feel the warmth and texture. Time is frozen and the soul is kept.

Not that I am suggesting I did it. But at least I know where should I go, and it's all that matters :)

Fail again. Fail better

Let me explain why I haven't been posting my art recently. It was because...I failed. Again and again,  I failed.

I failed so many times I think I am allowed to feel defeated. Then my friend said to me:

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

-Samuel Beckett

I wonder why he can never run out of good quotes.


I failed not because I couldn't draw accurately. Instead I was non-selectively accurate, making my drawing extremely trivial and vulgar. I knew something was wrong but I couldn't find the missing link.

I thought it was my very naive lines. I tried to copy my teacher's drawings it didn't work. I tried to copy the Italian masters it didn't work. I hit a dead end. So today, I decided to have a little chat with my model - a plaster cast.

I looked at her closely, noticing she was strikingly beautiful. Slightly plump by modern standard, but nonetheless extremely elegant and feminine. I asked her why was she so elegant. She looked down, and ever so slightly she smiled. It was a very dreamy smile, as if my question had just woke her up from a beautiful dream.

Was she sleepy? No. Sleepy was not the right word. She was calm. Very relaxed. Very comfortable. She was surrounded by a magical aura.

So then I got back to my seat and started to draw as she continued to give me that dreamy look. Eventually, my teacher signalled a bare pass.

I believe I failed because I didn't understand what I was drawing. I drew the correct shape but the soul slipped right through my hands.

And it seems my effort on the lines was not completely wasted. Out of nowhere I started to create my very own dancing lines... Ok may be they are not dancing yet. They are more like just tapping the feet (off the beat).



But at least, I fail better.

Hey! Buddies!!

Why I stopped drawing photo

Read carefully haha. I am not saying I stopped drawing. I stopped drawing photos.

I think I mentioned my teachers hate people drawing photos, or drawings that look like photos. I can finally understand why.

You can never develop yourself into an artist if all you want is to make drawings that look like photos. Ever.

There are masters who can draw based on photos too, I know. But like I said, they are masters, and masters already have the personality that can shine through their work. So they can work on the images skillfully without losing themselves. For beginners, it's a nightmare to do so. Let me tell you why.

Type "realistic drawing" on Google and search for images.

Right. These are all drawings. Amazing?

Can you tell whether they are photos or drawings? No. Can you tell they were all made by different artists? No. Do you find anything special about these drawings? No. So what's the point of making them? No, not at all.

You can totally understand art differently. But to me art is something that communicates directly to my heart, not my brain. Just like listening to a great piece of classical music you let it guide your emotions until it hits a certain note, so perfectly, you cry. That's the tear of joy. This is something one cannot explain. But at that brief moment, you understand the composer, you know his feelings, so distinctively that it can't be mistaken to be someone else's. 

To learn art, you learn to express yourself through your lines. Consciously or unconsciously you're giving a piece of yourself in whatever thing you produce. Drawings that look like photos in other words hide all the uniqueness of the artist. Yes it impresses the general public but the work is empty. And the emptiness kills art.   

So what makes a great drawing? It can never be wrong to go back to the Italian masters. 

Leonardo Da Vinci

Michelangelo 

Raphael

These are all very simple sketches. But they are more than enough to show you the sophistication of Leonardo, the power of Michelangelo, and the sensibility of Raphael.

I also happened to find a great resource from the British Museum, showing 60 years of drawings by Michelangelo. Enjoy! :) [ Click here ] 

I hope I can buy the catalog of this exhibition but it seems it's all sold out :-<

Awesomeness: look at my teacher's sketch!

My friends often ask me since when I started to draw, and where. Well it was around Oct last year, after my trip to Paris. As I am celebrating my fourth month into the magical world of art, I am telling you something about my awesome art teachers.

They are a lovely artist couple. I met them via a friend of mine who is teaching fine arts in a local university. Last week I told them I am going to Paris again during Easter. I am planning to stay in the museums and draw the beautiful sculptures. My teachers hence decided to give me a crash course on drawing sculptures.

Here is my teacher's sketch showing me the techniques. And it took her only 15 mins.

Look at the lines. THE LINES!! They are dancing on the paper, floating in the air. This is so beautiful I am still admiring it as I am writing this entry.

If it feels familiar to you too, now look at this sketch by Raphael 500 years ago. 

The lines...THE LINES!!

\(*0*)/

A small twist - the very nerdy Woody Allen

So here is my latest sketch of Woody Allen. Also started with a photo (of course XD ), but I was trying not to make the sketch look too realistic. I was trying to add a little bit of my own interpretation of Woody Allen. What was it? hmmm....I always think...

Woody Allen is the nerdiest of all nerds LOL

The original photo was one that was taken recently (he is now 79), but in my sketch I tried to make him look timeless. No wrinkles, his skin is smooth as a baby, with cute chubby cheeks. As a result you can't really tell how old he is from the drawing. I just want him to look pure intelligent...and nerdy (to me they are synonyms :P)

I am recently obsessed with finding out what represents age. At first I thought it was the texture of the skin. But from this drawing I was proved wrong. This Woody Allen definitely does not look like twenty something. So what makes him look mature with this flawless skin? The emotions? The intelligence? Or something even more subtle?

If you're also wondering, yes thing like this does happen sometimes. The person who draws, is confused by her own drawing haha...O_o

Hmmm a plateau in drawing?

Finished 2 portraits in a row, both of them from a photo by Irving Penn.

Don't get me wrong I still enjoy drawing people a lot. But I am also screaming for something new.

Wish I have the skills I need to visualise the things beyond what I see....

Je suis Charlie. Nous sommes Charlie.

Sorry if it's a little too scary. But it was indeed scary.

The victims are now forever separated from their families. What have they done wrong? What harm did they do?

