Bart Jakob
Production: MÆNUS
Materials: Vegetable tanned leather
Techniques: Leather carving, tooling and staining
Finished: 2019
Bart Naaikens, a long time friend of mine, has been drawing intricate art with pencils for years. He posts his work online on his Instagram account (link). Through the years he created the artwork for the album covers of the band Mazu, which he plays in. But he also did all the writing and drawing for both his graphic novels.
I wanted to give him one of his designs tooled in leather as a present. As a kind of leather painting. At the same time it was a challenge for me to be able to translate one of his complex, intricate and colorful designs into a leather artwork.
Steps taken
The first step was to find an artwork that would translate well into a leather artwork. After tracing the design on transfer paper I transferred the design onto the leather.
The next step was to carve the transferred outlines of the design into the leather using a swivel knife. These carved outlines serve as guides while stamping the leather and allow me to create more depth into the design.
Once the outlines were carved into the leather it was time to start adding details, depth and color by using leather stamping tools like bevelers, seeders, edgers and shaders. I started with the wavy hair of the lady in the artwork.
After the hair I continued with tooling all the details around the head of the lady. I finished the tooling by adding the facial features of the lady.
End result
The last steps were to stain the leather and to waterproof it in order to lock in the paint. By painting the artwork with antiquing gel the depth and details of the artwork were highlighted.
