Mark's art for Shelter page

[elmarko]

***£815.00 raised of £500.00 target*** - Target Hit & surpassed!

163%

Guys/Gals,

I've been knocking out a load of ink/drawing creations recently & the last few have sparked a few requests from friends/family to do a few requests.

As I'm not keen on taking money for art (I'm too critical of my own work) I'm happy to raise some money for a good cause for it.

After doing some further reading off the back of Gilly's recent Shelter raising thread I thought I'd try to get a bit more for the same charity.

Charity Page

http://www.shelter.org.uk/

Just giving page

http://www.justgiving.com/Mark-Fenton5

I'm taking requests for new pieces, but the below are a few examples of the ones I've done over the last couple of weeks - in regard to time it's totally pendent on the complexity of the reference picture, some take a few hours, some an hour - most of the time is the sketching & photo-shop prep time.

Examples of recent work. - apologies for the meh picture quality - taken with a phone but in reality the blacks are all actually black (if you know what I mean).

Bowie

Spoiler

Good morning Vietnam!

Spoiler

The Imp

Spoiler

Jaime Lannister

Spoiler

Space Marine

Spoiler

Tiger

Spoiler

If you can leave what you want here, I'll go away draw it - you decide if you are happy with it (only serious posts only, this is for charity ) I'll post it to you after you have made a donation on the just-giving page.

 

[elmarko]

Well I'm open for requests so whatever you want really - Batman shouldn't be too much of a problem - I'll have a look for reference pictures when I get back from work tonight.

For the suggested donation, the total cost to me will be about £10 per picture which I'll be covering (my part of the donation for each one).

Ideally at least £30/£40 to make it worth the personal cost & time + postage/frame/packaging & material costs - anything extra is great as it's for a good cause & obviously all goes direct to the charity due to it being through "just-giving".

All the ones listed above have already been claimed by friends & I'll be getting them to donate on the just-giving page too, but I should be able to re-create them pretty close to the original if any of the above are wanted (they should be better in theory lol as had some practice) - the suggested donation would be a little higher for the more complex style ones (The first & the Iron-man one took triple the time of the rest of them!).

 

[elmarko]

Would that that were true

Just Giving deduct a fair portion of what is donated (they don't take directly from the money, they take from the Gift Aid, which is still taking money destined for the charities).

By fair I mean large, not just.

Well yeah you are right, but when I say "charity" I meant none to me , but yeah it's not the best out there, but not bad - I find it's a safe way for people to donate.

I can confirm the quality of Marks paintings, still got mine from his previous thread hanging on my wall

KaHn

Thanks , I've been practising since the last ones & changed format (from paint to artist pen!).

 

[elmarko]

I won't use Just Giving as they're the most expensive (though with the Shelter thing I didn't have a choice anyway, we were given SponsorMe/Charities Trust).

Would you recommend I switch to http://www.sponsorme.co.uk/ instead? - if it's a better donor rate I'm happy to create an account on that (better if more goes to the cause).

It seems I mistakenly assumed the rates would be similar across the board!.

 

[elmarko]

Major fail by me.

- it because it's using the faber-castell art pen friendy paper - I'll try to get some large paper when I go shopping next - but normal paper goes all funny/bitty when I try to use it on them (it's like the paper is 5% laminated or something lol)

Just finished my first request (off-line)

Michonne - The Walking Dead.

 

[elmarko]

Thanks for the good feedback, it's not actually that good - just basic & your mind fills in the blanks, as really it's only got 5 colours (shades of grey) & it's pretty basic. It's also a case of keeping it simple as I suck with colours!.

 

[elmarko]

For those that want large prints or can't afford the cost of a framed copy, why don't you 'sell' them digital copies?

Scan it in, email it over and they can print at what size they like and donate what they like, not cost to yourself then either

Hehe, if only I had a scanner or an excellent camera! - I'd also prefer to give actual hand done drawings (As opposed to prints) for the charity work (dunno why, feels .. like cheating somehow lol).

 

[elmarko]

Great idea and excellent art work, how long do you think you will be doing this for ?

Till I hit the £500 goal or my pens run out of ink .

Just done another request (another offline one).

 

[elmarko]

Nice pictures - made a donation, but don't need any artwork in return

Thanks for the donation, all to a good cause .

Well if you haven't hit the target by the end of the month i think i will be getting something.

Cheers mate, at £80 currently with money from 7(ish) still to go in which I've done but not delivered/had donations for yet.

 

[elmarko]

Another offline request (currently only done the black so far) - need to work through the rest of the tones tonight, most of the time was the sketching first tbh.

 

[elmarko]

Another offline request done!

 

[elmarko]

All looking great, but please. Upload some clear images that are not blurry or taken through Instagram.

Please.

Can do, the lighting my in my room makes everthing look yellow (the middle of his face is one white paper & hasn't been touched for example) & I'm in the process of getting a real camera (as opposed to using my crappy phone) - this one should be a little clearer.

Is without any light adjustment (in my yellow room) but it's done with greyscale pens.

I also fixed the side cheek (as it was too straight)

 

[elmarko]

Another one (not a request, just thought it would be cool) - decided to take my fellow forumites advice & have got some A3 paper to do it with.

Current work in progress (only done black & the darkest grey tones) (should finish tomorrow)

 

[elmarko]

Final version, pleased with how it turned out to be honest.

Sin City - Nancy Callahan (A3)

 

[elmarko]

Jack Nicholson as the joker would be epic, not sure if I can donate much yet though...

Not a bad idea actually, might give that one a bash - also thinking of doing some of our gangsta themed avatars in the same style.

I'll do a few more A3 ones, but they do annoyingly take forever to draw .

 

[elmarko]

I would love one for a suitable size (A3) of Taylor Swift ! Would happy to donate your going rate.

How does this process work?

The creation process or the donation one?.

Creation one.

I find reference picture
crop
bleed colour
draw all the darkest tones
Colour them
Draw one stage up & colour (repeat x4)
????
Profit (for charity)

Donation one.

Say what you want
I either pick my own reference or use one you provide (some don't work on my style as it's high contrast)
You agree you like it & are happy with it
You make donation on the just-giving page to shelter for an agreed amount.
I cover the costs of postage/materials & take the time drawing it (my part of the donation).
I post it to you once it's gone through as a received donation.

For the value of the donation, in theory it would have to surpass £35 I'd say (as some take up-to 3 hours to do & cost a fair bit for the frame/ink pens & paper are all a special kind for the medium) & postage.

As I have no intention of making money off art (too self critical to do that tbh) - it was a way of doing some art & raising some money for cause - think of it as "make a decent donation to a homeless charity & get a free picture" - instead of buying a picture .

-Edit : Lol, I also knew after doing that last one I'd get requests for ones of women!

 

[elmarko]

Thanks for the good feedback, I'll be doing em a good while until I at least hit the £500 mark.

Just practing doing women as I normally do big burley men with axes lol.

 

[elmarko]

Last one for tonight, my arms aching.. .

Kate Beckinsale - Underworld (A3)

 

[elmarko]

Mark, would it be possible for me to commission an A3 landscape of this? If the picture is not the style you require I'll try and find something better suited. My trust email is there if you want to talk about any details or payment.

Would make a great anniversary present for the girlfriend

Not a bad picture actually, I'll do a couple of sketches & see how it comes out first then get back to you - I don't take "payment" as such - just a donation , I'll see what I can rustle up tomorrow.

A3 landscape shudn't be a problem if I can work the picture into the style with this (it's got a good mix of tones).

 

[elmarko]

Just finished another I started yesterday - now to finish off Bennie-Mac's.