The InnerCity Tarot - Gonna give it a go.

Little Baron

magpie9 said:
Hve you ever tried Oil pastals? Not as messy, especially if you get the ones that come in pencil form. And you can make a "watercolor-like wash" with them useing oil on a brush.

Thanks Magpie. I will try anything that is not so messy. It's just a bit too much of a pain like this. Hard to get any detail. Pencils sound like a good idea. I think it is going to be a matter of trying a lot of stuff out.

LB
 

Ruby7

LittleBuddha said:
But as a trial, I do not think I can continue in these materials. They wipe away so easily and I feel like I do not have enough control. Even if I do like their mood. And my goodness, the mess. I am washing my hands every five minutes. So I am on the outlook for another medium.

LB

LB, You probably already know this, but you can get a fixative (spray) for pastels and spray in between layers and at the end to stop them from wiping away. The fixative can change the colour so do tests first before spraying a whole piece.

Ruby7
 

Little Baron

Yes, I was going to pick one up tomorrow. But generally, the pastels I have are like drawing with chalk so a pencil alternative might be nice. Also I am working on a big canvas. I am not sure I have the room for loads of these here, so maybe smaller paper and materials might be the next step.

Cheers Ruby, LB
 

Bean Feasa

Wow LB, you have a great talent. There's mystery and danger in this picture. I like the way the guy looks so secretive which of course is perfect for the High Priestess archetype. I think the overall deck idea is very good -it has 'bite', something that is often lacking. I hope you find your medium and keep going with it!
 

Little Baron

Thanks BF.

I think you have mentioned something important there.

Bite.

When I was younger, I used to paint a lot of portraits. They were not your average portraits. They were bright and all the wrong colours. But they had energy. I have always been creative and artistic, like my parents, but I am not, by any means, an exceptional artist. I am not properly trained. My proportions and tone is often way out. And believe me, this is not just my opinion. Knowing my limitations has stopped me from doing this for a long time.

But the point here, was not to create something that was technically wonderful.

It was not to draw a hand as it looks in real life.

It was to convey mood - innercity darkness, danger, corruption, sadness, ambition, hope and the lack of it, rags to riches, riches to rags, the hunters and the hunted, love, sex, vilolence, mystery - another world that may be out of many people's view, but right on their doorstep.

This picture almost created itself. I didn't copy anything. I literally made it up and it sprung into it's own life. And I was happy for him to be born like that. To choose his skin colour, sexuality, gender and clothing. I see him as a guard. In my mind, there is a place in Norwood, South London, where there is an archway. Beyond the archway, as you begin to walk down a hill is a housing estate, with huge tower blocks, opening up before you like a small metroplolis. It is intimidating but your heart flutters when you see it. When me and my friend Jenni used to walk past the opening, I used to have to take a look - especially in darkness. It was like a sea of gravestones, riddled with the tiny white lights of windows. And I can see this guy being the one that lets you through that gateway .. or not. To the estate's mysteries and hidden depths. Am I rambling, lol.

But that's what I mean, BF. Bite. I am excited about the subject and want to get it down, somehow. I feel that the artist that worked on the Voodoo deck succeeded in that - getting it down, conveying the mood of the subject and place, regrardless of whether she could paint bodies to perfect proportion. There are many artists that can do that, but it does not always breathe life into the subject. I always prefer an interesting 'voice' that sings something different to a trained one that sings a dull song.

LB
 

Wings

Keep singing...please

My favorite artists of people were Mark Chagal ...who put heads on upside down ...and green cows flying over the moon...I always wanted to see the Paris opera house ceillings he painted...and that old goat Picasso,from the classical amazons,running on the beach ,languad Maria Theresa,shrill crying Dora Marr....to have that kind of emotional power one can't be all caught up in how well you consider the exsact planes of the bridge of the nose...these pioners of artistic freedom gave us emoton..the aura of a person if you will...my best art teacher taught me to see what I liked in my work...no negative cratiques in her class...the more I saw I liked the more excited I got to create more...great way to learn...some people mix these mediums...check out the work of Susan SeddonBoulet...ink,pastel ,pencil,paint..
like "Whatever works man" I do beleive it's okay to have fun in the process..............
 

Little Baron

Absolutely. I really wouldn't do this if it wasn't fun, as I am sure you can appreciate personally. But I am so excited about that other world. Finding ways of communicating it to others, even though frustrating, is like the buzz of working out some kind of puzzle. And breathing life .. I really need to direct all of my own energy into something. A project like this is what I need.

And I also understand what you mean about art style. Of course I would like to paint 'better' [technically], but that is not going to hold me back, I have decided. There will always be someone that can do something 'better'.

"It seems as though you paint with whatever is on the brush at the time"
My old Head of Fashion tutor at university

"Some people can paint hands beautifully. Others hide them ... you do neither"
My Dad

But I can laugh at all of this for I know it is true. But I think that you cannot learn charm, or style. You can not be taught to be exciting. We are all touched by things in different ways. We all express them differently.

So I will continue. For me now, I do not know how I am going to do this. But I know that I WANT to do this.

LB
 

Wings

Clever Lad...

and the more you do (anything) the better you get at it...and you express yourself so well...thanks again

The Forum is giving me all those tasty conversations and comparing work that I aways missed when I finished with school...
 

Little Baron

My friend just left.

Had a great morning. Very useful, and tremendously inspiring.

We looked through my sketches and through books. We talked about what I wanted and what I didn't. What I could do and what I couldn't.

I showed him the picture. He understood what I was trying to do but wasn't convinved by the results.

He asked why I wasn't using the computer. I told him that I found it hard to not make things look 'flat'.

So he spent an hour with me, shoing me how to paint into hand-drawn illustrations more effectively than I do on paper; making backgrounds. It was really interesting and didn't look as tight [or messy] as my pastel drawing. And I could see that the example we worked on looked far better. There was tons more scope. It was not 'computerised looking', like my inexperience told me it would be. So I think I can do that now.

But then he asked why I didn't use photos.

I said I thought that they might look cheap. So he put some photos in and we manipulated them together.

Suddenly, there were haunting dark silhouttes, red towerblocks that literally towered over you, slashed in blood red. Real faces coming out of the darkness with peircing eyes. They pictures we were making were atmospheric and intimidating. There were enough layers of colour and difference that as tarot, intuitively, you would have a whole world to play with.

But for me, most importantly, they were South London. They were gritty. They were beautiful. But they were scary also. I knew that I had a vision. And that charcoal drawing was just not achieving it. I am sooo glad I did it. Because I needed to see that before playing with the computer, to realise the world of difference between the two.

My friend looked at the photo one we did. He said 'I can imagine being mugged by that guy .. he looks scary and urban .. desperate and dangerous'. He looked at me original pastel picture. He said 'that would be like being mugged by a model'. And I had to agree. I love my friend because he is always honest .. he is critical to help progress because he is as excited about moving further towards the goal as I am.

I have a few 'try outs' where we were just playing. I didn't save them all. They are by no means finished pieces. It was just him randomly plonking bits of this and that together to show me what I could do with my tools. I will try and post one. But they do have life, which I can see the last 'go' did not. And what I love, is that it is evolving and moving. My inspiration is not stuck. It is creating and changing.

LB
 

Little Baron

This picture is no way near how I would like him to be, but he marks the change - the mood , the colours. He is a little too raw and computerised but I will spend a lot more time on the next one, since he was just a practice.

Regardless of technical ability, painted, photographed or drawn, the flavour is right. This is how he is in my dreams. Does that make sense?


LB
 

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