I am Charlie. We all are Charlie. We say what we have to say.

My heart is with Paris, my favourite city in the world.

15 mins sketch of Picasso

This is a very quick sketch. It took me no more than 15 mins.

I drew Picasso on a black piece of paper using a white pencil. Very rough. Very brief. Very messy. But at the same time very interesting. 

I really love the texture of the pencil I was using. It was very soft and dry. It felt like using white chalk on a blackboard. The white was very intense. The problem was I couldn't sharpen it too much and the white powder was all over the place. The process however, was really enjoyable. I really love this speedy sketch. 

LOVE IT! <3

Hope I'd gain better control of the pencil as I progress ;-)

First sketch in 2015!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Here is my first sketch in 2015. Started yesterday and completed just now. Another one of the Irving Penn series. :-)

I found my favourite photographer in the universe - Irving Penn

*In case the way I put it might be slightly confusing: No this is not Irving Penn lol*

I have a habit of googling images whenever I have time. I love drawing portraits of interesting people, but great pictures are really difficult to find. 

As someone who has been drawing (for 3 months ..lol), I can tell you no photograph beats the real thing. Be it still life or portraits, drawing at the actual environment with a natural light source allows the artists to make their own interpretation of the reality. You may hear people saying portraits are artistic representations of the painter, not the sitter. This is very true. The same object painted by 2 different painters must be different. 

Therefore, if someone draws photographs of people taken by someone else, you are actually reproducing the photographer's perspective, instead of creating your own.

This is exactly why art teacher hates his students drawing photographs. (despite I secretly make 2 sketches from photographs per week....lol )

I am very much aware of the shortcomings of drawing photographs, still I think it's a great way to train my skills especially when I have limited resources. But if you have to borrow someone's artistic eyes, make sure you borrow from someone great.

And I am glad I have finally found him.

Irving Penn

If you google Irving Penn what you can find out about him is extremely limited [ Ask Wiki =) ]. I have come across the name when I was looking for pictures of Yves Saint Laurent. And I was completely blown away. His photos were elegant, classic, extraordinary, lively, full of personality, with beautiful light against very simple background. They have everything I love, and everything that I am looking for. It's very difficult to explain why I love them sooooo so so so much. But I find all of his works are extremely captivating. 

As I glanced through his portfolio there were already quite a few photos that I can't wait to draw. And they will be coming really soon :)

Just don't tell my teacher

Duchess of Windsor by Irving Penn

What have I been drawing during Christmas

This is my latest Dali. Might look a little scary but this is exactly how I like it :-P

eyes, eyes, HUGE EYES...

I drew a few of my friends too :)

Dear Mr. Robin Williams

Watched "A night in the museum" on Christmas Eve and couldn't take my eyes off Robin Williams. He had the most beautiful blue eyes and the most amazing smile. 

There is no reason not to capture him in my sketchbook, now full of interesting people :)

Thank you so much for the great movies, dear Mr. Robin Williams

How do I understand art

Art is all about experiments and adventures, no rules, no guidelines. 

Art creates illusion that looks real, or reality that looks surreal.

The best art is always beautiful and ridiculous.  :)

And more Yves Saint Laurent :-P

Good news! Finally found time to draw in my busy December. I have been travelling, studying, reading, exercising...

Bad news, it's yet another Yves Saint Laurent.

I promised myself to move on to draw someone else. There are still a lot of interesting people around but apparently I can't take my eyes off YSL.

It looks like I am hopelessly in love with someone who's dead, and hopelessly gay. He was Prince Charming by definition.

Now read this paragraph from a book that I am reading:

From: The Beautiful Fall: Fashion, Genius, and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris

....And yes, Yves was famous for his beautiful, elegant, long and slender fingers.

More Yves Saint Laurent

 In 1971 YSL lanuched their first perfume for men. Yves Saint Laurent, the founder, designer and the owner of his brand YSL, posed nude for the advertisement. 

What shocked the public, was not only the controversial male nudity, but also his strikingly beautiful body.

At 35, Yves was young, successful, rich and beautiful. He had everything people wished for. But he was also one of the most depressed designers, indulging in drugs and alcohol, slowly killing himself (despite countless rumours about his death since his thirties, Yves passed away at 71, which was....errr..quite impressive)

Yves was known for appearing quiet, timid and nervous when he was younger (despite the fact that he was very good-looking). But he was in fact extremely daring. He made women wearing man's clothes and completely rocked it. He was also proudly gay. 

The human community generally punish people who are different. But Yves was fearless, and being fiercely different is beautiful. 

Apart from Yves, many other top designers like Christian Dior, Coco Chanel also have fascinating life stories that inspire people. It's sad that when people speak of their names nowadays they only refer to the luxury brands. What's truly luxurious, however, is the geniuses' brain. 

***[Updated 7 Dec 2014]***

OK I am addicted. No wonder they call their famous perfume opium. 

I have to stay up till 2:00 a.m. to finish this sketch :p

Yves was just beautiful.

A 50 years snapshot of Yves Saint Laurent

I watched Saint Laurent the movie this weekend with a dear friend of mine. If you're interested and want to watch it as well, make sure you pick someone that is equally interested and shares the same value in life with you. The couple right next to us, fell sound asleep 5 mins into the movie and wasted 3 hours of their lives, literally.

Don't get me wrong it was not a boring movie at all. And I love it more than any movie I've watched in 2014, including the very popular Interstellar (tho I love it very much too). The movie, as the name suggested, was all about Yves Saint Laurent. And I am not going to tell you anything more about it...puahaha.

Instead, my movie review will be done in a form of drawing. This is Yves Saint Laurent in his twenties and seventies.

A genius's 50 years. How precious.
What had changed, what stayed the same?