Charcoal Drawing: Pulag Portraits

Oh blog, I'm sorry if I haven't updated you enough this past month! I was busy having fun that I haven't had time to write about it!

The Cordillera had beckoned me twice this month--to Baguio and Mt. Pulag in Benguet in early and mid Feb respectively. The chill weather is always a welcome change from hot and humid Manila and I'm happy to have spent some quality time with friends and family during these trips. 

At the start of 2014, I included climbing Mt. Pulag to this year's bucket list. The opportunity came up in early February when my cousin from New York visited Manila to spend his 30th birthday in the homeland. We planned to go to Mt. Pulag on the weekend of Feb 15-16 and I am proud to say I conquered one of the tallest mountains in the Philippines! It was a real challenge dealing with the shivers and the fact that we didn't have a proper tent or toilet, but it was really fun bonding with my cousins and seeing the sea of clouds at the summit. More stories in the next post on Mt. Pulag, coz I want to share a bunch of practice drawings using my bright and shiny woodless charcoal pencils given to me by my sister as a gift!

My subjects were these adorable kids hanging out at the Ranger Station in Mt. Pulag. They were staying in an area near the station where climbers can sign up and ask help from porters to carry their bags. I found it weird that some people (even guys) would go hiking and hire someone else to carry their packs then claim that they "conquered the mountains".  I mean, if you can't carry heavy stuff, then learn how to pack light! That's the whole point of camping and going up the mountains, right? I tried to look at the bright side and thought of it as additional livelihood for the locals, but I didn't find the whole thing very cool.

Anyway, back to the kids! They had a distinct look about them that gave away the fact that they were locals in the area. I'm not certain if they were Ibaloys or Kalanguya, but they had very beautiful faces--chinky eyes and flat noses and really rosy cheeks! The kids were adorable and I tried to get to know them for a while before doing our assault to Camp 2. 

I met Gerilyn, Grace and I think the other one is Geraldine (not in drawing). They're cousins. I wasn't able to catch the little boy's name though, but I figured he was related to either of the two girls. They smiled sheepishly at me when they realized I was trying to strike a conversation. Before I knew it, it was time for me to join my group and hike for the next 4 hours, so I excused myself from my new acquaintances and waved goodbye.

Since I was never trained at drawing, I never really had a real method in portraiture that I was fully aware of. Even today, I just basically sketch and draw what I see without being conscious of the light source and the shadows that inevitably came with it. While my weapon of choice has always been ink and watercolor, I decided to go back to basic graphite and charcoal to exercise my understanding of values and tones. As I tried to re-acquaint myself with the medium, I kept my lines light and loose until I got a bit of definition in the drawing. I still find it very difficult to draw the creases on  clothing, people's hands and lips. I can't seem to create a decent likeness to my subjects, which is kinda hella frustrating. :\

I had a bit lot of trouble with Gerilyn (the whispering girl donning a beanie). Her hands still look weird and I couldn't quite capture her expression in the drawing. Good thing these sketches were done on 8x5 index cards for practice, since I can't seem to find a proper sit down time these days for larger scale illustrations. It's my guilt free use of paper for practice!

Anyway, I'm determined to practice figure drawing more so that I can get rid of those awful proportions. Those hands are quite an eyesore, but this is my blog and I have no shame. Haha.

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Watercolor Weekend: Pinatubo Good Vibes

I went to Mt. Pinatubo early this year and chanced upon two lovely Aeta kids hanging out under a small bush. It was a brief encounter as I was about to leave with my group for our descent from the peak to the drop off point. The dark clouds were looming above the Pinatubo crater and we risked not being able to get back safely. Before finally leaving, I managed to take out my camera and grab a photo of the two pals. They had a curious exuberance about them when they realized that I was taking their picture. They smiled and posed, and seeing the innocence and good vibes in their eyes was so heartwarming. 

I used my Prang watercolor set on Canson Paper for this drawing. I still need to practice painting skin! Funny how I love painting portraits and people but my biggest weakness is actually figure drawing and painting my subjects' skin! Oh but it's always wonderful to capture brief encounters and fleeting moments with these nameless people. Even if we hadn't exchanged words, painting them makes me feel like we're friends. :)

Hope you had a lovely Monday!

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Watercolor Weekend: Mother Gypsy and the Wrinkled Folks

Finally, another painting! It's been a while since I had a proper sit down but things have been looking up with work and life in general, so I have more time for watercolor practice. I spent the entire afternoon yesterday at Cafe Mary Grace to get some sketching done. Whenever I feel like I need serious uninterrupted time for drawing/crafting, I go to a coffee shop and just spend the hours in solitude.

I've always wanted to draw this gypsy lady ever since I came across her in Paris. I've read stories of really aggressive beggars who take advantage of tourists in Paris, but I didn't get that vibe from her. The kindness in her face was just so beautiful, I wanted to draw a portrait of her.

I was walking outside the Notre Dame when I came across her. She was looking at me as I walked past and I just had the urge to drop a coin in her cup. She clasped her hands together as if to give thanks to an answered prayer. I didn't understand what she said but her eyes showed so much gratitude, and were welling up with tears. As I took out my camera, she gave me the warmest smile I've seen from a stranger that day. I took a photo of her and I headed off. That brief moment with her was remarkable.

