Kelvin Okafor: My drawing inspiration

This man is the reason i started drawing realistic portraits. 

This is the link to his blog: http://kelvinokaforart.blogspot.co.uk

This is the link to his web page: http://www.kelvinokaforart.com

Kelvin Okafor is a British artist who draws very lifelike portraits of ordinary people and celebrities using pencil and charcoal. He was educated at St Ignatius' College in Enfield and Middlesex University, graduating in Fine Art in 2009. He lives in Tottenham, London.

I've researched this artist and viewed much of his work on the internet because he does what i would like to do and he does it well. When i first saw one of his pieces i was amazed and i found it hard to believe that it wasn't a black and white photograph, this is the reaction i wanted to re-create in viewers of my art work. I love how he manages to create such huge contrast and between light and it's complete absence, just using pencils to create such dark values and also create the illusion of light and reflection. Also how accurate he draws each inch of skin and the quality and detail is so consistent throughout the entire drawing with no sign of laziness or boredom even though a single one of his drawings could and often does take over 100 hours to complete. 

I plan on greatly improving my skills during this course and produce some very realistic portraits after more in depth research on methods and the process and just practicing, taking my time and bring the realistic lifelike feel to my drawings.

The images below are all pencil drawings done by this artist.

This drawing of Tinie Tempah was the first i ever saw by this artist, which caused my obsession with his work and with realism on a whole.

Introduction to Prosthetics

Today in class we all experimented and learnt a little about prosthetics and created effects such as lost fingers, bruises, aged skin, cuts, burns and makeup like the classic Joker from Batman. I experimented with DreamWax and paint to try create the effect of a hand wound and surrounding bruising. It was actually really fun and i greatley enjoyed taking part because i've always had an interest in prosthetics and going for the most realistic believable effects.

Using ordinary paint, only Blue, Red and Yellow, made the task slightly more difficult compared to if i had prosthetic make up and fake blood at hand etc... I had to mix the right colours to create realistic shades of blood and bruising which was difficult using three very bright colours. I'd say i did well to create a gory, fairly realistic  looking wound and i'm pretty pleased with my first efforts.

I'd certainly love to have a go at re-creating this effect using all the correct, most effective equipment so i could spend more time focusing on the wound it's self rather than going back and forth trying to correct the shades of blood and bruising.

William Hogarth - A Rakes Progress

The eight paintings in William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress (1733) tell the story of Tom Rakewell, a young man who follows a path of vice and self-destruction after inheriting a fortune from his miserly father. It was Hogarth's second 'modern moral subject', and followed the hugely successful A Harlot's Progress (1730).

The series is principally known through the engravings made by Hogarth from his paintings in 1735. In an advertisement published in November 1734 Hogarth invited potential subscribers to visit his studio in Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square) to see the paintings before subscribing to a set of engravings.

The paintings were in the possession of William Beckford until Soane bought them at auction in 1802 for 570 guineas (Mrs Soane bid for them at Christie's on her husband's behalf). The canvasses of A Harlot's Progress, also owned by Beckford, had been destroyed in a fire at Fonthill Splendens, Wiltshire, in 1755.

The paintings were originally hung at Soane's country villa, Pitzhanger Manor, Ealing, but were moved back to Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1810. In 1824 Soane re-hung them in his new Picture Room at the rear of No.14 Lincoln's Inn Fields together with the recently acquired Election series.


1. The Heir




This scene introduces our hero, Tom Rakewell, who has inherited a fortune following the death of his miserly father. Tom is pictured in his father's house which is beginning to yield up its hoarded wealth.

Tom is attempting to pay-off a servant girl, Sarah Young. She holds a gold ring, revealing that Tom has seduced her with the promise of marriage. Behind Tom, a lawyer, employed to compile an inventory of his dead father's estate, is stealing gold coins. A starved cat searches for food in a chest full of silver, whilst servants find treasure hidden in the fireplace and behind wall hangings.


2. The Levee




The second scene sees Tom in his new palatial lodgings where he is holding a morning levée in the manner of a fashionable gentleman.

Amongst the assorted visitors who have come to offer their services is a jockey, a dancing-master (with violin), a music teacher (believed to be based on Hogarth's great rival Handel), a landscape gardener, a poet and a tailor.

On the wall behind hang some of Tom's recent acquisitions three Italian paintings - Hogarth was known to dislike the fashion for acquiring Old Master works (which he branded 'dark pictures') at the expense of paintings by British artists.


3. The Orgy




It is three o'clock in the morning and Tom, drunk, is enjoying the attentions of prostitutes at the Rose Tavern in London's Covent Garden. A night watchman's staff and lantern lie beside him (souvenirs of a rowdy night in the surrounding streets). Two of the ladies are relieving Tom of his watch.

In the foreground a woman is undressing ready to perform poses on the pewter dish that is being carried into the chamber.


4. The Arrest




Tom has squandered his fortune and narrowly escapes arrest for debt on the way to a party at St James's Palace. It is Queen Caroline's birthday, also St David's Day, and the two bailiffs wear leeks in their hats to mark the occasion.

