Sketch-A-Day 2012 Day 2

Sometimes I feel like your pieces just punch right through me..this is certainly one of those.

The toned rough paper works really really well for this style of sketching! Sketch? This is a finished piece, as far as I'm concerned. You could take it and create something else with it, but this can be framed and hung on the wall without any further enhancement or addition.

Technical bits first.. Of course, you've used the tone to great advantage pushing both positive and negative space using darker and lighter tones to create a really pleasant duo or tri-chromatic piece. The warm tone of the paper and the use of the..conte crayon? (just a guess) gives this not only a really soft and supple feel to the illustration, but it makes it feel as though it is alive, warm, breathing, made of flesh and blood. Couple that with the simplicity of the forms, shapes, and values, and it lets the mind create as much depth as it wishes to, which is one of the hallmarks of your work.

You always let the viewer dive as deep as they want to into your pieces, rather than keeping them held at bay with 2 dimensions or letting them get lost in enigmatic unkempt ideas. I'm...not sure I've ever seen you create either of the latter. All of your work has maintained a profound depth to it.

The downward-cast wings aligned with the angle of the shoulders, along with the lines forming the hair all lend a strong sense of downward-turned emotion. The fact that the back is shown, rather than the front, also suggests as the title implies, that this figure has turned away from waiting and is moving away from the implied subject. If you had placed lines that were pointing up and down into the background, it might have lent a sense of movement for the figure (which would have been further implied by the wings), as though they were flying upward away from the implied subject. Instead, you used tightly-knit hatching, keeping the figure firmly rooted on the ground even though they have wings.

Added to that, you used dark and light colors for the hatching. Having more of the dark hatching above the figure's head and towards where the figure seems to be looking towards or heading towards, it suggests that they are moving towards a darker area, and away from the light in the foreground created by the light hatching. Also, the light values you used on the shoulders, back, and wings also suggest that there is light above and behind the figure (where the viewer is located as well), but not necessarily in front of the figure. This seems to reinforce the downward feeling that hangs upon the figure. In addition, the hair hanging forward makes it seem like the figure's head is hanging forward somewhat, though not completely.

I think that leaving the face obscured and leaving the rest of the body ephemeral definitely focuses the attention upon the head, hair, and of course the wings. While the wings figure prominently, they force the viewer's attention upward to the head and hair, where the whole of the composition then plays out, lending all of the intended emotional impact to the viewer.

The piece is powerful and striking, both in the composition and in the components. I've seen that you have been using this paper and this technique and style quite a bit in the other sketch a day pieces, and I think that you use it extremely well! The point comes across like a meteor through the center of my being, yet it is done so softly, with gentle marks on rough paper. It's really impressive!