Alex Nery - Printmaking, drawings and the like

Live model II

2011-08-03T16:09:00.000-03:00

Live model, charcoal and white conte on toned paper. Awful photograph as usual.

Tania (unfinished)

2011-08-03T16:08:00.000-03:00

Portrait of my aunt Tania, pastel on paper. It's already finished though this picture was taken with a better camera. It isn't mine so the finished piece hasn't been photographed yet.

Charcoal study II

2011-04-29T16:15:00.001-03:00

Charcoal study done in 4 sessions, each of about 2 hours at the live model class I attend to with professor Bandeira de Mello. Vine charcoal and charcoal pencil on Canson Mi-teintes.

Aline II - Conte carbone

2011-02-22T16:13:00.000-03:00

Finished this one last week, carbon pencils on canson paper. Outlined the drawing from the model and then finished the shading at home from a photograph. Scanner didn't get the whole drawing, though.

Teresopolis - studies

2011-02-22T02:51:00.000-03:00

Traveled with a few friends from my study group to a neighboring city this weekend, where one of our friends owns a place. It's situated where a recent natural disaster killed over 1000 people. Though the destruction is visible everywhere, it's still a place of inspiration and with vastly beautiful nature. Shame we did not have much time. These are a couple of the few studies I was able to make there, both charcoal on paper (Strathmore and Arches respectively) and from nature.

Woodcut study

2011-02-22T02:45:00.000-03:00

A study done on photoshop for a future chiaroscuro woodcut. The portrayed is my relief and metal engraving teacher Marcos Varela, aka Marcão. Few details still need refining.

Landscape study II

2011-02-10T13:35:00.000-02:00

Another study, this time on Art Rage. Turned out to be much harder than I thought, and the end result isn't quite what I expected. Wanted more of a loose brush work and a faster painting, but turned out pretty loaded in the end.

Landscape study

2011-02-09T01:51:00.000-02:00

Semi-quick study of a landscape on photoshop so to not (completely) forget how to paint with the program. Will try different things with the next one, maybe on art rage for the painterly effect.

Charcoal studies

2011-01-15T13:59:00.000-02:00

Couple of charcoal studies, first from life, two friends I study with, done with vine charcoal and charcoal pencil. Last is a Hans Holbein copy done with charcoal pencil.

Pastel Portrait - Fernanda

2010-11-23T11:24:00.001-02:00

Took me about 3 months from start to finish, mainly because of the blouse pattern which would have me simply not do anything for days until I regained courage to continue. Some WIPs of this over at the portuguese version.

Pastel on paper, 50x70 cm

Jurgen Gustav Woogglesforth

2010-08-05T15:35:00.001-03:00

Portrait of a friend.Wish I had used the smoother side.

Pastel on Canson Mi-teintes, a tad larger than A3.

New Lithographs

2010-08-05T14:26:00.001-03:00

A more refined and a more experimental approach for these 2 lithographs I did this semester. I wanted to experiment all the way but I could only manage to give up the details when I had almost no time left, which resulted in the man with the guitar. The tusche wash didn't come out as I'd hope it would but it was a very fast work so that's a victory to me at least.

The first one was inspired by the Carl Sagan book The Demon-Haunted World, representing science as a candle (or lamp) in the dark. More works on this theme will come on a different technique, copperplate etching and engraving.

Digital Woodcut

2010-08-05T14:21:00.000-03:00

A digital illustration for an independent CD cover. I was supposed to simulate a Woodcut.

Lady Henegham

2010-07-11T13:09:00.002-03:00

A Hans Holbein, the younger study over one of his pastel portraits, The Lady Henegham. Since I had only a black and white reference of the drawing I went loose on the colors, taking as reference his other portraits and the costumes of the time but not letting myself completely locked by it. In the end it took me so long to choose a color for the dress that I lost interest in the drawing and didn't finish it appropriately.

I used the smooth side of the Mi-teintes paper this time and it was very pleasing. It allows for a smoother drawing without much stumping and I can achieve finer details as well.

Pastel on Canson Mi-teintes, a little larger than A4.

"Maniere noir" study

2010-06-22T00:43:00.001-03:00

A pencil study for a maniere noir lithograph.

