blog.NewTangled.com

Here is a picture I’ve been working on lately. There have been a number in my sketch book but I keep ending up dissatisfied with them! Am happy with how this one is progressing. Here is a rough cut…

Meanwhile, to see how I’ve been getting on this year, here are some comments on my work from the last couple of months… (taken from http://magicseaweed.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15400 and http://magicseaweed.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15199)

First up for some critism…

New Sketchbook Picture
by new_tangled on Fri Jan 23, 2009 5:21 pm

Here’s a new picture from my sketchbook I finished this afternoon instead of surfing in the blown out mess

Hope you like….

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by surfer-dave on Fri Jan 23, 2009 6:18 pm

Done on a computer?

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by new_tangled on Fri Jan 23, 2009 6:24 pm

Yeah, using paint shop pro 4. I drew the picture in my sketchbook, photgraphed it and then made the pipeing effects on the computer… what do you think, any good?

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by surfer-dave on Fri Jan 23, 2009 6:32 pm

yeah it’s cool.

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by new_tangled on Fri Jan 23, 2009 6:44 pm

Cheers man

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by eire08 on Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:22 pm

mon ya

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by Poo Stance on Sat Jan 24, 2009 2:21 pm

Very logo-esque, you could maybe sell it to an upcoming new surf brand.

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by new_tangled on Sat Jan 24, 2009 5:19 pm

That would be cool, know of anyone shopping for a logo??

It crossed my mind it was a bit logo-ish. Part of the idea from the design was from something I read about the poster artist Abe Games (http://abramgames.com) who worked on very small sketches before desiging his posters reasoning that if it was possible to have a good design small it would stand out from a distance. The original shape for this I doodled while in a meeting at work

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by daveyc on Sat Jan 24, 2009 6:32 pm

sorry, but i think its pretty shit!

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by new_tangled on Sun Jan 25, 2009 6:27 pm

Good to know

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by danny1 on Sun Jan 25, 2009 7:59 pm

love the celtic knots…thats the best bit for me….the surfer detracts from the image…the celtic wave is lush

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by new_tangled on Sun Jan 25, 2009 8:06 pm

That’s cool, useful feedback, cheers Danny

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by Toots on Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:39 pm

yep gotta agree wi Danny1 - I like the celtic wave/knot look but not too sure about the surfer….

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by new_tangled on Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:59 pm

Cheers Toots

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by Black on Sun Jan 25, 2009 11:55 pm

I agree also. The problem for me is the face of the surfer is too different/unresolved style wise from the rest and as a whole the surfer doesn’t sit with the knotwork. On the other hand I think the handling of the wind/spray on the top of the knots works really well - good way of combining real phenomena with something very stylised.

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by new_tangled on Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:15 pm

Cheers Black, I guess thats what I’m aiming for … combining the Celtic styles with representational structure and shapes …

It’s interesting you mention the surfers face, my girlfriend recons it looks like a gimp mask! we did rewatch Pulp fiction the other day

I’ve been looking at lots of street art pictures lately and wanted to try using a fairly childish style, similar to some artists I’ve seen, (I’ll try and dig out a link later).

Previously I’ve been trying to find a compromise between traditional Celtic humans and a cartoonish style and also more realistic styles. From everyones responses I’m going to work more on this, possibly redrawing this sketch.

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by Black on Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:06 pm

Celtic art is about as far from a “childish” style as you can get - I wish you luck with getting those two to work together!!!

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by new_tangled on Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:28 pm

OK maybe I mean simple … especially works found when the Pictish peoples (of eastern / central scotland) were crossing over to Christian Celtic art-forms (introduced from Ireland). Pictish people produced images of patterns as well as animals and humans, they were skilled craft workers but some of their forms were relatively primative.

For example http://www.heroicage.org/issues/8/images/cessfordfig1.png (image to large to place inline in post)

Besides, I like a challenge

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by Black on Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:46 pm

Ah yes I’m getting it now i think - a primitive surf art that could have been created by ancient surfers from around these parts? Sounds good to me!

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by new_tangled on Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:51 pm

Maybe, as if the Polynesians were actually descended from the Vikings … they just chilled out a bit and went surfing

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by Toots on Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:07 pm

[quote="new_tangled"]It’s interesting you mention the surfers face, my girlfriend recons it looks like a gimp mask! quote]

LOL i had another look at the pic and tink shes right about teh face!! the surfer is a bit too cartoonish for me and the colour a bit odd wi the knot….
looking forward to seeing the next version

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by Vince Noir on Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:24 am

i like the way he’s trying to make the drop without getting sucked into wave…the wind spray makes it look fierce

but yea his face is werid lol

Re: New Sketchbook Picture
by new_tangled on Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:14 pm

Cheers Vince,

The original inspiration for the wave was from a photo of Andy Irons on a nasty looking wave in The Surfers Path Nov/Dev 2008. He’s totally comitted, with the board vertical on the edge of the tube.

