Friday, July 12, 2013

Summer of Color (Week 5) - Candy Apple Red and Yellow - Lichtenstein-like

It is week 5 of the Summer of Color challenges - sadly, only one more week to go - this week's color combo is CANDY APPLE RED and YELLOW. 
I went for a Roy Lichtenstein comic book sort of approach to this girl - and I think she turned out pretty good although I had my struggles along the way!
Fans of Lichtenstein would be aware of his use of dots for the skintones in most of his paintings.  
Ben-Day dots are a technique (Named after Benjamin Day but since we are so "close" we can just call him Ben) dating from 1879 that give comic books their distinctive look - I call it retro printing. 
I read that Lichtenstein first made his dots with a dog brush dipped in paint and would fill in the splotchy areas by hand.  He eventually moved to using metal screens.  Roy worked really hard to make his handpainted work look mass produced.
I was afraid to attempt the dots - You can call me chicken but I was having serious marker issues. . . it wasn't quite dry when my hand tracked marker all over her face and hair - YIKES!! 
Once I got that issue resolved I wasn't about to mess with her again.  I'll let the dots on the Washi tape symbolically represent the face dots.  The marker took forever to apply. It is such a pleasing graphic look although I won't be attempting it again anytime soon.  Are you a fan of Roy Lichtenstein? 
Linking to Paint Party Friday,

27 comments:

denthe said...

That's interesting! never heard of Ben-Day dots. But I recognized the style right away. Had to look up his work though, to see examples of the dots. I think she looks great without!

Netty said...

loving your comic book style, great use of the chosen colours. Happy PPF, Annette x

http://nettysartadventures.blogspot.co.uk/

Unknown said...

I hadnt realised either thats what they were called, but I also recognised the style straight away - considering I spent many nights copying his work! Beautiful work x

alarmcat said...

perfect!! i recognized the Roy-style right away. beautiful SoC painting.

Abela said...

This girl reminds me a work of Andy Warholl. Saludos

www.dorissdaughter.com said...

I do like Roy Lichensteins work and Pop Art in general. I saw some of his work at an exhibition in London along with his peers. Its interesting to see how art styles change over the decades. Back then it was all clean cut and Minimalist, now its shabby and distressed!
The bright block colours work perfectly for this weeks SoC

Terri Corona said...

Wow she turned out great, wonderful effect!

Kristin said...

xo

Anne Manda said...

Great take, really love your pop art-style, perfect for the Soc colors! :) Yes, I find Lichtenstein's work quite striking still.

Anonymous said...

Well you certainly captured the essence of Lichenstein's work, she is so good! xox

Valerie-Jael said...

Beautiful piece, love the pop-art style! Valerie

Kooky Makes said...

Fabulous style & the pairing with the vintage ledger paper is perfect!

Monique said...

No not a fan of lichtenstein, but I do like what he does/did. Your lady looks great even without the dots =)
Happy PPF and SOC, have a great weekend.
xx

Arnoldo L. Romero, MLA said...

I LOVE it! You really captured Lichtenstein's comic strip style, with your own original twist. Blessings!

Sharon Fritchman said...

I just love your girl and everything about your wonderful work of art!

sharon said...

I like Roy's work, b ut what I love more is how the clean cut look of the girl contrasts with the ledger book!

Denise Price said...

I loved this on Flickr, and it's fun to read more detailed info here on your blog.

Ivy said...

Perfect for this week's color challenge! HPPF and SOC!

Giggles said...

Oh I love it and will be checking out that link...thanks for the education!!

Hugs Giggles

manomij said...

Gorgeous work! Happy Paper Saturdays. ManonX

DVArtist said...

Wow she turned out beautiful. I do like the colors this week. You did a fabulous job.
Nicole/Beadwright

Tammie Dickerson said...

So cool! I think you have done a wonderful job with this! Beautiful use of the colors!

Paige said...

Verrry nice pop art effect, I like it lots! :)

Shahrul Niza said...

LOVE the ledger pages, and the pop of colors from the gorgeous girl :). Beautiful vintage look!

Natasha said...

As soon as I saw it I thought of his work. I would have been scared about the dots as well (who knew they were Ben-Day dots??! ~ love learning new obscure facts!), I would have been worried she looked like she had measles.

This is great, I want to give this style a go now, something else to add to the list. Great use of the SOC colours. :)

Karen Smithey said...

Love how you approached this. The painting it and then cutting it out and applying it to the surface--

Happy PPF!

Michelle said...

Oh, I think you need to try this style again, Michelle! I love her! I dare you to use the dots next time (although I do love her without).