Category: Blog Posts

MINI TUTORIAL: Art Nouveau Hair

I did a panel on how to draw Art Nouveau style hair at JordanCon this past and thought I’d share the info and results of what I drew there live!  

DISCLAIMER:  This is by no means the definitive guide of Art Nouveau hair, but my own interpretation!

Inspiration Sources

If you want some gorgeous hair to get your creative juices flowing, check out the art of Alphonse Mucha and any number of the artists I’ve mentioned in the Unknown Nouveau article series.  I also have several favorite study sources up at my Art Nouveau resource page.

Before You Begin…

Think about your concept.  Art Nouveau isn’t all pretty ladies and flowy lines. Much of it has deep symbolic roots.  What visual elements or symbols could you tie into your piece?

Art Nouveau at its visual core is about flowing lines, graceful curves, and aesthetic design, in addition to the spiritual and symbolic roots of the movement.

Source: I used an image from this evocative set of stock art by ArtReferenceSource  as a base for the figure in this tutorial.  Check out the rest of his gallery for even more amazing poses for use by artists!

The Bad Example

I made this bad example by randomly drawing lines (and even then, it was really hard to make that beautiful base pose look bad!).  I consider this an ineffective use of the Art Nouveau style because it is directionless, does not serve the compositional flow, and generally just looks a mess! 

A Good Example

Now this is better!  You don’t necessarily have to have the hair of a figure flowing out everywhere in your composition.  This approach shows that you could have a more subtle stylized and graphic take on the hair where it has become more of a decorative shape than a realistic object.  

Perhaps she is a river goddess and her hair has become the flowing waters?  Perhaps she is a volcano goddess and her hair has become lava flowing down the mountain?  Weaving the hair into your background elements is one way you could bring in interesting visual elements and symbols!

Another Good Example

Here we have a more traditional take on Art Nouveau hair where the lines of the hair all curve back into the face, the heart of the piece, in this case.  Nearly every line in the image is smooth, curving, and gentle.

I’ve also abstracted the ends of the hair into curly decorative strands, which is another very specific quirk of the Art Nouveau style that you’ll see Mucha and his students use a lot.  These curly ends add a decorative touch to the hair that’s a bit more interesting than just ending the hair.

I’m sure I could write more about this topic, but I’m ending this tutorial here before it becomes a book!  I hope it gives you some basic ideas of what to do with your Art Nouveau style hair.

Do you have any favorite examples of Art Nouveau style hair? Share in the comments area, as I’d love to see them! 

Unknown Nouveau: Jane Atché

Featuring another unsung artist of the Art Nouveau movement, French artist Jane Atché .  I couldn’t find much about Atché, other than that she was a pupil of Mucha, Jean-Paul Laurens and other artists while studying at the Julian Academy of art in Paris.

The influence of Mucha definitely shines through with her decorative and compositional flare.  Atché brings her own sense of fashion and elegance to her figures.  I only wish I could find a broader collection of her work!

See more artists in this article series here .

Unknown Nouveau: Amelia Bauerle

This week’s unsung artist of the Art Nouveau movement is Amelia Bauerle.  Originally from London, Amelia worked as an illustrator and artist.  Like many artists of the movement, she also submitted works to the The Yellow Book magazine, a collection of works of poetry, art, and other creative work of the era.

Bauerle’s work shows such delicacy of emotion and handling of line that makes her work shine, even if the majority of her work was created in black and white.

Her mermaids are a fortuitous inspiration for Mermay this month as well!

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Read more of my Unknown Unknown series here .

Unknown Nouveau: Alexandre de Riquer

Today’s unsung artist from the Art Nouveau movement is Alexandre de Riquer , another artist from Spain where he was one of the prominent figures of the Modernism movement.   He was born to an aristocratic family and studied in France.  

It was in France and London where he fell in love with the graphic design of the lithographic posters of the Art Nouveau movement, a relatively new form of advertising at the time.

His prolific body of work spans everything from posters to magazines to book covers!  Saying that, I wish I could find a broader collection of his work.  There are so few I could dig up!  I suspect I will have to dig through collections in Barcelona to find more of his beautiful work.

I love the way Riquer’s art shows more of the Japanese influence on Art Nouveau with his simplified lines and relatively flat colors.

See more articles in this series here.

Unknown Nouveau: Gaspar Camps

While I’m busy grinding away braincells on Lady of July ‘s many flower buds, I wanted to introduce you to another Art Nouveau artist I had never heard of!  Gaspar Champs hailed from Spain and spent a large part of his career in France.  He was very heavily influenced by Mucha, so much so that he became known as the ‘Catalan Mucha’.

Like my previous feature of Élisabeth Sonrel , I love how Camps brought his own unique flair to Alphonse Mucha’s line style.  At times, Camps’ work feels more abstract with his figures melting into the details of his images.

I also love the sense of light bouncing in his more painterly work.  What a joy it was to discover him!

If you want to see more of these art features, view them all at once here .

UNKNOWN NOUVEAU: Élisabeth Sonrel

While I’m busy working on Lady of July, enjoy a look at this stunning work by female Art Nouveau artist, Élisabeth Sonrel!  While she was active at the same time as other artists of the movement, I had never heard of her until recently. 

She reminds so very much of Mucha with her line work, but has a sense of decorative layout that feels more detailed and layered at times.  Definitely check her out for a lovely array of painterly and graphical work!

If you want to see more of these art features, view them all at once here. 

PS.

