For this research I looked into the suggested Graham Little and Elizabeth Peyton for this, I thought it was an interesting chose of two and I was fascinated by Graham Little using coloured pencils as I thought that would be good inspiration for me.
Graham Little was born in Scotland in the early 1970’s He went to study art in the early 1990’s and he studied painting, in post college he began in drawing and sculpting and shortly after his work was widely known for being realistic. His work is done with fine colouring pencils below is the pictures I have chosen to look into further:
I felt this portrait was very appealing, the angle of the face is more interesting than most and it shows more character than others. The precision of colour is so exquisite, every stroke of the pencil is done so perfectly and the different tones throughout just make the full piece look like a photograph. I really do find it amazing the effect he has made on this full piece of art, I love how he has used his work to also have the reflection of the subject in the mirror, I think this just adds to the piece and shows realism.
Elizabeth Peyton is an American contemporary artist, her work is primarily in painting, drawing and mark making. I felt this artist really stood out to me, the different marks throughout her work really appealed to me and I found this work so unique, the isn’t so much focused on being super realistic and that’s what stood out to me. Below is the piece I decided to look into:
I love the paint strokes which are so evident on the piece, I think the different marks she has made really create such a unique look in the whole piece and it really made me inspired to try my own take on this style of work. I do think that the different shades of grey she has used in the piece shew good tones and it creates a good effect for the shadows and defining the darker areas. I like how she hasn’t blended out the paint stokes and she has individual strokes going through the full piece. I also find it a lot more interesting that she hasn’t focused on making the full portrait look realistic, I believe it makes a more fascinating art piece.
Comparing them both makes it very interesting, I feel like as years have gone on people are less interested in making every single portrait realistic and artists have become more adventurous in the way they express art. The fact people are being so much more imaginative with how people express portraits and landscapes now. I do think the portrait from Graham is so amazing and the fact that it looks like a photograph is just extraordinary, they both use a unique way of angles for the portraits but the two different displays are very different and I do believe that is the impact of change in the years. It has inspired me to be more adventurous in my own art work and try to think outside of the box.
Sophie's OCA Art Work 