June Portrait Challenge

Hello everyone! Its been a while since I last posted, a million apologies for neglecting this platform. A lot of things have happened since my last post. I've graduated from graduate school (Minneapolis College of Art and Design) and have my MFA in visual studies in painting and drawing. It's been a whirlwind since graduating which is the reason why I've been absent from posting so much. 

After graduating I was burned out from all the hard work with my thesis (I will post my thesis paintings on the next one). I hadn't drawn much through my thesis and only painted for the most part. I wanted to get back to drawing and was thinking of ways to do it other than just doodling in my sketchbook. I decided to set a challenge for myself, one that I didn't think would be possible, to draw thirty portraits in the month of June all done in ballpoint pen. Essentially drawing one portrait a day, no matter how bad it was by the end of the day I had to be done and ready to post it. I asked all my followers from my social media community to submit their pictures, from there I was able to start the challenge. I wanted to get to know my online community better and see how this challenge brought us closer. It's a step in the right direction post-thesis work, I want to see how far I can push this idea of an online community and how we can know each other better rather than just clicking a thumbs up button. Still a work in progress but I have the wheels turning and that's important.

The drawings you see in this post is from all the portraits I completed in the month of June. Again completed only using a ballpoint pen in sketchbook paper. This challenge has taught me so much, I challenge everyone who reads this to push yourself with your work. Create challenges to make you feel uncomfortable, it's a very good thing to not feel sure what the hell you're doing. I can go on and on and on about everything I learned and why you should set goals for yourself, I think the work speaks for itself. 

Thanks for stopping by and viewing my work!

Leonardo

Leonardo

2018

Ball Point Pen on Paper

4" x 5"

Hi everyone! I've been super busy with being a new dad and a second/final year of graduate school. It's been a wild ride but one that I've enjoyed more than I would have expected. I have been posting more on Instagram, you can follow my account by clicking here. I have this ballpoint pen drawing up for sale. You can bid on it by leaving a comment on the post. Bidding will end on 2/22 at 5pm CST.  You guys can also see new paintings I have been working on that talks about identity and the Latin community.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Figure Study in Graphite

Figure Study

2017

Graphite on Paper

8" x 10"

Hi Everyone! Wow how time flies since my last post, I promise I do not mean to leave for such a long period of time, I've been super busy since May. My wife and I have had a baby and have been adjusting to the new daily routines in our lives, wouldn't change it for the world. Graduate school has been going really well it's been really busy with a lot of writing, research and producing paintings. I have been learning a tremendous amount during my time in school, it has been an amazing experience so far and can not believe I have one semester left to complete my Masters! I am getting to the thick of it with writing my Thesis paper and continuing my research phase. 

This drawing I completed not to long ago as a sketch and exercise, they serve to sharpen my rendering abilities and observe nuances within the figure. As you can see from the bottom picture the various stages the drawing goes through all the way to completion. 

I wanted to let everyone know as well that I'm way more active in my Instagram account than on Blogger, I wish there was a away I can automatically post onto Blogger from Instagram. You can follow me at @jonallerpaintings.  

Thank you for you stopping by and viewing!

Absence

"Master Copy From Anthony Van Dyck"

2016

Oil on Canvas Panel

11 x 14 inches

I have to start out this post by apologizing, I have neglected blogging for so long. There has been to much time between my last post and now.  So much has happened between now and then, not sure where to start?  I am currently enrolled at MCAD pursuing my MFA in painting/drawing. Going back to school has been challenging after being away for so long. Challenging in a good way, my colleagues and professors push me to get better every day. I am constantly around so many artist who all have different practices and not one is alike, this diversity brings fresh perspectives. I started in late August and can not believe the first semester is almost complete. The duration of the MFA program is two years, excited to see how this experience will influence my work during this journey. 

Since I have given you snippet of what I've been doing I also want to mention that I will attempt to get back into doing daily paintings. I do not expect to produce one every day but attempt to one or two minimum per week. I wanted to get back into having my paintings accessible through ebay as well, which is why I am selling this painting. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings and hope you enjoyed the painting.

Poseidon

Click here to purchase through my Etsy store

"Poseidon"

3 x 3 in

Ball Point Pen Drawing

The last time I was in Miami, FL I went with my wife, sister in law and her fiancee to a museum that had this sculpture. The lighting of it and design really grabbed me. The light hitting it was so natural and dramatic. I also loved the design of the face and beard, I knew when I saw it I had to draw it. This drawing is not an alla prima painting or drawing, it was definitely not done in one sitting. 

With this drawing I tried a different approach in the beginning stages. I started with placing the important markings of the subject stating each height and width to each section. I keep the lines light since I'll render over the lines and do not want them to show in later stages. Here is where the change comes in with the process, I start stating all the values at once very lightly and keeping the edges soft. What this does it shows me how the final value scheme will look, also it gives me a clearer path to take each section to a finished look. Then I take the top half of the portrait to a finish. I do the same with the bottom half.

Thank you for stopping by, happy Holidays everyone!

