Commissions

The following pieces of artwork are commissions I have created for my friends and the whole process of creating commission artwork is something that I really enjoy, more so at times than creating personal outcomes.

Friends Birthday Present. The 18th

When talking to a good friend of what she would like for her Birthday, the idea of a drawing was mentioned as my friend is also interested in art and so have created drawings in the past as commissioned gifts. The aspect of a drawing though I thought wouldn't have been much considering it was the 18th birthday and also because I had previously created drawings and decided to do something different as well, so I bought myself a canvas and began painting!

 

The finished piece I am very pleased with as I very much wanted to capture and evoke the life in the image and the subject as this is very much something I incorporate in my work as I love to paint the life in things, and so is more artistic with the markmaking, but to a point. Movements such as "Impressionism" came to mind and so was slightly influenced by that.
The eye was something I had in mind because, I didnt want to just paint it as it was, and so thought to paint the eye so that from a distance it is looking forward, but under close examination almost makes it so the eye is looking at you as well. This aspect I found very interesting and feel works effectively and creates a more interesting piece when viewed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following images are the development process for when I created the painting.
The initial sketch on the canvas was drawn from the reference picture above of my friends horse. 

 

 

 

 

 

First night of painting. Images from the first point of painting are shown here, things seemed more abstract here than I invisioned and so just kept painting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painting shown in a better light on another night and with more detail added to the face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 The drawing on the left was a piece that my friend drew of her horse. This drawing has had alot of appretiation and praise from other fellow artists I know and was done despite my friend not having taken any studies in Art. This was my inspiration as well for creating the "War Horse" piece shown below and a close up of the drawing is shown above on the right.

 

 

 

 

War Horse Drawing.

 

The War Horse drawing shown below was made for the same friend and was the first commissioned piece I made not long after meeting her. The thought of what to draw baffled me and then when reading through an issue of the "Radio Times" around the time this film came out, I saw the poster. This was to be the image.

The drawing is one I am incredibly satisfied with as I almost try to take everything from an image and put it on a piece of paper!

 

The client liked it as well which is the other reason for the drawing being successful because satisfying the client is always at the forefront for when I make commissioned pieces, despite them saying generally to "do it however you want."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Christmas Present for a friend. Well....A friend of a friend.

 

The Ink Drawing shown here was a freehand drawing done without any use of pencil that I drew for the same friend as a Christmas present that she would give to a friend of hers who she hadn't spoken to in a long time, if this makes any sense. The crazy world of commissions Ehh!

 

Her friend also has a horse and so was where the reference image came from and the ink I feel was the best medium for capturing the movement from the two animals and am glad I chose this medium and am very pleased with the way in which this commissioned piece turned out because of also wanting it to be a more artistic representation with the technique of Hatching/Cross Hatching and the ink as well that help to create that. This was one of two pieces that we both agreed on making for the present(s) and the second piece is shown directly after this one. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second Piece-Christmas Present Project.

 

For the second piece that would make up the Christmas present, I decide to create a pencil sketch of my friends friends two horses. For the drawing I decided to flip the left hand image so that the two horses are facing each other and creating a consistent composition. This piece was all about the detail and realism in a tonal study for me as this is very much what I strive to perfect, despite liking both realism and abstract/artistic forms of art.

 

 

The drawing went very well using only a HB pencil, alot of people I know say they hate this pencil. I see it as the universal pencil and also the working "everyday pencil" which I think is an interesting approach and uses nothing fancy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Portrait Drawing.

 

Another close friend mentioned about me making something from the reference image above that was taken as my friend is very much into all things relating the army and war history, and so I made the portrait photograph of my friend posing with his air gun and gear looking like a secret agent or something. The drawing below was one that I tried to create a direct copy and create the likeness and this was done using a HB pencil.

Some of the photographs were taken using a torch to act as an almost spotlight to add to and emphasise the subject matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Piece for the same friend from another picture taken of him with his paintball mask which was modelled from the "Army Of 2" game and his air gun, pellet gun.

 

 

The composition was the thing with this image that made me draw and create it, and the option for me to make the drawing more textural than realitic was a decision that Im glad I thought of and makes the image appealing because of the texture rather than solid colour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who Is He?

 

 

The reference for the third of a series of drawings and this time with different clothing still in keeping with the camouflage and the actual photograph was one I had to work with because of the composition again and the fact that there isnt a face and so adds to the mystery of who the person is.

 

 

This is to be a charcoal drawing which is an ongoing piece and so the images below are development pictures. The drawn box on them is something I may choose to keep to frame the picture and make the viewer study the centre area.