Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Work In Progress Wednesday: Black and White

On my Monday post, the ever-commenting K said, among other things:
"You need to make owl WOMEN.

A series of owl women of different colors, breeds...a moonlit meeting or gathering of these wise women.

Hmmmmmmmm...I like that concept alot. I may have to tackle some version of that over time.
But! YOU should give it a thought too!
I think your bold style should be given a try in pure black and white.
Expressive and bold areas of negative and positive space. "

And my first thought was "Hey, that's a great idea! I love drawing Bird-People! And owls are wonderfully insane, it would eb a great challenge to try to anthropomorphize them and still try to get across the species differences!"

But I also thought: "Black and white, though? Me? No way, K!"

See, I LOVE good black and white work. It gets overlooked and undervalued, because color seems to be much more eyecatching to most folks. I'm not saying color is easier, because it's certainly not. But color is distracting, and it IS easy to hide minor structural flaws in bright cheery colors. Good black and white requires a very different skill set, and leaves nowhere to hide. And I am, basically, not good enough to pull it off.

And that's why I'm doing this, here. Because "But I don't have that skill!" is a great reason to avoid attempting surgery, but the worst reason ever to avoid an art project. And hey, who am I to argue with someone who thinks I have a "bold style"? I mean, the guy's clearly delusional, and it's bad to get in fights with crazy people.

So , K, this is your fault, here:



Aaaalll your fault.

(and hey, everyone! Go look at K's awesome art on Etsy!)

5 comments:

Rio said...

Ooh, very Sphinx-ish :) Oddly enough, besides her facial expression, my favorite part is the swirl on her shoulder. Well done!

mermaiden said...

it's striking. K threw down the gauntlet and you stared down the Crazy. huzzah for you.

Sophie said...

Just thought I'd let you know that my OWOH package arrived today.
Sadly, the tin was so hard to open that the hinge part broke. But everything else is in fine condition.
Thanks for everything.
Sophie

thehauntedstudiounderthestairs said...

I like it. Make more. I think you do B&W well!

Like I said...have a look at Felix Vollotton and his B&W work, engravings and what-not. And peek at others of his ilk.

k

Anonymous said...

I call shenanigans. Your black and white stuff was awesome enough that I noticed your 'folios of mythical figures from across the aisle, WAAAAAAYY back the first time I met you. I love it! :)