War. Original drawing by Irina Sumanenkova (2014) Zeichnungen von Irina Sumanenkova

I wish there is no war. Ever. But it is a part of history, and we have to deal with it.

My favorite technique for black and white works is a sketch marker, I use 0.05 mm and 0.1 mm in diameter only. This marker draws by pigment ink with alcohol, that`s why it dries almost immediatly.

About working process:

After the idea came, I begin to collect the information, chose elements for a composition, then drawing construction stage begins on paper. My academy drawing education helps me to create human figures for my ideas. Anatomy academic drawing I have learned in University from a Gottfried Bammes anatomy book. In order to portray a facial expression or a movement in a most natural way, I use photographs sometimes, but oftenly it comes from the imagination. I can draw a figure or head in any angle need. When the figures drawing is finished, I add clothes on them, every fold should be on it`s right place and characterize the type of textile.

When the figures drawing is complete, I continue work with surroundings.
Next stage is shadow casting, depending on the light source I chose. It can be: centre of the Sun, a bonfire, torch, lamp etc - this source should help me to highlight my main personages. Sometimes shadows can create an unexpected effect need. The finished construction drawing now is ready to be carried on another piece of paper to hachure my drawing with marker.

The hatching process is the most laborious, because my finished work looks like lithography, only it was made by hand directly on paper. Moving the line along, I have to keep in mind what I am hatching now: a face, a hand, a hair, a type of textile (light or heavy fabric), is it a clothes on a figure or just a drapery, a ground, a tree bark, a stone or a sky - in order to depict any surface most naturally. After the personages are finished, I can go on with surroundings, following up that every single line helps me to highlight the main characters and sculpt the another surface at the same time. That`s why the sky came in the last turn - it`s role not to interfere in composition most of the time, it`s just express the mood.
That`s why a 3 square centimeter of work take 1.5 sometimes.

The main difference between this technique and oil painting is that here I don`t have much opportunity to correct, if something went wrong. Everything should be executed from the first time. It can be only lighten or darken a little in a small spots, that`s all. This is the last stage - to conform the whole work, to harmonize everything in it.

This artwork took me 3 weeks and can be recreated for a customer.

Verwandte Themen

WarHistoryOld WomanSoldierTree