STEP BY STEP: STENCIL ART

My newest piece: Alfred Hitchcock and The Birds

Lights, camera, action, birds! 🎬

I wanted to do a simple, minimal pen drawing. By adding one element after another, the drawing turned into a marvellous experience in pen & watercolor techniques.

Inspiration

My inspiration? A clock in a meeting room in my office.

It caught my eye, and looked especially aesthetical with the split-leaf philodendron in the composition. But I wanted my drawing to show Alfred Hitchcock's face, and represent his work, too. So I chose to link it to one of the director's most impressive works besides Psycho - The Birds (1963).

Getting started

I used a white A5 watercolour paper. I didn't expect much more than just a simple practice of stencil art. I used a 0.5 mm pen and my favourite watercolours - Gansai Tambi 18 pcs set.

Sketching

As a reference for the drawing, I found a similar stencil to the one on the clock, and started with a pencil sketch, indicating where the black shadows will be. I simplified the outlines a bit and added bird silhouettes.

A fourth one appeared. Just like in the film, at first there were some.. and then a full flock of birds, more powerful than the people of the town.

Defining the shadows

I erased the pencil lines and started defining black parts. How I love when the shadows unravel the facial features. To create this illusion, it is important to be precise to keep the lines and shapes as sharp as you can. That is why I used a similiar stencil, but if you have a photo for reference, you can quickly turn it to a precise stencil digital artwork that can guide you in defining the shadows on the face, as the shadows are what makes it look recognizable.

It's beginning to look a lot like Hitchcock, I sing.
I thought of drawing the picture just yesterday evening, when looking through my phone. I found the photo I took of that office meeting room, and thought I'd love to do a stencil type of drawing of Hitchcock in black.

Background is important

Here, I start going over the parts where pen lines end, blending it with black watercolour.

Imagery

I have a distinct imagery of Hitchcock, when drawing: I see darkness, then dramatic light, smoke, the face of the director, the clap of a clapperboard, and action! - the birds take off startled.

So I imagined the background to be clouds of smoke. See, the pen parts melt away into the dark clouds, so that the both techniques - pen and pencil - may harmoniously meet.

Appreciating what's becoming of the experiment. The detailed parts that require attentive precision are finished for now, and I may sip my glass of rosé. Ready to enjoy the fun part - black pigment mixing in water bubbles.

This time, I love the unpredictability of watercolours. It's like the painting tells me something about itself through the way the paint dries, flows, mixes etc. I am always mesmerized. Always drawn to the process.
This time my [https://steemit.com/@syndicateframes!] (dear one) decided to join me and tried painting on the right part of the surface. It made me so happy to have him next to me and enjoy painting with watercolours for the first time. I had finally inspired him enough to try it himself. So there's specks of his brush strokes somewhere on the right.

The symbolism of black

What can be more simple and powerful than black on white? Black is the colour that resonates in many directions, most typically associated with elegance, mystery, and power.

Black is elegant in its simplicity. Black only has value not hue, so there is only one parameter in defining the shape and depth.

I'm watching the paint dilute and flow…

Black is mysterious, because it is associated with the unknown and the hidden. It is a color linked to secret knowledge, and has a lot of association with magic. Black is one of the colours of yin and yang that symbolize universal balance.
Hitchcock's face appears as if through smoke, creating an air of mystery.

Black is powerful. It’s sort of an intimidating colour, a colour that indicates strength and discipline. Black conceals emotions, and so Hitchcock here too, shrouded in black, is given an air of superiority. I think of Hitchcock directing, and this portrait of him - the iconic facial expression, glinting with almost god-like power. Directors create another world. Their films are extensions of their creative power, and each of them is​ reflections of the Director's Universe: every world in a film is ​another world, ruled by the Director's imagination.

Every artist is a creator. Every artist is a god, because what happens in film, on paper or in music - wherever you express your creative power - you create a branch of your universe: a ​reflection of yourself. Every artwork is your reflection. In that reflection, you ar a ​ god. You are the god of your artwork, you can create whatever you wish.

The painting lives on

But what's interesting with these reflections - they may tell something about themselves. Especially with watercolours - the painting always turns out the way it decides, because the paint puddles are unpredictable. In the end, you have a painting that lives by itself, too. See, in mine, the black bird at the top decided it wants to dissolve in the air.
And me, the creator of this painting, the ruler of the canvas where the birds ​and Hitchcock live, I decided to give this bird freedom, so I left the top part white. I had let the painting decide what it wanted to be, so I let the birds have some space to breathe.

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful weekend!

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