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ART CHALLENGE #94

Martin Taylor
Dorset, U.K., Garfitti Five, dry media,
60 x 42 cm (24 x 17")
Finalist

My Inspiration
Over the past few years, I have been
working on photographs of graffiti using
them as reference in teaching Photoshop.
After overlaying images, one over the
other, I started to see patterns and colours
with shapes coming through. The colours
appeared to move and morph together and
the longer you study the image the more
you see. Over the past 10 years I have been
working in acrylic, watercolour and inks,
but wanted to try a different way of re-
creating the images in a medium that
I haven’t used before. I used different types
of dry media from soft to oil pastels and
pencils. In the end, I ended up drawing the
detail first in pen and ink finishing up using
Derwent pencils.
My Design Strategy
All of my artwork starts with a large back two images together. I feel that using pencil I know the rest will follow. First working with
catalog of photographs of graffiti I have gives the opportunity of creating something pencil I add all the light tones then start to
been collecting for over the last five years. very different, creating an image that looks go over them with a gel pen. Using a gel pen
Some of these have been used for teaching abstract but contains great depth. gives me a chance to shade and smudge with
Photoshop tutorials and for personal use. my finger to soften the blacks. Once I get
I have been working on various pin boards My Working Process to this stage, I can start adding colours and
on Pinterest, one of which is “Photoshop Once I have achieved the Photoshop image to shades going over and over the colours to get
Per Day.” I have been using my own A4, it’s then time to draw up to A2 or A1. I’m the rich solid colours and concentrated tones.
photographs and trying different styles and always working from black-and-white images,
techniques in Photoshop and uploading one as this gives me a strong but harsh breakdown Contact Info
every day. This was one of the main reasons of contrast. If I get the image drawn up in
for wanting to try and re-create the images black-and-white exactly right, » Email: info@dorsetart.com
to make a very personal image, but bringing » Website: www.dorsetart.com

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Challenge Winners 110.indd 12 6/29/16 4:02 PM