The Figure – Real to Imagined
The sketchbook is a place where an artist can explore without the constraints of commercial work.
This particular book began with sketches inspired by the works of Jean Paul Gaultier. Rough outlines were recorded on location at the MMFA and were later completed from imagination. Ideas within are thus born out of outside influences, sum of all experiences. Other sketches began as formless scribbles and shapes, which the mind is hard-wired to decipher. Each page grows from each other, forming a cohesive stream of images.
Pen and marker were chosen as prime mediums for their immediacy and graphic nature.
Xin Ran Liu, 3rd year Illustration & Design student at Dawson College
2011
Xin Ran Liu, is a 3rd year Illustration & Design student at Dawson College. Xin draws from the live model on a regular basis, and is also able to create remarkable images from his imagination.
Comments
ericaguth
December 2, 2011First off, I really liked how you described some of your sketches, saying your mind forced you to decipher random scribbles. I think it’s amazing that you can produce such quality work from such an directionless beginning. My favorite is image 2, the one of the two women. It’s really interesting that despite the fact that they don’t have faces, you still feel like they are complete and very emotional. The use of space and the quality of the line in this image is also quite good. This is a very interesting exhibit because although some of the images have a slight unfinished or ‘first draft’ quality to them, they work very well altogether. I’d be interested to flip through some of your other sketchbooks!
Thomach
December 7, 2011I always love looking at what people draw in their spare time or practice drawing in their sketchbooks. Sketchbooks also show what an artist’s strengths are and weaknesses are just by flipping through the pages. This is a very personal exhibition I’m sure because these drawings are composed of what you like to draw of in your spare time, which pretty fantastic considering how detailed and well done each drawing is. Seemed like a very futuristic theme going on with the people in the drawings as well. They all seemed as though they had been in sci-fi films or comic books. Overall, these drawings were very good. Liu you are a talented artist.
itscindytho
February 25, 2014I love that an artist’s sketchbook was put up as an exhibition. I love how there is a variety in the shading and that it is done using crosshatching. Some of the sketches are more realistic, while the others have a more ‘cartoony’ and simplistic feel to them. Some of the drawings look like body observation while others are created from imagination. I also like how in the 14th piece, he focused more on the figure in front and put the emphasis on him. It also suggests movement due to the transparent looking arm near the figure’s side. Overall, the drawings show different aspects of the artist and I think that’s what really makes this exhibition very good.
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