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Suzanne Powers

9 Years Ago

So You Think You Spend A Lot Of Time On Your Art...

I wrote a couple of children's short stories that need full page illustrations. I made one preliminary drawing of the book cover with the main character and knew it would need a lot more reworking. My feeling was ughhh...I dislike having to spend hours upon hours on one drawing, redrawing and redrawing to get the look and feel I want.

I was watching Youtube videos on graphic art last week and one of the videos (which was excellent) was put out by an art school that teaches book illustration (I don't remember the name of the school) one of the commenters said Dr. Seuss spent one year on each of his illustrations!

His work is brilliant and as an adult I still enjoy rereading his stories and looking at his art in his children's books. That put my idea of reworking my sketch in a whole new perspective. If I want to do great art (who doesn't) then I will have to be more patient and stop groaning!

I thought I would share this bit of information in case someone else is struggling with an idea, know that you are not alone and what it can take to achieve brilliance.

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Dan Turner

9 Years Ago

Theodor Geisel (Dr Seuss) sometimes spent up to a year on an entire book, not on a single illustration. He worked as an illustrator/cartoonist in the advertising industry, and also as a political cartoonist. His output was prolific, so he no doubt knocked his illustrations out pretty fast.


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Janine Riley

9 Years Ago

It usually takes me about 3 weeks to complete one of my watercolor landscapes. A "quickie" for me is 3 days.

Everyone will tell you - a watercolor should be "loose, fast & free ".

But I don't work that way, & that isn't what I enjoy.

You do what you do Suzanne because that is what you enjoy. Face it - you love getting it "just right " . Lol. It's your style, it's who you are.

Art is for us to enjoy, it's not meant to be a report card.

 

Kenneth Agnello

9 Years Ago

Time to create and complete is immaterial. Nobody measures the hourly rate of production. V an Gogh painted very fast--often completing more than one painting in a single day. Others, like Leornardo, worked laboriously, very slowly to reach the final point of departure. For me, I work quickly; the spontaneity is maintained with definite, electrically-charged paint movement. The essence of a painting must be ascertained within one day. Later, I may revisit the canvas to touch-up, highlight, accentuate, or more broadly modify, but the essential character of the composition is set, albeit often in "wet cement." Finally, the size of the painting is immaterial as to time spent. I have work feverishly repainting and restructuring small painings, while other large canvases--perhaps 6 x 8 feet--evolved rather quickly and convincingly.

 

Roy Erickson

9 Years Ago

A full sheet watercolor might take a week - but after that - if it isn't done it goes back in the case for some other time. I bridle when my digital abstracts begin to cross the 4 hour line. After finishing one, and saving it, I sometimes go back and open the layers that were there before I mushed them all together - and rework it - raising and lowering some layers, deleting, changing the color or the 'curve', change it to a negative - reverse color - sometimes if quickly falls together - maybe a half hour to an hour - sometimes - I'm back to reworking the whole thing, deleting some layers and adding more - and back to about a 3 or 4 hour average. My goal has been about 1 a day, except for that period earlier this year when I was determined to build the portfolio/gallery of square format digital abstract by adding 100 new ones. Once started on a new abstract - I like to finish it - and only break for the throne room and the meal room.

 

Suzanne Powers

9 Years Ago

I apologize for not commenting sooner, I have been traipsing around trying to find out how to fix my blackened (seemingly dead) computer screen and have not been able to comment before now.

I didn't tell you I am not practiced at drawing and right now it looks clumsy, I will need to do many sketches. I am trying to convey humor and a character's reaction and it is not easy. Photography and textures is much easier I don't have such specific parameters! I've got to get the same characters looking somewhat the same in the other illustrations...ugh, but in the end it will be very rewarding.

Dan,

Seems as though I misunderstood! One year sounds more likely to spend on a whole book rather than one illustration Geisel would have to be very old before he could die! It still sounds like he spent quality time on his children's books, each book being about fifteen pages? His wife collaborated on the color schemes.

Janine,

Yes, I do like to get it right and there is the rub. I want to be more spontaneous in my work and less detail oriented but my nature wants it perfect, the two are constantly battling it out!

Kenneth,

I like to work quickly too, I try to avoid "overworking" an image although the perfectionist in me tries to step in and take it too far! It takes a lot of practice to be good and fast though.

Roy,

You sound like me, I spend about the same amount of time, only coming up for "air" for the necessaries!



 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

"Published over 60 children's books over the course of his long career also helped write several propaganda films, cartoon shorts, and feature-length film."

Large stories like "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" is 72 pages. Something like Hop on Pop is 24 pages.

Busy dude!

 

Suzanne Powers

9 Years Ago

Edward,

He sounds prolific, I didn't realize his books had so many pages.

 

Kenneth Agnello

9 Years Ago

Suzanne: Your are right--overworking a painting is a trap. In fact, often just as important as "putting something into" a painting is learning when to "leave something out," or when to simply quit. This is why I need to set on course and nearly wrap-up the essence of a painting within the initial sitting; spontaneity is best maintained in the required (for me) wet-in-wet approach, when all key elements are firmly established, molded and modified as I move along. Sometimes, of course, going back is needed, as fresh eyes focus on imperfections often made visible after a period of paint drying. I can't seem to resist, however, even after all these years, returning to old paintings---some even 20 to 30 years old--that were, if not total failures, pushed aside, in need of "fine-tuning," It's sort of like, now that I have gained 20 or 30 years of know-how, the experience will allow me to "make it better," to bring it up to date;" a scholarly new vision may perhaps elevate a failure or near-failure to a level of acceptance, right?. Sometimes this re-thinking leads to success. Other times I simply have muddied the waters. If I may be my own critic, diagnosing the ills of my work, I sense that success is usually quickly set on track. Struggling, flinching, re-working, abandoning, and then returning to the field often leads to greater confusion.

As I have stressed in my biograpical statement, my credo as a painter is, "Don't flinch. Paint it like you meant it!" I'm not always sure that I successfully practice what I preach.

 

Suzanne Powers

9 Years Ago

Nobody's perfect Kenneth! It's the process of trying that I admire. I totally agree on avoiding overworking and adding too much. I would only want to paint when it is wet also. I can only imagine (had one oil class in college) the difficulty of reworking a dry painting and trying to match colors, what a nightmare!

I think about oils but that is as far as I go - there has to be a real commitment which also includes the clean-up! I admire anyone who can produce art using oils. You are no slacker!

 

Robert Frank Gabriel

9 Years Ago

I am an impatient person. So I like doing candid street images, then post editing them for no more than a few minutes....It just depends on the person, what type of art, etc...Some writers take 10 years to do one tome. Some painters work for years on one painting. It's all good if it's creative.

 

Suzanne Powers

9 Years Ago

Robert,

Yes, I'm now involving myself with drawing, a whole other matter! Lol I would think the best street photographers are ones who do it a lot and see a lot of street photography for reference.

 

MM Anderson

9 Years Ago

I'm fairly impatient too. Most of my pastels are completed in between 5 and 10 hours. When I used to paint with oils sometimes I'd take a couple of days. At least oils don't dry fast so you can usually keep working pretty well. When I took oil painting in college it seemed to take forever to complete a project because I could only work a couple of hours a day most of the time. Sometimes I'd go in first thing in the morning and have the custodian unlock the studio for me to work. Now I like to start and finish a project in an afternoon when I have the best light.

 

Suzanne Powers

9 Years Ago

MM,

I admire you MM for painting with oils, even if it was in the past, that's an experience under your belt!

Francine,

The hours you spend on an image seems to be about the most of those that have commented, your work looks perfect.

 

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