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.

The model in this picture had an unusual (and really interesting) blue skirt that seemed to flow in every direction. I had a great time trying to capture the ruffles and folds. I am still working on adding faces to these drawings - thinking about how best to capture the face with as few details as possible.

Attempting to add a little color to my pen studies. A little really goes a long way. Note to self - any areas I plan on using solid, saturated color on should be applied before the pen if possible. The flare tip bleed will shift colors pretty drastically.

Still trying different things with water soluble graphite, flare tip pen and water. I really like the neutral blue that runs off the flare tip pen - unfortunately it doesn't carry very far. I can't create large patches of the color without having a fresh line next to my water. It is also becoming clear that this particular variety of paper doesn't hold up to water all that well.

Having been away from figure drawing for a couple weeks, it was not surprising to come away from this session feeling like I lost a step. The charcoal in my hand wasn't following along with my eyes. I struggled to get the full value range onto my paper. This man with a stick, holding onto the top of a chair was the best of my four drawings for the day. Sunday figure drawing will be on a slight hiatus soon. I will need to find something else to do in order to keep practicing. This might be a good time to start trying still-lifes.

I continue trying to use hatching to describe areas of shadow - but my lines seem to read more as wrinkles. I don't really care for the way the eyes turned out either. Looking at the drawing with fresh eyes, the one on the right is much smaller than it should be. One thing I haven't tried in a long time is to study and practice the techniques of the artists I admire. No doubt some of my favorite artists have banged their heads against problems like this.

The model in the magazine didn't look as angry as drawing makes her out to be. She had the blank, emotionless expression of a model in a magazine.The more lines I added, the more the face seemed to turn to anger. I am still trying to figure out the best way to use hatching as my shading method without suggesting hair or texture.

Though I have been away from the blog for a bit - I have continued to draw as usual. Life once again brings changes - moving to a new place and looking for work there. I will use this time to reflect on all of the things I learned this year and see where that can take me in the future. Today's drawing started as an attempt to draw with one, continuous line. Eventually, I broke away from that plan to try more overlapping lines. The likeness is almost there, but the sense of movement is exactly what I try to achieve with my drawings.

This is a preview of a vector project I've been working on. It was awesome to pick up the stylus again and pull on some anchor points.

I didn't want to pass up this great pose of a girl with a long shirt on the beach. It was fun to try and capture the weight and motion of the scene. The contour hatching on the legs seems a bit too heavy in places, but the hair is just what it needs to be.

I spent the week trying out a thin pen to create my portraits. Unlike my favorite felt pen, the narrow tip of the Micron pen forced me to be more careful and conservative with my lines. I often found myself practicing each stroke before I committed it to paper. Of course, this means it is much more difficult to finish a drawing in 10-15 minutes. I LOVE the way my hatching looks with this pen, though!

I am beginning to find a lot of success with paper that already has charcoal markings on it. These seemingly random textures and tones allow me to work without the stress of an empty piece of paper. The marks also serve as a way to add visual interest and design.

I think my sense of scale was a little off as I was drawing this one. She is wearing a puffy shirt, but I may have over-puffed it. The diagonal movement and the feeling of wind pushing past the model made this a fun drawing. Plus, I learned I can apply pressure to the side of my pen for more subtle hatching.

I am beginning to get a better grasp on my personal style. Lines are an important element in my work. I shouldn't find that too surprising since cartooning was what got me into art in the first place. I am trying to step away from contour lines as much as possible, but in twenty minutes I just cannot seem to build tone as quickly as I can draw lines.

I could not pass up this great pose. The drawing got away from me in a couple places - but the interaction between the knee, elbow, hand and hair really comes through. It sort of looks like she is wearing a diaper, though.

A more-or-less finished drawing on top of a very unfinished one. I wasn't sure where I was going with this one, but I really like the way it turned out. The pinkie finger seems a little messed up, but the knuckles definitely stand out.

My decision to stick with charcoal continues to pay off. I have been very happy with the work I bring home every week. It is a great thing, to look at where you started and see how far you have advanced. It is an even greater feeling to know there is so much more road to travel. This piece was done mostly with eraser on pre-toned paper. Some of the critique I received on this drawing leads me to think that a more random and uneven tone will produce more lively lines and shapes. Next week, I will try doing just that.

I spent some extra time beyond my usual fifteen minutes to add another layer of dark graphite. The result is ... different. Without access to the original photograph, I had to try and remember what all of my marks meant. So, this guy's hair and hat are all one piece. Wait a sec ... oh, that's what that is supposed to be. It was nice to be able to take the drawing a little closer to done. I haven't sat down and done something like this for a long time.

