A New Dawn VI

January 1, 2025 Cheemnonso25 Comments

As the new year new me bells chimed,

the big bongs and her swan songs rhymed,

with her eyes piercing through the blues of the cloud,

as the memories in her theatrical dome trilled aloud.

Act twenty, scene twenty-four, she reminisced,

on all the good chapters she really missed,

wondering how body and soul still stayed alive,

even when sadness to mirth seemed twenty-to-five.

“Old things are passed away”, she said,

“To a better and brighter new year”, she pled,

one where she would be lushly loved by thy neighbour,

one where she would savour the fresh fruits of her labour.

Alas, she knew not all will be served on a silver platter,

for some yearnings of man tiptoe on the sky’s silver lining,

so she shoots at the stars with silver bullets and a pelter,

hoping it will rain silver spoons of God’s designing.

As we celebrate witnessing the third millennium’s silver jubilee, it is normal for us to have lofty ambitions and plans for how the year-long anniversary should go; however, as previous years may have proved, just making resolutions without a guided attitude, dedication, and diligence may not suffice.

As such, I do wish you and yours a fabulous new year with good health and the strength to follow through with set goals and also to overcome obstacles in the way of your kind heart desires. Do have splendid days ahead, and till next time, ciao:)

Cheemnonso

Coloured Conceptions II

October 13, 2024 Cheemnonso20 Comments

It’s been over four years since I branched out to coloured pencil portraiture in my artistic journey, albeit inconsistently, and I must say it has been quite an experience.

Deterred by the duration of coloured pencil portraiture, most of my drawings (besides animations/cartoons) have been rendered in graphite pencils. However, I must say, that my recent drawing is causing me to reconsider things as I weigh the associated pros and cons.

Portrait of a smiling girl rendered on vellum paper using coloured pencils.

As mentioned in my first coloured portrait post, drawings executed using crayons and coloured pencils do require a sufficient deal of patience as one needs to account for every single hue gradation and the right colour blends to come up with a satisfactory result. On the flipside, results tend to be more visually appealing due to the vibrant colour spectrum available to the artist when compared to the limited range of monochromatic graphite pencils.

In addition to time constraints, coloured pencil portraiture is generally less lightfast (i.e. less resistant to fading over time upon exposure to light) when compared to graphite pencil portraiture. So you may ask, “Why should I invest that much time in these drawings if they tend to fade away faster?” The good thing is that most of my coloured drawings are completed in sketchbooks, which tend to last longer due to limited light exposure. Furthermore, most coloured pencil brands develop improved lightfast pencils to enhance the longevity of our splendid creations, thus mitigating the fading/smudging pitfall in the process.

After considering these aspects, it’s challenging to fully favour one over the other. Thus, my next steps will involve refining techniques to enhance overall portrait realism using both platforms. I’m satisfied with the outcome of this drawing and plan to incorporate more coloured pencils into my portraits to achieve a harmonious balance between the two forms of dry media.

For those who could be discouraged by the time constraints posed by colour pencil drawings or any form of artwork in general, I’ve found that adopting the kaizen approach does work effectively. It generally ensures continuous improvement of a singular artwork by discretizing the artistic stages rather than completing everything in one fell swoop.

I hope that works for you, and I’m excited to hear any other ideas you have about coloured pencil portraiture or your artistic process in general. In the meantime, I wish you a fantastic week ahead, and until next time, take care!

Cheemnonso

The Perception of Love

February 18, 2024February 18, 2024 Cheemnonso20 Comments

*A portrait rendition using graphite on Bristol vellum*

How do you perceive love? Is she like the seasonal relative that visits only during Valentine’s, Easter, Christmas and other holidays, then vanishes with the wind when the jolly days are over? Does her auburn aura, ever so bright and stunning, blind your judgement of that which is right and wrong? Do you feel like the utterance of Her Majesty’s name to thy ears seeps through the mouth and not from the heart? Sigh!

Well, whilst you try to answer these questions introspectively, here’s L’Antoinette Stines’ reply when quizzed on her perception of love, as sampled in The Carters’ BLACK EFFECT intro.

“Hmm, well, there’s love of children,

Love of self,

Love of God,

Love of a partner,

and all of them have a different shape;

but all of them are the same in the end.

