Two Strawberries

I switched over to bristol paper for this drawing. I've found the smooth finish makes blending a little easier. Still getting used to creating different value ranges with the pencil.

They look like strawberries - I guess that's a success. I had no idea how to create the texture of a strawberry, so I tried a bunch of different things. The dark values are a bit muddy - maybe I should leave a little more white space and incorporate some pure black marks.

I still have a long way to go - but I am enjoying the journey more than I have in a long time.

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Inktober Day 3 - "Bait"

Old school pen and ink. I haven't used a crow quill pen since high school - and, even then, I remember struggling to get it to work. This time, I thought I would try to create something using only cross-hatching. The prompt word today is "bait". This word took me into a lot of different ideas, but the one I ultimately landed on is based on the will-o-wisp. In my head, I imagined glowing orbs in front of a copse of swamp trees all created with layers of cross-hatching. Things had to be scaled back a bit. There are still two trees in the background if you look hard enough. Success? Sort of. It forced me to use a different kind of pen and, in doing so, made me want to keep going and get better with it.

Storm

Attempting to create lightning using masking fluid, glazes, and lifting. White gouache was used for more subtle bolts and rain. When all has been said and done, this was a success in a lot of ways. Watercolor painting is difficult. Learning can be a challenge because it seems like the materials are all working against you. With varied drying times, opacity, flow, etc. I wouldn't blame anyone for turning to other media. I think I stick around because of the perceived challenge - I'm a weirdo like that. This piece was inspired by The Legend of Zelda: A link to the Past comic series by Shotaro Ishinomori . The first chapter of the book featured a lot of lightning, and I wanted to see if I could recreate the effect in watercolor. Little challenges like this keep me thinking all day; they remind me how much I love art. I'll leave you with a preview of my weekend project. Enjoy!

What is this place?

A couple years back, I started a daily creative project . I was inspired by Noah Scalin's " 365: A Daily Creativity Journal " and his Skull-A-Day project to try and create something new on a daily basis. I devoted myself to learning Inkscape and creating a series of 365 unique vector illustrations styled after Chiquita banana stickers. In retrospect, I fell short of my goal by about 120 stickers. Life hit me pretty hard in the midst of my project - even now, it is difficult for me to go back without being reminded of some pretty miserable times. I do not, however, look at the project as a waste of time. I improved everyday. I learned how to really use the pen tool and create really complicated vector pieces. I figured out how to make effective use of my printer, scanner, and the tools that blogger makes available to everyone for free. I learned how to work. I learned how to temporarily switch off the procrastinating part of my brain (sort of). So what now? I want ...

Rainbow Bisque

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