Sketchbook

Sketch Doodles

Jamaal barber — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:06:43 +0000

Here's another look at my sketchbook. I paste in images cut out of magazines and doodle all around it. It keeps my mind loose. I bring in song lyrics I heard that day and random things the picture makes me think about. It's like a snapshot of the day I made it. I'm using this same concept for a new series of paintings. Be on the look out for those.

Jam

Excercise

Jamaal barber — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:06:00 +0000

Along with my regular sketchbook, that I take with me every where, I keep a larger sketchbook that I use to collage magazine cut outs into and draw on. I started doing it in college for fun. It's a good change of pace to loosen up and doodle. I also litter the images with song lyrics and random quotes that pop into my mind. Don't be surprised to see a few Jay Z lines especially.

I'll post some of them from time to time to let you see a different side of my artwork. Feel free to let me know what you think.

Jam

Studio Clout 9.21.10

Jamaal barber — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 02:32:30 +0000

I was back at Clout for my weekly live drawing.

Studio Clout 9.14.10

Jamaal barber — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 00:34:02 +0000

I was back at Studio Clout for the figure drawing session Tuesday night. They switched it up and got a new model. She was great at posing and had a good body. After some technique advise from the one and only Gilbert Young, I ended up with some good stuff. Not bad for 3 hours worth of drawings.

Afterwards I went to the spoken word show they had going on downstairs. I caught the tail end of the show and it was awesome. Two of the poets were going at each other about wanting that stank love. Everybody performed with passion and excitement. The hour I spent there was just as good as the time I spent drawing. That says a lot because I love drawing. The poetry will be back September 28th, I recommend it for people trying to get through the week with some good poetry.

Peace

Tuesday @ Studio Clout

Jamaal barber — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:34:31 +0000

Tuesday nights you can find me over at Studio Clout for their live drawing event. Its always a good time over there. Most of the people that show up are regulars. It's varying levels of skill but it's all about drawing. Among them are the great painter Gilbert Young and every once and a while Kevin Williams, Aka WAK. Gilbert especially walks around giving good advice. Definitely a good way to spend some time on Tuesdays.

I'll start posting my drawings starting with this one.

Peace

Ideas

Jamaal barber — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:46:08 +0000

A parent is walking through a gallery looking at the art. He says to the curator, "You call this art. My 10 year old son could do this!". The curator replies, "Possibly. But would he have thought of it in the first place."

All art starts with an idea. The idea is shaped by all the experiences of the artist up to that point. That's the beauty of art itself. Each piece produced by each artist is completely different and unique unto itself. That is what makes group themed art shows exciting. No matter what restrictions are in place every artist will come up with a completely different twist on the same concept. The concept gets filtered through each artist's style and out comes artwork.

The upcoming show I'm a part of is called "The Way of the Gun". Every piece has to have a gun in it. That's it. Super simple. I'm sitting here thinking of all the different ways to take that idea. You can go literal with it. A man with a gun. Which brings to mind images of action movies. Dirty Harry. The Matrix. The Replacement Killers. My personal favorite, one of the greatest action essemble casts of all time Predator.

Out of those few movies you have sci fi, modern day cop drama, John Woo choreography stylish killers leaping through the air gun in each hand, doves flying. You could go the western route. A bright high noon sun beaming down on a dry barren landscape. An outlaw with a black hat on a horse, guns drawn.

That's cool but I'm not that literal with my art. I like for it to have some kind of other level to it. Nothing wrong with literal art, its just not me. So as I begin drumming up a nice concept for the show, I'll give you a peek at a few of the references I'm using to put something together. It doesn't matter if you see it, we wouldn't come up with same thing anyway. It's the beauty of art.

Come to the Way of the Gun art show to see what I come up with.

The Plight of the Cover

Jamaal barber — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:14:20 +0000

My latest project was a book cover for a friend of mine, and frat brother, Shawn Meade. He finally got around to doing the book of poetry he's been working on for a while now. He's a father, a husband, a student, a school teacher, a coach, so its not like he was being lazy about it. Never the less he finally got it all together.

The name of the book is "the Plight of the Struggle". In the poems he talks about a lot of issues of black people through generations. From Africa to slavery, from Jim Crow until now. He wanted the cover to be reflective of that. We started with the famous image of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics holding up the black power fist on the olympic stand. He wanted a black man standing strong like that with slave chains in his hands. I got a feel for where he's going but I thought the image could be simplified. I zoomed in on what I consider the heart of the idea. The black fist gripping the chains that were used to bind his ancestors.

After a few more thumb nails, I decided to make the pattern cross like to hint at the spiritual tone of the book. I think the finished piece captures the tone of what he wanted.

On to the next project...

Inspiration

Jamaal barber — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:48:32 +0000

I'm constantly finding things that inspire me to make art. There's always something I see or hear that leads to one idea which leads to another idea etc. A lot of the time my inspiration is music. All kinds of music. My latest musical inspiration is Corrine Bailey Rae's new cd "The Sea".

There is something about her voice that I think is great. The lightness of it. Its delicate but strong. Could be the british accent (she says "cont" instead of "can't"). The way she writes her lyrics is introspective and emotional. It gets very visual. On "I'd Do it All Again" she sings about getting her heart broken again by the same guy. She says love "outruns all of the sadness" and is "terrifying light to the darkness". Lyrics like that make me think and make connections that start ideas.

Another inspiring thing about her is the strength I'm sure it took her to get back into the studio and make an album after the tragic death of her husband a few years ago. After an experience like that, for her to come out with an album that is not completely depressing and sad is amazing. If she can still make good music after that I'm sure I can make some decent art without all the tragedy.

She's an amazing person and artist. Hopefully she'll come to the Atl so I can see her perform. Until then more drawing....

Blast off!

Jamaal barber — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:43:57 +0000

Brand new year, brand new look for JBarberStudio!

I got a lot of stuff coming up. This will be a good year for art.

Stay tuned!