I can't tell if this drawing by Tom Fluharty makes me laugh because it's so funny, or because I'm so happy that human beings are still capable of drawing like this.
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| Ace Frehley, guitarist from the group Kiss |
Look at the marvelous assortment of talents that combine to create this image of a saggy, jowly, dissolute rocker. Fluharty even makes those sunglasses sag:
Fluharty devised his own patented technique for scratching sharp highlights in his blue pencil series of drawings. He used that technique effectively here to draw scraggly hairs on the top of the head. It contributes to the character, but note that Fluharty resists the temptation to overdo it with too many individual hairs; he selectively isolates one long greasy hair scratched across the middle of that dark lens (high contrast) to give those wilted sunglasses additional prominence.
Also, without Fluharty's understanding of anatomy, those exaggerated rolls of flab melting down Frehley's face wouldn't look nearly so believable.
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| Pudgy fingers like turkey drumsticks, wearing oversized jewelry, reinforce our impression of aged debauchery. |
A thrusting pelvis comes across more comical than dangerous when paired with a pot belly... that moth eaten costume that was once cool... Fluharty doesn't miss a trick. He is a great storyteller with a pencil.
12 comments:
Fluharty is awesome. Thanks for posting.
I love the way he draws hands.
JSL
Wow. He decided the eyes would not be visible very early on.
Love Fluharty's work. Only somebody who knows structural anatomy and light-n-shadow backwards and forwards can draw this expressively from reference. He's able to use the reference like clay. And he can make even a finger funny, which puts him in Mort Drucker/Jack Davis territory. Very few in his league currently with a combination of structural/anatomic integrity and expressiveness. His sense of expressive balance is also amazing; you couldn't teach it.
I really admire the way Fluharty can zoom in and out of adjacent forms without their change in scale causing the overall scheme to lose unity.
I agree with all of the above (which is practically unheard of in the history of this blog). Fluharty draws all the time-- his output is phenomenal-- but more important than that, he seems to keep his eyes open and learn from each new drawing. So many artists today, especially in the comic book / strip / graphic novel business settled on templates for faces, hands, etc. and from that time on, went back to that template on automatic pilot. Fluharty embodies the virtues of honest work.
"Fluharty devised his own patented technique for scratching sharp highlights in his blue pencil series of drawings."
Incredible statement. This is not a new technique. Care to explain?
I love sculpture. 2D, 3D, it’s a joy.
I really admire the way Fluharty can zoom in and out of adjacent forms without their change in scale causing the overall scheme to lose unity.
That’s how I was looking at it at first, like we’re seeing a lot of lensing, fish eye, zoom, etc. but I think actually what’s warping is the sculpture. The lens is a simple one I believe.
Anonymous-- Obviously I didn't mean that Fluharty's technique was literally "patented." I've spent a fair amount of time litigating patent disputes, from biotechnology patent arbitrations in Sweden to satellite telecommunications trials in Washington, so I'm well aware of what is required for an actual patent.
Fluharty devised a way of layering an image with a particular soft prismacolor pencil (indigo blue 901) on a coated paper from Epson (premium matte presentation) then using a sharp tool to scratch away highlights. He experimented with other colors and paper surfaces, but said the indigo blue 901 and Epson paper was the best combination for his purposes. I've seen plenty of scratchboard and scraperboard art up close by artists from Nico Delort and Mark Summers to Virgil Finlay and Chris Van Allsburg; scratchboard can achieve a fine line, but none of them seem able to achieve the fluid, quicksilver line that Fluharty achieves with his technique. So on the drawing featured here, there's a weightless, natural look to those stray wisps of fly away hair that is very difficult to achieve with more traditional removal techniques, or with white ink/paint. (See also https://illustrationart.blogspot.com/2019/10/one-lovely-drawing-part-61.html ).
In addition, Fluharty's method of scratching pencil (rather than scratching an opaque black layer) allows the artist to blend dark and mid tone lines (that are drawn) with white lines (that are scratched), to achieve a broader range.
That’s how I was looking at it at first, like we’re seeing a lot of lensing, fish eye, zoom, etc. but I think actually what’s warping is the sculpture. The lens is a simple one I believe.
I would agree with this Richard in so far that it is a case of both/and, rather than either/or. So I think the reason the image does not lose integrity is for the very reason that its's being thought of both as a warping sculpture together with an ever changing proximity.
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