April 2007 Newsletter
Sorry that the newsletters are a bit sporadic. It’s been a busy and interesting time for us since the last newsletter, with two demonstrations, an exhibition and a new web site!
Demonstrations.
NSAS member John Dyer gave us a fascinating demonstration entitled “Digital Art” on March 27th. John showed us how he generates characters and illustrations for his customers, who include Walt Disney, Warner Bros. and Tomy amongst others. He showed us how he starts off with a rough drawing of a character, which is then subject to approval by the client. After this approval he has to submit a cleaned up drawing for approval. This is followed by an ink, again submitted for approval. Once this has been approved it is scanned onto his computer. He demonstrated his fascinating and rapid use of Adobe photoshop by creating a colour image of Winnie The Pooh which he dropped into a background and which was used to generate the printing layout for a Winnie The Pooh mug sold in Walt Disney shops.
In the second half of his demonstration John showed his use of Adobe Photoshop in a more traditional way by electronically "painting" a portrait of fellow NSAS member Tom Pike, using as a base a candid photograph of Tom taken at the previous week's NSAS meeting. Unfortunately (or fortunately, John said) Tom was not at the demo to see the portrait being done, however John has since presented him with an A3 colour laser print of the finished image.
See the images here
On April 10th Joe Hush gave us an inspiring demonstration on the use of acrylics when he painted a Scottish landscape for us. The painting was done on watercolour paper primed with gesso. Joe explained that this prevented the acrylic paint from soaking in and allowed him to make "adjustments" as he was going on or to remove paint to show a lighter background. Joe says "I tell my students that I have never made a mistake but I have made hundreds of 'adjustments'!". He showed us how he used reservoir paper in his palette to keep his paint soft and workable, and he also demonstrated how, rather than just mixing a colour to use, he kept the two colours adjacent to each other on the palette so that he could continue to blend the colours together and achieve small variations easily. Joe explained how his technique was to draw a pencil sketch from a photograph that he had taken at the scene. This allowed him to get a better feel for the tonal variation that he wanted to achieve in the painting. He demonstrated his use of a merely "damp" brush which allowed him to vary considerably the amount of paint he wished to apply to the painting.
see the images here
Exhibition
From all accounts our exhibition at St. Andrew’s on Saturday 14th April was successful. Detailed information on sales is yet to be made available, but the general consensus is that this was an excellent venue.
see the images here
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Sunday, October 1, 2006
October Newsletter
Welcome to our October Newsletter. This month should prove to be an interesting month for us with two demonstrations taking place. The first is on 10th (rearranged from 17th) and is by Roy Francis Kirton.
Having studied Art & Industrial Design, Roy worked in interior design before travelling the world & began drawing & painting in earnest. Having returned and had various jobs including an Art & Design unit, in 1995 he began working as an artist full-time. Since then Roy has exhibited in the North East, Edinburgh & London on an ongoing basis with many successful one- man exhibitions featuring architectural work in watercolour. He has had work accepted by the Royal Institute of Watercolour Painters in 2001 & 2003 which were exhibited in The Mall Galleries, London.Roy is now expanding the range of his work to include pastels and oils.
The second of our demonstrations is by David Haldane. This one on 31st of the month.
David studied graphic design at Northumbria University and after obtaining a degree began working for Northern Press newspapers based in South Shields. While there he developed a freelance career providing cartoons for Punch magazine, Private Eye and Oink, a Viz –type magazine from Manchester. After going completely freelance he provided daily cartoons for the Mirror and the Sun, while also developing “Agent Orange”, a comic–strip for Punch. He also created “Wild Child”, a strip whcich appeared in the Guardian. At this time his first children’s book “The Zoo Goes To France” was published by Methuen. After various other jobs, (which included writing for “Spitting Image”) he currently produces a daily business cartoon and weekly topical cartoons for The Times and a weekly topical column for the Sunday Express.