I toned my paper last night, hours before I even thought about starting my drawing this morning. That left me with an entire 15 minutes to draw this portrait. Wish I had time to apply another pass of dark grey and fill in the hair. Tomorrow, I'm going to attempt a full figure (hopefully).

Using a graphite stick and a paper towel, I attempted to create a toned surface to begin my drawing. It works well in my charcoal drawings, so I thought it must work well here - and it did! I took too much time in the beginning, so I wasn't able to finish (especially the dark, blank spots where the eyes will go). I think this is a great start.

Today's drawing was done with a 2B pencil, a 4B pencil and a paper towel. My goal was to create a portrait drawing with more than the usual outlines and shapes. I spent my fifteen minutes building up tone with light pencil and smudging it with paper towel (in hindsight, I would rather use tissue for this). It's a slow process - maybe not so well suited for short sessions. I enjoy the challenge. Maybe I'll learn something new from this way of working.

This week didn't hold the same success as the previous two weeks. I feel like I am starting to learn some new things - but learning means stumbling a few (dozen? hundred?) times. The model is laying on a stack of pillows - which is why the legs and feet shapes seem unusual and small. It's beginning to feel like a great time to break out the watercolors again.

I've been away for the pencil for such a long time - I have no idea why. With just a little more time, I think these drawings could develop into something great. Maybe I just need to work more quickly.

Quick portraits from a wine magazine that mysteriously showed up in my mailbox. The faces turned out a little creepy and crooked. The portrait on the bottom is a surprising likeness to the source image - minus the weird stubble.

As a left-handed person with a tendency to smudge pencil, it wasn't difficult for me to make the switch to pen. However, pencil has an unmistakable look and feel that make it difficult to stay away. Admittedly, it was nice to be able to use an eraser to clean up some of the re-stated lines. If my drawing time hadn't ended so abruptly, I probably would have erased the shadow along the chin line (it looks a little too much like a beard).

Not much special to say about today's drawing. This was the best of the bunch. I'll be sticking with charcoal for my Sunday drawings - it seems to be the best way to create something that looks complete.

The model in the photograph was wearing a really interesting pair of pants that reminded me of the girl character (you were free to give her whatever name you wanted) from Secret of Mana . The pose was what grabbed my attention - it just seemed so dynamic.

Glasses are difficult. Faces are difficult. Nothing looks right. I've never been able to draw people. This used to be my mantra - what I would often repeat in my head before beginning any drawing. I have since learned to just try and ignore that part of my brain and draw. I am better than when I started. There's still a long way to go, but I am still excited to keep moving.

It worked!

Warm, grey marker and flair tip pen. I thought I would try combining these too together, but they seem to interact in weird ways. The hard, black edges seem to really point out the proportional problems here. Tomorrow, I would like to try working in reverse - adding the grey marker after the hard lines. It doesn't seem like it would make much of a difference, but it just might be the key to making this combination a success.

The more I use charcoal in my figure drawings, the more I seem to enjoy it. With charcoal, I can apply an overall neutral tone and use a knead-able eraser to lift out lighter areas. These charcoal drawings tend to have a lot more shape and depth than the line drawings I do during the week.

I attempted to use contour lines to describe shadows on the face and neck - they turned out to be too heavy and distracting. These short sketches are a great place for experiments, and I wasn't planning on putting this drawing in a museum - so I'm not upset with how this turned out. I plan on sticking with pens and markers for these short sessions. 15 minutes just doesn't seem like enough time to build up layers and switch pencils. Maybe I need to work on that.

I don't have a clue who this guy is. I got a weird vibe from his photo - and I think that came through in this drawing. I wish I would have had enough time this morning to do another pass with pure black (especially to finish up the hair and pupils). I am one page away from finishing another sketchbook!

Feeling out of sorts on a Monday. Nothing out of the usual - just need to concentrate on what is important this week. The proportions were a little off, but I think the direction and energy of the pose is evident in today's drawing.

I love this pose! It was fun to try and capture the energy of this man at work - focusing all of his own energy into the pencil he drags across the page. I decided to use longer strokes to convey all of the great diagonal lines. I guess I was getting burnt out on portraits. I'll come back to them soon.

Today was one of those days. None of my drawings really came together. The important thing on a day like this is to just keep moving - a "bad" day doesn't negate the things you are proud of or the things you can do in the future.