Home Forums Explore Subjects Classical Art Current Projects in the Classical Forum TRY THIS…FROTTAGE (art technique)- Feb 2010

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  • #988377
    artbyjune
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        Hi everyone!:wave: Welcome to one of our new projects for 2010.

        [FONT=Times New Roman]’Try this’….it introduces an art technique or medium to explore. [/FONT]

        [FONT=Times New Roman]This month we explore ….‘FROTTAGE’….. [/FONT]
        [FONT=Times New Roman][/FONT]
        [FONT=Times New Roman]Its a quick and fun technique for adding texture to artwork.[/FONT]

        [FONT=Times New Roman]It can also be a good way to stimulate imagination and find unusual imagery.[/FONT]

        [FONT=Times New Roman]Have fun and post your results here.:thumbsup: [/FONT]

        :wave: http://june-walker.pixels.com/
        Life beats down and crushes the soul.... and art reminds you that you have one. Stella Adler

        #1131962
        artbyjune
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            :)

            [FONT=Times New Roman]To make a ‘frottage’, you need some thin paper, e.g. Japanese, Thai, tissue, tracing papers etc. Then you need a drawing medium such as graphite, wax crayon, oil pastel, coloured pencil, etc. You need to find a textured surface to place the paper to take your rubbing: patterned soles on shoes, wooden planks, lace, fossils, marble engravings such as tombstones, brasses, etc. [/FONT]

            [FONT=Times New Roman]Place paper on the texture and rub or drag the pencil or crayon over the surface, preferably using the broad side of the medium.[/FONT]

            [FONT=Times New Roman]Textures or rubbings you make may suggest abstract works as well as fantasy imagery or realistic imagery to you.[/FONT]

            [FONT=Times New Roman]Contemporary artist using frottage in work[/FONT]

            [FONT=Times New Roman]http://www.greggsimpson.com/galleryThree/Frottage.htm[/SIZE][/FONT][/URL]

            [FONT=Times New Roman]Youtube demo[/FONT]

            [FONT=Times New Roman]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEh8SfNcWfI[/FONT]

            [FONT=Times New Roman]:thumbsup: [/FONT]

            [FONT=Times New Roman]Looking forward to seeing your experiments. :D [/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

            :wave: http://june-walker.pixels.com/
            Life beats down and crushes the soul.... and art reminds you that you have one. Stella Adler

            #1131963
            artbyjune
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                History/Background

                Frottage is the French word for ‘making a rubbing’ to create texture in drawings.

                In the past, people have made ‘brass rubbings’ of tomb engravings using wax crayons and thin paper.

                The surrealist Max Ernst is attributed with first using frottage in a more complex fashion. He made impressions by rubbing graphite over textured wooden planks. Then he would use the resulting patterns to stimulate his creative imagination. He would look to see what shapes and images were suggested by the marks and then work them up into fantasy/surreal artworks.

                Ernst quote: ‘I was surprised by the sudden intensification of my visionary powers and by the hallucinatory succession of contradictory images superimposed, one upon the other, with the persistence and rapidity peculiar to amorous memories. My curiosity awakened and astonished, I began to examine indiscriminately, using the same means, all sorts of materials found in my visual field: leaves and their veins, the frayed edges of a bit of sackcloth, the brush strokes of a “modern” painting, a thread unwound from a spool, etc.’ http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O5-frottage.html

                :wave: http://june-walker.pixels.com/
                Life beats down and crushes the soul.... and art reminds you that you have one. Stella Adler

                #1131950
                gakinme
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                    June, thank you so much for the link. That artist’s surrealistic works in charcoal are so inspiring. Alright, texture rubbing. Yeah, I’ve got tons of the templates for texture rubbing. I’ll do something with it with my new media.

                    I’ll be back.

                    #1131951
                    gakinme
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                        Alright, here is my first piece.

                        This is in response to the Drawing Forum’s Weekly Drawing Thread Feb 1-Feb 7 and I couldn’t resist using a template for the skin.