Tom is saved by Sarah Young, now a milliner, who pays his bail money with her meagre earnings. A street urchin steals Tom's gold-topped cane, whilst a lamplighter, distracted by the commotion, accidentally pours oil on to Tom's wig.



5. The Marriage




Impoverished, but accustomed to a life of luxury and excess, Tom decides to marry an old hag for her fortune. The shabby setting is Marylebone church, which at this time was on the northern fringes of London and well known as a venue for clandestine weddings.

Tom is clearly more interested in the pretty young maid then his one-eyed bride. In the background Sarah Young and her mother are being prevented from entering the church.

Two dogs in the foreground (one of which has lost an eye) present a grotesque parody of the marriage.


6. The Gaming House




Tom, wigless and cursing his fate, has gambled away his second fortune.

The setting is White's Club in Soho. Tom is not the only loser - a dejected highwayman (with pistol and mask protruding from his pocket) sits by the fire, and a nobleman, eager to continue playing, pleads for an advance from a moneylender.

The gamblers are oblivious to the fact that the club is on the point of destruction. Only the two croupiers appear to have noticed the smoke curling in from behind the panelling.


7. The Prison




Tom is now an inmate of the Fleet, London's celebrated debtors' prison. Beside him lies the rejected script of a play he has written in the hope of securing his freedom.

Other prisoners in the cell are trying similarly hopeless schemes. One man has written a treatise on how to pay 'ye Debts of ye Nation', and another is attempting to make 'fools' gold.

Tom, exhibiting the first signs of impending madness, has sunk into despair. The beer-boy harasses him for payment whilst the gaoler demands the settlement of his weekly bill. His wife scolds him for having squandered her fortune.

Sarah Young, who is visiting with her child, has fainted from distress at the scene.



8. The Madhouse




In the concluding scene Tom has descended into madness and is now in Bethlem Hospital or Bedlam as it was known.

He is surrounded by other inmates who are suffering various delusions. These include a tailor, a musician, an astronomer and an archbishop. In the door to one of the cells is a man who thinks he is a king - he is naked and carries a straw crown and sceptre.

Like the real Bedlam, Hogarth's Madhouse is open to the public. Two fashionable ladies have come to observe the poor suffering lunatics as one of the sights of the town.

The ever-faithful Sarah Young sits, weeping, by Tom's side.

Drawing Skeletons

On this day we spent time in siolence drawing either full or sections of Skeletons in certain poses from the angle we had our easels. It was the first observational drawing of the course under these conditions with spotlights and greater concentration. The images below are of my drawing, i struggled to see much detail as i didn't have my glasses causing me headache and possibly overworking areas of the drawing making it look worse but i still found it enjoyable and wasn't to upset with the outcome of my work. 

We used measuring techniques for these drawings and attempted using curved strokes of the pencil to bring a 3 diminutional element to the drawing rather than flat block shading. Next time in observational drawing i am going to focus more on not over working areas and focus on giving rounded features a spherical look on the paper instead of appearing flat.

After doing this, i think i would really enjoy life drawing every monday because i did enjoy this excercise and life drawing will be better purely because it's a new experience i've not tried before and it's a living model rather than a skeleton, therefore it litterally presents me with more life to transfer and express in my drawing.

Different mark making styles!

On this day we each had an object to draw, but using different styles such as using a rolling pin attached to my foot with my pencil on the end, taping the rolling pin to my head like a unicorn and drawing with the movement of my neck rather than my arm and wrist. It was rather funny seeing the entire class taking up different stances, adopting comical, unorthodox poses to create their drawings. Using strange ways and tools to draw on an easel was incredibly funny to be a part of. It was really interesting to do this because the marks you make are really different and not necessarily in a bad way, it's not as accurate but the marks have more life and are not small concentrated marks together to create an edge, but big bold continuous marks stretching the full length and come across a whole lot more natural and not so planned and flimsy.

My first drawing was one of a batman figurine, drawn using a few different styles. The charcoal was taped to the end of a cain and i held it at arms length, also the rolling pin on my foot and my head were used to draw part of it and shade it. My second was of my fellow student Dan, sat at his drawing board un-knowing of my drawing of him to begin with as to keep him in a more natural pose to work on the shape, size and placement of his features. It was quite difficult doing this using the charcoal on a cain, but i still enjoyed it and was surprised at the outcome as i think it showed a real likeness to the subject.

    

The images below are of my work and showing a couple of the tools i used to draw with.

The deconstruction of our Exquisite Corpse story

From our Exquisite Corpse story, we transferred it into random relevant drawings then created characters and storyboarded a story of our choice using the elements we had and presented it to the class. Then using out story boards we individually created and designed, we took to deconstructing them into a very large experimental, expressive piece of art, aimed to be powerful and have visual impact on a viewer .We were taking aspects of the story and creating a very expressive painting using different methods like painting with a sponge on the end of a length of cain, or using our bare hands to create expressive marks and straying outside of what we are used to and outside of our comfort zones.

