tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-271259692008-12-03T06:42:24.547+01:00A portfolio of visual arts, martial arts and mountains.Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-26387133636604787812008-09-02T20:48:00.005+02:002008-09-02T21:18:26.495+02:00

I kept finding increasingly difficult to seat down and draw something, while a small pile of unfinished paintings is slowing developing in my room. After some reflections I decided to go back to sketching as a way to keep enjoying drawing stuff and stay away from those large, detailed drawing I tend to stick to. Crayon on paper about 21x21cm Which was hitting literally any drawing project I was

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-20053125408064633552008-07-20T19:26:00.004+02:002008-07-20T22:43:08.586+02:00

Beloved Bastet, mistress of happiness and bounty, twin of the Sun god, slay the evil that afflicts our minds as you slay the serpent Apep. With your graceful stealth anticipate the moves of all who perpetrate cruelties and stay their hands against the children of light. Grant us the joy of song and dance, and ever watch over us in the lonely places in which we must walk. Oil on canvas, 40x30cm

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-44940308419580511822008-07-07T21:54:00.003+02:002008-07-07T22:06:36.813+02:00

A portrait of Dr. John A. Zoidberg, by far the greatest alien character ever. Also to celebrate my return to oil painting. Oil on cardboard, 24 x 18 cm

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-18955650394160792392008-06-15T22:09:00.004+02:002008-06-15T22:39:35.916+02:00

Yesterday I received my shodan black belt in karate! It was a long journey, started as far as 1981. When I gave up with karate long time ago I thought it was for good. But as they say, karate-do no shugyo wa isssho de aru, it will take you entire life to learn karate. And Oscar Sensei got my name embroidered in katakana on the black belt!

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-43105780126846837482008-04-03T22:07:00.003+02:002008-04-03T22:27:17.074+02:00

A portrait of my favourite model, in her usual morning stance. The print in the background is M.C. Escher "Earth" woodcut, that he made on commission for Eugene & Wily Strens, friends and print collectors, as holiday gifts for New Year 1956. Actually the writing behind Felicia is "Felicitas 1953" Indian ink on paper, 24x33cm Click on image to enlarge

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-69050693065754907932008-03-31T20:42:00.004+02:002008-04-03T22:05:36.146+02:00

Elena drifting peacefully in a sea of calmness. Watercolors on paper, 33x24cm Click on image to enlarge

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-42306802862237812692008-03-04T00:31:00.004+01:002008-03-04T00:58:36.166+01:00

From the time we went to Normandie and Bretagne. Elena standing on the chalky beach of Etretat in a sort of Hokusai-c atmosphere. Ink drawing and Photoshop painting, 33x24cm Click on image to enlarge I fiddled with a pencil drawing of this since last summer, then boldy decided to ink it "so to stop changing it", then scanned into Photoshop and painted with the Old Man Mad with Painting in

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-52722106401769333372008-02-28T13:10:00.003+01:002008-02-28T18:20:22.875+01:00

I placed online the manifesto for postdigital art, the new frontier, the break-throught that will change visual arts like oil-painting did in the 15th century. Not simply using digital tools to draw and paint, but to find the new artistic value beyond the doors that these tools are opening.For this purpose I created a dedicated site www.not-oilpainted.org, which so far contains only the

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-90737945384532517732008-02-08T14:39:00.000+01:002008-02-08T15:02:59.163+01:00

I try to use this space to discuss only my own material, but the collection of Photoshop tutorials I found while browsing Charley Parker's blog Lines and Colors is so interesting that I need to link it. This collection of 100 Photoshop tutorials (for Creating Beautiful Art) gathers a number of techniques that can be applied when painting in digital, keeping in a single place enough knowledge

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-61508899424873949012007-09-05T13:57:00.000+02:002008-03-04T00:30:45.880+01:00

An exercise on Sierpinski carpet and Klee's "Pedagogical Sketchbook" from the Bauhaus years.

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-63840107129227075072007-09-04T20:30:00.000+02:002008-04-03T22:04:44.158+02:00

I was not too happy with this drawing of Anna casting a glance of challenge I made months ago, the colours of the background were too soft and Felicia's tuxedo fur not black enough. I am also curious on exploring the path of digital collage, and keen of learning more on my new Wacom Tablet. So I cut out Anna's portrait, and drew again the background complete with Felicia practicting Taijiquan

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-43558618519409212432007-08-13T23:11:00.000+02:002008-03-04T00:30:31.831+01:00

One of the many reasons why digital painting is superior to any traditional media is the ability to assign colours to the exact hue, shade or tint that you want to use. While getting used with my Wacom tablet I wanted to try some of the colour armonies that Johannes Itten described in his book on the Art of Colour. This is a combination of Photoshop's Pen Tool, a 4-colour armony of

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-59384839398672005992007-07-30T10:16:00.002+02:002008-12-03T06:42:24.574+01:00

After a long discussion with the Master of the Temple I decided to get a Wacom tablet to explore the prairies of digital painting. I chose a Wacom Bamboo: not expensive like the professional Intuous serie, and with good technical specs to try some serious step into digital illustration: The drawing area is about a half A4 sheet, the pen has 512 levels of pressure and an accuracy of +/- 0.5 mm.

