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| Mark D. Ruffner © 2013 |
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| Mark D. Ruffner © 2013 |
If you look at the first pencil photo, you'll see that there are unevenness's and flecks of darker color. The progressively harder pencils not only add lead to the paper surface, but they also serve to smooth out the softer lead. By the third layer of lead (on the right), the gradation is becoming smooth.
Now here's the interesting part. In order to see the gradation better, I would unfocus my eyes. I found that if I blurred my vision, I could actually see pockets of unevenness better! So as I was creating very detailed pencil drawings, I was essentially alternating between sharpening my focus and resting my eyes in a meditative way. In hindsight, I was giving my eyes healthy exercise the whole while.
In fact I didn't wear glasses until I started sitting in front of a computer.
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| Mark D. Ruffner © 2013 |
I wish I had a dime for every time I've drawn a dollar!
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| Mark D. Ruffner © 2013 |
This illustration accompanied an ad that listed the many amenities of the Tampa Hilton, a lot of fun to do.
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click to enlarge | Mark D. Ruffner © 2013
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Here's an illustration drawn for an affiliate of CBS. It features Buck Rogers, Elvis Presley, pitcher Sandy Koufax, the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald, Flower Power, Orson Welles recording "The War of the Worlds," the moon landing, Jimmy Dorsey and Little Orphan Annie.
I hope you enjoyed my illustrations!
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I always enjoy your illustrations! Interesting about your eyes...yes, the computer is a nemesis to our eyes and necks. I love the shading info you gave...the combining of hard and soft leads is very smart!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comment, especially that it comes from you! Between blogging, whatever computer graphics I do and my computer log, I spend more time in front of the screen than anyone should. It's good to remind oneself to take regular breaks from the computer, literally — to take a hike!
DeleteDear Mark - you are so skilled with your pencil - I imagine that, like my youngest son, it is something that you have always been able to do from almost the moment you picked up a drawing implement.
ReplyDeleteWhen you unfocused your eyes whilst drawing that is precisely what I do now in order to read those wretched verification words, and it works.
Dear Rosemary,
DeleteI started drawing seriously when I was seven or eight. My parents had a friend who owned a paper company, and when I was that age, he brought several reams of bond paper, 2'x3' — it might as well have been a pot of gold.
I loved drawing maps (which I did earlier this month, showing the route of the Eastman Safari), and faces. Because my father had artistic talent, people said that it "came naturally" to me, but they were not around to watch the eight-year-old draw the same image a hundred times until he was satisfied!
Hello Mark, Drawings always seem like magic to me; this is an interesting lesson on how shading effects can be achieved. Drawings are so interesting because the artist can make a statement by focusing on or excluding certain details.
ReplyDeleteI like the mix of scales in the martini glass, which allows the humorous addition of the teapot, etc., but the radio ad has an opposite effect. By seeing the original contexts of the images, the surreal effect is controlled--we don't perceive the Flower button as twice the size of the heads.
--Road to Parnassus
Hello, Jim,
DeleteThere is definitely a sense of magic in the world of art, and I think that the primary "draw" for an artist is to express his or her own view of the world — or possibly to even create a new world. Relative to my own artwork, I spend a lot of time in another state of consciousness, much like having a waking dream.
Loved these, Mark! I could never master the pencil, so I'm in awe of this work. All I can say is: Wow.
ReplyDeleteI always did my own preliminary work in pencil of course, but much as I loved the freedom, I never could 'get' it to work for the finished product. Pencil alone, I mean. To see the results you achieved boggles my mind. But in a good way. :)
Dear Yvette,
DeleteThank you for your kind comment. When it comes to drawing, I am very much of a draftsman, and I work up finished drawings from tracings that are often amended. In that sense, I am very much like the artists from long ago who worked from cartoons. (When I did a posting last year on Michelangelo, it gave me comfort to know that the Sistine Chapel still bears the ponce marks from his cartoons!)
Wow, very impressive stuff, Mark! Did you attend an art school, or did you just learn mainly on your own?
ReplyDeleteHi, JC,
DeleteI learned a lot from my father, who had been trained as an architect. As a child and teenager, I read many how-to books, then I got a degree in graphic design from Carnegie Mellon University, which is now quite a computer school.
I learned a lot more working in advertising, and finally gained computer skills working for a publishing company. And as you know — particularly with how fast technology is on the move today — there is no end to learning.
I'm envious of your prodigious talent. As my eyesight deteriorates at an alarming rate, I should try a few exercises of my own.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment, Columnist. This is going to sound strange to say, but I'm guessing that peoples' eyeblink rates drop when they're "glued" to the computer. I'm sure most people would benefit from taking computer breaks more often. I try to remember but often quit after a daze of hours.
DeleteDear Mark, I've known it along. You are a fine artist. I was trained as a Topographic Draftsman in East Germany. So I know what I'm talking about, Your artistic talents come through in everything you do. It may be the re-design of your house or an addition (the perfect columns) for your porch or a commercial design for a client.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right, we all spend too much time on the computer. I'm closing it down and I'm taking my dogs for a walk.
Dear Gina,
DeleteThank you for those nice words! They are especially appreciated, coming from a Renaissance lady, as they do.
Perhaps I am allowed a little more time in front of the computer, since I have not allowed a television in the house!
Love seeing the process mostly! beautiful drawings.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stefan! For me the process is very much a meditation.
DeleteYou are so talented, Mark! Your illustrations are wonderful. Sharp and clear! I used to sketch and draw. In art classes, my teachers would always tell me to look away from my pad...try to use more free hand and relax. But I was never comfortable with that fluid style. Thanks for sharing ~
ReplyDeleteLoi
Thanks, Loi! My art teachers had us do exercises like that, too, but that was never my approach. And I will redraw something many times until I'm satisfied.
DeleteI had a friend who was a very successful watercolorist. Each year, he'd have a show with about a 100 pieces of art. When I complimented him on his prodigious output, he told me that he did a watercolor every evening. He said, "They never see the 265 that I throw away!"
Ha ha, so true! BTW, I find watercolor to be quite difficult and very unforgiving.
DeleteBeautiful drawings.. no way I could do that. I especially like the camera? case with the labels
ReplyDeleteNow trying to unfocus my eyes
Hello smr - that was an alumnium case, and I think it was for cameras. That drawing was actually several jobs in one because I designed the labels, which were then pasted onto an actual case for photo reference.
DeleteHello Mark,
ReplyDeleteThere is a timeless quality to a pencil drawing, classic and contemporary at the same time. I love those. You do have a distinctive style, you take a simple medium such as the humble lead pencil and create such a refined M. R. image - amazing. A friend once ask me " how come your hand can draw and my hand can't?" I said "It's not about the hand, it's about the heart".
Anyes
xx
Hello, Anyes,
DeleteI've thought a great deal about what transpires to make a person an artist, and I've come to the conclusion that much of the ability resides within the twin talents of observation and judging visual relationships.