Jsmael Mengs

2010-06-12T15:10:00.000-03:00

Another Mengs study, this time of his father's portrait. I decided not to smooth it out with a brush and left the pigment pure with the paper breathing beneath it. I think I like it better this way.

Pastel on Canson Mi-teintes, a tad larger than A4

Mengs

2010-05-23T17:54:00.000-03:00

This is a self-portrait by the german painter Anton Raphael Mengs. Decided to copy a few paintings in between drawing the portraits so to not lose the familiarity with the colors and to study them from old masters too. If you don't look at the original it actually looks decent. Except the head now looks kinda big.

Pastel on canson mi-teintes, a little larger than A4.

Uncle

2010-05-14T18:50:00.000-03:00

Another quick pencil study for my next pastel portrait.

Pastel #4

2010-05-03T14:35:00.000-03:00

Study started at class then finished at home.
24x30 cm

Couldn't find the name of the photographer, picture was torn from the newspaper.

Katrine

2010-05-02T21:17:00.003-03:00

Portrait of a friend that lives in Corsica.

Pastel on Canson Mi-teintes

Gustav Woogsmeister

2010-04-27T15:57:00.000-03:00

Pencil drawing for my next pastel. Portrait of a friend.

Pastel #2

2010-04-27T15:56:00.000-03:00

This is my first real drawing with pastels that came before the little boy's face on the previous post. It was based off a Colins Vincent painting but I don't advise you to compare them both. The neck looks awfully long. I was eager to try the colors and didn't finish the drawing correctly first. I used a brush to smooth the colors throughout the entire process but after a while the pigment would just fall off altogether instead of fixate and mix. It was a good start to get the feeling of the medium but I don't intend to finish it. I used pastels of the brand Toison D'or and a regular Canson paper. All of the following pastels (including the previous posted one) will be made with Rembrandt pastels on Canson Mi-teintes paper.

Pastel

2010-04-06T23:50:00.002-03:00

I took a Painting class this semester and am going to focus on Pastels. My main goal is to master the technique which I'll try mostly through portraits and move on to live model drawins later. This is my first study with a new set of pastels I got and my second ever pastel drawing. The drawing doesn't look very good but the colors sure are vibrant :)

Live Model

2010-04-01T14:36:00.000-03:00

I've just recently began live model classes with a brazilian master painter called Lídio Bandeira de Mello. He taught at the National Academy of Fine Arts and most of my teachers to this day studied under him. It's a privilege to be his student not only because he's over 80 years old but also because he is a great person.

This is my first finished drawing, each session is 3 hours long and each pose lasts for 3 sessions. I couldn't finish shading so I brought it home and tried to darken it a bit, the back and the left leg mostly. I think a little more understanding of human anatomy could have given me a better result.

Pencil on paper, A2 size ( roughly 50x70cm )

PS: still ought to learn how to take pictures of b&w drawings.

Abstract Study 1

2009-11-02T18:08:00.001-02:00

Another study, this time (almost) monochromatic, of about 30 minutes on photoshop.

Androide Jonas 1.0 Beta

2009-10-04T14:10:00.001-03:00

Supposed to be a study of photoshop's brushes but it reminded me of Andrew Jones' paintings halfway into it so I went on to try it out. While it's extremely fun to do, once you get things more defined it gets really hard to know where to go and what you should add and what you shouldn't. I'm posting it even though it's unfinished, but I pretend to do more of these paintings to see how it evolves. PS CS3

Digital study

2009-07-14T12:08:00.004-03:00

A 1h 20min study done in photoshop over a 20 minutes charcoal drawing by Henry Yan, off of his book Henry Yan's figure drawing.

2009-07-13T16:27:00.002-03:00

My light, thy shadow

1/10

Chiaroscuro woodcut on Imbuia. (reduction block)

10.6'' x 13.4'' (27 x 34 cm)

Printed on Japanese rice paper (10) and Rives Natural white paper (5)

A portrait of a very special person.

