Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label design. Show all posts

Lion - Digital Circlism


Prints availables. That design by Ben Heine
was used to decorate the hood of a Mazda
car. View some photos here and here

3D Anamorphic Pencil Vs Camera Comprehensive Tutorial (Tuts+)

via Tuts+

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to do a large 3D anamorphic drawing. The theme and message I want to express is "choose peace, not violence", so I decided to oppose a dove and a revolver as the main subject of the artwork. What we want is to have some sketches large enough to pose with them and become part of the whole composition.

By the end of this tutorial, you'll understand my work flow from the first studies through to the final work. I'm also going to teach you all kinds of graphic tricks to help you work faster and draw difficult shapes such as guns and hands.

1. Work on the Concept

The image used for this tutorial is part of my "Pencil Vs Camera" series, a creative concept that is evolving constantly. It started in 2010 with minimalist sketches and photos. In 2011, I started making colored sketches on black paper and in 2013-2014 I decided to do the large drawings we're talking about now.

Step 1

Be inspired and inspiring. Think of an idea or a strong message you really wish to express in the creation you're about to do. It's not the easiest part, but if you want your artwork to be seen as unique and attractive by others, you should really try to express something big. Personally, I think nice ideas come through living intense moments. But if you lack inspiration, you can travel, go to exhibitions, watch films, read books, or try new things. Ideas will come to you eventually.

Step 2

Discover and save your ideas. Wherever you go, take a notebook or a sketchbook with you. Each time you have an idea or feel inspired, put it down on paper. Whether in words or sketches, just keep some traces of your ideas. They might be useful later on. When you're back home, use your sketches and words to outline the message you're trying to convey. Do some quick studies to develop the direction you'll go with your idea. Also think about the creative tools and materials you'll need, the amount of work it will require, and other logistics.

2. Use References When Needed

The composition we want to do has several elements that are not easy to draw, including the hand and the gun. Using your own knowledge may not be sufficient for a fully accurate representation of these objects. You might then consider using references. It is better to use your own references to make sure the final work is 100% original. You'll then be able to build a completely new image that will help you do the giant sketch later.

Step 1

Gather all the images you need, either using your personal references (pictures of objects you have at home for instance), or creating images to use. I my case, I had made tons of gun sketches recently, seen in different perspectives from different angles. These were personal studies, so I had a lot of material to work with.


Step 2

Drawing a gun from scratch can be difficult if you're not used to it. You must really think first about the angle you want the gun to be seen from, and do a quick sketch using basic geometric shapes such as simple cylinders, cubes, spheres and cuboids.


Ben Heine Pencil Vs Camera Tutorial - 2014

Recent Worldwide Publications

 Recent Printed Publications:

Sieci - Poland (2013)

Der Bildbearbeiter - Germany (2013)

Braives Bulletin No34 - Belgium (2013)


 Revue 3e Millénaire - France (2013)

Ademhalen Onder de Maan (book cover)
- The Netherlands (2013)

EU, Tu e três pontos (book cover)
- Portugal (2013)

Braives Bulletin No33 - Belgium (2013)

- France (2013)

 Recent Major Online Publications:

Culinaria Yves Mattagne and Ben Heine (2013)

Steve Jobs
.

(See it on deviantART)

For a visionary man who changed the world. Read a complete obituary on The Guardian: "Computing entrepreneur and inventor, and the co-founder, chairman and recognisable face of Apple". This portrait is only made with "flat circles" on a black background. Every circle has a single color, a single tone and a single size. I placed each circle one by one. It's a time consuming method. See the entire Digital Circlism album.

Two details:
.

Work in progress:
.
At the Sagrada Família, Barcelona, Spain, Feb 2012

K. M. Rehan Salahuddin: Everybody around the world knows who is Benjamin Heine, but would you please introduce yourself to your fans and readers of our website?

