A girl's best friend

No, I'm not talking about diamonds, but I think it's pretty self explanatory. I never made any serious attempts at drawing animals before (unless you count the fake fur coat on the "Pimp my Charles" drawing) and as such, it was a bit of a learning curve. I haven't had a lot of practice lately and felt a bit rusty. I'd like to have another go at this model at some point to see if I can do better.

Maria, Maria

The luck of the draw left me to find a present for my friend and colleague Maria for our department's yearly anniversary lunch. I had some ideas for a quick fix, but decided instead to take the opportunity to give something (relatively) unique and at the same time get back in the saddle after close to a year without any serious attempts at drawing. As always, it looked better in the flesh (or paper) as the scanner just doesn't pick up the subtleties. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

The Rose of the Orient.

Has it really been almost two years since I added to this blog? And yet, this drawing is almost a year old itself, representing my - then - girlfriend. I was really happy about the subtle shading on this one that is all lost in this scan, which makes it look more crude. Oh well, I did like the use of one primary colour, the red on the rose, drawing in the eyes to the center of the drawing. I think I'll experiment some more with that.

Alexine

Done as a companion piece to the earlier drawing of her sister "Mélusine", I went back to my classic techniques for this one. Shame I couldn't get a decent scan of it as the shading on the suit looked rather nice in real life. I'm kind of happy with the face, especially since I wasn't sure about it early on.

The girl with the dress from hell

Again, too long since the last update, especially since this drawing was finished monthes ago. I'll try to be better. Several firsts with this one.

It's the first time I had pictures specifically made for a drawing (by a professional no less). When I suggested the drawing to Liesbeth she didn't have any suitable pictures (or maybe that was just a pollite way of trying to decline, if so, it didn't work). I enlisted the help of Christophe Legasse (http://www.legassephoto.com/) who took some excellent pictures. In the end, this one taken after the actual shoot, when we were ending with a drink in the sun, won out over the more explicitely posed ones.

Other first is a departure from my trademark technique of using little dots to simulate shadow and lines in the skin. Instead, I went for a more blended approach, which I think worked well. I will try this more often. Finally, the model herself added an additional challenge by deliberately wearing a dress with an intricate pattern (and fully expecting me to replicate it instead of skimping it). While it did make me curse a few times while doing it, I also liked the challenge. Shows she 'gets' it. :-)

(Don't forget to click on it for full size, you're not seeing anything this way...)

Silence, on tourne!

This is a bit of a departure from usual subjects in that up to now, I've only drawn portraits of friends or for friends. This drawing however is of the talented French singer-performer Charlotte Marin, whose star is on the rise and who's been gracious enough to allow me to post it here (the drawing, not the star). You can go here if you want to know more about her. Please do. :-)

Modern Mona Lisa

The title may sound a bit preposterous, but for some reason, there's something about this drawing that makes me think about Da Vinci's masterpiece. Not because it's anywhere near that good of course, I'm not that deluded. Anyway, it needed a name and that's the one that came to me, so let's move on. It's the first (completed) drawing in a while and it didn't quite manage to do justice to the model, but then I find they rarely do. I still find dark hair difficult to do, it always seems to end up as a greyish mass, though this time it seems to be better. The lighter section towards the top isn't quite as light in real life, part of it is a trick played by the work-scanner I used. At least it's pretty, and that's always a good thing. :-)

The Trainee

Patricia wasn't with us for long (one month actually), but that left more than enough time to complete a portrait. I think I should have made the hair a bit longer on the bottom left side of the drawing, but other than that, I think it is quite allright.

Mélusine

Done as a gift for a friend's friend, this establishes my position as baby-artist. No real new challenges here, but sometimes that's nice too. Mélusine is this little girl's name. I'm sure it means she's destined to do great things. :-)

Hail to the King

It's been a while since the last update. Well, more than a while, though I have a few updates planned now. This one was actually finished several months ago, but didn't make it up here until now because it was classified "top secret". It has now been published in the firm's legal review, a special edition dedicated to special member of our team, so I'm free to put it up here. I figured for once I'd do something a little less "dry" than the usual legal commentaries and I hope this portrait will manage to catch it's subject's true spirit.