My Introduction to Kenneth Potter and the California Style

I had no idea who Ken Potter was when I first met the man. I did not know that he was an internationally renowned artist who had painted landscapes and cityscapes on location around the world. I did not know that he was an important proponent of the California Style of Watercolor Painting, an art movement known for bold expressive brushwork and bright transparent color which features prominently in the history of California landscape painting. I did not know that Ken was a Marine who saw intense combat during WWII. Many things I now know about Ken Potter, I only learned after the fact, either from reading the McClelland’s book, or from talking with people who knew him.

But I knew none of this when I first met the man, I was just an ignorant kid taking art classes at Sacramento City College. Ken’s mother and my grandmother attended church together, and through this connection I was introduced to Ken. At first, I thought he was just another guy who was interest in art, but then I saw the gallery brochure below. The list of accomplishments was impressive even then (1990), but it still doesn’t begin to tell the real story.

When we first met, Ken asked me if I would be interested in attending his upcoming watercolor workshop. I was, but had no transportation. Ken suggested we might split the cost of a motel room, and he could drive me to and from the workshop, if I was willing to tag along to help him carry stuff around as well as scout locations (i.e. find good subjects for landscapes/cityscapes). We sealed the deal with a handshake, and so began four days that changed my life.

Each day of the workshop more or less followed this pattern: Ken and I would get up before sunrise, grab a quick breakfast at a local diner, and then on to the location where we set up our easels and began to paint well before any of the workshop participants arrived. Throughout each day, Ken demoed, lectured, and walked around to spend time with each student. The workshop was only supposed to last so many hours each day, and by late afternoon, the workshop participants had packed up and returned home, but not Ken and I. We remained on location, painting until the last rays of sunlight. After a meal at a local diner, Ken and I returned to the motel, where Ken pulled out the lower drawer of the dresser on his side of the room, and set his watercolor board on the drawer, turning the dresser into a makeshift easel, on which he continued to work on his painting from earlier that day. Following his example, I set up on my side of the room, and we painted until well after midnight (and this is after having painted sunrise to sundown).

We took occasional breaks from painting only to converse about art. I had many questions, and his answers encompassed a life experience that was shockingly broad and deep (and he was not boasting about any of this, everything he said was in response to my prying questions). He described living in England, France, Italy, painting on location in cities around the world, selling his paintings to provide daily bread, being a student of Jean Metzinger and Fernand Léger, interacting with some of the foremost figures of the Modern Art scene, being an art director for ad agencies in New York and San Francisco, watching bullfights in Spain, operating anti-aircraft gunnery against kamikaze planes in World War II, hitchhiking across the United States... and on and on the conversation went, meandering through Cubism, Divisionism, Abstract Expressionism, Futurism, and passionate debates among artists of the 1950’s. The history I could only read about in books was a history he had lived.

On one of those nights in the motel, Ken took a break from his painting. He stood up and walked over to look at a drawing I was working on in my sketchbook. He offered his critique, pointing out that my drawings were missing the gesture, lacking the spirit of my subjects. He described drawing as an act akin to the matador dodging the charging bull; the artist must be fully in the moment, each mark must have focused intention, like the matador drawing his sword and landing a killing stroke on the bull in one fluid motion. He made the motion of a matador drawing his sword. You have to imagine this man, then in his late 60’s, moving across the motel floor with the grace of a 25 year old matador, slaying his imaginary bull. I was trying to process everything he was saying, and avoid saying something stupid, but all I managed (in a meek hesitant voice) was, “So, uhmmm… you’re saying that I need to push the gesture more…” Ken ceased his swordsmanship, turned around and practically shouted, “THAT IS THE GESTURE! You don’t have to push it, Thomas. That IS the gesture!”

Well… that changed everything. I knew that, if I were going to be an artist, I must go all out, I must fully commit. You cannot be an artist with half-hearted intentions – it’s all or nothing. So, I packed up and ran off to art school. Thus began the caffeine-fueled haze of sleepless nights and ever-looming deadlines that defined much of my life ever since.

In the years that followed, Ken and I kept up a written correspondence. I suppose all who knew him have a Ken Potter story to tell. I will share more of mine, along with some thoughts on the “California Style” or “California School of Watercolor Painting”, in future posts on this blog.

My “False Horizon” Mistake

Looking over my old perspective notes, I caught myself making a minor mistake. In the first set of drawings below, you can see “Cartoon Thomas” driving uphill in his little 4 cylinder “shoe car” (so called because a friend, after too many beers, said to me, “Dude, your car looks like a shoe.”) The second drawing shows the street from Cartoon Thomas’ point of view.

Next we have Cartoon Thomas zooming downhill, followed by his view of the street.

I made these drawings while studying Andrew Loomis’ book Successful Drawing, and I was trying to apply his idea of “false horizon”. In his book, Loomis correctly draws streets converging to a “false horizon” above or below the actual horizon. My intention was to show that the actual horizon was at Cartoon Thomas’ eye level, while the streets converge to a “false horizon”. However, I drew Cartoon Thomas looking up or down along the street, so that the “direction of view” is parallel with the incline of the street. In other words, it’s like a camera tilting upward or downward (see diagram below). In this scenario, if the “direction of view” tilts up or down, the environment would shift into 2pt-vertical perspective (like the examples on the lower left side below).