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-46710695858899169972006-12-18T08:21:00.000+01:002007-09-05T14:38:59.526+02:00

"I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you" Walt Whitman Ink drawing and Photoshop colouring (Click on image to enlarge)

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-8730400298957506642006-12-12T00:24:00.000+01:002008-03-04T00:31:08.803+01:00

Playing chess is fun, yet this can be a tricky game for most grownups. And when you are going through your early matches the help of four eyes to spot the consequences of your move can be a real blessing - four eyes see better than two, don't they. What better help then than a skilled hunter like Felicia, with a proverbial, superior sight, to set up an unbeatable defense? Ink drawing and

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-72359266910785624422006-11-18T18:57:00.000+01:002007-09-05T14:36:36.910+02:00

An exercise on bichromy, based on a ink drawing made this summer. The idea of restricting the palette to just two colours - black and yellow - come from "5 is the perfect number", an outstanding graphic novel created by Igort. Ink drawing and Photoshop Coloring, 33x24 cm Click on image to enlarge

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-1162123876410803152006-10-29T13:01:00.000+01:002007-09-05T14:34:48.522+02:00

For this kick I started from a couple of pictures of Elena, I wanted to work from a model (with some trick to make her fly...). I made 3 versions of this drawing: the paintbrush and Indian ink sketch, a Photoshop colored line art, and this digital graffiti. I am posting the latter because I think it looks better, and it is also another attempt to use digital painting in a non-canonical way.

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-1162062591252325842006-10-28T20:48:00.001+02:002008-06-15T22:36:33.143+02:00

I am putting this together to recap what I did so far with martial arts - quite a back and forth journey, and still far away from destination. 1981-1984: Shotokan Karate (with Fesika - Hiroshi Shirai's Italian federation) These 4 years were ground-setting for my technique. In this period I learnt the building how-to blocks: how to use hips, how to breath, how to shift weight, how to get the

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-1159712862793587142006-10-01T16:21:00.000+02:002006-11-12T22:49:39.221+01:00

Hats off, this is the most creative game of the year! Line Rider is a little Flash game, created by fsk as a project for an illustration class. It is a magical balance between semplicity and cleverness, and it is a great fun to play. I showed it to the kids, and I could not get hold of my laptop for almost the whole weekend, while they were playing it again and again and laughing almost to fall

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-1159096467834223182006-09-24T12:58:00.000+02:002006-11-12T22:47:45.198+01:00

Felicia has a natural talent for modeling, she is quickly becoming my favourite subject. She also provides a good reason for using pure ivory black, a beautiful colour that unfortunately I seldom mix on my palette - its strength takes over too easily on the others. Oil on cardboard, 18x24cm (Click on image to enlarge) Here she is resting upon my piano, below a M.C. Escher woodcut, the Red

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-1158271460757657812006-09-14T23:39:00.000+02:002006-11-12T22:46:58.858+01:00

Exactly one year ago I was working in Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra state, and the house of many Indian corporations and Bollywood. I visited the house where Mahatma Gandhi was living in the 1920s when he was fighting for the independence of India, and I saw the festival of Ganesh, or Ganapati like He is called here. Watercolours on paper, cm 22x33 (Click on image to enlarge) But this is

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-1157402077127571452006-09-04T22:16:00.000+02:002006-11-12T22:44:57.998+01:00

Another drawing from this summer holidays. Actually the snowfall happened last March, but I did not feel like drawing this until last August. And once it was pencilled and inked, I did not find the will to colour it until yesterday. Watercolour and Indian ink on paper, 24x33cm (Click on image to enlarge) A reason for this is that HP just replaced my scanner, which quite unfortunately had a

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-1157275966901757332006-09-03T11:28:00.002+02:002008-06-04T14:51:07.712+02:00

Before moving up to Brengaz our house in Valtournenche was just in front of the lake of Maen, a shallow reservoir which holds the water from the Marmore river. We often took the kids for a walk around the lake, especially to reach a little playground on the opposite side. This drawing is made after a picture I took some years ago. The children are really young, Alberto is even using a pacifier.

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-1157193857107574732006-09-02T12:41:00.002+02:002008-06-04T14:50:42.843+02:00

I made this portrait of Anna in early January, when I was back from a business trip to Prague. After the client meeting I had a couple of hours before flying home. I spent this time visiting the Mucha Museum, dedicated to the work of Alphonse Mucha. Go and see it if you are in Prague. Anyway - I love Mucha's work, I often copy his prints to learn how to draw. So when back at home I made this

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27125969.post-1156888971314208902006-08-29T23:42:00.000+02:002007-09-05T14:33:23.715+02:00

Another Photoshop graffiti, this time with Elena soloing with double katanas. The "inspiration" is a drawing of Psylocke by Jim Lee from an X-men graphic novel, which I modified to reflect Elena's face and body. Photoshop digital painting Click on image to enlarge As always when copying a master this was a good learning experience, I really saw how complex and sofisticated is the graphic work

Marco Brescianihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06341218975769026289noreply@blogger.com