Our Artist of the Week - George McBean

 

 Each week we present the works of one of the XUNICEF artists or photographers whose works appear in our galleries. 

This week we feature the works of George McBean.  

George was featured in our XUNICEF September 2019 quarterly edition of the Arts & Artists of UNICEF, as well as an expanded collection in our Weekly Update of 14 June. 

In addition to his work as an artist, George is also an author. His June 2020 book “Mainly Fair Throughout the Kingdom” is available on Amazon.  His earlier book “Children Of The Moon” is also available on Amazon. 

In June George shared with us some of his works from his Retrospective exhibition at the Oxford Human Rights Festival. He uses this for distance learning and backup for his talks to animation students. 

Also included are some anecdotes and family pics which have proved popular with young students beginning a career in functional animation for public health. Click here.

George has sent this explanation to accompany the recent works he has contributed to our galleries of XUNICEF artists.  You can see the slideshow below:

A mini-opinion piece on practicing art and digital portraiture

The digital image has become the real thing.

During the Covid lockdowns - the value of social media is much better appreciated for its value in communication among families. There are also many new tools for distance learning which means that young people no longer have to rely only on the quality of teachers that surrounds them - they can also access some of the finest lessons on whatever discipline they fancy, on-line. The Arts especially has been flooded with new confident talent. It’s now a world where - rather than making something to hang on a wall so people can see it- the digital image is the real thing.



Here are some examples of traditional sketches I have done along with some 1500 other artists who participate in the Sky Portrait Artists of the Week. (Links to past shows can be found on You-tube) An excellent way to improve traditional skills.

I’ve also included some digital sketches produced on an Ipad with Procreate. I find this an excellent tool for experimenting with techniques. It’s not a case of either or - between traditional and digital art anymore. One can embrace and enjoy both. It sure helps not having to worry about storage or clean-up afterwards.

To watch the slideshow of all the works George has contributed to our galleries.  Click on the first image in the slideshow below. Be patient - each slide takes about 10 seconds to load, but the first slide often takes a little longer to load. 

Note that if you stop the slideshow, it will not start again on its own. You may need to reload the page. 

In that case it may be easier to simply visit our galleries at the addresses shown below. Also please visit our Instagram page and the galleries of all of our contributing XUNICEF Artists and Photographers.