Minor mistake, it’s not a big deal. I probably could have just left out “direction of view” altogether and focused on the inclined planes - then everything would be more or less correct, but little mistakes like this just bother me.

BTW… the “shoe car” survived almost 180k miles (even taking me across the U.S. from Florida to California), before it began to fall apart. I miss my old shoe.

Futurama: Drawing an Environment from Multiple Angles

Here is a typical scenario for an animation layout artist: drawing the same environment from multiple camera angles. Below are three of my drawings from Futurama. The first one is a high angle down shot in three-point perspective.

The second shot is a one-point perspective view with a low horizon line.

The third shot is a two-point perspective view (with one vanishing point inside the picture frame), zooming in closer on the dumpster.

It’s been so long ago, that I can’t remember which episode this was, or even what the characters were doing exactly (I think somebody was digging in the dumpster, but I'm not sure - I do remember that the production deadlines were so tight that I was living on too much caffeine and too little sleep, and the rest is a fog). However, these backgrounds represent a typical pattern in filmmaking: an establishing shot, followed by medium shot, and then close-up. 

• Establishing Shot: composition would emphasize environment over characters
• Medium Shot: emphasis might be roughly divided between characters and environment
• Closeup: composition would emphasize characters over environment  

The high-angle shot establishes the setting, and would show the positions of characters within the scene. The medium shot brings us down to the level of the characters, helping the audience connect with the character acting/story. Finally, a closeup brings us right up to the characters, emphasizing acting and emotional impact. (I really wish now that I had saved the character poses for these shots, but regrettably I only Xeroxed my backgrounds.) 

Before so much Los Angeles animation production was shipped overseas, an animator/character layout artist would focus on the character acting, while the background layout artist focused on developing the environments. The main challenge for the background layout artist was to keep the proportions and environment design (including all the details) consistent from shot to shot, while applying credible perspective. Looking at these so many years later, I think my proportions are a bit off on the dumpster and the crates (but hopefully animated cartoons are somewhat forgiving).

In one of the perspective classes I taught at AAU, students were assigned to draw the same environment or subject from multiple camera angles. I think this is a great exercise, because it helps you develop your eye for proportions, and really think about the structure and design of the environment. And of course, you can’t get away with hiding stuff in the background by overlapping it with a foreground shape - that might work for one shot, but probably not the rest.

Is Blogging Dead?

What happened to the art bloggers? A number of art blogs I used to follow are no longer around. Others still exist but have not been updated in years. Some are still going, but blogging doesn't seem to be as big as it was over a decade ago. Many artists I know have turned to social media sites that are perhaps better suited for posting images, and that offer more immediate audience reaction ("likes", comments, etc.) 

So why start an art blog now? Well... the painter, Chuck Close, said there is no better time to paint than when people are saying that painting is dead. There are no expectations or established norms, and the artist is free to experiment wildly. Perhaps the same is true of blogging. I love to draw and paint, and I love to write, and blogging would seem like a natural way to combine words and images. I had intended to start an art blog years ago, but I was seduced by Facebook (with it's easy flow of likes and comments). Much of the energy I would have put into a blog went into Facebook posts. But Facebook has some limits on how art can be displayed, and I don't like how hard it is to find older posts (not to mention that I don't care for all the bickering, politicking, and random things that appear in my feed there). I would like to keep a record of my posts that is better organized; for example, in a blog I can organize posts into portrait demos, notes on perspective, animation backgrounds, sketchbooks, etc. So, I will use this blog to post drawings, paintings, art tutorials, and general thoughts on art, along with the occasional irreverent cartoon.

If blogging really is dead, then no one will pay attention to what I am doing, which means I can experiment wildly... and maybe even get away with it.

AAU Ellipse Policy

One of my dubious claims to fame was authoring the Academy of Art "Ellipse Policy" for the Foundations perspective class.

Eye Update

I posted this recently on social media, but I want to post it here as well, in order to keep a record of my recovery from eye surgery. I hope to document the recovery process in the months ahead.

Eye Update: My left eye is healing up nicely and my vision in that eye is dramatically better. I can see details and textures which I have not seen for many years. Vision in my right eye is still a hazy fog and I will be going in for the surgery on that eye next. With DMEK surgeries, it can take up to 6 months for vision to stabilize in each eye, so I still have a ways to go before my vision is fully restored, but I am very happy with the progress so far.

Eye Surgery

I posted this on other social media over a month ago, but I will post it here as well, just to keep a record of my progress.

In late January, I underwent eye surgery to address Fuchs Endothelial Dystrophy, a condition that breaks down the inner layer of the cornea, causing loss of vision. The following was my effort to depict eye surgery, and the recovery process, from the point of view of the patient.

DMEK is Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty, a technique that removes a thin layer of the cornea and replaces it with donor tissue. Compared to full thickness cornea transplant, or even partial thickness cornea transplant (DSEK or DSAEK), DMEK involves only the thinnest layer of the back of the cornea, resulting in less chance of rejection, faster recovery, and better visual outcomes.

