Rainbow Bisque

At work, I am often waiting for things to load up. This is a doodle I worked on for a week while I waited for programs to open, searches to clear and processes to ... process. I read this great book a couple years back called "Keys to Drawing with Imagination". In it, the author describes the process of "doodling" and "noodling". Doodling refers to the act of making completely random swirls, boxes and blobs. Noodling is the process of transforming a doodle into something more complete by applying a singular, unifying technique. In this case, I doodled a bunch of semi-connected swirls and noodled in some curved hatch lines to make them appear rounded.

While some of the cross-hatching turned out a little funky, I think I managed to capture the expression of the girl in this photo pretty well. As I started hatching in the hair, I realized there was only one minute left to finish. Fifteen minutes is really no time at all when you are in the midst of drawing.

I started this drawing not too long ago. When I started adding the pen marks, I wasn't quite sure I liked the direction it was going. I would like to take this scan into Illustrator and try finishing it up as a vector piece. This will give me an opportunity to try out some new techniques I have been wanting to test out.

Figure drawing Sundays go on a bit of a hiatus during the Winter holiday/weather season. I will have to plan for some kind of artistic exercise to keep myself sharp during this time.

The darkest pencil I bring with me also happens to be the softest. Unfortunately, this makes my drawings susceptible to smudging. I find it's best to use the dark pencil sparingly for this reason. While I didn't achieve the darkness I was looking for, this drawing ended up with some great contrast and texture. There are places where I wish I could have spent more time creating smoother tone. But, not too bad for fifteen minutes of drawing.

I have studied perspective in the past. I understand the basic principles pretty well. When it comes to setting up a drawing with so many things of interest, I get lost. When the view from the window is lacking an interesting focal point and the last bits of daylight are slipping away, what can you do? I started putting marks on the paper. This sheet is covered in messy little hatch marks. The result is something kind of muddled and confusing. I had so much fun making that mess, though!

I spent three breaks on this sketchbook entry. Once I started making hatch marks, I was having too much fun to let the drawing go unfinished. I still have so much to learn when it comes to composing and finishing my drawings. Cross-hatching in an involved process with a lot of little decisions that can really impact the look and feel of a drawing in progress (for good and bad). A lot of practice and a lot of study will be the key to getting better at this technique.

Today, I wanted to address a problem I had while drawing faces on Sunday. I left so many of my figures with blank faces because I just couldn't begin adding features to the face. I got scared, and I backed away. I started today's sketch with a blind contour drawing of the face. I treated each plane and shadow as a shape to be outlined. The face is long and strange, but it is a great deal more accurate than it would have been if I tried to add the model's features to a blank face shape.

It has been a few weeks since I've been to my Sunday figure drawing study. I was definitely feeling out of practice. Coming back after all of that time felt like starting over completely. After three unsuccessful attempts, I was finally able to produce one drawing I kind of liked.

After weeks of preparing, I finally have a new place to call home. The move took some time, but the effort was worthwhile. The new drawing room has space for bookshelves, a drafting table, a computer desk, an easel and small table for still-life drawings. The next step is ironing out my schedule to include more time for drawing, painting and vector projects. I feel sometimes that I am more easily distracted - that I can't seem to focus on one project at a time. Hopefully, as I cross projects off my list, I will begin to find my focus once more.