Author Archives: Becky

Death masks at the NPG

Posted by Becky

I went to the NPG store in Southwark (so really just up the road) to draw some of the incredible death masks that they hold.  I chose Benjamin Disraeli as I wanted an example of a head in wax… here is, looking like a bit of a Hammer horror villain!

Disraeli, by Robert Glassby – wax cast by John Theodore Tussaud
Disraeli

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also had a good look at William Makepeace Thackeray, a blurred and indistinct face, I wondered if he had had a stroke as his mouth was contorted. In plaster this time and more like a relief (he had a hook on the top of his head for hanging). There was also a cast of his disembodied hand:

I will go back in a few weeks hopefully to do some more drawing, I find these really inspiring and I most certainly need some real examples for my Georgian story idea.  Great to be left to do a few hours in an air conditioned treasure trove!  Very many thanks to Tim Moreton for all his help, and for showing me many of the paintings in the store – plus the interesting conversation!

In the studio

Posted by Becky

Sorry rubbish title for a post but it’s 11pm and I’ve run out of ideas!

Here’s another drawing in the same vein as last week’s…as Dave said, the printers would love me for my paper choice, but I’m persisting.  The colour is still a bit lurid though and I’m having to make it a bit more punchy to show up on the screen.

Not so sure about this one as the last but I think it has atmosphere.  I want there to be something filmic to the drawings too and I reckon a sequence will improve it.

I’m going to the NPG store in Southwark next week to draw from some death masks, all being well, so I am a mixture of slight nervousness and excitement at the prospect!  Weirdy Wednesday coming up…

Coloured pencil

Georgian drawing

Posted by Becky

I needed to start trying to explore what the illustrations (and characters) might look like for my book idea.  I wanted to get an atmosphere in my head and this drawing has helped.  I’m not sure where this would exactly fit in at the moment, but I don’t think it matters and I like the ambiguity of it.  I’m still imagining a contrast of approaches, so colour, line, wash etc., depending on what feels right.

I looooovvve my black paper but it is difficult to scan, I need to make some more trials – much easier when it’s just white pencil.  I think colour pencils can be magical.  I have the most beautiful catalogue from an exhibition called Mystery and Glitter at the Musée D’Orsay which is full of pastels, and I’m trying to get something of this feel in my drawing…so not aiming high at all then.

I feel like I am getting into the research too – but I don’t need an excuse to watch the masterful Barry Lyndon again on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I still love it despite Ryan O’Neal’s Oirish accent…’dey rush’d Pell Mell over the rampayrts’…etc. etc.

Coloured pencil

Cover design

Posted by Becky

It was great to get back into the black drawings last week, and I really liked the results.  I thought about the ideas I had had a while back for a series of Daphne du Maurier covers, and especially for The Scapegoat, and revisited them for a moment.

I intended the portrait to be less figurative and thought about manual and digital blurring, but the drawing I came up with worked as a repeat pattern, like a carte de visite sheet, but one that is printed slightly off-register.

Sounds a little ridiculous but I feel like it is a step forward in understanding how I can marry the strong sketchbook work I have with something more contextual.  I think the concept works…opinions welcome!

Scapegoat cover design