Sunday, 14 March 2010

opoponax, 3.

. . . i think i'll skip a large chunk of the rest. the stuff following on from that last batch into, well, i think its direction was fairly clear. and i feel more negative about posting that stuff today than otherwise, so. . .

another time, maybe. but probably not. anyway. . .

these eleven images are kind of representational of the end of that dark period. we're into november now - the lines are less gnarly, have taken on a different quality altogether in places and there's a definite narrative going on from one image to the next - though we're looking at selections here, not the whole pile - i think you can pretty much see the tension ebbing away. . .

also, yonder pajama wearing skeleton has become something more fully formed than the inky mess that first manifested. . .



34.

this is somewhat out of place in a way, a pencil drawing amongst all that solid black and white, but i wanted to post this because i like it, and because, like previously, backgrounds are creeping into my stuff in the form of interiors as WELL as exterior scenery, as seen here in the shape of, well, my kitchen. this was fast and done with more or less the same ethic as the ink drawings had been done with - don't worry about portraying what you see so much as what you feel. so while it's slight as drawings go in one sense, it's another step somewhere new. . .
















35 & 36.

35 is sort of an anomally. the birdman figure was an abandoned piece from weeks earlier which i just randomly looked at one evening and said 'this needs another figure', which kind of went against my newfound habit of doing the drawings, leaving them and doing something else. a few corrections were made - which i regret now because they stick out like a sore thumb - in white ink, and a more straightforward self-portrait was added. i think. . . this is one of those pieces that has a narrative undercurrent, which 36 carries on with. 36 is noteable for being botha little less stylised, and for the fact that it was done in my trusty sharpie's - the second, actually - death throes. . .


























37.

this one's open for interpretation, but even i don't know what's going on in it. i love this, though, mopstly for small things like emma's hair, my general dishevelled appearance - and the first appearance of the new suit and tie MASKLESS birdman look - the positioning of the fence, compositionally and by no means last or least, our skeletal oddball looking. . . well, skeletal. . . again though, definite narrative suggestion here. that illustration degree not going completely to waste, then . . .
















38 - 40.

a mixed bag of stylized, random goofiness - 38 - further exploration of cityscape backgrounds and composition - 39 - and looser scratcvhing around with a new sharpie, seeing what can be come up with on one very white sheet of A4. i think by this point i'd become equally fond of that damn skeleton and the fully realised owl mask, but eprhaps even more fond of the medium itself. . .






































41.

there's almost nothing to this. i don't think it could be any more minimal - and yet, i don't think i could love it any more than i do. . .
















42.

the final three images - for today at least - are completely random and polar. i don't think they could be more different from each other. this one, i think, is a favourite of mine from a small pile of mask drawings i did around this time kind of. . playing around with how the character had looked and how i wanted him to go. i'm not sure why this one stands out for me, i just like the lines. . .
















43.

bizarre that my hand should ever draw such a thing. do i necessarily like this? no. but the oddness of me drawing it lends its right to a place here. it's another small part of where we're going. this is kind of a landmark of ugly dundee architecture, a tower building belonging to the universtity which. . shows up less stylised in the background of at least one later piece you'll see. . . soon enough. . .

















44.

. . . needs no commentary, explanation, or words of any kind.

4 comments:

  1. You're still saying "Yonder" all the time. :P

    I think you should just call the skeleton "Opopanax" since you love the word so much.

    And you say *I* make all the Stephen King refrences! ;)

    I like these better, Iain, because they're less tangled up in all that grim of October and November.

    I think that kitchen drawing expresses not only how you were feeling but how I was feeling.

    #41 and #44 are my favourites though. Not for vain reasons but because they're just lovely images.

    Especially after some of what you'd *been* drawing.

    Those are beautiful, Iain. :)

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  2. I like the recurring pose of you and Emma holding each other, especially in 44. Her arms and hands have a neat look to them, very fluid and stylized; pretty.

    40 is fantastic. It reminds me of the cover of an old Shirley Jackson novel my mom used to have around the house. It was called The Bird's Nest (how appropriate) and I think it was about a girl with multiple personalities. I was heavily influenced by it when I was in high school. I did a couple drawings that were inspired by the cover.

    Your Sharpie's last words look pretty cool in 36. I like the composition and overall feeling.

    This is a great collection of work. I love them all, and it's interesting to see them evolving.

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  3. okay, third time lucky. i'm having no luck trying to post comments today:

    BRONWEN: thank you. your opinions always count for a lot, always have.

    i will say that one thing i like about the internet is that you can refrence a book cover, and i can just go look it up. i cans ee that cover would have inspired a drawing or two.

    i did lot of drawing from magazines that came with sunday newspapers, they usually had artistically shot photos - usually in black and white - to go alongside celebrity interviews, or fashion shoots. i think a lot of the way i crop / cropped images comes from that stuff. that and my inability to draw FEET :P

    anyway. the recurring image of emma and i holding each other. . . continues as sort of a theme in the next batch of drawings. they're less severe, and the sharpie kind of takes on. . a whole new role, as you'll see. . .

    and, EMM: yeah, i've thanked you already. i think the skeleton should have a mundane name like henry, or alfred or something along those lines, or just remain nameless. it's kind of weirdnot having drawn him for a while actually. . .

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  4. Brilliant, Iain. I love 44. I can't believe you drew the tower building! Haha :D

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