Updated Heritage Art

As I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to update this piece I did in high school for my old roommate.

I have been happily working on it and think it's looks much better!  I made the watercolor background and sea more bold, and also more consistent.  I added color (using colored pencil) to the borders of the map, retraced the ink, and touched up the charcoal boat.  I also added a sea serpent and a compass to the map. 

I think all of these details really help bring the piece to life. I really like it now and am happy to sell it to my friend. But, what do you think?

Finding out how to make a print from my art

One of my old roommates contacted me about buying a print of one of pieces!  It's great news!  She really wants a piece I did way back in high school that I put up on my blog under the Paintings Tab.

This one: 

It's a good piece, but I didn't want to sell it to her as is. I did it in high school, and don't want my name on a piece of art I am not currently satisfied with, though I do like the concept behind the piece.  So, I am now in the process of making it better!  I am updating the watercolors and adding a little more detail overall. I guess I wouldn't feel right about selling a piece I did so long ago that I do not currently love.  I hope she'll be happy with my new touches.  I'll post a picture of it when I have it completely updated.

I think it's a pretty cool piece, personally, with an old map of the United States/Americas, a large charcoal ship coming to the Americas, and bright bold colors and details to draw you in.  The theme for the piece was "our heritage."  This piece symbolizes my pioneering ancestors. One of my direct ancestors came across on the Mayflower.  Many of my forebears settled new areas of the uncharted West (they were Mormons).  This piece is emphasizes my heritage. 
But, one problem I am running into is that she is interested in a print.  I don't know much about getting prints done from original pieces of art.  I would want to get a high quality print, or a giclee, I think.  They are supposed to be the highest quality print you can get today.  However, I don't know how to go about it!

I have begun searching the internet for different companies and their services and fees.  This website provided some good tips while comparing printers.  A company in Pennsylvania, Crimson Atelier, Inc, seems to have pretty reasonable printing costs, allows for small orders, will scan and proof an original piece at no additional cost, and will keep a proof on hand in case I want to order more.  It doesn't seem like too bad of deal.  The only big draw back is of course the upfront cost.  Will I actually be able to sell more than 5 prints to make up the cost of printing (assuming I charge 2-3 times cost) and make a profit?  Do you think this piece is something that several people would want to buy?

My friend is open to buying the original, but doesn't have a huge budget (she's my age after all) so she was interested in how much a print would cost, and so was I.  Though I may not actually make a print out of the final image, I may be interested in doing so in the future with other pieces of art that I have created or create in the future. 

If you are an artist, who have you used to make prints of your original artworks?  Any other things to consider?

Charcoal - Add and Subract Method

I wanted to share a little about the method I have been using to make most of my charcoal drawings lately.  It's an add and subtract sort of method.

First I print off the desired image from my computer as the size I want it.  Then I determine where I want the image to fall on my paper and measure accordingly.

Then I take masking tape, rip it to my desired length, and then de-stickafy it on my jeans, sweater, chair, blanket, whatever.  But before I stick it down against the border of my paper, I rip a piece of paper to the desired length and width, keeping one side mostly straight.  I then stick down the piece of tape right up to the border of my image, but place the paper under the majority of the tape so only a small line of sticky tape is touching the border of the image.

I do that to all four sides of the image.  I do this to help me keep clean edges.  I put the paper under the tape to protect the paper from being damaged.  It seems to work pretty well most of the time.  But, if there's better ways of doing this, I would love to know!

Once the border is in place, I shade in the entire area with a light charcoal layer and blend with my finger until even everywhere.  I then mark off inch-mark ticks on the tape and draw a very faint charcoal line connecting the marks to create a grid.  (I keep the lines light enough so that I can simply smear them out when I am done with the image).

After the grid is in place I often start just lightly drawing in the shape of the image.  I like to block most of it out before fleshing it out.  I usually measure the placement of the marks against the image I have printed and use my grid to make sure the image is as accurate as possible.

Once the shapes are mostly there I begin filling in the values.  I generally work left to right because I am right handed and don't want to smear my work, but I try to keep a piece of paper under my hand while I work too.  I like to flesh out an entire area with values and then move on to the next until most of it is complete, but sometimes jump around a lot.  Sometimes I also like to start by filling in the darkest values first.

Then after the values, I readjust if areas are too light or too dark.  To make an area white, I simply use my kneaded eraser and subtract the value. 

Lastly, I add in textures and other small details to make it complete.  Once complete, I sign it, take off the tape, clean up the edges if they need to be cleaned up, push down any damaged paper on the edges with a bone folder, and then spray with a fixative outside.

What is your favorite method when using charcoal?

A Musical Piece - Completed Charcoal Drawing

I finished this drawing as I was in the process of moving to a new place and then shipped it off to the intended owners. They were very happy with it, as was I! I am very glad it’s done and I can move on to new projects! I don’t feel like I want to do this big of a drawing for a long time. I guess you can say it burned me out a little bit. I hope that the Hunts enjoy this drawing for a long time!

When I sent them the drawing I sent it through FedEx and included a Certificate of Authenticity. I was nervous about sending it in the mail, but it worked just fine. They had a great box for art/paper. It was kind of pricey and the next time I send something in the mail I think I will buy the box and put it together myself to say on some of the cost.

So what do you think of the final piece??

Closing in on Completion - Musical Art Piece

I'm working on the last one right now and hopefully only have about 2 more hours of work on it, and then it's shipping off! What do you think about it? Do you like it?

A Musical Piece - Half Way

I've been working on this piece for about 2 months officially now, and it's taking me longer than I expected. It doesn't help that I decided to make the images 8.5"x 8.5" instead of 6"x6". I decided to go with the bigger images because it filled out the 22"x30" BFK paper so much better!
The second image, of piano hampers, took much longer than I was planning with all the measuring I had to do! It's definitely the most technical of the images and with no negative space. But, I'm really happy with how things are going so far. The next ones should continue to go quicker. I really like how each individual one has turned out! They are looking great! I just hope that all six images together will be as concise in its design and concept as I envisioned. I selected the images carefully and took a mock photo of how it should look when it is all done:
What do you think so far of the piece? Do like the overall image? Individual ones? Are you excited to see the completed work? Let me know! I love critique!

Also, does anyone have suggestions for keeping clean lines when doing charcoal that does damage the paper? I've been using masking tape and it's not always foul-proof. Thanks!

A Musical Piece

I am currently working on a commission for a family at church and am very excited about it! They gave me the theme of "classical music," telling me that their daughters play a violin and cello, as well as piano. So, I looked around for some ideas, and decided to do a sweet piece with 6 6"x6" charcoal drawings, using the same techniques I used on my maternity drawings. I wanted to show you some of the pictures I took that I have to choose from to include in the piece. What do you think?

The Cello:

The Violin:

The Piano:

Unfortunately my reference photos for the piano haven't been very good, so I still need to take some more, give myself some more options. I find that taking my own photos eliminates any need to obtain permission or copyright, plus it's a ton of fun! I am not much of a photographer so it's a slight gamble, but well worth it in the end.