Recon the face might be a bit ‘mighty boosh’ anyway

Next up…

New artwork
by new_tangled on Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:26 pm

Here’s a new one from my sketchbook which I’ve worked on with the computer… hope you like and look forward to any comment you have

Re: New artwork
by Black on Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:49 pm

Looks like you put lots of effort into that. More resolved than the other one and I’m lovin the background.

Re: New artwork
by new_tangled on Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:15 pm

Cheers black …

The backgrounds been generated from the uncropped version of the main knot and then I used a kaleidoscope function to repeat the pattern and create new shapes and forms. Additionally it’s been dropped into the background by altering the lightness and saturation.

As for the last one I published … everything is an experiment!!!

Appreciate your comments.

Re: New artwork
by Vince Noir on Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:18 pm

Ace

Have you got a version without the repeating pattern in the background ?..

Re: New artwork
by IainF on Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:41 pm

yeah second Black, thats way better than the other one. like the foam along the lip line, thats really effective.

agree with vince too actually maybe it doesnt need the background. be good to see one without it.

Re: New artwork
by new_tangled on Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:06 pm

Glad you like it….

Here is an uncropped, no background version:

Re: New artwork
by REO on Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:49 pm

like that one better…coolio!

Re: New artwork
by new_tangled on Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:24 pm

Cheers!! Still time for someone to come on and tell me it’s shit though

Re: New artwork
by Black on Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:08 pm

The way you interpret real phenomena into a stylised work takes a big lump of skill. Also you are working to a larger artwork rather than a logo type thing (ie logo = minus the background) and I think you improve all the time. Whatever you do, whether I get it or not I think you should keep going for it. You really are making progress. I’ve tried to do surf stuff and (somewhat) failed however your efforts have inspired me to try again and I know its because you are wrestling with transforming real phenomena into art to share.

Sorry bit emotional there!!!

Re: New artwork
by ATTMFKH on Wed Feb 11, 2009 12:10 am

Did somebody airbrush out his snooker cue

Like the swirly wavey energy implosion but think the surfer might have been on that medical trial that went Pete Tong about 2 years ago

Re: New artwork
by new_tangled on Wed Feb 11, 2009 1:16 pm

ATTMFKH wrote:
Did somebody airbrush out his snooker cue

Like the swirly wavey energy implosion but think the surfer might have been on that medical trial that went Pete Tong about 2 years ago

F***ing funny!! Nice.

Black wrote:
The way you interpret real phenomena into a stylised work takes a big lump of skill. Also you are working to a larger artwork rather than a logo type thing (ie logo = minus the background) and I think you improve all the time. Whatever you do, whether I get it or not I think you should keep going for it. You really are making progress. I’ve tried to do surf stuff and (somewhat) failed however your efforts have inspired me to try again and I know its because you are wrestling with transforming real phenomena into art to share.

Sorry bit emotional there!!!

Mate, nice response, am glad you feel inspired to get going again… we’re all our own harshest critic. I thing all creative output has worth and can generate new ideas and directions for the creator and viewer, so don’t give up and please share it (pm me maybe?) What kind of stuff do you do? I’d like to find other surf artists to do sketch sharing with (where you post/email a sketch and another artist adds to it) … if you’re interested?

Thanks for the encouragement and comments

Re: New artwork
by twisted_tinkerbell on Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:38 pm

This brings back memories of art college in the early 90’s when celtic art was all the rage. My final exam had to be about dreams and somehow I managed to get a giant celtic knot in the picture Must admit I do really like how you’re incorporating surfing into it. Its really unique. Just don’t start printing it on tie-dye t-shirts

Re: New artwork
by ATTMFKH on Wed Feb 11, 2009 3:10 pm

twisted_tinkerbell wrote:
This brings back memories of art college in the early 90’s when celtic art was all the rage. My final exam had to be about dreams and somehow I managed to get a giant celtic knot in the picture Must admit I do really like how you’re incorporating surfing into it. Its really unique. Just don’t start printing it on tie-dye t-shirts

