Artist Research

Artist Research

Arinze Stanley and Kelvin Okafor

Kelvin Okafor

The two main artists that have had the most impact on my work and techniques are Arinze Stanley and Kelvin Okafor. I look at Okafor for the techniques and processes he uses, how he handles his tools etc. I find his compositions differ too much from the reference photo to look at the final outcome of his drawings.

  

This photo taken from his instagram depicts perfectly what I mean. The final outcome looks too airbrushed and unlike the reference photo. To be more specific and critical; the iris is the wrong shape, certain parts of the lower and upper lids are too dark, the eyebrows are deformed and the detailing of the iris is all wrong. Despite all this, the processes Okafor uses throughout his compositions are extremely helpful.

 

A perfect example of this is pictured above. Okafor uses a paint brush to spread graphite across the composition, creating an extremely soft and realistic base tone for the skin that can later be worked into. The photo next to it is one of my own compositions where all the tone outside of the iris was applied with a paintbrush, giving it a very soft look and providing a solid and smooth base layer to start adding details.

Arinze Stanley

Stanley’s final outcomes tend to look a lot more accurate to the reference photo, or at least to reality. 

In the photo above (taken from Stanley’s instagram) depicts how, in comparison with Okafor, Stanley exposes all the little imperfections in the composition and pays close attention to the reality of his  drawings to create a more hyper realistic outcome. In an interview Stanley did with Great Big Story, he defines the meaning of hyperrealism saying “Hyperrealism is a genre of art that involves making a drawing or painting look very realistic so that you can't actually distinguish them from a photograph or reality”. Stanley’s work follows this definition completely. The photo next to it is another composition of mine that’s a response to this definition, trying to capture every detail to create that hyper realistic look. Whilst it’s not to the standard of Stanley's it captures the photos essence and holds at least some degree of realism. 

This is the final outcome of Stanley’s drawing seen above. Even though it holds elements of paranormal and abstract genres, its main purpose is to show Stanley’s skill surrounding hyper realism. It is very difficult to find parts of the composition that don’t look extremely hyper realistic. 

The photo next to Stanley's composition is one of my final outcomes of my own eye, trying to express a similar form of realism. I have lots to learn from an artist such as Stanley but I'm seeing progress in this response to his work.

Chuck Close

Chuck Close has to be my main inspiration for all of my work; past, present and future.

His large scale acrylic portraits are what first made me want to scale both the size and the realism of

my own portraits up. His techniques are all surrounding painting so on paper it may seem to not be the

best of reference points for my work. However, the outcomes and the amazing detailing will always be a

fantastic reference.

The piece below -Frank- shows how hyperrealism can be achieved through many mediums,

not just graphite and charcoal. Close’s application of acrylic to canvas is very different to the

application of graphite and yet the beauty of the final outcome is prevalent in both these methods. 

Another substantial influence Close has had on my work is the scale of his compositions. The above composition measures 108x84 inches (274.3 x 213.4 cm). Whilst this is still considerably bigger than any of my work, it still gave me the confidence to try something more bold and beautiful. It's as they say, baby steps. 

Hayan Aldeen

Another artist I’m looking into is Hayan Aldeen, a Danish artist I stumbled across on instagram.

He uses charcoal, graphite, fine liner and white gel pens to achieve his hyper realistic compositions.

It’s incredibly interesting trying to adjust to the use of mixed mediums in a composition when I’m used

to only using graphite. The results he achieves however, speak for themselves.  

The image below is a prime example of what the use of mixed mediums can achieve when focusing

on hyperrealism. The result in a minimalist yet realistic eye that has the eye popping juxtaposition of light and dark tones. This contrast adds such valuable depth to the drawing.