Al Fresco Art Club Challenge, March 15, 2020 -- Copy A Moebius Masterpiece

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With the return of freezing weather, the Al Fresco Art Club met in the comfort of our warm kitchen. I chose to copy another Moebius masterpiece from his awesome The World of Edena. In this image Stel and Atan are being sucked into a what looks like an energy star. The original image looks simple, but getting the textured gradient looking good is not simple as I thought it would be. What a fun challenge!

Al Fresco Art Club Challenge -- Copying a Moebius Masterpiece

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I cleaned up the original drawings using Clip Studio Paint.

I cleaned up the original drawings using Clip Studio Paint.

For several weeks I’ve been copying — or trying to copy — scenes from The World of Edena, by Moebius. The protagonists, Tel and Atan, best friends, are deciding whether to go down to an abandoned asteroid colony that shouldn’t be abandoned.

I made two versions of the picture. The first was a little misshapen, so I made a second effort that turned out a little less misshapen. Practice makes better. Moebius’ drawings, in this book, are elegant and clean — and difficult to duplicate.

Below are my pen and ink drawings colored using Zig Clean Color markers.

My original drawings: pen and ink with Zip Clean Color markers

My original drawings: pen and ink with Zip Clean Color markers

Buddy Butterfly Questions Authority: "What about my quest?"

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Buddy protests the idea of moving back to the North. He wants to go South.

Buddy protests the idea of moving back to the North. He wants to go South.

I’m experimenting with using gradients to apply colors…subtle gradients like those use by Moebius in The World of Edena. In trying to duplicate his gradients, I can see that I have a heavy hand with it comes to using color. In copying the style of a master, I can start to learn how to self edit.

I have a Huion VT-220, a 22-inch pen display that I’m using for all of the finished art work. I wanted a Cintiq, but couldn’t justify the expense. The Huion was reasonably priced. It has some flaws that I can live with: a cheap-feeling stylus, a lot, a lot, a lot of parallax, and disturbingly reflective screen. It has a lot of cosmetic cons, but it works for me.

The most annoying problem is the reflective screen, which de-saturates colors and casts a white haze over everything. This is really noticeable during the day when the sunlight streams into my work space and the white walls dominate the screen. The Huion is okay at night when I can darken the room. Compare the Huion to my 2017 iMac. Both displays are turned off. The iMac screen has an anti-reflective coating, while the Huion is plain glass screen. The Huion came with a matte screen protector which made the reflection problem even worse.

IMG_0994.jpg Huion GT-220 V2, 2017 iMac, reflectivity

Chore Day, Feb 22 -- More Shopping, Cooking, and Sketching Moebius Again

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I’ve been copying from The World of Edena by Moebius. This is one of the frames on page 263.

I’ve been copying from The World of Edena by Moebius. This is one of the frames on page 263.

It’s chore day and I did my chores. I shopped at the co-op, cooked meals for the family for the coming week (should last about four days, at least), and did a little sketching. I’ve mentioned that I’m fascinated with Moebius’ clean style and use of color. I’m particularly interested in his imaginative landscapes and how he does so much with so few lines. He’s a model of efficiency and lack of clutter. When he does use hatching, it’s just the right amount at the right time. I find his work amazing.

Al Fresco Art Club Challenge: Sketching and Inking

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Today’s art club challenge was to sketch and ink. I decided to copy a page from Moebius’ The World of Edena. I’m a super fan of his clean line style, with no shading, minimal hatching, and flat colors. Since I’m learning to draw landscapes, I copied page 167, which shows an aerial view of a meadow in the midst of a forest stretching to the horizon. I added my three characters at the bottom left as they hustle across the open grass.