Twitter

I just opened a my personal brand new Twitter account.
Follow me here:

https://twitter.com/woutertulp

Vincent van Gogh character

I am designing a character based on Vincent van Gogh for a children's book. I created a rough model in Zbrush to get a 'feel' of the 3 dimensionality of the head. The character is in development. I am drawing different expressions and gestures, to 'get to know' the character , so I can decide what should be altered and what works.

Sketching from life

I drew these sketches of my son while he was playing. He was moving all the time and not standing still to pose for me at all. When doing sketches such as these the main goal is to capture the essence of a pose in just a few lines. No rendering. It is a very good exercise for the eye.
As an illustrator it is tempting to want to create beatifully rendered pictures. However it is important to explore freely when sketching, and allowing yourself to make mistakes. Not every sketch will be a masterpiece and that is a good thing. Analysing why a sketch doesn't work and trying again and again will eventually benefit your skills.

Self Caricature

Thi caricature is part of a collection of drawings that will be used for a book in which Dutch illustrators teach children how to draw, and let them know how much fun it is to draw.
I was glad to participate in this project.

Editorial illustrations

Two illustrations for an article about ICT-problems within a company.

140 hits in Art

This is my contribution to the project 140 hits in art : a book in which 140 artists illustrate their favourite song.

he song I chose was 'Cry me a river' performed by Hein van de Gein and Paulien van Schaik.

Albayrak

Illustration for 'Vluchtelingenwerk' magazine. The story is about Albayrak's policy on refugees.

Concept art

Concept sketches for an animated feature.
- Trippel Trappel blog
- Anikey animation

Life drawing session February 10th

I recently set up a life drawing group. These are some results of the first drawing session.

Concept sketches

I was invited to participate in this project.
These are two concept sketches of which I have to choose one that will be published in the book. The first sketch belongs to the song: "Home" by Michel Petrucciani
The second one is an illustration for "I wish" by Stevie Wonder

Sketching...

For the ink sketches I used the pentel brush. It has a nice tip, and good quality ink.

Portrait sketch

Portrait study of Dutch writer Gerrit Komrij. Oils on paper.

Richard Schmid states in his book 'Alla Prima" (which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to learn more on painting alla prima) that you should never leave anything in your painting that you are not satisfied with. I totally agree. If you compare painting to speaking, leaving such a thing on the canvas is like mumbling, instead of spealking clearly.
Still I limited myself to one session for this sketch, especially to see which elements I overlook, when I am not revising every 'mistake'.
Most apparent are two things to me.
1. Colors. The tonality of the portrait is quite okay, yet the portrait lacks interesting play of warm and cool accents. The light areas are way too cool.
2. Point of interest. The sharp edges in his hair and his coat, take the focus away from his face. Because of this, the painting does not state clearly where the point of interest lies. This sharpness had better be placed in the glasses and his eyes instead.
I learn from this sketch that it is very important to take the time and to think about concepts like these (point of interest, composition, color, tonalities) even more, before putting the paint on the canvas. Painting happens in the mind first.


Detail for those who want to have a closer look at the brushstrokes:

Outdoor sketching

I wanted to do a sketch outside inspite of the freezing cold. Not equipped with the right protection (like gloves...) nature forced me to stop at the moment I could no longer move my fingers.
I had so much fun, though...The suffering is totally worth it...

Doodle

Quick doodle of Dutch comic artist Jan Kruis.

Vrij Nederland Christmas Cover

I illustrated the VN cover for the christmas issue. The job was strictly directed, so during the making, I created many versions, to get to the final cover.
For some reason they decided at the very last moment to cut off the left part , with the chrismas tree and Michael Jackson, and only the table with the people eating appeared on the cover.
The cover appeared troughout the coutry. Below : an advertisment in Amsterdam.