Ben Heine: Thank you. I’ll try to be short for the introduction. I’m a Belgian visual artist, I’ve started drawing when I was a child, I went on with traditional and digital painting when I was a teenager and I started photography a couple of years after. I never stopped producing graphic art. I have a degree in Journalism and I briefly studied History of Art, Painting and Sculpture as well but I’m mainly a self-taught person in Drawing and Photography.

I’ve launched a creative series in 2010 called “Pencil Vs Camera”, it’s somehow a new and powerful form of expression that mixes drawing and photography, imagination and reality. I’m also known for 2 other creative series started in 2010 and 2011: “Digital Circlism” and “Flesh and Acrylic”.

My photos have been published in newspapers, magazines and websites all over the world and I started exhibiting limited edition prints (Diasec finishing) of my creations in well-known galleries and art fairs in different European countries since 2010.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do next, I’m still searching and working hard everyday to do more innovative and powerful art, I’m in a constant evolution and development in my new artistic projects, I’m never satisfied and I try to take fresh directions most of the time. Although my series may look different, there is always a connection between all the images I share.

Why have you chosen this profession? In this world nowadays people are all running behind glory and money, but you have made yourself very unique, would you please tell us the story of your early days?

I would say “the profession chose me”. But you’re so right, we live in a very competitive world. There are so many corrupted people in our current system. But is it really their fault? From a very early age, we’re told to be merciless and ready for action and good results. This is not easy for many artists to be different and unique and to find their place in such an aggressive global structure.

But I think everybody can do it with hard work and determination. We need to be aware of the system’s failures and we need to do our best to improve every angle of the world, as much as we can. We need more solidarity and more love. Finally, there is also a bit of chance and unexpected events happening in someone’s life. It is fortunately or unfortunately impossible to plan everything in advance.

You have a degree in Journalism, how do you connect journalism with drawing and cartoons?

I really liked Journalism, I know how important it is for artists to have their works published and promoted in newspapers. Creators need journalists to talk about their work and journalists also need creative minds to have something funny and original to talk about in their paper. Although I barely worked as a journalist after my degree, my journalistic academic background helped me a lot to get in touch more easily with the media, because my brain works like a journalist’s brain, I’m one of them somehow. In some cases, I’m the journalist and the artist at the same time, which is strange. I’m trying now to focus on my visual projects exclusively. I feel more confident and I prefer it this way.

Would you please tell us about "The Limits of Freedom of Speech in Political Cartoons", the final thesis paper that you have written at the end of your studies?

I see you are well informed. This is a sensitive subject. For your information, I’m no longer doing political work since 2009, I’m no longer doing "cartoons" neither.

I think every artist needs some freedom and space to express their ideas and thoughts. Provocation can be useful to shake people’s mind, but we are not allowed to offend anybody’s feelings or personal convictions. A clever image shouldn’t harm, accuse or take anybody’s side, it should rather make everybody think in an objective and neutral way. This doesn’t mean we can’t have an opinion, it just means that we need to be careful and think twice before doing or saying something. My freedom ends where your freedom begins.

How do you react when you see a lot of terrorism and corruption around the world? Do you have any plan to do any set/series of creative artworks on this topic?

No, I really don’t want to get involved in this. Terrorism belongs to the political sphere, not to the artistic one. All I can say is that I condemn any kind of terrorism. I just really hope all the innocent victims of terrorism won’t have died in vain and that they will be remembered forever.

"Pencil Vs Camera" how did you come up with this idea? Do you want to restrict other artists from doing similar things by owning the creative copyrights of this concept?

Good question... This concept is the fusion of two disciplines I’ve practiced since many years. It came very naturally and legitimately. I’m honored and happy to notice it’s becoming a new form of expression for many artists. I just don’t want people to “steal” this powerful and eye-catching “invention” I initiated and popularized without being credited. To be honest, I’m a bit mad when big companies use “Pencil Vs Camera” images for commercial purposes without even telling me. This is not fair. I understand Pencil Vs Camera has become universal and popular. It’s hard to keep control over it. But I wish I could be part of every new turn this concept is taking. People need to remember every image of this series is copyrighted and the name “Pencil Vs Camera” is trademarked.

