Art Nouveau Clovers by Raphael Kirchner In Honor of St. Patrick's Day.

A little art flashback for you in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Here's a look at the beautiful series of "A Quattre Feuilles" or "Clovers" created in 1899 by Austrian Art Nouveau artist Raphael Kirchner (1876 - August 2, 1917).



Produced in postcard format, like the majority of his work, these were printed as color lithographs (both green and violet versions were produced) with metallic pigment (the hearts and titles are in gold) on card stock.






images courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Some of the used postcards can be found for auction on Ruby Lane or Ebay.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Evolution of Today's Women's Day Google Doodle By Betsy Bauer.

You may have noticed that today's Google Doodle is in honor of Women's Day, which frankly, I had no idea existed. So how did this fun Google Doodle come into being?

Portraits Drawn On World and Celestial Maps by Ed Fairburn

above: Windermere, Pencil on a cropped map of the English Lakes – specifically Lake Windermere.

Cardiff-based illustrator Ed Fairburn sees things in maps most of us do not. His map-based portraits combine the art of cartography with the drawing of the human face. Making the curves and lines of the two dimensional terrain (or the heavens as is the case with his celestial drawings) blend with the curves and lines of human features brings a dimensionality to both the maps and the portraits. The combination of the two has a surprising appeal.

Bartholomew Series (Pencil on original Bartholomew maps of Pembroke (top) and Galloway (bottom):



Deutschland (Ink on a 1977 road map of Germany):


Cambridge (Ink on a vintage street map of Cambridge):

Both the Deutschland and Cambridge pieces shown above were produced as part of a wider submission to Cowbridge Music Festival.

Western Front (Ink on reproduced military maps of the Western Front (WWI):



30 Miles Around (ink on a map of Bournemouth):


From His Michelin Series:


Zambia Charity Project (Oil and pencil on an OS map of South Wales, trimmed and mounted on plywood):


Planisphère Céleste (Pencil on celestial star charts):


Der Gestirnte Himmel/The Starry Heavens (Pencil on celestial star charts):



The celestial charts are divided by many concentric circles starting from the centre – in keeping with this, the portraits have been formed by pencilling many concentric circles, placed and layered to suggest line and tone. On closer view, the smaller details blend with each labelled star shown on the maps.
Both works measure 30″ x 30″

About the artist:


Ed Fairburn is an Illustration graduate whose work is mostly figurative. He paints, draws and constructs using a flexible range of tangible media across a wide range of surfaces and contexts, allowing his practice to exist across various disciplines.

He says of his Map-based portraiture "Through my studies of the human form I examine the patterns and structures which exist across the body. I disassemble those structures and reconstruct them onto pre-patterned surfaces, including maps. The creative process involves synchronising both subject and surface. I search for similarities between the characteristics of the human figure and the topographical features of the map, resulting in a unique amalgamation."

Fairburn has exhibited internationally and has a collection of original works and prints available to purchase here. He is also able to work on a commission basis.

Ed Fairburn

Dissections by Angela Christine Smith Combine Photography, Ink and A Sense of Self.

Photographer and artist Angela Christine Smith has this series of five works in a project called Dissections which feature herself, her silver gelatin photography and her inked overlay anatomical illustrations, combined for a compelling effect.






detail from above piece:



A graduate of SCAD, Angela now lives in Ohio and is a self-employed artist and adjunct professor in mass media, digital photography and mulitmedia production at Central Ohio Technical College.

In her own words:
"Through my extensive photographic practice and experience I intend to be enthusiastically committed to the advancement of photographic education, dialog, and my own personal artistic endeavors."

Angela Christine Smith

When you get a chance, take a look at her sketchbook project for Art House co-op. It's wonderful and filled with her musings, photos and anatomical drawings.

Paperman - The Full Animated Oscar Nominated Short And Some Behind The Scenes Info.

Introducing a groundbreaking technique that seamlessly merges computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques, first-time director John Kahrs takes the art of animation in a bold new direction with the Oscar®-nominated short, "Paperman."



above: Paperman merges CG with hand-drawn illustrations for it's unique effect.

Using a minimalist black-and-white style, the short follows the story of a lonely young man in mid-century New York City, whose destiny takes an unexpected turn after a chance meeting with a beautiful woman on his morning commute.