I plan to start doing these little ‘Unknown Nouveau‘ entries, so I have something to share during those slow times when I’m busy working and don’t have much to show yet!  The art keeps me inspired and is something I love sharing with you all. What do you think?  

Also, do you know any other Art Nouveau artists I might not have heard of?  Let me know in comments!

Find Me at JordanCon 2017!

 
If you’re going to JordanCon this weekend, here’s my schedule and where you can find my work!
Hope to see you there!  It’ll be my first convention in awhile and I’m excited to be back in the scene.
 
– Find my Fantasy Art on dice bags and playmats in the Print Shop (in the Art Show area)
– Find my Art Nouveau birthstone series on prints in the Print shop, as well as matted and signed prints in the Art Show.
– Find my birthstone themed masks on display next to the matted prints in the Art Show.
 

My Panels at JordanCon:

FRIDAY, 4-21, 2:30-3:30 pm, Monroe.
 
Painting an Art Nouveau Lady
 

I’ll be showing a video, talking briefly about Art Nouveau, and giving a demo on drawing Art Nouveau style hair!

SUNDAY, 4-23, 1-2 pm, Washington.
 
Selling Your Art Online
 
I’ll be on a panel with multiple artists discussing everything related to selling art online, from Patreon and beyond!

[VLOG] Print Shop Prep!

Here’s a quick peek recorded live of the print shop prep for my next convention! I haven’t done a convention in a couple of years since I took the time to create a new body of work, but getting back into prep has been like riding a bike!

Some advice on buying and saving money:

– BAGS & BACKING – You can get backing made out of spare matboard for cheaper than the white boards. The Clearbags branded bags are also cheaper and have a tiny URL for the bag company on the adhesive strip.

– PRINTING & INK – I bought my Epson printer at Staples where they let me trade in an older printer for a $50 discount. They’ll also let you trade in used ink cartridges which earn you store credit vouchers. The Staples brand paper is also much cheaper than Epson branded paper and has more weight to it!

The Epson Artisan 1430 I have lets me print up to 13×19 inches, which is a nice size! Anything larger I will have printed at http://www.iprintfromhome.com. Tell them Angela Sasser sent you to earn some referral bucks!

(CORRECTION: They DO have gloss photo paper at Staples, but it never seems to be in stock at mine and I prefer matte or semi-gloss for printing my art, regardless.)

– MAT CUTTER – The Logan Compact Mat Cutter can be found in many of the hobby stores in the US like Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Joanns, etc. where you’re generally able to use a 40% off coupon on them!

(NOTE: I have a master list of my favorite suppliers with reviews of each online here.)

SUPPLIES:

– Epson Artisan 1430

– Staples Premium Matte Photo Paper

– Avery Full Sheet Labels

– Logan Compact Mat Cutter

– Paper Cutter

SUPPLIERS:

– Bags & Backing

– Custom Playmat Printing

– Dice Bags

SKETCH DIARY: Lady of June

My journey continues this month with Lady of June!  Lady of November represented a milestone of high quality and attention to detail in this series that was hard to beat!  How could I make the rest of the Ladies as good as November?  That was the difficult challenge I set for myself as I moved on to this month and ventured into the first of the Ladies of summertime!

After the dark whimsy of Lady of November, we’ve returned to the Ladies of Summer!  Admittedly, this Lady has been a challenge thus far.  While November had a lot of amazing imagery to play with, June is more of a subtle time of year.  Its celebration of youthfulness and young brides reminds of May’s themes, with one of the only unique events being the Summer Solstice.  I’ve been struggling to find Lady of June’s unique visual story to make her different enough from the other Ladies, but that’s what research is all about!

MOOD BOARD

One of the most prominent themes I found while researching the Summer Solstice via Pinterest image gathering was the celebration of Litha and the Sun Wheel.  The Solstice celebrates the reigning power of the Sun.  The Sun Wheel was an old tradition where a representation of the sun was set aflame and rolled down a hill to symbolize its shifting phases.  As soon as I saw the Wheel, I knew it’d be the perfect inspiration for the mandala window!

RESEARCH NOTES

Research for the Ladies always begins with the origin of the month’s name.  In this case, June was named for Juno, the goddess of marriage and well-being of women.  She was also wife to Jupiter/Zeus.  I look across different cultures and see what about this time of year strikes a chord with humanity.  June in the northern hemisphere is a high point of Summer, a time of divination, and a powerful phase of feminine power.

Writing notes helps me to search out the imagery and symbolism I want to include in this Lady’s painting.  I think of flowers, plants, and brides.  The symbol of the well as a tool of divination also struck a chord with me, which is why it shows up so much in my thumbnail sketches.


 THUMBNAIL SKETCHES

Many of these thumbnails explore using water in a well or pond as a divination tool.  2 and 4 feel a little close to Lady of March, with 4 feeling a bit more like a representation of Vanity.  3 captures a more traditional bridal theme, while 1, 5, 6, and 7 seem to capture that theme of a bride searching for her love in the reflection for a more unified theme.  In the end, my favorites are 1, 5, and 6, with 5 and 6 having the clearest shapes and classical feel.

Character Posing

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NEW PATREON PERKS: Private Discord Server

Dear Patreon Patrons. Welcome to my secret Patreon Parlor!  The Patreon perks for those pledging at $5 and up now include access to a private Discord server where you can come chat with me about life, art, and more!  (Don’t have Discord yet? It’s a completely free chat and messaging app for your computer and phone that you can download here!)

Here’s a little rundown of what you can do on the server.  Watch the video for a visual look at Discord and/or read ahead to see what it’s all about! Read more