16 sq ft of ink-art!
Out of the blue I found myself with the opportunity to make an ink illustration on a gigantic canvas.
I would have to begin work immediately, because I was required to complete it live in front of hundreds of people at the ballroom of the historic Blackstone Hotel in Chicago.
The canvas was commissioned by the Autograph Collection Hotels. My brief was to highlight the architecture of their top 11 properties from around the world.
These hotels cover almost every corner of the world, which makes for an interesting challenge. Each one was a unique design, because each was special for its own reason. Aside from being architecturally unique, they are often of historic and cultural value to their cities.
I used a range of brush pens and markers, including my most trusted brands @pentelofamerica@kuretakezig_usa
@sakuraofamerica. I love using ink in sketch-books, and I took this opportunity to prove it could be just as much fun on the canvas. Some of them wore out, others ran out of ink. I do A LOT of #linework!
This 4x4ft canvas will hang in the art gallery of the historic Blackstone Hotel!
For my work, I made ink sketches out of reference pics, composing the various elements according to a world map. This helped me decide where to place what, and made it a little easier to balance the rest of the images. This is all I did for Day One, because I wanted to not rush the initial design phase with over-enthusiasm.
Ink sketches
To get a sense of the proportions and basic structure of the different properties.
i try to be quick, but the details keep pulling me in…
I have always wanted to fill big pages with lots of art and I took this as an opportunity to do so.
Even having never worked on a canvas before, I was able to break this problem down into the various actionable steps that would help me best solve it.
Ink sketches help me quickly gather a first impression of the buildings, once I have a set of reference photos. I also drew some of the interesting features - decor, interior architecture, amenities - to get a better sense of the atmosphere.
Digital design of piece
I scanned my ink sketches and moved them about on the iPad until I had a design on a rough world map that I could use.
Over time I have learned to leave blank spaces in the middle of drafting stages. These are areas where I can throw in spontaneous creativity when I’m working on the canvas itself. I also try to keep my drafts descriptive yet rough, because I know a good deal can change in the actual drawing.
“Keep room for mad ideas.”
It is my first time working on any canvas at all, but I was determined to complete this work with #ink. In some of the timelapse videos I've posted, you can see I'm trying to figure out various workarounds for dealing with ink drawing on such a large surface - smudging, losing sense of scale, perspective mistakes, all kinds of things when you jump from a sketchbook to a canvas.
The RYSE - Seoul, South Korea
Before I drew any property, I made ANOTHER ink sketch of it. I’m a little finicky when it comes to it.
I drew this piece on the canvas top right. I made it live on Instagram. It wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be, but keeping sense of the sizes is very important.
DIXON HOUSE - London
Dixon House, London
I wanted to begin right to left, and then join it left to right. I did this to make sure I proportioned everything well per quadrant. Even though the distribution of hotels was not equal, I had to use creative instincts to retain balance in the final image.
The Dixon Hotel in London used to be a courthouse. I originally intended it’s stairs to be more prominent, but sometimes one line early on can determine the rest of the drawing. I was going a little fast, I realized. It was not a very good idea to be completely in my flow, because this was a foreign medium with unknown pitfalls. Scaling was an obvious mistake to make, and I guess I had to make them at least in a few places.
I wasn’t too upset, because there is always time to correct mistakes like that with other elements.
The Douglas, Vancouver
Most unique architecture of the whole set!
This ink sketch was crucial to get a sense of its shape.
The Douglas Hotel in Vancouver was positioned exactly right, in the reference photos I was given, for its position on the map. I decided to make its lobby seating a part of the image.
BLACKSTONE HOTEL - Chicago
The most appealing feature of the Blackstone Hotel to me was it’s front entrance, even though at first I considered drawing the whole building itself.
Light and shadow, lines and lines
This is the part of ink work I enjoy the most.
THE MAYFLOWER - Washington DC
This is a very interesting building too! I underestimated how much time it would take me, but getting the shapes right was tough!
I don’t like drawing windows.
ADOLPHUS HOTEL - Dallas & LIDO HOUSE - Newport Beach
All my drawing anxieties evaporated when drawing the bed, or lamp, or table, or chairs. It was good to have them interspersed among the difficult architecture!
AT THE PARTY!
I was excited to begin, when we were all set up at the BLACKSTONE Hotel. The interiors were beautiful. And the evenings event managers (BMF Talent Group) had placed me slap in the middle of the ballroom, underneath a huge chandelier. I had center stage!
Earlier that day, I bought some Molotow acrylic paint markers from Blick in downtown Chicago. These would help me whiten some graphite smudged areas from my pencil work, and also lay down the blues and earth tones along the coastlines in the world map.
I met some very interesting people over two hours!
That’s David Evans on my left, Head of Sales with the Autograph Collection Hotels.
I even sold a few books!
One went to Luke Delavan, who loved the art style very much. It was very nice to speak with him and connect over an addiction/hobby I share with his artist father.
Another set of books went to the Autograph Collection Hotels, to distribute privately.
I am delighted to say that everyone really loved it. I’m told watching me draw was also a pleasant experience. I will take that.
This work, my first canvas, with the few palm smudges of graphite that I could not erase in time, will hang in the art gallery of the BLACKSTONE HOTEL. Afterwards, it will tour all the other hotel properties that are drawn upon it.