Saint Paul the Hermit

"Saint Paul the Hermit"

11 x 14 in

Graphite on Paper

It's been a long time since I last posted and apologize for the absence. I have been producing a lot of paintings and drawings which I'll share with you guys soon. I created this drawing for my show at Ciel. Excited to show at this wonderful venue. The show opens with an artist reception from 6 - 8 pm on August 28, 2014.

It was fun breaking this process down which was a little different from my previous process. The left picture shows the initial drawing with key points. These key points consist of width, height, length and shadow placements. The picture on the top right is where my process changed a bit. In this stage I would just go ahead and do big form modeling, instead I skipped that stage and just "roughed" in where the middle, light and darker values are in those key areas. Doing this allows me to get closer to the look I am going for with the whole drawing, kind of a rough draft of what the final should look. It's important to understand though I keep this stage light and not go too dark with my values as they may shift. Just because it is the "rough" in stage does not mean you give up the quality of the drawing, I am still going for subtle transitions and values turning with the form. The third picture, the bottom left, I start working on the smaller forms and bring the first top half to a finish. I shorten my strokes in this stage to get a nice subtle transition in the areas that need them. I keep going from darker to lighter values making sure each form is corresponding to its value relationships. The picture on the bottom right shows the same procedure applied to the beard. Once the beard is complete I look at the drawing as a whole and evaluate my values again. At this stage I put the final touches and call it done!

Thank you for stopping by. Cheers!

"Tony" ARC Salon 2013-2014 Finalists

Please email me if interested in purchasing

"Tony"

3 x 5 in

Ball Point Pen

I hope everyone is having a great start to their summer. I have been extremely busy, as usual, and have finally found time to post. Very excited to announce I am a finalists at the ARC Salon 2013-2014 Competition. You can see more of the finalists here.  I have always wanted to apply and finally was able to. The Art Renewal Center is an incredible site to find amazing artist who are trained in the classical method. You can also find accredited ateliers around the world at the ARC.

The story behind this portrait starts with shopping at Trader Joe's. I noticed "Tony" working there and approached him to draw his portrait. He was a little hesitant at first, but after showing him some of my work he agreed to pose for me. There is something unique that attracted me to draw his portrait. You never know when you find your next drawing/painting subject matter, but when you do you have to jump on the opportunity. "Tony" was a blast to draw, looking forward to painting his portrait in the near future.

Gesture drawings

Since revamping my blog I really have not put anything other than my alla prima paintings on here. I want this blog to showcase all the things I like to draw and paint. 

Tonight I went to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and attended their open figure drawing sessions. It's vital for all artist to keep up with drawing no matter how much one paints. Drawing is fundamental to everything. It's obvious when someone is lacking with their drawing no matter how well they can paint. These drawings are one to 10 minute gestures.

Rupert Brooke

Sold

"Rupert Brooke"

9 x 11 in

Ball Point Pen 

I wanted to thank you all for your nice comments from my last post, I really did not expect all your responses. Especially being gone for so long, thank you again everyone!

I did this Ball Point Pen drawing of Rupert Brooke, a famous English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War. Rupert Brooke was not photographed often and there are rare photos of him. He was an amazing poet for his time and even till today. I can't imagine if he would of lived beyond the age of 27 what other masterpieces he would of produced. I usually do ball point pen drawings in a really small format, but this was way out of the ordinary. I wanted to try something different by going bigger. I'm glad I did but it was a lot of work. When building up layers with ball point pen you have to be very careful by not pressing to hard with the pen or you'll get blobs of ink. It was a challenge to build up these subtle layers in such a large format.  I had a lot of fun with this one, not sure if I wanna go this big again but won't turn it down if it came my way.

Drawing and painting are relative, if you know how to draw then you can paint. I approach a painting the same way I do with a ball point pen. Always think about form, and how light wraps around the form.

Figure Drawing Demonstration

Figure Study

8 x 11 in

Graphite on Tracing Paper

I have renovated my blog to show more of my drawings along with paintings other than alla prima's.  I recently did a demo for my figure drawing class, I copied one of Anthony Ryder's figures from his book "The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing: A Contemporary Perspective On the Classical Tradition".  I did the drawing on tracing paper with just using 6b lead from the beginning to end.

 

"Bacchante & Satyr"

"Bacchante & Satyr"

9 x 6 in

Ball Point Pen

This is a ball point pen drawing I've been working for a while now, its from the collection of the M.I.A.  I usually don't draw multi-figures with ball point pen but loved the challenge of it, especially since I wanted to capture the texture from the marble with ink.  The draw back is that I did not have enough space on my paper to get the right side of the satyr's thigh, but that is the price I pay for drawing directly on with ink without any preparation.  With all my ball point pen drawings that's how I start with light short lines indicating where shapes will be placed.  I'm working on another piece right now and taking process photos, I've been getting a lot of questions on my process with these ball point pen drawings and hope with the process photos you can get a better idea of how I execute them.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing! 

If you notice the yellow tint on the right side of the drawing, that's oils from my hand another lesson to put something between your hand and the drawing.