Eric Alexander Santoli
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Manga Drawing: Various Styles

12/30/2015

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  I made this sheet to help out a student of mine.  I have a small study from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and a step-by-step panel from Pandora Hearts.
  It's originally drawn with pencil and then I used  Miyazaki's technique to print it black and white.  I personally love the tones that are created when graphite is printed; it gives it a very "newspaper" type appearance
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Technique is an Alphabet

12/26/2015

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    I was working on a small sketch of my brother yesterday and it made me think about techniques.  As I was sketching, I realized that I needed a darker tone for his hair so I pulled out a 2B pencil to shade accordingly.  I think of this as the purist form of technique.  It was a combination of experience (having tested the shades of pencil) and knowledge (reading that a 2B pencil is darker than a 2H).   
  That small sketch sparked me to write this post.  Writing about my ideas also allows me to further analyze them.  Making thoughts visible through language makes me think a lot about how technique is a system of the same means.  
  Technique is simply a guideline system and provides a framework from which ideas can develop.  I've tried several different techniques, all of which I have learned 'tricks' from.  Since painting itself is an illusion, painters need these abstract tricks to display an idea.  
  Technique is the same as an alphabet.  As a painter, it gives you the tools to illustrate a message.  But, knowing the alphabet itself is not enough to write Shakespeare, it only provides the building blocks for it.  The same is true of technique.  
  I love reading and writing about technique, but in the end it's about having creativity and a message.  Study technique, but remember that it's simply a matrix by which you illustrate your idea.
Picture
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"A Restored Velázquez, A Velázquez Restored" MET museum video + Technique

12/22/2015

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"Introductions by
Keith Christiansen, Jayne Wrightsman Curator of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Michael Gallagher, Sherman Fairchild Conservator in Charge, Paintings Conservation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Velázquez Rediscovered features a newly identified painting by Velázquez, Portrait of a Man, formerly ascribed to the workshop of Velázquez, and recently reattributed to the master himself following its cleaning and restoration. It will be shown alongside other works from the Museums superior collection of works by the great Spanish painter.

This event illuminates the recent discovery of a self-portrait by the 17th-century painting master Diego Velázquez in the Museums collection. In their introduction, MMA curator Keith Christiansen and conservator Michael Gallagher tell the fascinating story behind this revelation. A lecture by Jonathan Brown, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, follows and highlights the significance and implications of this important new attribution." - MET Museum
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My diaries, a year ago till now..

12/18/2015

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  A year ago, I had started a job at an NYC gallery.  I didn't realize it had been a year since I worked there, but my mom pointed it out to me.  It's really shocking how much has changed over the last year.  I'm now teaching at a college and contracted to a gallery.  These were dreams that I've had for so long and they seemed impossible a year ago while working at a gallery.
   I went through a real low period last year which is what sparked this post.  Graduation from school and the job hunt was brutal.  And I realized quickly how ill-fitted I was for the gallery life and business.  I thought I would have liked it after having worked at Sotheby's, but I was wrong.  Of course, everyone needs a job and to pay the bills, which makes it so tough.
 The point of this post is that you can do amazing things in a year if you meet amazing people and work hard.  I like tracking it through this website, but I suggest everyone does some diary writing at some point.  

​Try and meet one new person every day if you can.  

​Happy Holidays
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  • HOME
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