Thursday, April 26, 2012

Shape Up: Society of Illustrators Workshop

Dior's resident artist Bil Donovan held a workshop earlier this evening at the Society of Illustrators' mansion on the UES. As I imagined, he provided valuable insight into how he works when he creates fashion illustration. His wonderfully reductive style is something I've admired, and while I'm not sure how it may incorporate into my own style (well, such as it is) Bil's certainly someone I can learn from. Since it ended late, I'll upload some sketches from the session later tomorrow, including the many shape sighting exercises, that really gave me insight into how the masterful Bil works.

(as you can see, I've edited this entry as I've already uploaded a series of pics)

This is the drawing Bil didn't like. I like that he had a strong enough opinion about it, and it's certainly not as distinct as the simplicity of the style he advocates. But it's more my style (albeit a bit wan, because I was using colored pencil and not very aggressively). Bil thought it was weak, and as a composition, the light pencils don't give enough gravitas. One great takeaway from the evening is the need for me to think of my illustrations as graphically laid out pieces. I used to do that, but now I seem to be satisfied just rendering... I don't know when that happened, but it needs to stop! Perhaps I'm too reliant on digital editing and page layout programs that I think I can compose the images later...




This one Bil did like, but I am not as convinced. I do see what he means, but I dislike my use of pencil. I should have used ink, or watercolor...

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