I tried my best to copy her face and her features, but I always end up straying away from my original subject and just skew some things here and there. Usually when I do the pencil sketch, I  try to be as exact as possible, but when I start coloring, I refrain from looking at the photo reference so that I can make my own changes to the drawing. It's like getting lost in translation, only on paper.

Mother Gypsy
Watercolor on Paper

The most challenging part of this drawing is coloring her jacket. I've learned that mixing black with another dark hue is a good way of putting some dimension to the color. My own technique with watercolor is just really self taught, but I always just start with the skin and the lighter colors the follow with the darker shades. There's still so much to learn and I loved the challenge of doing this painting because of the creases of the subject's face and the draping of her shawl as well as the stitching of her jacket. I've never really mentioned it before, but I love to draw aging people. Their faces are more interesting to paint because their features help me to look into the details and allow me to practice seeing better. 

Here's a collection of past drawings of the beautiful, wrinkled folks:

Hope you had a great weekend!

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Watercolor Weekend: Bukidnon

Together with my goal to discover more about various Filipino ethnic communities,  I'm starting a series of drawings about Filipino Indigenous people to practice my watercolor portrait skills. Jim and I have been talking about going to different Philippine Festivals and immerse ourselves in some cultural education while we travel. Our bucket list includes the Maskara Festival in Bacolod, Sinulog Festival in Cebu, Higantes Festival in Angono Rizal and Kaamulan Festival in Bukidnon among others. 

Kaamulan Festival is an ethnic cultural festival held annually in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon from the second half of February to March 10, the anniversary date of the foundation of Bukidnon as a province in 1917. It is held to celebrate the culture and tradition of the seven ethnic tribal groups—Bukidnon, Higaonon, Talaandig, Manobo, Matigsalug, Tigwahanon and Umayamnon—that originally inhabit the province.^[1][2] It is the only ethnic festival in the Philippines.^{[3] Source: Wikipedia.org}

I used water color, acrylic and ink for this painting. I started with the background first, then working through the underpainting of the skin and the clothes and finally added details for the head piece and accessories. The reason why I selected different media for this painting is because of acrylic's characteristic to be more opaque. It has been useful for adding the little stitches on the dancer's clothes and the beads of her necklace.

"Bukidnon"
5.5 x 8.5 Inches on Strathmore Paper, 118 g/m

I will be selling this painting soon, and will be available in my newly registered Etsy Shop! 

For the meantime, email me at faye.marcos@gmail.com if you're interested :)

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Watercolor Weekday: Harry and Minerva

People watching is one of my cheapest hobbies. To set the record straight, I am not a stalker, nor do I have any intentions of being one. (Sa twitter at instagram lang, promise!) I just like to observe how people interact from afar and sometimes make up stories about them in my head. When I see an interesting looking person, I try to imagine what he or she is like--what she does for a living, what could be his errands for the day, where she could be headed or why he has that peculiar expression on his face.

While on assignment in the US for 2 months, I got to see and interact with different sorts of people, specially when I was doing my usual touristy rounds in New York City. I remember a Saturday afternoon spent at a Cafe in Manhattan with a couple of my friends, just watching strangers pass by. We were seated right across the cafe window and it felt as though we were watching strangers from a big screen television.

I've recently started a habit of carrying a camera every where I go and taking photos of random people in hopes of being able to draw them eventually. For today's Watercolor Wednesday entry, I decided to draw an old couple I saw at the Lillie P. Bliss Garden at the MoMa. They seemed to be perusing some book or article and I loved how they were seated side by side, never taking their eyes off of what they were reading.

Let's call them Harry and Minerva.

Started with a pencil sketch of Harry and used him as a scale reference for Minerva.

Doing a wet on wet wash for the background, because I have an aversion to white space. Haha.

I did an underpainting of the skin, making sure that the wrinkles had shadows to be able to show more texture

While doing the initial underpainting to their clothes, I chose a contrast of green and red for Harry and Minerva respectively. In the photo that I took of the couple, Harry's jacket had a more subdued color, but I wanted it to be a bit brighter on my drawing since I will be adding more shadows on it later on. I also added a bit more texture on Harry's hat.

I added more dimension to Minerva's hair and clothes and outlined her eyes and mouth. I super loved the fact that she still had her backpack on. Despite her age, she looks like a young stundent still eager to learn.

Did some final touches on Minerva's glasses and scarf and outlined their shared reading material.

So there's Harry and Minerva, reading side by side. Perhaps they were reviewing the map of the MoMa or reading the MoMa Highlights. I can imagine them doing an exchange of thoughts about what they saw at the MoMa that day, sharing their favorite paintings and discussing the mind boggling minimalist and abstract art. Whatever it was they were doing, it was a pleasure to watch them and even more so to draw them.
If you wish to share some interesting photos of people, let me know! I'd be glad to include them in my next installations of Watercolor Wednesdays. :)


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