Ben Heine is a cartoonist, an artist, a photographer and a lot more. In your heart, who are you? Who do you want to be?

I don’t see myself as a cartoonist anymore, I’m more of an “illustrator”; I try to illustrate every step of my life in a surreal and timeless way, with simple tools (camera, pencils, brushes…). To be honest I might do something a bit different soon. I’ll be a "creative and productive" person all my life, but I’ll never hesitate to take atypical and unexpected directions when I’ll need it. Surprise is always nice.

(*) Interview by K M Rehan Salahuddin. It was first published on sortoflife.com in February 2012. Sort of Life™ is a website about art, design and lifestyle.

(Exhibition at the Accessible Art fair - 2011)

What's your original inspiration for “Pencil Vs Camera”?

I have been drawing and taking photography since many years. I had the idea to combine these 2 disciplines in one new art form. This is the first image of the series. This first picture is very simple and realistic, the next images I made became more and more surrealistic and inventive. I started this project in April 2010. It’s still ongoing. I intend to make at least 100 Pencil Vs Camera creations.

Please describe what you are doing in a few words or phrases when working on a new “Pencil Vs Camera” image.

My primary intention was to create a "battle field" between 2 disciplines: drawing and photography, mixing imagination and reality. The only boundary is my own perception of the world. It's a very exciting project because I can share "pieces of dreams" with the world through illusion and surrealism. I integrate an inventive hand made drawing in front of a realistic background. There are several methods to achieve the same effect. My hand is always clearly visible. The drawing is always in black and white while the photo is often very colorful, this amplifies the contrast between the two disciplines. I like to focus on people’s life, portraits, nature, animals, architecture... the main themes approached in "Pencil Vs Camera" are: Love, Freedom, Death, Friendship and Nature.

Your works touched me because of their peaceful message and their "slow life" feeling. In my opinion, the pencil represents tradition and fantasy, while the camera represents modernization and reality. We are all thirsty for slow life nowadays. What’s your attitude towards living slowly?

That’s a very interesting interpretation. You’re totally right, the hand made pencil drawing belongs to fantasy and imagination while the photography is a simple reflection of modern reality. Concerning my attitude towards slow living, I must say I’m a rather “fast” person willing to be as efficient as possible in everything I’m doing. But this is because I don’t really have the choice; I actually like spending time on my creative projects and thinking about the future. I would really love to live more slowly and this is what I want to convey in my work. But, again I know it’s difficult because we live in a world where everything needs to go extremely fast…

What's the best way to live?

Every life is unique and fascinating; I’m nobody to say what’s the best way to live. I’d just say it’s very important to keep in mind important values and to share the fruits of your work with other people, I think it’s more enriching this way.

Who is your idol?

Well, I don’t know. I don't really "idolize" anyone, that’s a bit too much for me. But I admire and respect lots of people, mainly those who managed to improve the world we live in.

Have you ever been to China? What’s your opinion about China?

I’ve never been to China yet. I hope soon, may be in the frame of a future exhibition... I think it’s an amazing and powerful country. Everybody knows China’s culture is one of the world's oldest and most complex ones. I’d really be happy to discover it from the inside.

(*) Sunshine Magazine is a women’s fashions magazine based in Beijing, China.

(Travaux en cours)

The following interview is available in French only.

Hello Ben Heine. Mélanger dessin et photo, ça s’est déjà vu auparavant. Mais tu as quand même une approche différente du sujet. Comment te viennent les idées ?

Parfois, les idées viennent de manière tout à fait inattendue. A d’autres moments, je décide de me concentrer, je me détends, je cherche des bonnes idées et j’attends. Je ne fais rien d’autre tant que je n’ai pas trouvé un concept intéressant. Généralement, en quelques dizaines de minutes maximum, des petites histoires et mises en scène naissent, souvent à partir de moments vécus le jour même ou durant les semaines précédentes.