It’s about sensitivity, it’s about passion,

It’s about unconditional giving of self to another person;

And there’s love of humanity,

that’s the love that is right now needed most,

Love of humanity;

but in everything, in all of that love, there is a soul;

It’s like when you take some eggs and break them,

and you take the shells and mix them up,

trying to find the ones that match;

when you find the perfect match

that compatibility results in passion.

results in unconditional giving of self”

Now, that truly packs a lot, I must say; and even though Love has the patience, kindness and endurance to overcome those nagging questions, L’Antoinette makes us remember that it’s more of the unconditional giving of self, whilst prioritizing humankind, thus, suggesting our questions should be confined within the boundaries of the love we give rather than that which we receive.

Alas, this begs another question, at least from my perspective: In a world where certain varying conditions are essential for existence by default, is it possible to give self to another unconditionally?

Anyway, these spurred me to have this drawing; no more than the inscription of love on the muse’s fingers, lol, and I will say I hugely enjoyed it, particularly as this is my first drawing in a while. I also look forward to creating more, as I have just recently got a new pencil and chalk pastel set that I would love to try out in the coming days; but in the meantime, do feel free to share your views on this piece.

Do stay blessed and have a good week ahead. Ciao!

Cheemnonso

State of Self

July 2, 2023July 7, 2023 Cheemnonso24 Comments

*Graphite rendition of Holly Humberstone on Bristol vellum surface*

It is amazing how our countenances and emotions can become enigmatic when we try to judge each other’s current state. Sometimes, these could lead to harsh prejudices being doled out to people without actually knowing what they are going through.

For example, when I first beheld this reference picture used for my recent graphite pencil study, two thoughts came to mind.
On one hand, she appears to be an avid listener to the adagios composed with the violins and cellos of societal melodrama; so much so that after listening to the first umpteen tracks, her once adored classic playlist now seems listless; Phew!
On the other, she comes across as someone whose only friend is the lady in the mirror whom she patiently hopes will compliment her imperfections someday after some painstaking eye-to-eye discourses; sigh!
Well, we can only assume so much from the miens of men, but only when we have true conversations with one another, can we know the ordeals each of us pass through.

This reference picture was obtained from Pinterest as always, and after doing some research, I discovered that the muse was indeed Holly Humberstone and the image was the music cover of her song titled “Falling Asleep At The Wheel”, and fair to say the image depicts just that.
I found both the song’s lyrics and image fascinating and decided to portray the image using graphite pencils on vellum surface paper, and even though the likeness deviated slightly, I was happy with the emotion captured.

Do feel free to express your views on the image, the drawing, and also the song’s lyrics if heard. In the meantime, Ciao! and have a lovely week ahead.

Cheemnonso

Stairway to Heaven.

July 10, 2022May 13, 2023 Cheemnonso29 Comments

as life’s price sky-highs,
with needs, sunken in the clouds,
she seeks heaven’s reach.

…the cost of living might have gone through the roof, and our responsibilities to families and loved ones can sometimes become unbearable, but, that should be no reason to devalue our lives and give up the ghost, but rather, we should see it as a source of self-motivation as we progress through life’s daunting hurdles. There have surely been worse days, and definitely, better days are coming. Do stay blessed and have a lovely week ahead.

Cheemnonso.

A Child’s Innocence

June 19, 2022September 1, 2022 Cheemnonso51 Comments

*A child, portrayed with colored pencils on A4 cardboard paper.*

When a child is born, we see that sweetness, cuteness, adorability, and particularly, that shimmering innocence, gushing off their aura; however, where does this innocence go as they come of age?

One could argue that a child’s innocence suffocates in the chokehold that peer pressure has on our schools and society. Another could argue that a child’s innocence dissipates in a disjointed family, where one parent’s state of mind is in Tokyo, and the other’s is in Kyoto, and well, it can be hard to refute this since charity, they say, begins at home.

