Are Your Drawings Expressive Enough?

There are many drawings on show in some of the top museums in the country, many of them are expressionless and boring. Few of the old master's drawings are in this category.

So how can we make our drawings more expressive with an emotional message?

There are many ways of course--from the quality of your lines, thick or thin, light or dark or even the length can have an impact on the overall statement. The subject matter does make a difference, if it is the same old stuff regurgitated you are not going to create much impact.

Great drawings have to have a cohesion between the form being drawn to how it is being drawn. That also implies the quality of line you have used to express the emotions.

A jerky line can be expressionless whereas a bold line has character...there's no doubt a timid line can be expressive against a bold line to give the latter more strength.

The Passing of One of India's Great Artists

Maqbool Fida Husain better known as MF Husain, was one of the great artists in the world. There are more than 60,000 paintings to his credit. He was born in a traditional Muslim family in British India in 1915.

During his childhood itself he had a passion for art and his father was very supportive. In 1935, Husain joined J.J.School of Arts in Mumbai. Before being recognized in the late 1940s, he had a tough time in Mumbai when he struggled financially. His first painting exhibition was held at Bombay Art Society in the year 1947.

Many successful exhibitions were held in Europe as well as America. He also tried his luck in the film industry. It was an honor for him that his first film Through the eyes of a painter earned the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival.

Some of his paintings in which he depicted nude portraits of Hindu gods and goddesses brought up many controversies. Later in 2004, some Muslim organizations were against him as he used certain words from the Holy Quran in one of his films.

Again there arose objections against him as he painted Mother India as a nude woman. He apologized and went to live in exile to Dubai. After some years he got Qatar citizenship. He was honored with much recognition in India and his paintings were sold out for huge amounts. On June 9, 2011 he passed away at the Royal Brompton hospital in London.

Vishu Shaktar
June 2011

For Drawing Pencil Sketches

Indian Film-Making Hero: An Art Form We'll Not Forget

Sathyagit Ray was a wonderful film maker of India. He had a great passion for film making where he brought real life stories into the movie business.

He was interested in artistic films rather than the commercial junk. His departure was quite a loss to the Indian film industry.

Influenced not only by film but affected by a humanitarian attitude of this wonderful art-form. Simplicity was the trademark of this hero but not only in India. His worldwide acceptance was mainly due to his humanistic approach to real life in India.

Ray made his films in Bengali which is a language spoken in west Bengal on the eastern state of India. In 1992 he achieved honorary academy award for lifetime achievements.

Ray's films are both cinematic and literary at the same time--it is sad to remember that today he is no longer with us but his films are still alive which is an asset to the nation.

Ray's film has a rare blend of intellect and emotion. His first film was Pather Panchali which established his reputation as a major film director by winning numerous awards. Ray directly controlled many aspects of film making. He wrote all screenplays many of which were based on his stories.

In addition to film making Ray was a composer, a writer and a graphic designer who wrote short stories, articles and novels in Bengali, also he made a significant contribution to children's literature in this language.

His stories were unpretentious and entertaining. The subjects include adventure, detective stories, fantasies, fiction and even horror movies.

Aditaya Drupada
Bengal

Painter of Light

 
One of my favorite contemporary artists is American Thomas Kinkade. Known as the “Painter of Light”, he is famous for serene but colorful light-filled scenes of beauty that seen more idealistic than real. Quaint cottages in the sunset, stormy seas crashing against lighthouses, pastel-tinted bridges over lilypad-covered water, these are all images that Kinkade imbues with his own way of highlighting with an ever-persistent glow. His paintings are viewed as inspirational, and he has spoken publicly about how his Christian beliefs impact his art.

Thomas Kinkade strikes a chord with the public so that he is also one of the more lucrative and well-known painters of modern day. He is one of America’s most collected artists. While his original paintings may be out of the price range of the average person, it is easy to find a likeness of a Kinkade painting on note-cards, mugs, ornaments, mousepads, and screensavers, to name a few. Prints of his paintings are popular, and even puzzles of his paintings have been known to be put together and framed as art.

Kinkade is a prolific painter of simple scenes of everyday life. His continues to evoke emotion and inspire people around the world with his unique, illuminated style.