Photo, peinture, graphisme, tu touches à peu près à tout. Y’a-t’il une chose que tu ne feras jamais?

La liste est longue, il y a des milliers de métiers que je ne ferai jamais. Dommage, la vie est trop courte. J’ai commencé par le dessin, puis la peinture. La photo a commencé à réellement m’intéresser à partir de mes études en Journalisme. N’ayant pas une véritable formation en arts graphiques, j’ai toujours entrepris des projets loufoques, peu académiques et hors des sentiers battus. Je suis fasciné par l’illusion et la magie. Ayant pratiqué plusieurs disciplines artistiques et ne voulant pas abandonner l’une ou l’autre, je me suis dit qu’il serait original de fusionner plusieurs modes d’expression artistique pour créer de nouvelles formes d’art. Certains appellent cela du « mixed media ».

C’est amusant, parce que finalement quand on regarde tes travaux, on y voit des choses complètement différentes, aux influences plutôt variées. Tu peux nous expliquer ça ?

Si vous regardez de près mes créations, vous remarquerez que j’aborde souvent des thèmes récurrents, des sujets qui me sont chers, mais, il est vrai, sous des formes, des styles et des techniques parfois très différentes. Je suis intéressé par tellement de choses, je ne veux pas être cloisonné dans un seul style. Ce serait vraiment déprimant.

Ce projet "Flesh and Acrylic", c’est quoi ?

C’est une série dans laquelle je réalise des peintures abstraites à l’acrylique sur un panneau en bois géant. La particularité de ce projet réside dans le fait qu’un modèle vivant se trouve devant le panneau et fait partie intégrante de la composition. Une fois la peinture terminée, je prends des photos, ce sont ces clichés mêmes qui seront imprimés en séries limitées et exposés ultérieurement dans des galeries et foires d’art. Dans ce projet, je souhaite redonner à l’être humain toute sa valeur et sa beauté.

Sympa.Dans les idées préconçues qu’on a, l’art et la Belgique, c’est peut être pas ce qui s’associe forcement le mieux. Qu’est ce qui te plait ici ?

Ha bon ? Je pensais que la Belgique était très bien connotée internationalement au niveau artistique… surtout au niveau de la BD et au niveau de la puissance du surréalisme à la belge. C’est peut-être ce qui me plaît le plus dans ce pays. Je dirais plutôt que c’est au point de vue politique qu’on a des problèmes ici… Mais je n’ai pas envie d’émettre d’opinion là dessus…

Oui, en fait ma question manquait sérieusement de réflexion. Tu as de la chance, on te laisse les dernières lignes pour que tu puisses faire ta propre promo sur tes projets futurs.

Je viens de terminer une exposition à la Galerie Garden (à Bruxelles, près des institutions européennes). Plusieurs autres événements sont prévus à Londres, Berlin et Bruxelles dans les semaines et mois à venir. Les infos sont sur mon blog.

(*) Picturalis est un magazine en ligne francophone spécialisé dans l'infographie, l'art et le design.


Love's prisoner... Quick study
for a project I'm working on.
.
Pull Me to Your Heart

.
A poem by Peter S. Quinn

Pull me to your heart
...From love that’s inside
Morning where feeling start
As the clouds away glide
This is every dream
In between our lines
Where love like sun seem
In everyday sunshine’s


Like a robe you are
Wonderment of feeling
Flickering dream star
All my heart you are stealing
Put my touch to you
In as you where before
Pull my love there thru
To your daydreams shore


Pull me to your dream
Where reality is not
And shadows all faraway seem
In our own vision’s spot
So much is gone of past
Like our stars falling
Let those dreams be colorfast
As they were before calling

© 2011 - Ben Heine