SIR PATRICK MOORE

Drawn with graphite pencil and acrylic paint

Sir Patrick Moore our own famous astronomer and presenter of 'The Sky at Night', a job which put him proudly in the Guiness book of records as the longest serving presenter. He is greatly admired for his devotion to raising money for hundreds of charities, which he does from his own home in Selsey, by organising garden parties to raise money.

I am very lucky as a member of my family is actually friends with him and lives just round the corner from his house. I thought it would be fantastic if I could show Mr Moore my portrait of him and get him to sign it for me.  I asked sue (my relation) if she would mind taking it round to his house, she very kindly agreed and asked me to send the picture via e-mail to her, which I did. She dropped it round at his house and she received a phone call inviting her round to see him, as he really liked the picture and he wanted to discuss it with her. She went round the following day and he actually said that his advice to me would be to make myself a portfolio and take it to The Royal College of Art to begin with and any other major college as he thinks they would gladly accept me, with the talent I have. I was trully shocked and extremely flattered by his response, it was totally unexpected. I am hoping to hear from Sue in the next few days as she went to Mr Moores recent garden party on Sunday, where she was going to ask him to hold my signed picture and take a photograph, which she will then send to me.  So watch this space!!!

I wanted to draw Mr Moore because he is also a classic example of a man who has aged gracefully and even though he has been in the public eye for so many years, he has obviously not felt any pressure to roll back the years with the help of surgery and you have to admire him for that.

NELSON MANDELA

Painted with acrylic paints

Nelson Mandela is a classic example of a very distinguished older man who has definitely allowed the ageing process to take its natural toll. He is a man who stood up for his beliefs and is an inspiation through out the world to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation.

MICKEY ROURKE

Drawn using graphite pencil and acrylic paint

Mickey Rourke is a great example of a celebrity who has clearly tried to shave back the years with the help of a scalpel. Unfortunitely like many other pressurized celebrities, striving for perfection he didn't know when to stop resulting in a classic case of extreme surgery gone wrong.

MICK JAGGER

 Drawn using graphite pencil 

I chose to draw Mick Jagger because he is famous for his rugged and rather lived in appearance, even in his youth.  It is evident that he has not resorted to surgical proceedures unlike most celebrities of his age. I thought he was a good example of someone who is comfortable in their own skin, thus allowing himself to grow old gracefully.



                                                                                      

MICHAEL JACKSON

Michael Jackson was probably the most famous person on earth both for his music and also his surgical proceedures. He took surgery to the extreme, making himsef almost unrecognizable. He was the perfect celebrity to draw for this project as an example of bad surgery gone wrong. However, his perseverance to radically change his appearance was not just based around  preserving his youthful looks, I think it was more about making himself look like a different person altogether.

MIKE TYSON

Mike Tyson is also a celebrity kown for his distinctive, less than pretty appearance. Which is why I chose to draw him.  He also has not undergone any surgery and seems to be following the natural ageing process.  For the image below I used photoshop to disfigure his face and make him look ugly. I over exaggerated his eye and cut out his ear, relating to the incident when he bit off someones ear in a boxing match.

Drawn using coloured charcoal and acrylic paint.

I used photoshop to disfigure Tysons facial features.

COLLABORATION

Our final project of the year was a collaboration project, we were split into groups of four, my group was a drawing group and my collaborotive colleagues were Tom, Amy and Zoe. The aim was to take our individual skills and put them together producing work as a team and then finally working towards a publication to show our work collaboratively.
My research into collaborations was based on the 'If You Could' exhibition, where 33 pairs of artists exhibited their work in their collaborative pairs. The exhibition was held at the A Foundation Gallery, Rochelle School in London. The work ranges from classic framed pieces to more ambitious experimental sculpture, film and installation.
I picked out a few of the artists whose work inspired me. Anthony Burrill and John Griffiths were a good combination as one was a designer and the other an astronomer, also Rob Ryan and Michael Marriott produced a very good collaboration as they are both excellent in their own fields.
Our work was to be based on imperfection, Amy concentrated on grotesque figures, Zoe drew celebrities badly purposely, Tom made a camera and took photos with it making them as imperfect as he could when devloping them and I concentrated on ageing celebrities and cosmetic surgery gone wrong. We set out to create our own portrait gallery with the intention of exhibiting our final work. I have posted some examples of my finished portraits, some of which were featured in our final magazine, titled 'The Drawing Opera'.

Anthony Jeffers and John Griffiths

Rob ryan and Michael Marriott