Britney Henry Video - Mt SAC Relays 2010

MT SAC Relays 2010 from Andrei Booriakin on Vimeo.

The Britney Henry Project is excited to debut our new video of Olympic Hopeful, Britney Henry competing against the best hammer throwers in the world, at the 2010 Mt. San Antonio College Relays. Read More >>

In addition to my illustration and design work, I organize The Britney Henry Project - a creative collaboration at the intersection of art and athletics. I like to stay busy.   :)

The Britney Henry Project is a group of creative professionals dedicated to creating media assets used to promote Britney Henry, and her effort to earn a spot on the USA Olympic team. The Britney Henry Project team members are all volunteers who donate their time and craft in support of Britney's Olympic dream.

Video by: Andrei Booiakin. Music by: Mark Matcho.

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 American Woman Video by Andrei Booriakin and Graham Smith. A super rocking, hi def music video featuring Britney Henry throwing the hammer.

Behind the scenes photos by photographer Teresa Heath, she documents the competition and Mt. Sac Relay shoot in the most beautiful and unique way.

Mt. SAC Relays photos and portraits of the Elite Athletes by Graham Smith, can be seen here.

Read Britney's account of the day on her blog Olympian in Progress.

Links >>

Olympian in Progress

The Britney Henry Project

Vimeo Channel

Britney's Facebook Fan Page

Mt SAC Relays 2010. Copyright © 2010 The Britney Henry Project. All Rights Reserved.

Life Drawing Workshop: Ian as Pan

Ian as Pan 18 x 24. Graham Smith

I upgraded to a heavyweight 100lb Strathmore drawing paper for this weeks 2 hour pose at the Wednesday night Life Drawing Workshop. The paper was prepared by drybrushing the Raw Sienna acrylic paint wash over the paper beforehand.

The drawing was done primarily in Burnt Ochre colored pencil, with Scarlet Red pencil and White charcoal details. Erasing the colored pencil without leaving a ghost mark or smearing, is now possible with this paper preparation. yay.

Ian as Pan (Detail) Graham Smith

I do my life drawings all old school. But some of the guys rock laptops with Wacom tablets and do digital life drawing. Here is digital painting of the same pose, by Dzu Nguyen, the organizer of the Life Drawing Workshop.

Afterwards we all went out for noodles.

Life Drawing Workshop: color washed paper

Meegin: 2 minute warm up - Graham Smith

The other day, I bought two Leonardo Da Vinci books. I spent some time studying his drawings hoping to soak up some greatness. I tried to figure out what he drew with, how big the drawings were, and stuff like that.

I noticed Leonardo Da Vinci prepared his paper with color washes of purples, blues, reds, and rich browns.

Immediately, I went looking for paint to color wash some paper. I wanted to try drawing on the prepared paper at the next Life Drawing Workshop. So, here are some quick drawings of Meegin, doing 2, 5 and 10 minute poses.

Meegin steps up - Graham Smith

Meegin loves books - Graham Smith

Meegin knees up - Graham Smith

Meegin - colored pencil and white charcoal studies - Graham Smith

I diluted Raw Sienna acrylic paint with water and painted a few sheets of 11"x14" Aquabee 93lb Super Deluxe sketchbook paper, and a few sheets of  18"x24" Strathmore 50lb sketch paper. I used a little pump action misting bottle to wet the paper quickly, and a 2" brush to paint the wash over the paper. Make sure and place scrap paper underneath, so you can extend your brushstrokes past the edges of the paper.

I was not sure if color pencil would draw well over an acrylic wash, or if the paper would lose it's tooth. But, I did know the paper would get all wrinkly if I didn't press it flat after it dried. Place the painted sheets inside a big pad of paper and put some books on top to keep them from curling.

The paper kept it's tooth and accepted both color pencil and white charcoal well. But, the white charcoal didn't want to draw over the colored pencil, too slippery.

You can use a hard eraser to lift the color wash from the paper, creating subtle highlights. If you stain your paper with guache or watercolor, this technique works even better.

Meegin - colored pencil and white charcoal studies - detail - Graham Smith

Meegin - colored pencil and white charcoal studies - detail - Graham Smith