Furthermore, others think it’s just “normal” for innocency to reduce as a child gets older, but statisticians beg to differ. For those fond of mathematics and statistics, you’d remember the Gaussian curves or “normal” curves that tend to start at a point, peak at the middle, and then regress towards the end. Well, comparing this to innocence and our lifespan, I feel our naivety is at its peak when we are children, but this reduces as our brain develops and learns more about the world from childhood to adulthood. However, as we age gracefully towards our seventies and eighties, we see our innocence tends to peak again, thence, completing the inversely normal curve, or should I say an “abnormal” curve, lol. Now, this is just my fun observation which can be true for most, but definitely not all.

Nonetheless, this thought on a child’s innocence fascinated and spurred me to make this portrait in color pencil, and to be honest, I truly enjoyed it after making most of my previous drawings in graphite. I cannot say if my subsequent drawings will be in color, but I can only relish the unpredictability of my artistic journey.

So, what do you think?

Cheemnonso

Drawing Yelena. (Sketch)

October 24, 2021December 16, 2021 Cheemnonso33 Comments

Sketchbook: Arteza Drawing pad (80lb)

Media: Black Widow/ Arteza Color Pencil set

The reference this time was particularly inspired by my choice of coloured pencils, which was predominantly dark-toned black widow pencil set, hence my drawing of the character, Yelena Belova (portrayed by Florence Pugh), from the Black Widow movie.

I have had this pencil set a while now, but it was majorly used to underpin my prevalent Arteza coloured pencils in colour drawing, so I decided to make an exception this time with role reversals.

Three particular pencil shades were used for skin tones including Leather, Suede and Olive brown, whilst both Midnight and Greyhorn variants were used for her gear. Arteza’s Pink macaroon, however, was used for blending the skin out, albeit not hundred percent achieved. This was subject to my carefulness with the sketchbook paper, as the burnishing technique can be somewhat hostile and aggressive on drawing papers.

Nonetheless, these pencil sets have proved to be a great combo in colour pencil realism for me, and I’d keep using them, for now, to see how I improve off them.

I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I enjoyed creating it, and, do have a blessed week ahead. Ciao!

Cheemnonso™

Tale of two gods.

July 4, 2021July 4, 2021 Cheemnonso11 Comments

A short, playful and somewhat true story.

…as the jagged talons of religious conflict ripped through earth’s coat of many colors, she struggled for what to believe in, thus condemning her ways to the eerie bliss of karma and the beguiling warmth of morality. Alas, she decided to pen an open letter to the world, pronouncing her new-found faith.

As the nothingness of the blank pages and her steel blue eyes embarked on a cold staring contest, imaginary quills swiveling between thoughts began etching words on her mindscape saying:

By the virtue of karma,
we get what we give,
thus,
when the sun sets on the once soaring butterfly,
as the gale’s burden rests upon her fragile wings
thence, plummeting her to the abyss,
she has to give up,
just so she gets up;
so, tell me
on what bed does your belief lay?
Karma?
or the poetry dressed in pun’s prowess?

Have a lovely and playful week ahead.

Cheemnonso

Day of The Cartoonist. (Sketch)

May 8, 2021May 12, 2021 Cheemnonso34 Comments

So, the Fourth was just with us just the other day (04/05) only for us to celebrate cartoonists the next day (05/05); How sketchy!

Nonetheless, cartoons have been a part of the building blocks of most humans from childhood through adolescence, and as a matter of fact, there are adults who still get engrossed with Rick & Morty or even The Simpsons just for that extra taste of mirth. This highlights the importance of these character creations in our lives and hence, the need to celebrate the cartoonists behind them. But how do we go about honoring these cartoonists? It is easy. If you have had cartoon characters whom you have always adored, this is your chance to share them with the world (could be sketches or comic strips), whilst giving a shout out to the creators (Bonus points if you are the cartoonist behind the characters shared).

For me, characters I absolutely loved growing up were actually Pinky and the Brain created by Tom Ruegger and also Steven Spielberg.

Famous from the Animaniacs, one of my favorite takeaways from the show was the satire and clever wordplays Pinky always blurts when Brain asks, “Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?”. Those were so good, I had to create my own Pinky moments.

Another pinky moment goes like this:

Brain: Pinky! Are you pondering what I’m pondering?
Pinky: I think so undertaker Brain, but if Chris and the mum attended the funeral, why all these flowers (Chrysanthemum)?

Other cartoons I grew fond of and also had sketches of include NickToon characters such as the wefie of the Spongebob crew and also Darcy from “Bunsen is a Beast”.

