Tag Archives: Berlin drawing

Playing with pastels, drawing loved ones.

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l in berlin by Suzanne Forbes Aug 1 2017When you live in Berlin, everyone comes to visit!

Many Patrons will know the beautiful face of this loved one, visiting Berlin for a week or two. L. and I got to spend some sweet quality time visiting in my Berlin kitchen while I took it slow making this drawing.

As I continue to experiment with pastels, they become more integrated into the drawing as a whole. I really considered their usage and merits for the first time as I worked on this, trying to actually work with the medium a little. As opposed to riding roughshod over it and entirely imposing my comic-book aesthetic and technique, the way I usually do.

Maybe someday I’ll even make a traditional style, true pastel painting, with no ink at all!

Like I used to do at the Art Students League as a ten-year-old.

But that day is not today, as you can see from this drawing of the hubbin sleepin. I was so fired up from drawing L. that later that night I snuck in and drew my husband in the dim light of our bedroom. Hub is so used to me sneakin in and drawing him, he just opened his eyes, shrugged, and went back to sleep, being careful not to change his pose!D sleeping August 1 2017 by Suzanne Forbes

More mixed media experiments on some life drawings from Drink and Draw Berlin.

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Masked woman by Suzanne Forbes July 30 2017Just playing around, experimenting wildly with mixed media, composition and values.

Well, wildly for me. Since I spent my six-plus years of art school totally focussed on becoming a comic book artist, I never experimented with anything unless they forced me to, as a student.

I had some left over unfinished drawings from when me and Daria and Marina went to Drink and Draw Berlin earlier this year. I thought I’d finish them up by adding some big dark areas and sharp contrasts. I was like, hey, this mixed media stuff is mostly going well, why don’t I add paint to the drawings? Daria adds paint and ink and watercolor sticks and even coffee and tattoo ink to her drawings all the time and they come out absolutely beautiful.

Shhhh girl by Suzanne Forbes July 30 2017Ha ha ha NO. I added some highlights in unbleached titanium, which seems like a pretty innocuous thing to do…

It looked clumsy and awkward and tragic. Oh well! Pastels have some limited additive/subtractive properties so I just covered up the paint! It was on the top and bottom ones, for the curious. I think they look fine now.

Honestly, I think they look terrific. I’m having a blast. An artist I know from Instagram, an extraordinary young French courtroom artist and illustrator named Emilie Oprescu, said nice things about them. Since I have mad enormous respect for her work, I feel good about these playful experiments.

boy drawing by Suzanne Forbes July 30 2017Gonna keep messin around! It’s just art! Nobody’s heart is open on the table!

One of the producers used to say that, when I worked as a production coordinator at a VFX studio. He’d say, “It’s just a movie! Nobody’s heart is open on the table!”. Wise words.