                        Plastic template for skin for frottage (texture rubbing)
                        Cretacolor 1 inch Chunky Charcoal – graphite stick – for initial skin tone
                        Wolff’s Carbon Pencils – B, 6B for shading
                        General’s Charcoal Pencils – 4B, HB for detailing
                        General’s Powdered Graphite for background and last minute smudging
                        Japanese rice paper – 8.5 x 13 inch
                        Actual image size – 8 x 8 inch

                        The nose and eyes are a bit off but I was testing out a new technique with the thinnest paper I have so I’m not going to erase stuff and rework in case it tears. Just a fun exercise for now. I guess the viewer’s right eye could do with more shading but that’s the side I’ve been working most (and still didn’t get it right). Next time, I’ll probably try to do a draft with vine charcoal first. But it’ll be hard to erase. I didn’t use normal pencils because it’s not going to be dark enough anyway when contrasted against the skin pores and the powdered background.

                        #1131964
                        artbyjune
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                            Oh yes, that is very effective, Sandra. Looking forward to more!!

                            :wave: http://june-walker.pixels.com/
                            Life beats down and crushes the soul.... and art reminds you that you have one. Stella Adler

                            #1131965
                            artbyjune
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                                For my first attempts, I tried wax crayon on Japanese paper then glued it to heavy weight paper. I went with the Max Ernst idea…using the markes to ‘see’ imagery. And so the result was a bit of whimsy.

                                1. Five figures: ‘Here is a flower for you’

                                2. ‘Bird on a pole’

                                I ‘frottaged’ over a couple of previous artworks of mine which had raised textures due to having bits of netting and tinfoil pressed onto the surface.

                                I wonder how to get from black and white to colour using frottage. Not just coloured crayons, but maybe ink washes?;)

                                I rather enjoy playing with ‘whimsical’ figure drawings and so this was enjoyable to do.

                                :wave: http://june-walker.pixels.com/
                                Life beats down and crushes the soul.... and art reminds you that you have one. Stella Adler

                                #1131952
                                gakinme
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                                    June, I like the subject of the second piece. It is very whimsical. Very good terrain textures in the first one.

                                    For ink washes, I was thinking if you rub white crayon, oil pastel onto the Japanese paper over the texture, the non-rubbed parts could be washed with ink.

                                    #1131966
                                    artbyjune
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                                        Hi Sandra, I think I’ll try that later.

                                        :wave: http://june-walker.pixels.com/
                                        Life beats down and crushes the soul.... and art reminds you that you have one. Stella Adler

                                        #1131953
                                        gakinme
                                        Default

                                            Gallery Oil Pastel white rubbed over texture rubbing templates
                                            Art Advantage gouache
                                            Bombay India Ink for darker details
                                            Academie Heavyweight Sketchbook full page 8.5 x 11 inch

                                            I abstained from picking up a black brushpen to outline things and it seems to work well for now. Based on some landscape books exercise for the far away hills. The rest is improvised.

                                            “Village in early November”

                                            #1131967
                                            artbyjune
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                                                Its a beauty Sandra. I agree its lovely as is and doesn’t need black ink. It is gentle and atmospheric!

                                                :wave: http://june-walker.pixels.com/
                                                Life beats down and crushes the soul.... and art reminds you that you have one. Stella Adler

                                                #1131954
                                                gakinme
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                                                    Thank you, June. To achieve the same effect on the above with Chinese painting methods, I’d have to spray the piece with milk, and be more meticulous with where I put ink on. This is indeed a faster way.

                                                    #1131955
                                                    gakinme
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                                                        Just a quick sketch on top of a wooden school table.

                                                        #1131946
                                                        trafford
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                                                            Nice work Sandra…want to try your mixture of crayon and paint…love the effect.

                                                            June…like your whimsy. I think the docu on Max Ernst was probably the most interesting I’ve seen on an artist.

                                                            Not as good as yours, but here’s a start on frottage plus embellishment.

                                                            The Tree:

                                                            [ATTACH]472508[/ATTACH]

                                                            #1131956
                                                            gakinme
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                                                                I could see the tree and the log, Janet. What surface did you frottage on. Very graphical piece!

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