Not enough hours in the day

I'm on holiday at the moment, and yet I still can't find the time to make a painting! I'm making quite a lot of sketches, and got lots of inspiration, just need to make time to actually put brush to canvas. Too much time is now spent working on a new Flash version of my site. I'll try to get one done soon.

Jack Black and Orlando Bloom

Just so you know, I haven't just been sitting on my hands since I finished my last painting. I try to sketch as much as possible, but I've had exams recently so I've only managed a few. Here are two of my most recent. You'll have to wait and see if either of them will be turned into paintings:

Tags: painting |sketches |Jack Black |Orlando Bloom |caricature |drawmyface

Virtual Art caricature forum

As I was trawling through blogs looking for caricature sites the other day, I came across a link to this excellent caricature forum called Virtual Art. It gives artists a place to view each others work, exchange ideas, and generally pass the time of day. I've found it to be a wonderful resource and a source of inspiration for me. Everyone on there is really friendly, and you can even post your photo, and other artists will draw their own caricature of you! I've already been drawn three times (you can see them here), and I plan to post them all on my website once there are a few more!

Another good forum is The Loop

Exams are over tomorrow, so I can get back to the canvas! With all this new-found enthusiasm, it shouldn't be long before I knock out another painting.

Tags: art forum |caricature forum |painting |drawmyface

Help wanted

I'm always looking for ways to improve drawmyface.co.uk (apart from posting more artwork!) and I like the people who visit to tell me how I can do that. For example, a friend was browsing through the old drawmyface site last year, and noticed that the art in the gallery was displayed oldest first, and you had to click through 11 pages to get to the newest pictures! So when I redesigned the site, I came across the scrolling gallery idea, and now the first pictures you see are the newest ones.

This may seem a bit obvious, but when you're creating a website, it's easy to overlook little things that might not be very user-friendly. So if you find anything that doesn't appeal to you, or you have an idea of how I could improve something, please let me know. You can email dan@drawmyface.co.uk or sign the guestbook, or simply leave a comment on this page.

I look forward to incorporating your suggestions!

Tags: "web design" |drawmyface

Painter's block

It finally happened, I should have known it would. I only started painting just over a year ago, and miraculously every painting I have done has turned out really well (in my humble opinion). Ok, some started badly (Paul McCartney), but I was able to make the appropriate alterations while painting and turn it into something I was very happy with.

Yesterday, I made my first terrible painting!

I was getting bogged down with choosing who to paint, so I picked up the first sketch I came across, Faye Wong (王菲), and decided to go for it. Transferring the sketch onto the canvas proved more difficult than I anticipated. I wasn't having much luck with pencil, so I decided to try sketching in the outline using a very thin mix of Burnt Umber paint. I was enjoying this method, and may use it again in the future, but I still couldn't get the likeness as close as the drawing. I figured it would sort itself out as I applied the colour.

Two hours later, The canvas was covered in paint and I seemed to be losing the likeness the more I painted, not to mention getting more and more frustrated. Maybe it was the pressure of my exams looming next week, or just a lack of adequate planning, but I soon realised that the painting was not going to be salvaged. It was time to cut my losses and whitewash the whole thing. My first failed attempt! Guess I'm not perfect after all!!!

Tags: painting art |drawmyface

So many faces, so little time!

Who's next? Whenever I finish a painting, that's the question I'm faced with. Almost every day I think of someone else I'd like to paint, and at the rate of about one painting a month, the list ain't gonna get any shorter!

There's just too much choice! Putting together the scrapbook has shown me so many faces I want to update, be it a portrait I want to caricature, like Eddie Izzard, or something I was never satisfied with, like Noel Gallagher. And then there's the people who I've been meaning to paint for years, but someone else always got in the way, like Ronnie O'Sullivan, and Bill Murray. And then I'll think of someone who would be fun to caricature and I want to do it right away, like Jack Black or Peter Kay. But then, people have been complaining that there aren't enough female faces on the site, so I think maybe Lucy Liu or Kate Winslet. And that's before I consider all the friends and family I'd love to draw or paint.

Sometimes the choice of who to paint can get in the way of actually starting a painting. Recently, whilst working on my latest painting of Fan Wei, I've been making sketches of people I want to paint, and looking at them to inspire me as to who should be my next victim. As for who it will be, it's still too early to tell, but potential candidates are: Jack Black, Andy Lau, Owen Wilson, Faye Wong, Thom Yorke, Steven Chow, Lucy Liu, Mike Myers . . . the list goes on. Maybe I'll just throw a dart and see where it lands . . .

New Painting - Fan Wei (who?)

Ok, I realise that most of you non-Chinese people won't have a clue who this guy is, but I can assure you he is a celebrity in China! His name is Fan Wei (范伟) and he's a comedian and actor from North-East China, well-known for his role as a culturally-challenged restaurant owner in the popular sit-com 'Ma Da Shuai' 《马大帅》. He also played a starring role in the 2005 movie 'Gimme Kudos' 《求求你，表扬我》, and a cameo in the 2004 Andy Lau blockbuster 'A World Without Thieves' 《天下无贼》, in which he plays a hapless robber, trying to hold up a train using an axe! And he even scooped the best male actor award at the 28th Montreal International Film Festival in 2004, for his role in 'The Parking Attendant' 《看车人的七月》.

I guess you're still none the wiser, so here's a photo of the man himself, so you can compare the likeness:

I decided to paint Fan Wei firstly because his face is very amusing. If you've seen him on screen, you'll understand what I'm talking about. Even if you can't understand his slurred North-East mandarin dialect, you only have to look at his expressions and you start laughing. This is also the first painting in my Chinese series, to coincide with the translation of drawmyface into Chinese. I took photos of the painting at various stages, which will soon be on display in the drawing board, along with a description of the painting process. Sorry if you were disappointed to find an unknown face, next time I'll paint someone more well known! (I've also had complaints of not enough female faces, so maybe it'll be an Asian beauty!) Watch this space.

Anyway, I recommend that you check out some of Fan Wei's DVDs, and let me know if you like the caricature. Now it's back to the canvas . . .

Apologies

I've just tried to republish my homepage with the new painting on it, but I've encountered some problems while uploading. It seems to have only uploaded half of the file, so the homepage won't display correctly, and now I can't even connect to the server, I guess there must be a problem with it. I'll try again tomorrow. Sorry!