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just trying to keep at this.... slipped a bit this last week and didn't draw anything. whoopsie.
4 march 2007
here is where you will find progress. where i can show you what i learn; my journey becoming comfortable putting pencil to paper, creating something i will be proud of.
just trying to keep at this.... slipped a bit this last week and didn't draw anything. whoopsie.
4 march 2007
drew self portraits last night.... was not all the excited at the prospect but i did it, because what the hell am i doing this for but to learn. i have never been told i look like nancy mckeon from 'the facts of life', but i gotta tell you that is who i see in these. i don't have my eyes right, i mean, they are fairly even first of all, and are not so almond shaped. at least this looks like a person....
20 february 2007
i went to my sister's to watch the academy awards on a tv bigger than 15" and one that was in focus - mine is not... since she is gone i decided to take my drawing tablet and find something to draw... i am finding the scaling down of my drawings once i scan them and load them onto typepad is quite revealing. i hadn't noticed before, but looking at this chair now i see that i didn't get the seat quite right. i was struggling with the carving on the skirt too, never did manage to make it work, but i am pretty pleased with the over all results. the front leg is off the edge of the paper... looks like the scanner chopped it off, but really... it was me.
25 february 2007
had to find something else to draw other than my reflection. the light was almost too even so the shadows were hard to distinguish and the layers didn't show as well as they might have otherwise... i have several more onions so will try again.
24 february 2007
i cut and shifted up twice as an experiment. once across the bridge of the nose and once between my nose and lips. amazing. this looks a whole lot more like me and just goes to show how even a few millimeters of elongation can totally throw off a drawing. this means of course that i will have to draw myself again and pay particular attention to my nose and upper lip so i don't get them too long and exaggerated.
*the magic is photoshop, of course.
25 february 2007
nose and mouth positions are all wrong, i have less a chimp look going than this might indicate... obviously more work is necessary to develop this drawing skill... did i mention that this is humiliating? i did? i see my eyes are wobbly too.... hmmmm
24 february 2007
this self portrait work is humiliating.... even if i looked like this i think that it would still be humiliating...
24 february 2007
with my readers on.... the left eye looks good, the right side though is a bit too small but overall it isn't too bad... if i am going to do this with a tiny mirror and sitting on the sofa i am going to need much better light than i have now... this weekend will be good because i can do some sketching during the day with natural light...
23 february 2007
chettie sleeping on the sofa, thought i would work on him for a bit.... i don't like the mouth though, next time....
23 february 2007
here is something interesting... i have enjoyed drawing my eyes and other facial features the last couple of evenings... wouldn't have thought i would enjoy it. noses seem to be difficult, or at least mine is, although i have only done this one since class so i don't think i should judge by just one attempt. i think my mouth is good, the eye though, is not quite mine yet.
22 february 2007
creepy? they certainly were when looking up at me from the coffee table. these look a lot more like my eyes than the ones on the faces last night...
21 february 2007
this is the second attempt at my portrait. i think the mouth is a whole lot more like mine but the nose is too small and i kind of suspect that my eyes are a bit lower on my head, or my nose is a bit higher.... at any rate i have some practice ahead of me. last night was the last class, the next sessions starts in april and i am going to sign up. and practice until then. of course, i have lots and lots of paper still as i didn't exactly keep to my two drawings a day...
20 february 2007
sketched this while sitting on the sofa... not really finished, but it does share a resemblance to the real deal.
11 february 2007
talked to the instructor last night about my boredom with detail work... he said, don't draw in a style that i don't like. i say.... OK! this was looking fine to me, but all i saw in front of me was tedious drawing of words on a label that might not look like the real thing. maybe later, but right now i am liking a rougher technique.
10 february 2007
i joined a yahoo drawing group, everyday matters. a drawing community and every week a different subject is selected and we draw that... ok, i haven't done anything but sign up, certainly haven't posted a drawing. two weeks ago, scissors was the subject.
9 february 2007
a small little iris that pops up very early in the spring... or, very late in the winter. at any rate i know that we are on the right path, weather wise, when i can find these among the leaf clutter. my work isn't entirely successful with the little vase and its shading. it is silver, and tarnished within and inch of it's life. i think i might have been able to distinguish the changes in light better if it had some shine... i suppose i should polish it and find out. still struggling with the shading and making it look like movement and not just smudges... again, it will come.
8 february 2007
this one i did this morning... i am better with the proportions on this one, and although i wanted to quit i kept going until i considered it finished. more to come....
7 february 2007
just started this one. i was looking down on it more than the other two, but we ran out of time and so i didn't have a chance to do too much with it. 'homework' this week will be to draw as many daffodils as i can without going berserk. also, to continue with chet too, since i tried a foreshortened sketch of him and it was not successful... hmmm should throw that in shouldn't i?
6 february
trying to make it difficult on myself i took an odd view of this and had to worry a whole lot about foreshortened petals. have i mentioned my obsession with foreshortening and it's attendant diffuculties? yes?
6 february 2007
we drew daffodils for class. i can see that these will be good flowers because of all the different angles and cones and flat places, all easy to get wrong. the flower in the picture isn't the one i was drawing, it just threw it in because it is pretty.
6 february 2007
i thought, ok... better just try this foreshortening thing... in my mind i think, 'if it is just drawing what you see, then how can one line be different from any other line?' ok, well, they are, because of the big brain getting in the way... so, i shall work on this, he lays on his belly fairly often so i should be able to get this view of him again...
5 february 2007
he can tell when i am drawing him, when i look at him and he then feels a little restless and moves around. kinda interesting to see the instincts in him still working...
4 february 2007
final one for a while today, he keeps shifting from one side of the chair to another but not really looking any different. i will wait until he sits - sleeps - somewhere else....
