Art Nouveau

“Thistle” – An Art Nouveau Inspired Drawing

Angela PorterLeave a comment

I’ve spent some time over the last day or two looking at Art Nouveau flower designs. I was particularly fascinated by a thistle design.

This is my interpretation of the design drawn with Copic Multiliner SP pens (0.1, 0.25 and 0.5) on paper. Then, after scanning the drawing, I added colour digitally using Clip Studio Paint. So, this counts as ‘tradigital’ art!

I chose a simple colour palette; I was inspired by William Morris, the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau. And, the colours are more mellow than is, perhaps, characteristic of my work.

The version on the left has just flat colours, no shade or highlight; I let the contour lines suggest volume. This is more true, I think, to the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau.

To the version on the right, I added some shadows and highlights, but subtly for me. And even though they are subtle, they have a distinct effect, which surprised me.

These show just two of the many coloured backgrounds I tried out. This is why I love adding colour digitally! It’s so easy to try out different colour combinations, methods of adding colour, and so on.

Which version do you prefer?

I like them both, but I think the one on the right is my favourite; I like the stronger background colour which allows the flower to ‘pop’. I also think the subtle shadows and highlights do add a little something to it too.

Inktober 2019 Day 21

Angela PorterLeave a comment
Inktober 2019 Day 21 ©Angela Porter | Artwyrd.com

Day 21 and it’s a pug skull, Pleurotus eryngii (King Oyster mushroom) and the Batnumber tangle pattern from the Inktober 2019 prompt lists from Instagrammers @book_polygamist, @nyan_sun and @havepen_willdraw.

I really enjoyed drawing the wood cut style of skull yesterday so thought I’d go with it for today’s short nosed dog skull – I chose a pug skull.

I echoed the wood cut style in the mushrooms forming a ring in the partial mandala around the skull.

I like the graphic black and white nature of the design elements against the coloured, textured background. I did, however, break up this graphic style with the foliage forming the outer ring of the design. I just felt I needed to push something to the background.

In 21 days I seem to have covered a lot of different styles in my work, though I think my favourite ones are where I place a mandala behind the skull, as in today’s illustration.

Although I love colour, I do think the more graphic designs are more ‘me’. Maybe it’s because my experiments in drawing in colour (as in day 18 and day 19) are outside my familar, comfortable work.

I don’t know where this will lead me, though I do want to do more mandalas like today’s, maybe get them available as prints or on t-shirts. What do you think?

Inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Angela_8Sept2017

I do enjoy exploring different genres of art, and the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles of art are ones that resonate with me.

I’ve loved the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh for a very long time, but never really took time to explore the work and to use it as an inspiration for my own work.

I sketched the outline design on paper, then edited and tidied it up in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro.  I have used a mixture of gradient fills and colouring as if I was using a pencil or marker in other areas.  I’m now adding some typically ‘Angela’ intricate patterns to various areas, so this isn’t finished.

I really do tend to gravitate towards creating digitally these days, and loving it too I am, though I still like to sketch the bones of my idea out on paper, scan it in and then use that as a guide; I’ve still not got my head around the size on the page and the real size of the art that will result.

 

Let It Grow

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Let It Grow © Angela Porter

8″x 6″.  Rotring Rapidograph pen and black ink on heavy cartridge paper.

I’m not quite sure yet what I’m going to do with this outline – colour or not to colour, texture or not to texture.

Last night I had friends visiting and a look for the drawing that I did when visiting Tewkesbury Abbey a couple of years ago led they and I to looking through some of my old sketchbooks.  Suddenly, seeing all that had inspired me in the past, showed where my ‘visual vocabulary’ for my abstract art ‘doodles’ has come from.  Prehistoric art, Romanesque and Gothic architecture and sculpture, La Tene art, ammonites and other fossils, microscopic formanifera, microscopic images of cells, stained glass windows, insects, shells, flowers, ‘Celtic’ manuscripts and Anglo-Saxon art to name but a few.  I’d also picked up a copy of the BBC’s History magazine whilst out shopping as it had images of Anglo-Saxon artefacts which reminded me of patterns I use in my art.  Yesterday seems to have been a day of making links between all the work I’ve done in the past and how it flows out of me now, and a reminder of the things that inspire me as well as giving me a sense of validation with the way that I create art.

I think subtle colours for this one, with textures added in places, and just the hints of metallic highlights perhaps – after all, my inner raven demands the sparkle!

Arty Nouveau Saturday

Angela Porter4 Comments

It’s not so rainy here, but it’s still grey this morning.  I’ve still not managed a decent length sleep and feel like my eyes are crossing whenever I relax!  Still, I’ve been kind of busy with arty pursuits, and exploring Art Nouveau.  These are my latest explorations…

I love the organic, flowing lines and the stylised forms.  The roses are part of a bigger work, one where I’d tried out coloured pencils as well as watercolours, but I’m really not at all happy with the coloured pencil part!

The black outlines in the top picture are worked using a 0.35mm Rotring technical drawing pen, in the roses a black Sakura ‘Glaze’ pen was used; it’s glossy, raised line makes the image more like stained glass.

Rainy-day Friday Fish!

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Approx 18cm x 13cm.  Worked in a fine black Sakura Gelly Roll pen with Inktense coloured pencils with a water wash on white cartridge paper.  The colours aren’t quite this garish – I keep saying I’m useless with scanners and cameras!

I found some of my old Art Nouveau books today and thought I’d have a play around with simple line drawings.  This fish caught my eye, though I’ve adapted it to suit me.

I’ve always loved the flowing lines and simplified and stylised forms of Art Nouveau; just like Early Celtic Art and Prehistoric Rock Art  and ammonites and Romanesque architecture natural forms and so on, the organically flowing curved lines and spirals really appeals to me and they often come out in my work.  OK, not often, but most of the time!

This was a really quick drawing to do too – it took around an hour to pencil out, then outline, then colour in and then scan!  That’s super speedy for me!  Usually my works take many, many more hours.

Now, I just have to decide where I go with this … it really is an experiment.