Category: art

Reproduction of Hokusai’s ‘Cuckoo & Azalea’

Having put a coat of white paint on a couple of tall and narrow wooden boards that were framed and used to represent some ugly and soulless floral arrangements, I set to reproduce Hokusai’s ‘Cuckoo & Azalea’, which I had drawn and colored before (notably using watercolor during Drawvember 2016).

I sketched it rather precisely. We see the texture of the layer of white paint on the wood, as I used a foam paint roller:
Large white wooden board on a table next to gouache paint tubes, a brush and tiny plastic palette. A book is open at the illustration that I use as reference. A precise pencil sketch is visible on the board.

Black gouache for the strong strokes on the cuckoo, shades of blue and white gouache for the sky:
Photo of the part of the board that shows the cuckoo flying downwards which I painted black, and the sky painted in shades of blue over white clouds

Then I painted the bush of azaleas, and used some grey for the shadows on the feathers:
Board with both bird and azalea bush painted. Paint tubes are visible on the wooden table.

Finally, I used a Pentel black brushpen for the bush outline and the details of leaves and flowers:
Azalea bush now finished with outlines in black. Paint tubes are visible on the table.

Resulting 20×50 cm framed painting:
Finished piece framed.

Moebius monolith & blond Narcissus

Both of these Moebius illustrations, that I had seen at the exhibition in Toulon, were done on bristol paper, 82×128 mm, using alcohol ink Brushmarkers and Promarkers.

Sepia ink with nib for the outline of the Moebius bust monolith, and warm grey markers:
Grey ink drawing of a man carrying a bag and wearing a pointed helmet, who stands at the foot of a gigantic monolith in the shape of the bust and face of the artist Moebius.

Uni-ball pin pens (thin and really thin), and coloured alcohol ink markers for the blond Narcissus:
Coloured drawing of a young boy kneeling over water. His reflection is broken by a large ripple.

Reproduction of Moebius’ ‘Le voyage d’Hermès’

Moebius was commissioned by Hermès in 2011 to create nine illustrations for a campaign called Voyage d’Hermès. This is one of those and like the eight others, no Hermès product appeared: Reference illustration: A huge wave splashing at the top of which is a soaring man. A long bird with blue body and orange wings is next to him in the orange sky.
I sketched it on my 30×30 cm watercolor pad:
Precise pencil sketch on a large watercolour pad. Masking tape is applied at the top and bottom.
For the outline I used a 0.05 mm Uni-ball Pin pen:
Outline done in thin black ink
Then I washed the paper and applied some yellow and a bit of orange:
Yellow and orange gradient on wet paper for the sky
I continued painting the figure and the bird, the skyline, and started with greens and blues for the wave:
watercolour applied to the figure and the bird, the skyline, and greens and blues for the water around the wave
Blue and green gradients on part of the big wave
Final version, 30×20 cm:
Final work, tape removed
Gift ready and framed!
Artwork framed in natural wood
A couple days later, I tried a digital version of it which I finished on the same day, using Procreate on iPad Pro, 1878×1440 px:
digital version, color applied almost everywhere but at the side of the big wave
Final result:

Horse and young woman in kimono under Sakura

I found horse and young woman in kimono under Sakura, another beautiful work by Taiwanese artist Jung Shan:
Reference photo showing the artwork hung on a wall and a label underneath with the artist's name and a QR code
Although I have some rice paper, I am far from comfortable with it, and the ratio and size wasn’t what I wanted, so I sketched on my 30×30 cm watercolor pad:
Light pencil sketch on a large square watercolour pad
I used a Pentel black ink brushpen for the outline and strong parts, and was happy with how her faced turned out, compared to the pencil sketch:
Inking in black of the horse, woman and kimono
I used sepia watercolor and a fine brush for the tree branch and blossoms:
Branches and blossoms painted in sepia
With more sepia, some lamp black watercolor, and a regular brush, I painted the horse and the woman’s skin:
Horse and woman's face painted with a mix of sepia and black
And finally, I used quinacridone rose to paint the blossoms and the woman’s lips, and used what I had left from my sepia wash for the kimono, and the background. The rest of the kimono was painted with lamp black watercolor:

Here is the final version (23×30 cm), framed:
Final artwork in a white frame