Squidward ruining the perfect wefie (2019 sketch).
Can you name them all?

Darcy from “Bunsen is a Beast” (2019 sketch)

Lest I forget, many posthumous thanks to Joseph Barbera and William Hanna for their evergreen creation of Tom and Jerry; that cartoon never gets old.

Always enjoyed every chase from these two.

So, what cartoon characters or comic strips have you liked, and what were your favorite takeaways from them?

Cheemnonso™

Drawing Zendaya. (Sketch)

March 7, 2021 Cheemnonso36 Comments

Sketchbook: Bienfang Bristol Vellum paper

Media: Black Widow/Arteza pencils

Two months gone now, and the gliding thoughts of how to go about realism and portraiture in 2021 still seeks the right perch. Most of it has been down to busy school/work schedules, but I realized that no schedule can ever be too busy to have a decent artwork, hence my recent drawing.

My portrait reference study is no other than the Emmy award winner (the youngest if I might add) for her role as a troubled teen in the somewhat brilliant HBO series, Euphoria. She also stars as a trapezist in The Greatest Showman, and as MJ (Michelle Jones) in SpiderMan: Homecoming, Far from home and No Way Home, where the latter is still in the works. Ladies and gents, Zendaya Maree Coleman needs no further introduction.

What particularly influenced my choice of reference is not just because of her delectable roles in movies (Malcolm and Marie for starters), but also the profoundness of her skin colour. As soon as I beheld her picture on Pinterest, I realized it has been a while I drew in coloured pencils, so I decided to take up this portrait study. Who says inspiration does not trump busy schedules?

First, I decided to try out the blending of the coloured pencils on the coarser side of the Bristol vellum paper, as I did with graphite pencils for my Freckled Smile work, and I must say, coloured pencils feel a lot smoother on this coarse side of the paper when compared to graphite pencils. Building layers of colours also seemed effortless, but it was accompanied by a cuddly drawback; more drawing time. However, having used the coarse side of vellum papers for both graphite and coloured pencils, the coarse side feels more suited for coloured pencil artworks, while the smooth side seems best for graphite pencils, at least in my case, with favourable results.

For the rest of the artistic journey this year, I’d build on these media exploration outcomes whilst working on achieving portrait likeness for different facial expressions (with interludes of other studies) using dry media. Garnering inspiration from sources like Pinterest, it’d be amazing hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Cheemnonso™

By The Sea. (Haiku)

July 14, 2019July 29, 2019 Cheemnonso23 Comments

Through her needle eyes,

the swirling seam of the sea

stitches her ripped heart.

Cheemnonso™

Jenny. (Sketch)

June 2, 2019 Cheemnonso9 Comments

Page 4 of my sketchbook

After my camaraderie with HB pencils, I decided to get a graphite pencil set ranging from hard to soft grades (2H – 8B) in order for me to plumb the depths of sketching and shading. To be honest, having a wide range of pencil grades to choose from, seem to ease the attainment of value and depth in portrait drawings.

So without further ado, here’s my recent stop, Jenny, on my progressive artistic journey.

Cheemnonso™

Easter

April 21, 2019July 20, 2019 Cheemnonso2 Comments

Like the phoenix from the ashes,

He rose;

Like the bouquet in my stashes,

He’s rose;

Our troubles and afflictions,

He knows;

Our burden and transgressions,

He tows.

Cheemnonso™

Twisted Seduction. (Haiku)

April 15, 2019April 15, 2019 Cheemnonso3 Comments

The tender tendril,

writhes and dances o’er her love;

a painful allure.

Cheemnonso™

Ralph and Vanellope. (Sketch)

April 7, 2019May 31, 2019 CheemnonsoLeave a comment

Page 2 of my sketchbook

Last year, the world witnessed some wonderful animated movies including Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, Isle of Dogs, The Incredibles 2, Smallfoot, The Grinch, Mirai and the likes, but, one that particularly stood out for me was Ralph Breaks the Internet. The way its plot relayed the real world social media to an in-game fantasy sphere was second to none.

So, here’s my portrayal of its protagonists (Ralph and Vanellope von Schweetz) in HB.

Cheemnonso™