Chris Hack Artblog

Tools Of The Trade...

So here's a couple of sketches... Ballpoint pen on cartridge paper... Of my drawing hand!

A good way to start the week... And a diagram of what I hope to be doing a lot of this week! Pen in hand so to speak!

It's For You...

Another page from the pigma Moley. A drawing of a hands free phone. Some nice things in this piece that I really like. Especially with bits and pieces of the rendering! You get a nice tonal quality with Pigma pens.

Anyway that's about it from me for another week... 

In a few weeks it's Christmas, Then New Year, so I want to get all decks cleared of any unfinished pieces, and any unposted work, ready to begin with my new project in 2010. Something I'm working on right now, getting a head start on. I cannot believe how quick this years flown by... It's almost time to get festive...

Spielbergian

Another sketch from the abandoned pigma pen moley... This time of the legend that is Steven Spielberg!

I quite like the tonal quality you can get with these pens. Especially when your rendering a face like above. All in all, this was a lot of fun to work on. Especially the beard! Great fun to draw!

My big issue with these pens is that generally the final product is quite loose and scratchy. Not the painstaking rendering I normally strive for.

But I still quite like the result of a few of these pieces, which is why I'm sharing...

Flower Chase The Sunshine

A while back I started a Moleskine just for Pigma pens. Before it went downhill, and eventually abandoned, I was able to produce a couple of pretty nice sketches. Which I've decided to share. The medium has a fantastic quality, but can be a tad punishing, and not at all forgiving to mistakes!

So I thought I'd share my results as a way to get the ball rolling in December. I was a bit hit and miss last month with the blogging. I promise to do better this month.

Struggling For Words...

I love posting work on my blog. Sharing pieces I'm proud of in some way. Building up an online portfolio, one step at a time. But sometimes I struggle with writing anything meaningful...

Maybe I need to work on a project that ties in closer with my little corner of the internet... Like a step by step or something. Something that lends itself to some sort of insight...

Until I figure that out, here's a portrait of Nicole Kidman... Pencil on cartridge paper. With no words of wisdom. No witty comments. Letting the art speak for itself in a way.

Back next week with something new...

 

Unfinished Business

Back in the summer when I was beginning to put together this blog, I set about designing a header for my site. Now I've tried to do a few of these and they always present a real challenge! It's hard to sum up an artists work and create something that looks cool.

The effort at the top of my page was the result. Sort of...

In fact it was a crop of this...

 

Now I always planned on finishing it... I really did... But I never got around to it. Until today.

Now the reason for this partly comes from my belief that this would make a nice portfolio piece in itself. But on top of that, I really wanted an image for my Facebook Fan Page. The link to which is on the right. The header image for that being more appropriately portrait than landscape. So I hit on the idea of just using the right side of the Moley image.

Which meant at some point I had to finish it... Put in the hours and come up with the rest of the piece. Which now I have!! And about bloody time too!

Now in finishing it finally, the top half got tweaked a bit. A bit of spit and polish! So I've reloaded the blog banner with the latest version. Which means I can finally move on to something else. Having got another drawing done and dusted.

Anyway, thought I'd share the whole creative endeavour. Which I suppose is kind of the purpose of this blog! The creative journey!

Lights... Camera... Action!!!

I'm back... I'm here... I haven't given up drawing... Or blogging... Just been finishing off a lot of things. And spent a week or so flu'ed up! But now I'm on it full time. Drawing. Blogging. Arting. Striving for fresh challenges. Looking to the future.

And here's a new drawing to get the ball rolling. An SLR camera. In blue ballpoint pen. With a little black chucked on for definition. And it was a lot of fun to work on. Really enjoyed it. Anyway, back to it... Lots more to do... :O)

Unlocking The Truth

Here's a doodle of my house keys... Blue and black ballpoint pen on Bristol Board. 

I'm currently working on getting back into the swing of drawing.

My theory has always been that creating is an addiction. You work artistically for a period of time it ends up becoming compulsive... Which then means you get into the groove. Getting more and more done! And being in that groove is important.

The other fact is though that it's very easy to get out of the routine! Easy to loose that compulsion. Which is something I've been struggling a bit with lately. Finding other things way to distracting.

But I recognise it. And now I'm trying to make amends. So hopefully this weekend a corner will be turned creatively to get me back in an arty frame of mind!

Something Old... Something New...

So here's a new piece... And an experiment of sorts... I've been spending some time playing with simple lead pencils on normal cartridge paper. Nothing fancy. Just your standard arty tools of the trade. Mainly because I feel that as an artist, I really don't do enough plain old drawing. So this was an experiment working on a subject I find quite easy, an experiment with textures and pencil tones. And I find, the more drawings I do, the more comfortable I become with the medium.

So as much as I keep falling back on the tools and subjects I've become comfortable with, I also can't wait to just draw... Really draw... A whole load of new things!

A Place To Meet

This is the last of my landscape type drawings from my portfolio. And it's definitely something I want to return to very soon. This drawing and the one of the country cottage, I think, came out pretty well. And architecture and how buildings and places are constructed is a fascinating subject for me.

Exploring subjects is something I'd love to develop into a project of sorts. Like a journal of what things are. How they're put together. To have a place where I can develop interests without worrying about an end product or final piece. One to think about I think.

So, on a more technical level, this is based on some photos I found through the power of google. Ballpoint pen on bristol board. A4 in size like most of my work.