Process of # 8

2009-07-13T16:17:00.004-03:00

These are some pictures of the process. There's a copy of the first color printed on paper, the matrix inked and ready for printing with the second color, the same matrix inked black for a comparative test with the xerox drawing and the cleaned matrix. Despite being it my first time with a colored woodcut, I didn't have much trouble with it. Making the register with a needle is much easier on a wood surface than on a lithographic stone. But I did notice the same problem I had with lithography, printing on highly absorbent cotton papers. They tend to inflate and thus ruin the registry. The japanese rice paper however kept the same size all through the process making it easier to match the colors correctly. The only frustration was finding the right color that I wanted for each one. It took a lot of time and I still just couldn't find the right hue for the yellow and the mid-tone. Mixing colors isn't easy.

Finished version to follow.

Woodcut # 8

2009-07-13T15:37:00.006-03:00

For the last woodcut I decided to do something special, a technique I wanted to try since I saw it for the first time on an old engraver's book. It was a portrait by Albrecht Dürer using a technique called chiaroscuro, meaning something like light and shadow (aka reduction block print). The person I used for the portrait is also a very special person for me.

I did the study on photoshop, based of a photograph. I painted each color on a different layer, overlaying (not the layer effect) the darker colors above the lighter ones so that the silhouette would remain flawless. I then printed each color separately, black and white with a regular printer and used it as a base to carve by transfering the drawing to the wood with thinner (the solvent transfers the toner from the xerox to the surface you're transfering to). The separate colors shown up above are the ones made with photoshop. For this technique you have to print all copies of each respective color, as many as you want, at once before transfering the next layer of the drawing. You have to do this since you're using the same matrix for every color.

2009-07-13T15:35:00.000-03:00

Butterfly whistle

P.A.

Woodcut on Ipê-tabaco.

12.6'' x 14.2'' (32 x 36 cm)

Printed on Japanese rice paper.

Woodcut # 7

2009-07-13T15:30:00.002-03:00

Pen and ink study followed by the first test print. Finished version to follow.

2009-07-13T15:28:00.000-03:00

To the opposite side

P.A.

Woodcut on Imbuia.

12.6''x 10.2'' (32 x 26 cm)

Printed on Japanese rice paper.

Credits to the model and protographer Mjranum.

Woodcut # 6

2009-07-13T15:23:00.003-03:00

Pen and ink study. There are no test prints for this one as it was one of the last I started carving, towards the end of the semester, so I just had to go all the way. Also because I already had the whole idea on paper before I started carving and didn't want to lose the drawing on the wood by inking it before the carving was done. Finished version to follow.

2009-07-13T15:20:00.001-03:00

I'm not satisfied with this one but it had to be finished to a certain point and printed. I might work on it again. Still untitled.

Woodcut on Ipê-tabaco.

13.4'' x 11.4'' (34 x 29 cm)

Printed on Japanese rice paper.

Credits to the model and protographer Mjranum.

Woodcut # 5

2009-07-13T14:52:00.002-03:00

Pen and ink study followed by the first test print. "Finished" version to follow.

2009-07-13T14:49:00.001-03:00

Darling, dawning

P.A.

Woodcut on Imbuia.

11'' x 13''. (28 x 33 cm)

Printed on Japanese rice paper.

Woodcut # 4

2009-07-13T14:47:00.001-03:00

Pen and ink study followed by the first test print. Finished version to follow.

2009-07-13T14:43:00.001-03:00

Urial

1/10

Woodcut on Ipê-tabaco.

11.4'' x 11.8'' (29 x 30 cm)

Printed on Japanese rice paper.

Woodcut # 3

2009-07-13T14:40:00.003-03:00

Pen and ink drawing followed by the first test print. Finished version to follow.

2009-07-13T14:34:00.002-03:00

Sand top

P.A. (Artist's print)

Woodcut on Ipê-tabaco (Zeyheria tuberculosa).

10.6'' x 13.8'' (27 x 35 cm).

Printed on Japanese rice paper.

Credits to the model and photographer Mjranum.

Woodcut # 2

2009-07-13T14:23:00.003-03:00

This is the first pen and ink study, followed by 2 test prints after the cutting had started. Finished print to follow.

At last

2009-07-11T18:28:00.005-03:00

Howdy there, folks. Long time no see, huh? Another semester has gone by (well more than a semester) and while I tried to upload most of my stuff on the portuguese version of the blog, I just didn't have the time to have this updated. No more of that now. Since it's been such a long time and I haven't had any visitors for quite a while I won't bother posting it exactly the same way as I did before. I'll ignore chronological orders and post the progress of each work individually from study to its finished state. Up until now I managed to finish my 8 woodcuts assignment (way past due) but I haven't had any time to organize the pictures which I'm going to post yet. I'll take them tomorrow with the right lighting and try to post them soon after. Toodles.