3 february 2007
just more practice. he might prove to be a good model, not sure yet since he doesn't wear clothes i may get tired of drawing the same old fur... and getting him clothes seems out of the question... although, i could have him lay with blankets. will think on that one. i can see progress even within this hour of sketching...
3 february 2007
i am looking down on him a bit here... foreshortening is still a factor to work on. realizing as i am typing this, that i haven't actually worked on foreshortening, only thought about it. can't imagine just thinking about it is going to improve my skills.
3 february 2007
first sketch of the morning... bought a new drawing pad. this one is 9" x12". bigger than the spiral pad i had been working with. i found, even in just and hour, that this is a good size to have to work on. i don't feel cramped like with the smaller pad, or flopping all over the place with a larger one. this one will allow me to work at drawing and not feel i need to 'set up' first... the paper is different than the other two also, so it is good to be able have at least the three different surfaces to work on.
3 february 2007
the last ones of the bunch... will work on this kind of thing this week, but with chet as my model, he works for little food and a bit more love, so it works for the both of us...
20 january 2007
these were the final drawings in class... they even began to look like some of the people there, which is totally exciting.
30 january 2007
the guy with the hooded sweatshirt turned out pretty well. we were not focusing on facial features at all, so i didn't dwell on that, kind of wished i hadn't put any dark for the eye in...
30 january 2007
more of the same, just getting used to quick messy works indicating form...
30 january 2007
our work tonight was to just work with big movements indicating form and volume. we were not to outline but i found it hard initially, got better as the evening progressed though. piggy wanted in on the photographic action...
30 january 2007
got this great iron ornament in new orleans several years ago... i love it, and found today that it is difficult for me to draw. will have to try again, but as before, i got a little bored... hmmmm, perplexing - it is possible that i am not bored but just not focused. i do have other things i should be doing today... will try again when i can devote some more time to a single drawing. i noticed that i find that even when i want to do minimal shading that all of a sudden i find myself filling in more than i intend. it feels like i am doing it out of insecurity and self-consciousness rather than knowingly adding where it needs it... i know, it will come.
28 january 2007
trying a little bit different technique in that i don't outline the whole object. i got carried away with the thumb though so will try it again and try to restrain myself even more. the instructor did this with a soft knit cap and that might be something better to try, since it doesn't have a distinctive shape like a glove does...
28 january 2007
i don't like this one as much. i was getting bored while doing this so i must try not to draw only to draw, but to try to draw better.... so, hmmm. i am finding that my getting bored while drawing at home is a recurring issue, but i don't have it quite figured out yet. am i bored because i don't want to continue to draw something that isn't working so i see it as a lost cause? or, because spending time to do it right isn't in me? i think it is the first, as i didn't get bored drawing the first shoe in class... will get back to you on this.
27 january 2007
the beginning of my glove study... i did this during the late afternoon and had the overhead light on so the shadows were different from what show in this photo... it was after i did the thumb shadow that i realized i didn't like the way that looked, it made it more confusing rather than not... so, onto the next one to see if i can take advantage of what i am learning.
26 january 2007
three different people were drawing shoes by joseph seibel, we all decided we had fine taste in comfortable shoes. when i grabbed these i had no idea there were so many separate panels in the construction. so, this is good, if i wasn't taking this class i wouldn't have noticed. i picked the instructor's brain afterward so i have an idea of what to work on this week. amazing, my transformation from being nearly physically ill at the idea of drawing to looking forward to doing just that in only two weeks. how 'bout that!
23 january 2007
this was done after the single shoe. i can see where foreshortening will have to be addressed, or more specifically my making sure i can get it right. but still, they look like my shoes!
23 january 2007
this i had just begun as the class was coming to a close. i won't finish it but i will draw gloves this week, already i think i will like doing them. if i can do it, i think i will try different drawing techniques and styles on the same subject, test myself that way...
23 january 2007
making myself do more... by the end of this experiment i may have successfully drawn the entire living room and all the little things in it....
13 january 2007
seems everything i am attracted to as a drawing subject has curved lines... maybe everything has curved lines?? i used charcoal for this one. i had two pieces yesterday, today i have one. found chet eating the tissue that it was held in, was pretty sure he had eaten both pieces but since i couldn't find any evidence, no dark tongue, no smudges on the sofa, i was stumped. then, saw this piece on the floor. am still looking for the other one, but that dog will eat anything at least once...
13 january 2007
learned a lesson here. sit up straight and have the tablet in front of me... not until i was done and turned the book to look at what i had did i see that dr. seuss had sneaked in... hmmm, certainly want to remember that.
12 january 2007
drawing the paper i am drawing on... i realized after three holes that this was going to get boring. makes we wonder if repetitive designs will become more interesting once i gain confidence or if that isn't something i have a fondness for. already i am beginning to think i want to try different pencils, these seem either too hard (hb) or too soft (4b). they are good for lots of shading work because the 'lead' is the whole pencil, but i think it allows for me to work it to a nub before i sharpen it, and therefore find detail work hard. ok, this is all speculation since as you can see, this is only my 5th drawing...!
12 january 2007
i decided, after drawing some random lines and such, that i was bored with drawing random lines and such... so, i jumped in and decided to draw something. the chair looked good and it was easy to see from where i was perched. chet decided to get in on the action and made himself comfortable, so that meant i had to draw him too, or at least the idea of him. he looks kind of flat. but, you would be surprised at how flat he can look, sometimes, when he is hunkered down for a good nap. yes, he gets up on the furniture - all of it...
11 january 2007
experimented with lines and shadows when i got home. trying to feel comfortable putting pencil to paper.
09 january 2007
our first exercise: line work and using it to imply movement and shape.
09 january 2007