Convinced the girl of his dreams is gone forever, he gets a second chance when he spots her in a skyscraper window across the avenue from his office. With only his heart, imagination and a stack of papers to get her attention, his efforts are no match for what the fates have in store for him.

Created by a small, innovative team working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, "Paperman" pushes the animation medium in an exciting new direction.



From the D23 blog:
Director John Kahrs began thinking about the basic premise for Paperman back in the early 1990s when he lived in New York City and commuted 38 miles each way to his job as an animator at Blue Sky Studios in Westchester County. “New York can be an intimidating place,” John says. “People tend to have their guard up when they’re going about their daily routine.

I can remember being on the train wishing I could make a connection with someone and have more of a social life. I would come back through Grand Central Station and go straight home. I kept thinking, ‘Here I am in the most amazing city in the world, and I’m just holed up in my apartment.’ Sometimes on my commute, I would see somebody and make eye contact and then that person would be gone forever. I started wondering what if that person was the one for me.

“I also began thinking about the notion of how a couple with a romantic connection would communicate across the big city,” John continues. “And this idea of throwing a paper airplane from one skyscraper to another was the visual hook that really got my gears turning. I started focusing on how this guy could reconnect with a girl he had made a connection with.”

John moved to California in 1997 to work for Pixar Animation Studios; the idea for Paperman continued to intrigue him. He developed it as a short film and edited together a rough version, but it wasn’t until he came to Disney in 2007 and completed his assignment as a supervising animator on the studio’s 2010 hit feature Tangled that things began to happen. Encouraged by the directors of Tangled, Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, and inspired by the artistic guidance of legendary Disney animator Glen Keane, John began to see new possibilities for bringing Paperman to the big screen.

Watch director John Kahrs talk about the drawings for Paperman:

Consider Your Mind Blown. The Phenomenally Realistic Graphite Drawings of Kelvin Okafor.

above: graphite drawing in progress by Kelvin Okafor

Kelvin Okafor describes himself as a "Passionate penciled artist. Highly interested in detail and precision." I'd say that's an understatement once you see the phenomenally realistic graphite drawings created by this UK Illustrator. As astounding as the finished pieces are (it's truly difficult to discern whether or not they are photographs until you look extremely closely), the evolution of the drawings shown on his blog, and as videos on his YouTube channel, will blow your mind.


above, clockwise from top left: Timeless, Undeviating and Mana drawings by Kelvin Okafor

I'm sharing my five favorite finished works of his along with some images of his work in progress for you to see what I'm talking about. He almost always begins with the eyes and finishes with the clothing. His ability to render hair is beyond compare. My mind is blown and after viewing these yours will be, too.

Mana
His second drawing of model Mana.
Medium: Graphite pencils/Charcoal/black coloured pencil/on sketching paper.
Pencil brand - Faber-Castell
Paper type - Acid Free Cartridge paper 17 x 24 inches


In progress:


Final drawing of Mana on board:


"Undeviating" (Emmanuel)
A drawing of model Emmanuel, entitled "Undeviating"
Medium: Graphite pencils/black charcoal/black coloured pencil/on sketching paper.
Pencil brand - Faber-Castell
Paper type - Acid Free Cartridge paper 18 x 22 inches


In progress:


Final drawing of Undeviating (Emmanuel) on board:


Aisha II
His second drawing of Aisha.
Medium: Graphite pencils/black charcoal/black coloured pencil/on sketching paper.
Pencil brand - Faber-Castell
Paper type - Acid Free Cartridge paper 17 x 24 inches


In progress:



Final drawing of Aisha II on board:


"Timeless" (Jamal)
A drawing of model Jamal, entitled "Timeless."
Medium: Graphite pencils/black charcoal/black coloured pencil/on sketching paper.
Pencil brand - Faber-Castell
Paper type - Acid Free Cartridge paper 17 x 24 inches

In progress:



Final drawing of Timeless (Jamal) on board:


Adam II
His second drawing of Adam.
Medium: Graphite pencils/black charcoal/black coloured pencil/on sketching paper.
Pencil brand - Faber-Castell
Paper type - Acid Free Cartridge paper 15 x 24 inches


In progress:



Final drawing of Adam II on board:


Kelvin is a graduate from Middlesex University with a B.A. (Hon)s in Fine Art. On his flickr profile he claims that "He aspires to create art as vivid as eyes could see."

I think he's done it.

See all of his work over here on his flickr account. 

A big thanks to Vicki Mayer for bringing Kelvin's work to my attention.