So far, I’ve only had the DMEK in my left eye; my right eye has yet to be done. At the time I made these drawings, my vision was still quite blurry, but was improving quite a bit compared to the days immediately following surgery.

Portrait Drawing Step by Step #3

This drawing was done some years ago at Patris Studio and Gallery. At the time, my vision was getting worse (due to Fuchs Endothelial Dystrophy + cataracts) and I was really struggling to see the details of the model's face accurately. Hence, I focused more on the design of the features rather than accurate likeness.

First rough lay-in: During the first sitting, I missed the tilt of the head (or possibly the model moved?), but I knew I would need to rework the drawing anyway during the second sitting, so I keep the drawing light and in line only (I hold off on applying any tone for now).

Second sitting: This time I get the tilt of the head, and I think the drawing looks better. But I still hold off on applying any tone until I am satisfied that proportions are reasonably correct and the construction of the head is solid.

Third sitting: I rework the drawing one more time in line, making subtle adjustments to the features, before finally delving into a first pass at tone. By the end of this sitting, I have the shadows mapped out, and the basic value pattern is set, but I hold off on going too dark yet.

In the next session, I finally begin to deepen the dark values and establish local value variations (hair, skin, clothing, etc.) The features are further refined and developed.

By this stage, I fear the shadow values may be too dark, and I need to develop the mid-tones more. I am also cautious about overusing the white pastel (much too easy to do).

This is as far as I got by the final sitting. I feel the mid-tone vales could have been developed further, but I was afraid of over-rendering (a bad habit of mine). At this stage, it’s time to admit: there is only so much you can do in one afternoon. It’s best to take what you learn and move on to the next drawing.

Here is a closeup showing the detail of the face. In earlier years, I would have been more concerned about accurate likeness, but with the vision issues I was experiencing at this time, I let go of the accuracy and focused more on design of the features.  

Portrait Drawing Step by Step #2

Here is another example of portrait drawing step-by-step. This drawing was also done at Patris Studio and Gallery. The first photo shows my setup along with the model, at the end of the drawing session. Below, you can see each step in the drawing process.

Each sitting is about about 20 minutes. This first sitting shows my initial lay-in drawing. At this point, I am focusing on proportions and placement of the features. I also try to get some impression of who this person is and hopefully a sense of their spirit or personality. 

During the next sitting, I correct proportions and refine the drawing. I also get started on the value block-in (or blocking in the shadows and defining what areas will be light or dark). 

In the third sitting, I continue to refine the features and also further develop the value pattern. You can see that I am beginning to introduce darker value as I refine the features. 

In the next sitting, I find that I need to correct my mistakes and redraw some areas. Then I proceed with further developing the shadows tones.  

This was as far as I got at the end of the last sitting. I probably spent too much time correcting mistakes, and the drawing was not fully resolved, but this was much needed practice. I had been away from drawing from live models for a while at this point, and was eager to get back to it. 

Portrait Drawing Step-by-Step

Here is a portrait drawing from a live model that was done at Patris Studio and Gallery. In the first photo below, you can see my drawing setup with the model. Below I show the steps I took to arrive at the final drawing.

First sitting: Initial Lay-in: The likeness and proportions are slightly off, so I will redraw before adding any tone. The key to accurate portraiture is to spend a lot of time on these initial stages of the drawing. Build a solid construction from the start. Keep checking proportions and angles.

Second sitting - Redrawing: I redraw and correct my proportions and construction. If I am not getting a likeness at this point in the drawing, I may start over. But today, I think I am getting closer to the likeness.

Third sitting - Redrawing/Block in shadows: I am taking all the way to the third sitting before I begin to block in shadows. I am finally satisfied with the proportions and construction. I know from experience that if the proportions or construction are not working now, I will only waste energy later.

Forth Sitting - Redrawing/Refinement: Now I begin to tighten down the drawing, making smaller adjustments to edges and shadow shapes, and refining the features.

5th and 6th sittings - Rendering: With solid under-drawing and shadows accurately blocked in, the rendering actually begins to move quickly. If you have done the early stages properly, the values will more or less fall into place, and it becomes a matter of comparing one value to another and adjusting edges (softer or sharper).

Final sitting - Refinement: Now the clock is running out and I must make whatever decisions I can to bring this to some kind of resolution. I look for edges that need to be softened or sharpened, and shapes that need adjustment. I also add highlights with white pastel. I feel I may have over-worked the highlights here, but this is just practice - I must make these mistakes in order to make progress. The point is to learn from the experience and take what you learn forward into the next drawing.

Updates

This blog is getting an overhaul, as I am building a new website to showcase my artwork. I setup up this blog page back in 2008 as a temporary placeholder until I could build a proper website,  but then I got busy with so many different things. Years later, I am finally building a proper portfolio website, and I hope to use this space as an art blog, posting recent work, tutorials and my thoughts on art. The "perspective notes" section and other info will be deleted here and will be found on my new website. I will update when the new site is live.

UPDATE: OK, the new site is not totally finalized yet, and I will probably be making further changes for a while, but you can see what I have so far at this link: www.tcstarnes.com