Having studied Art & Industrial Design, Roy worked in interior design before travelling the world & began drawing & painting in earnest. Having returned and had various jobs including an Art & Design unit, in 1995 he began working as an artist full-time. Since then Roy has exhibited in the North East, Edinburgh & London on an ongoing basis with many successful one- man exhibitions featuring architectural work in watercolour. He has had work accepted by the Royal Institute of Watercolour Painters in 2001 & 2003 which were exhibited in The Mall Galleries, London.Roy is now expanding the range of his work to include pastels and oils.
The second of our demonstrations is by David Haldane. This one on 31st of the month.
David studied graphic design at Northumbria University and after obtaining a degree began working for Northern Press newspapers based in South Shields. While there he developed a freelance career providing cartoons for Punch magazine, Private Eye and Oink, a Viz –type magazine from Manchester. After going completely freelance he provided daily cartoons for the Mirror and the Sun, while also developing “Agent Orange”, a comic–strip for Punch. He also created “Wild Child”, a strip whcich appeared in the Guardian. At this time his first children’s book “The Zoo Goes To France” was published by Methuen. After various other jobs, (which included writing for “Spitting Image”) he currently produces a daily business cartoon and weekly topical cartoons for The Times and a weekly topical column for the Sunday Express.
Friday, September 1, 2006
September 2006 Newletter
Welcome to our first newsletter of the 2006/2007 season. We hope to issue the newsletter on a monthly basis and in it we would like to keep you informed about any forthcoming demonstrations, workshop themes, outside visits, exhibitions and any other news. Contributions to the newsletter are welcome from any member. It could perhaps be a forum for ongoing discussions on how we all would like to see the society function and develop.
Workshops.
We have pencilled in some suggested workshop themes for our weekly sessions for those who want to take part. As these are only suggestions, we would welcome any other ideas for themes. These suggestions can be seen on the calendar on the notice board or viewed on the website. Click the link “Calendar Latest” for details of themes and upcoming demonstrations and other events. A list of themes from previous years is available for any member to look over for ideas.
Demonstration
Our first demonstration is 19th September by Sylvia Lynch an illustrator who works predominantly in pastels and gouache. She writes on her website www.sylvialynch.co.uk ;
“I was born in 1947 and studied at Newcastle College of Art in the 1960’s, and still live and work in Northumberland.I worked as a graphic designer in London and later in the North East as an Artist / Illustrator, until the birth of my first child in 1980.While looking after my three children I started to accept illustration commissions on a part time freelance basis. During this time I also developed a lifelong interest in painting wildlife subjects which, combined with my other interest in writing stories for young children, led eventually to making my first picture book.My work varies in scale from miniatures to murals and I received my first large scale commission for a commercial crèche in 1987.As a qualified teacher I hold occasional workshops and am currently a visiting lecturer in illustration.”
Workshops.
We have pencilled in some suggested workshop themes for our weekly sessions for those who want to take part. As these are only suggestions, we would welcome any other ideas for themes. These suggestions can be seen on the calendar on the notice board or viewed on the website. Click the link “Calendar Latest” for details of themes and upcoming demonstrations and other events. A list of themes from previous years is available for any member to look over for ideas.
Demonstration
Our first demonstration is 19th September by Sylvia Lynch an illustrator who works predominantly in pastels and gouache. She writes on her website www.sylvialynch.co.uk ;
“I was born in 1947 and studied at Newcastle College of Art in the 1960’s, and still live and work in Northumberland.I worked as a graphic designer in London and later in the North East as an Artist / Illustrator, until the birth of my first child in 1980.While looking after my three children I started to accept illustration commissions on a part time freelance basis. During this time I also developed a lifelong interest in painting wildlife subjects which, combined with my other interest in writing stories for young children, led eventually to making my first picture book.My work varies in scale from miniatures to murals and I received my first large scale commission for a commercial crèche in 1987.As a qualified teacher I hold occasional workshops and am currently a visiting lecturer in illustration.”
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