Rainbow Bisque

The fashion magazines use for reference are most often filled with impossibly skinny women in strange outfits and situations. It was surprising to see an impossibly skinny man in a hoody gracing the pages of this particular magazine. Surprising and creepy. It was fun to try and capture all of the cast shadows and push the black of the hood further than usual. Not sure what I was thinking with the yellow eyes - but there they are.

This afternoon, I tried capturing the pose with a couple quick brush strokes. This really helped me to capture and accentuate the angle of the pose. Unfortunately, the face never really came together. I made a few attempts, but each one seemed to be more off than the last. This is an unfortunate case of my previous lines informing future attempts and throwing everything off. I would have been better off drawing the face by itself or just throwing it all out and starting again.

I have avoided charcoal lately - preferring to stick with the materials I most like to use. Yesterday, I decided to bring a big bag of various charcoal to my figure drawing session. I was really surprised by the results. Working with something so dark and direct made me work more with tone and shape rather than line. I was able to work more quickly and play with shadow and line width. My drawings were a lot more successful than they have been in the past. Watercolor is here to stay - but charcoal has a charm all its own.

Wish I had a little more time to study the hair this time. I managed to capture some of the weight and flow of the hair. Plus, the portrait turned out pretty great considering the weird angle the model is sitting in. I should seek out some more photography with a lot of hair and give myself some more time with it.

The sunglasses are a little ... off in terms of perspective. But I spent a lot of time on the nose and mouth. I would normally avoid giving attention to the lips and teeth until the very end, so today I decided to focus on getting it all done first. It doesn't look half bad! I just realized I've been creating these practice paintings without any pencil or erasing. They don't always turn out great, but I can tell I'm getting better at portraits.

Things got a little out of hand with this one. Some areas are darker than I would like, some need to be darkened, the eyes look like they belong to two different people, too much space between the top and bottom of the chin, etc. The nose and mouth look pretty good though. On the plus side, I can confirm that using a colored wash to activate pigment of a different color on the page results in a subtle color shift. It doesn't show up too well in this scan, unfortunately.

Today, I challenged myself to use two different colors and only one brush (a quarter-inch flat). It was difficult to decide how I would use my two colors. Would yellow be used for highlights - what about the white of the paper. Ultimately, I decided to just start laying down color and hope for the best. I really like the areas where the two colors mix together. Tomorrow, I would like to try applying color directly to the page with the crayon while mixing it together with a different color wash. I should bring a larger brush with me.

Back to water soluble pencil. Some of my washes got a bit too dark, leading to some strange shapes and awkward proportions. If I would have gone a bit more subtle, this would have been a really good likeness. The result does have a certain quality , though.

Figure drawing remains one of the most difficult and rewarding drawing experiences for me. Even though I always end up with a pile of mistakes, there are usually a couple of things that work in each drawing I take home. There is a presence to a real model that just can't be captured in a photograph - hell, I struggle to capture it in a drawing on a weekly basis. Watercolor crayons remain a fun way to express figures and portraits. I think I would like to try working with more than one color at once.

I was feeling a bit off when I did this drawing. I had some other things on my mind and I couldn't quite focus on what I was trying to do. That lack of focus lead to me just putting down lines and describing shapes quickly as I came across them. Water was added to make harder edges and bring out the shapes even more. There definitely seems to be something going on here. The nose and eyes have a roundness to them that I didn't expect. A very pleasant surprise.

Let's get this out of the way first: the eyes are out of proportion. They looked great until I looked at them again. Yikes. Today, I attempted to finish a face I just started on the day before (it's the upside-down one at the bottom of the page). I really liked the effect I was able to achieve with a little water and a water soluble crayon. The whole thing has an ink and brush feel to it. I don't have complete control over my lights and darks yet. I was able to create some really nice, light washes whenever they were needed. There is definitely something to these materials: some bits of style are coming through.

Would you believe me if I told you I can retain information better during meetings if I sketch? Me either. I can say that my adherence to the social code won't allow me to completely space out and get lost in a sketch during a meeting. This is a doodle. It wasn't my best, most challenging drawing today (I managed to get in a pretty complicated pose and a portrait as well), but it's the first time I've sat down and created something without a reference in a while. I am creatively charged, I just need to direct that energy toward something.

This was a fun pose. I really enjoyed using gesture to describe the flowing dress. The proportions were really difficult to nail down at first, but I am really pleased with the arms and head.

I had a little time and a reference photo, so I thought I would try out a portrait. I have been studying diagrams and ratios of facial features relative to one another, and that really seemed to help here. Starting with an eye, I was able to space out the eyes and create a nose that looks like the correct size. The was created with flair tip pen, so every line is a first impression - no erasing. I need to keep going!

Sometimes, they look like people. Sometimes they end up looking like monsters. Switching over to watercolor paper was definitely a good idea - I love the wet-into-wet look on the hair. Really wish I hadn't added the details on the eyes. Tomorrow is another day to try again.

Today, I brought some real brushes with me. Using a cup of water, I was able to create a greater range of light and dark with my watercolor crayons than I would with my portable water brush. Unfortunately, the paper didn't really appreciate all of the water I used - it buckled while I was finishing up. This was a lot of fun. I may have to bring my watercolor pad with me tomorrow.

Something about the position of my desk lamp made it difficult to see my work this morning. I worked slowly and carefully - building up layers of graphite and taking note of the relative position and shape of my elements. I really should devote time to more long-form drawings.

I spent the morning staring at my reference photo for the day, not knowing how to proceed. I decided to try four different techniques on the model's portrait. At the top, I used a brush with water-soluble graphite washes. Below that, on the left is a portrait created without looking at my hands or paper. On the right, I went with my instincts and kept the first impressions I made (I used pen so I couldn't erase or retry). Finally, the bottom-most portrait was created with guidelines, loose measurements, and three different pencils. None of these techniques really yielded an accurate rendering of the face by themselves. However, I learned something new each time about the shape, angles, and sizes relative to one-another each time I finished. Drawing constantly can't make you worse at drawing - it's a skill that gets better the more you do it.