Featured Artist David Neace

David Neace’s colored pencil drawings use reflection and detail to virtually leap off the paper. Enjoy his portfolio and visit his website to see more.

 

 

I have been drawing since early childhood. My dad was an artist and I remember watching him draw scenes of houses and churches in pen and ink. He showed me how to use a Crow Quill pen and from there I was on my own.

 

 

When I graduated high school, I went to work for Rand McNally, engraving linework for maps. This is the job that took me into the printing/publishing world. I learned about masks, overlays, pre-press and how to use a copy camera. I learned how to develop large format film and how to prep them for 4/c press runs, leading me into a twenty-plus year career making maps, pre-press and all aspects of printing.

 

 

In the eighties, I taught myself how to airbrush with acrylic ink and watercolor. I have worked with airbrush, wood block carving, oils, acrylics and watercolor.

 

 

I’m a self-taught artist and my only source of instruction was through books. I have also always had difficulty with perspective. I have a stigmatism that makes me draw horizontal or vertical lines that either run downhill or they lean in at an awkward angle. Because of this, I rely on my drafting tools for straight lines and the use of templates for curves.

 

 

One of the difficulties most artists face is getting what you see in your mind’s eye to the paper or canvas. I would have an idea for a drawing, but my skill level and lack of knowledge hindered me in translating those ideas to paper.

 

 

Since I was not happy with the results of my airbrushing work, I made the decision to go back to the basics of drawing. I bought Gary Greene’s book on how to create textures in colored pencil and Betty Edward’s book, “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.” I read both of them through and to this day, forty-five years later, I still refer to these books, especially when I hit a slump.

 

 

In the eighties, the internet and social media wasn’t available—personal computers were a thing of the future. The only option for marketing my work was to take my art, large portfolio and all, and go door-to-door from gallery to gallery to promote my work.

 

 

Fast forward forty years and opportunities for artists have become a virtual smorgasbord of options.

 

 

With the advent of all the digital programs that are now available, the art field has been opened so much that almost anyone can create a work of art. The art field is now flooded with images that are done by people who have no training in design, balance or flow which is one of the biggest challenges that traditionally trained artists face in the coming decades.

 

 

I embrace my learning and I am slowly teaching myself how to use digital manipulations in my previous art to give them an updated look for the future. I am seventy now and lots of water has passed under my bridge, but I still can learn. I have also found that I have a calmer approach to my work and life. I don’t rush my art; I let it flow from me to the paper.

 

Artist David Neace invites you to follow him on Facebook and his Alternate Website.

 

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