Sunday, April 7, 2013

Thank-you to the people who follow this blog.

Hi,

There are some of you who have signed on as followers and I have tried to contact some of you- but I cannot seem to figure out how to send mail .

I appreciate each and every one of you and I enjoy having you along for this rather crazy journey. As time permits I will try to keep this updated with tips on composition, color, materials and general musings I think might be of interest. If any of you have questions about my work, methods or materials, please feel free to contact me and I will try to answer any questions you might have.

Also you see I have had to add myself as a follower to email you. My 18 year old model calls me a digital immigrant (learned digital communication at an advanced age), as opposed to a digital native (one born with an Ipad in your hand).

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Miss Knettell,

My name is Ramona Burema and I'm from the Netherlands. I've been a fan of your artwork ever before I knew that it was you making the artwork.. ok that may sound weird hehe, but I grew up in the 80's with ofc the Jemdolls. I loved the artwork on the boxes and they really did more for my imagination than the actual doll did. Loved them so much that I kept them (cut them from the boxes). And they inspired me to draw better and better in a realistic way. Details which I loved where the cheeky looks the characters had and the blushes on their faces combined with a energetic pose! Even after so many years your artwork left a impression, thank you for that :-) Also love this blog and your sites current gallery.

Greetings from Holland.
Ramona

Sharon Knettell said...

Ramona,

I loved doing that artwork. My husband must have loved it too because he was often home when I was photographing those quite attractive women in some of the strangest costumes you ever saw! Those costumes were really bizarre for the 80's.No pink wigs then.

Thank you for you kind comments.

Good figure work takes a lot of dedication and hard work to do well. I am glad I have been an inspiration.

Unknown said...

Hahaha I bet that your husband stuck around when you had the models over, I'm quite sure that it must have been a very interesting sight to see :-)

Funny thing though is that when you see people dress up nowadays for 80's themed party's they allways tend to go with that extreme 'truly outrageous'look those dolls happen to have. Coincedence? hmm perhaps... ;-)

My personal favorite drawing/coverart you made for the Jem line was that of Stormer, the curly blue haired with the bend knees, ofc one could tell all were done with much love and care. The characters had soul.

I totaly agree good figure work does indeed take alot of practice/hard work..
Do find though that hands and feet are more difficult than the rest, I do manage fine at the end and use my own as a reference but kinda understand how/why the expression paying per limb comes from hehe.


Sharon Knettell said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sharon Knettell said...


Sunday, April 7, 2013
Thank-you to the people who follow this blog.
Hi,

There are some of you who have signed on as followers and I have tried to contact some of you- but I cannot seem to figure out how to send mail .

I appreciate each and every one of you and I enjoy having you along for this rather crazy journey. As time permits I will try to keep this updated with tips on composition, color, materials and general musings I think might be of interest. If any of you have questions about my work, methods or materials, please feel free to contact me and I will try to answer any questions you might have.

Also you see I have had to add myself as a follower to email you. My 18 year old model calls me a digital immigrant (learned digital communication at an advanced age), as opposed to a digital native (one born with an Ipad in your hand).
Posted by Sharon Knettell at 2:24 PM 4 comments:
Ramona Burema said...
Hi Miss Knettell,

My name is Ramona Burema and I'm from the Netherlands. I've been a fan of your artwork ever before I knew that it was you making the artwork.. ok that may sound weird hehe, but I grew up in the 80's with ofc the Jemdolls. I loved the artwork on the boxes and they really did more for my imagination than the actual doll did. Loved them so much that I kept them (cut them from the boxes). And they inspired me to draw better and better in a realistic way. Details which I loved where the cheeky looks the characters had and the blushes on their faces combined with a energetic pose! Even after so many years your artwork left a impression, thank you for that :-) Also love this blog and your sites current gallery.

Greetings from Holland.
Ramona


May 1, 2013 at 3:49 PM
Sharon Knettell said...
Ramona,

I loved doing that artwork. My husband must have loved it too because he was often home when I was photographing those quite attractive women in some of the strangest costumes you ever saw! Those costumes were really bizarre for the 80's.No pink wigs then.

Thank you for you kind comments.

Good figure work takes a lot of dedication and hard work to do well. I am glad I have been an inspiration.

May 2, 2013 at 12:35 PM
Ramona Burema said...
Hahaha I bet that your husband stuck around when you had the models over, I'm quite sure that it must have been a very interesting sight to see :-)

Funny thing though is that when you see people dress up nowadays for 80's themed party's they allways tend to go with that extreme 'truly outrageous'look those dolls happen to have. Coincedence? hmm perhaps... ;-)

My personal favorite drawing/coverart you made for the Jem line was that of Stormer, the curly blue haired with the bend knees, ofc one could tell all were done with much love and care. The characters had soul.

I totaly agree good figure work does indeed take alot of practice/hard work..
Do find though that hands and feet are more difficult than the rest, I do manage fine at the end and use my own as a reference but kinda understand how/why the expression paying per limb comes from hehe.




May 3, 2013 at 10:10 AM
Sharon Knettell said...
Ramona,

It was.

I always used the best reference I could get. I had a seamstress make the clothing as close to the original costumes possible. I had the instrument diagrams blown up proprotionally and dry- mounted on foamecore so the models could pretend to play them. The wigs were all custom made and colored. There were no colored wigs like those 30 years ago. I then photographed them and worked from the prints. I made nothing up.

If you are doing fine figurative illustration you really must use excellent, accurate photographic reference because time is money. Making up stuff tends to make illustrations look like the work of an amateur. This should only be done when you are doing it just for your own fun which is fine.

In painting now I always use a live model.

However using a live model or even drawing well from a photograph takes training and learning how to draw properly.