Unique ??? http://www.clanskates.co.uk/info.html

Re: New artwork
by twisted_tinkerbell on Wed Feb 11, 2009 3:55 pm

ATTMFKH wrote:
twisted_tinkerbell wrote:
This brings back memories of art college in the early 90’s when celtic art was all the rage. My final exam had to be about dreams and somehow I managed to get a giant celtic knot in the picture Must admit I do really like how you’re incorporating surfing into it. Its really unique. Just don’t start printing it on tie-dye t-shirts

Unique ??? http://www.clanskates.co.uk/info.html

Thats just a blatant plug for the shop? I was talking unique in an artist sense. How was I to know a surf/skate shop in Glasgow already had the idea by having a celtic design on their window

Re: New artwork
by new_tangled on Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:13 pm

That’s just two interlinked rings

Er I’m not unique though, since I started this project I was introduced to the brilliant work of Barry Briton

http://www.barrybritton.com/

I don’t know of anyone else who’s attempting to morph Celtic knots into waves though so I hoping to bring something a bit different to the table… if anyone knows of similar artworks though I’m always interested… or any art you think might be of interest to me it’s always good to come across new stuff.

Re: New artwork
by danny1 on Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:45 pm

mate that is wicked…i love the design….real nice…
if i had one or two minor crits it would be
the gadgie is a bit weird….needs to blend into the piece more…match styles (somehow!)

and not sure on the colours! its a bit heavy metal or hammerite paints!

but real nice original artwork!! how are you gonna get this onto canvass?

Re: New artwork
by new_tangled on Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:08 pm

Cheers Danny…

The palette I used is from http://colourlovers.com

Was a bit of a gamble, but I’m trying out different things to see what happens… I can understand it’s not necessarily nice colours. An early attempt I did with this palette my girlfriend said made he feel weird to look at :-/

As for the styles of the
danny1 wrote:
gadgie

I guess thats the surfer?? Matching the knot, it’s a real challenge and one I’m finding hard at the moment. I’ve tried sticking to the traditional late celtic human figures, more cartoony and more representational and they all seem to be hard to pull off, gonna keep trying different styles and methods till it sits better.

As for how to get on Canvas, I’m having real trouble finding anyone who’ll print for good value… with v little mark-up it’ll exceed what I’m asking for an original which seems wrong. I’m thinking about making more stencils and printing at home, I did some of this last summer and it worked pretty well. You got any suggestions?

BTW You interested in doing any sketch swaps / collaborations?

Re: New artwork
by Black on Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:25 pm

new_tangled wrote:
Mate, nice response, am glad you feel inspired to get going again… we’re all our own harshest critic. I thing all creative output has worth and can generate new ideas and directions for the creator and viewer, so don’t give up and please share it (pm me maybe?) What kind of stuff do you do? I’d like to find other surf artists to do sketch sharing with (where you post/email a sketch and another artist adds to it) … if you’re interested?

Thanks for the encouragement and comments

This encouragement thing works both directions, how good is that!
My “normal” stuff looks like this http://www.blackfish.co.uk/art.htm - not surfy thats for sure!!!
I’ve done a few realistic wave sketches since the inspiration - if they amount to anything I’ll definitely post them up.

Not really into collaborative stuff tbh but I can see the benefits.

Some good criticism (spell that when you get back from the pub) here. Keep at it!

Re: New artwork
by new_tangled on Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:56 pm

Back from the pub, not convinced I can spell critiscism at the best of times!

I like your website, the photos from the 70’s are amazing, you must have been the only group on the beach with surfboards, must have attracted some attention. Am jealous of those years of uncrowded waves…

I enjoyed seeing your compositions as well, a touch of Mondrian and Fautrier…

of your free art I liked:

(too big to post inline)
http://www.blackfish.co.uk/b210a.jpg

Colourful Geiger style, brilliant

I’d definitely be up for swapping sketches if you did fancy experimenting…. looking forward to seeing your new surf art too, all this has made my day

Re: New artwork
by Black on Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:44 pm

Yes the 70s were good not least because I was young!!!! You just took it for granted being so empty as thats just the way it was - probably didn’t appreciate it enough. Boards are much better now though IMO so it wasn’t all good.

Thanks very much for your comments on my stuff - glad you like that one, a bit of fun I had there, fairly sure I had Geiger in mind too, but pretty!

I’ll definitely post something when it works. But still not sure about swaps.

Thanks!

Re: New artwork
by new_tangled on Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:48 pm

Just good to have connected, cheers

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