- The one up above is still unnamed, about 13" x 14", woodcut on imbuia (Ocotea Porosa), commonly known as Brazilian Walnut. Printed on Japanese rice paper.

Edit - Entitled now - Give me wings, so I can fly -

New ways..

2008-10-22T22:10:00.002-02:00

Technology is amazing. A "cheap" program and a mouse. I decided to test the possibilities of digital painting these past few weeks and the results proved to be surprising. I started with the painting I originally had on gouache, scanned it and painted over it on Art Rage. It's a huge difference, although it does have similarities. But specially the ease to start and close, no cleaning, no preparing. I don't know when I'll be back to the original one but it won't be till I'm done with this one.
PS: some of the strings of hair on her face and the body of the kimono was made with my new Genius Tablet. :)

Second step

2008-09-22T20:16:00.001-03:00

First step

2008-09-20T20:14:00.000-03:00

That's it. ;)

First test print - Woodcut #1

2008-09-18T00:39:00.001-03:00

Long way to go..

Portrait (matter of honor)

2008-09-15T21:59:00.003-03:00

This is a study for a gouache painting. Pencil on a prepared canvas. I say it's a matter of honor for it's the portrait of my girlfriend. I'm going to start this Saturday, and as soon as I finish I'll post the result here.

2008 Woodcut Study #1

2008-08-28T19:17:00.002-03:00

This is a study for my next woodcut. Background still on the work. I'll try to post the test prints as I progress.

Woodcuts

2008-08-28T15:54:00.003-03:00

It took me 3 semesters to finish Xilogravure I, or woodcut as you call it. Only now I've found a better way to identify with it's technique. Between Woodcut and Lithography initially I identified more with Lithography, which took most of my time during these 3 semesters thus making it difficult for me to finish 8 woodcuts in one. Took me 3 semesters, but I did it. These are just 4 out 9 I did, but I consider these more finished than the others, which I still want to work on. I think a significant difference in style is noticeable between the first 2 and the last ones.

Studies, or the lack of..

2008-08-26T00:47:00.004-03:00

I decided to copy some drawings to practice and to kill the time, while i thought of ideas for my next project at school... I think what I like the most really is to copy, it's been such a long time, I forgot how much I enjoy doing it. The first drawings are Durer's, and the samurai is from a digital artist called Daarken.

note to self - the amount of proportion mistakes only emphasizes just how much we cannot stop practicing...

Lithography II - 2008/1

2008-08-12T23:00:00.002-03:00

The last 3. The colored one was very hard to do, but unfortunately didn't pay off very well in the end. 5 plates. I'll try to post my woodcuts done along these 3 periods next week. See ya there.

2007/2 Lithography II

2008-08-10T01:00:00.002-03:00

These are the first 4 of the second period of lithography. The litho stones used here are slithly larger than the A3 format, giving a little more freedom to work with, but still i was too limited and did not fully use the space available. They're also in order, from the top.
On this period i couldn't finish the task of 8 prints, finished only 4 and had to continue on lithography II the following semester.

Continuation (2007/1)

2008-08-10T00:57:00.002-03:00

The last two prints of the period, a little larger. Titles are - Tribute to Alighieri and Pallas Athena.

First period 2007/1 - Lithography

2008-08-09T20:55:00.004-03:00

I thought it would be fair to show everything since the beginning instead of picking the ones i judge the best, I'm sure that i will improve tremendously from now on, so, no shame at all! These were my first 5 prints in the workshop of lithography. The first contact was fun but not very successful... In chronological order, from the top.
Titles of the second and fifth - Expansion and Keisei, respectively. - to be continued-

By request

2008-08-09T20:14:00.000-03:00

So...

I'm here, we're here, to anyone who wants to look, comment, criticize, etc. I don't have anything special to show, just a few prints from my 3 periods in the workshop of the University of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro where i study Printmaking.

I'm also a student of the very illustrious illustrator Mr. Ricardo Guimaraes who encouraged me to make this s...ite.

Well, until then, who knows, next month maybe.