Nightmare Behind The Door

Here is a little drawing for your musing. :)

"Nightmare Behind The Door", micron pen on paper, 30cm (H) x 21cm (W)

The idea is not original and I'm sure sixty millions other artists had done it before. Nonetheless I hope it brings a little smile on your face.

This drawing was done as a consolation after I mucked up another drawing. I was in no mood to paint it and also I have a feeling that it works better in simple black and white, like a cartoon stripe from newspaper.

About the "muck up", I have learn the DON'Ts of my painting process.

1) Do not start painting when I'm not sure about the overall composition.

I knew I wasn't happy with the composition but thought by painting it, the drawing will begin to work. I was wrong!

2) Do not start painting when I'm stressing out.

I was stressing out on some major personal matters and thought working on a drawing would help to clam me down. The fact is I have kind of obsessive (addictive?!) personality. Once I got a problem or issue at hand, I'm like a dog with a bone.

With my mind chewing onto the personal matter, I failed to make sensible creative decision for my drawing.

3) Just because I love "graduated wash" background, does not mean it is suitable for a drawing.

I have been practicing to use ink to do graduated wash background for a little while. Though far from being good at it, I think I got the hang of it. So I decided to use it for a drawing. But due to the subjects (plants) of my drawing, the graduated wash background made the plants looks like they're sprouting out from mist.

4) Do not change color theme of a drawing after color test.

I got into a habit to do color test for my drawing. The test is about ink color mixing and how each color works / compliment each other. At this stage, I just can't visualize how some colors work without seeing them on paper. I'll do a rough sketch of my drawing on cartridge paper and test it out with different color combination. (I'm quite picky of the tone and hue of colors.)

With this plant drawing, for some unknown reasons, I decided to change part of the background color from the original tested grayish blue to gray. I thought I was making the drawing more moody, but the gray tone I used actually made the plant looked like they were coming out from muddy plain.

I'm not sure if I want to work on the plant drawing for now as this entire "muck up" experience is still very disturbing and frustrating to me.

I think I'm going to give myself a break and after all, Easter holiday is just two days away. Good to wind down and recharge ..... but that personal matter ..... arrrrgh .....