 Although i normally like to be a perfectionist and create whatever imagine to the finest detail, i found this exercise pretty fun because there weren't really any boundaries to the tools and methods i used to create the images and marks. Also it was interesting to see how it turned out without planning or concentration, just using marks and unorthodox methods of painting.

My piece incorporates both characters and items from the story which i are vaguely recognisable such as deceased Mario, the eyes of the evil bunny Bun Dee and the Fire which is shown on the first image below, created with a sponge on a stick and wild expressive marks without much care or attention.

The Harley Gallery

Recently the Foundation class visited The Harley Gallery in Welbeck. In small groups we looked round studios, work spaces and exhibits, speaking to a lot of people acquiring information about their methods and what their certain speciality entails. Also speaking about the career path each area can take you down and the benefits and downfalls of the specific trade. I found it really interesting and enjoyable talking to a sculptor, whom in his career worked with actors and musicians as big as Mel Gibson creating props for "Braveheart", props for a Brian Adams music video and he created the head for Kryten on "Red Dwarf". The images below are only a couple of the many things i found interesting to look at whilst in and around the gallery.

I took a picture of this simply because it's so strange and i think it's a very shocking image.



I Love this piece! The method used is so simple to create this effect, just simple scribbles at different intensities covering more paper with ink or leaving more white space, to create different shades like darkening toward the edges like shown below.



This is a close up of the above piece showing how it is just scribbles with a ordinary biro.


 I think this piece is fantastic, it seems effortless like s quick scribble but its yet very lifelike and at a further distance looks more and more realistic and it's only at a close range you realise it's yet again scribbles used to shade areas and create depth to the art and i love that about it. My favourite aspect of this piece is that there is a really good contrast which i believe brings life to what could easily have become a ordinary drawing.

 I very much intend to incorporate these techniques into my own work and play about with the effects i can produce and see how much realism i can create without the use of blending graphite or charcoal, but with compact and scattered scribbles using a ordinary biro.

3D Class: Space, box experience

Today in our 3D class, we again experimented with and examined different aspects of space and how it's used and perceived. We spent an amount of time enclosed alone in large cardboard boxes. After my eyes adapted to the dark, I took to observing how light penetrated the space and gave the area a completely different appearance and created art it's self using reflections and the beams of light. I recorded the way reflections landed and where they landed, on a sheet of A2, stapled on the interior wall of my box. The light formed unique patterns across the sheet that changed each time i moved or rotated the box therefore changing the entry point, angle and intensity of the light penetrating the space.

We also recorded how the box made us feel, the affect it had on us in the moment and the thoughts that entered our minds whilst inside the box. Being enclosed in a space, removing the visual sense of the classroom, i found greatly enhanced the audio, noticing the sheer volume of students voices and the clarity of which specific noises can be heard with that added concentration. I spent time using my imagination to add a visual explination to what i could hear, when students were observing the use of space with plastic bags i could hear the rustle's and the coinciding laughter generated within the room, i used this to conjure up my own visual version of the events outside the box.

After some time we started looking at things differently, like how if someones inside a box and just their head pertrudes through the top it changes the way you precieve what your actually seeing, not knowing what could be hidden behind the box's walls, only having an expectation of what's normal and what fits the metaphoric boot. The possibilities are endless in ways to deceive perception and its also very simple. Today i did this on a mild scale, i combined two boxes vertically and stood on a chair with only my head visible neck upwards through the top giving the impression i was extremely tall, because it wasn't visible what was happening inside the box and how the space was being occupied, the first conclusion that comes to mind is that i am simply tall, because that's what you think you're seeing. Although you may have an idea of what's behind the box walls, you are in fact un-knowing of the chair's presence beneath my feet.

I enjoyed todays lesson and found it rather fun how being alone enclosed in a space creates a whole alternate world, letting the imagination run free and then the way you occupy the space psychologically manipulates spectators to adjust their perception.

Me inside my box

My markings of the below reflection:

My original view of the reflection inside the box 

Textiles: My first work- Introduction to textiles

In our Textiles class we've been experimenting with different methods of creating art. I first used a sewing machine in this lesson, in an attempt to draw a picture using that method of stitch, i found it quite difficult for a short while, whilst adapting to use the machine. Despite initial difficulty i did enjoy this and found it very different and interesting, mainly because i enjoy pencil drawing, using scattered or layered individual marks to express light areas or the absence of light wether it be in the shadows of a face or in a scene.

I've also in my second lesson experimented with a technique called Batik, which was unheard of to me until that day, using hot wax on a material to separate areas designated for different colours of paint and even to crack the dried wax and dip the material in paint to create an affect similar to dip dyeing. I used Batik to create a colourful Lion and i love the way my first attempt turned out so i very much intend to create something beautiful along the length of the course using these techniques as i love the affect and look you can create using them individually or combining these techniques, such as the work of Jenny Belton combing different textile techniques.

My work (first attempts):