Task 1 - Benevolent Boy

 

Task 1 - Benevolent Boy

Correy Taylor
 Benevolent Boy, 2020
Watercolours on paper
21cm x 29.7cm

During one of my first Illustration lessons, I was given the task to illustrate the word 'Benevolent'. The definition of Benevolent is someone who is kind and warm-hearted. My initial idea was to create a portrait that showcases a benevolent person. I experimented with drawing portraits from life and from secondary resources including my attempt of the 100 Portraits challenge, that really improved my confidence in drawing portraits and the challenge allowed me to overcome my fear of portraiture. During my third year of university, I would like to experiment with different aspects of illustration, allowing me to overcome my personal boundaries and therefore inform my practise. This includes the use of various mediums, techniques and art styles. For Task 1, I decided to transform a sketch that I had created in the 100 Portraits Challenge. I really liked the original sketch that was taken into a painting using watercolour pencils. I really enjoyed the overall technique however, I felt that the image was lacking. I decided to use my light-box to sketch the portrait of the boy. I wanted to use parts of the image but edit the colours and finer details. I decided that I wanted to change the hair and the colour of the background. I wanted to create a wordplay of the saying 'down to earth' which is often used to describe a kind person. I decided to add vegetables coming out of the boys hair, just to further showcase his benevolence. I think that the colours of the vegetables definitely inspired the rich red background that is a complimentary colour to the green benevolent boy. I then used a fine-liner to add the desired line-work as a way to place tone in areas that I want to keep outlined. I then painted the drawing using creamy watercolours, which added rich colours and tones to the image. After painting my A4 piece, I decided that I wanted some more tone in the face and I decided to use black and white conte pencils to add some hard light and dark tones, creating a more defined look of the face. I thought that the conte pencils really brought the piece together and I really like the overall outcome. To improve this piece, I would have used watercolour paper, as I believe the colours would have sat on the paper better and I would have had a straighter border when using the masking tape. The watercolours did seep beyond the border, I fixed these minor mistakes using white acrylic. I think that the overall piece captures my desired representation of benevolent in my style of illustration.