Source 1
Vince Low
Black biro
Date unknown
‘Cheeky Monkey’
Source 2
Vince Low
Black biro
Date unknown
‘Why So Serious’
Vince Low is a portrait artist
who focuses on celebrities and animals. Inspired by celebrities as they manage
to create a wealthy and happy life for themselves, despite the fact that the
ones he has drawn from suffered from dyslexia. As a young boy, he was diagnosed
with dyslexia which decreased his confidence in himself and in his school work.
However many people in his hometown, Kuala Lumpur aren’t aware of dyslexia,
which made him feel alienated and undervalued. When he grew up, he started to
give up on academic subjects and try out the arts; he became engrossed in
drawing and illustration and went on from there. Later on in his life, somebody
recruited him for a job that raised awareness for dyslexia; he then went on to
campaign for many other dyslexia campaigns. He wanted to use his artwork as an
example to everyone with dyslexia that there is something in them that is their
own specialty; they each have their own interests that make them unique. In
order to carry the meaning across successfully, in some of his compositions,
such as source 2, he uses famous quotes to help inspire younger people with
dyslexia and help them understand that even if you do have the learning
disability, it doesn’t have to control your life.
In order to create a good form, Low had to layer the
scribbles so that he could create darker tones when compared to the lighter
ones, where he had used less dense lines; as a result of this, he managed to
create depth and give the impression that the drawing is 3-D, when in reality
it is flat. For example, in the hair of the Joker in source 2, he has used
multiple layers of biro in the places where there are more shadows and darker
tones whilst on the face, there is barely any line as this is the lightest area
on the subject. In a similar way to source 2, source 1 even shows the
highlights in the monkey’s eyes, which enhances its form and indicates the idea
of it being 3-D. I believe that each piece has to be fairly large so that Low
can fit all of his details in the portraits (roughly, I think they would be
around A3). This means that he can improve the form in the drawing as he is
able to add more layers to the piece to create a much larger and distinct
differentiation in the shadows, midtones and highlights. The movement of the
marks are used to indicate the directions of the different features in the
face. For instance, in source 1, the marks for the fur are moving outwards
towards the edges of the monkey and in source 2, the marks are curlier in the
hair area as it shows how his hair is slightly over the top and shows form as
well due to the fact that we see where some of the hair overlaps other areas of
the hair.
I believe that he uses a monochrome tonal scheme as
it allows him to show tone successfully and also allows the drawing to call out
to the viewer more as it is very dark on paper when compared to pencil on paper.
This could encourage those with dyslexia to feel that it is ok to stand out and
that you shouldn’t feel embarrassed or alone, just because of your learning
difficulty.
Additionally, there is not a lot of contrast in types
of marks as there is only one continual line, however there is a lot of
contrast in tone. Meanwhile, the texture of each drawing appears to be quite
rough as the chaotic thin lines create some sharp, jagged surfaces. The chaotic
lines were used to show life and also to be free in his work, which is
something he was never able to do when he was young.
After looking at Low’s work in detail, I am going to
start experimenting with his style and mediums by firstly distinguishing the
positives and negatives about the different thicknesses of line and different
types of pen (e.g. biro, fine liner and permanent marker). I will most likely
then move on to create many more experiments, showing how I can show line and
then try different techniques to try and get more expressive work. Once I have
figured this out, I want to go on to try some figurative work of a subject
whilst still using some different techniques (for instance: not looking at the
paper and even using the tip of the pen to create less control).
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