Abraham Rosen

Drawing Pencil Sketches Blog: Egon Schiele: THE Master of Drawing and Sketching

Go here for images of Egon Schiele: http://tinyurl.com/3uvqcrx

Egon Schiele: THE Master of Drawing and Sketching

He did mention that he had taken his art to "its fullest possible development" just prior to his death in October 1918, almost at the end of WW1.

He did make an outstanding contribution to self-expressionism in modern art, raising the bar far in excess of his peers (Gustav Klimpt is one) to achieve exemplary works of art.

Most of his drawings which I've seen personally in Amsterdam, are charged with energy not seen before in the world of art. It has all of Egon's emotions and feelings with his drawings becoming almost volatile.

No other artist in modern history has come close to his vitality.

He did base some of his paintings from photographs if you compare a painting of Adele Harms taken by Schiele with a photo he took earlier. This painting is mildly erotic which could explain a sexual tension between the artist and Adele!

Go here for images of Egon Schiele: http://tinyurl.com/3uvqcrx

Abstract Drawings Will Take You Beyond Realism

Powerful drawings of abstractions conjure strong emotional feeling if the viewer can relate to it. If the viewer can perceive the artists viewpoint, they can then be transported to other dimensions beyond 3D and/or above the 2D paper surface.

If one walks in the exhibition room with a closed viewpoint, this does not give the mind enough freedom to discover other elements the artist intended.

You do not have to be savvy in the art world to appreciate fine abstract drawings—only your perception of the lineal forms and the related tone values. Often the artist does point you in certain directions—but don't look at the finger, look towards the direction he is pointing—or what is beyond the drawing; this is very much like a koan.

If there is an essential feature in the artwork you recognize and can relate it to realism, you will be able to "feel" what is behind the abstractions.

There is no good definition of abstract drawing or abstract art and if there was something created with pure abstractions we would not be able to perceive it at all.

Any abstract drawing or painting, good or bad, must be able to communicate something to the viewer—even a bad drawing can invoke nausea.

Conversations About Figure Drawing and Painting

Have you ever overheard conversations between people in a gallery presentation?

"Well, I don't think there will be a return to figure drawing in the foreseeable future. I mean, look at those figurative paintings plagiarized almost from the Fauves!"

One of the things creeping in from the younger generation are about the attacks on the so-called "know-it-all gallery owners" who denounce the student's mimicking the old master's.

But, take note, that today the young artist's have embraced abstraction with more passion than their peers.

Figure drawing is here to stay and will always be part of an artists' bag of forms to inspire his and others' creativity.

Ever been out drawing or painting landscapes?

The discomforts experienced by artists can sometimes be severe from force 10 gales, freezing temperatures, rain or snow, heat and quite a variety of insects.

Apart from that, you can get human invaders who, in their kindness, make flowery statements on how good it is or sometimes the occasional critique with "It does not look much like the scene--and the grass isn't red, it's green!"

Did you know the artist John Singer Sargent employed a manservant to carry all his art equipment? He painted landscapes to get away from all his commissioned portraits. I think that might have been quite a bore for him with his sitters' comments "Please make me look 10 years younger!"

For us poor artists without the means to employ a servant, we have to prepare for any contingency; sun glasses to cut down on glare, a sunshade, portable drawing boards, all our drawing materials and a comfortable stool. And don't forget the digital camera for recording things.

Soft pastels, charcoal and 4B pencils help the beginner to they can work rapidly to capture those fleeting moments.

Learning To Draw What You See

If you are seeing them realistically, then draw them that way. The proportions of course must be correct right down to the last detail.

To do this, your observation of the thing being drawn, the basic structure, must be sound but this is not always possible unless you are in a relaxed state of mind.

I have tried several times while drawing from life (figure drawing) while being tense about something outside of drawing class, and my sketches have reflected this emotion.

When your mind is totally focused on something else, your direct observation becomes flawed. This is my opinion but if you have observed otherwise please make a comment here.

Being able to draw something realistically does not make you an artist--far from it. A literal translation without self-expression means it is just a copy--like a photograph.