Writing All Over Again as well...

Though I haven't been able to keep up with this blog as much as I would like, it has been a creative outlet for me.  It's awakened a certain creative spirit in me that has long been stifled.  This muse seems to be unaware that I don't have the time for it.

For years I've thought about writing.  I've gone so far as to create settings and characters.  But, they've only seen the inside of my head and never a page.  Recently I've really been thinking more and more about these ideas.  I feel the need to write them down.  So, now I'm not only struggling to find time to draw....but I'm also trying to find time to write.  Sheesh!

Check out my new blog.....though give it some time.  I haven't actually written anything yet.  

My Father's Day Gift

I was given a few precious moments to work on my drawing today.  Those moments are hard to come by when you have four kids, including a 5 week old infant.

For some reason the scan came out a little blurry.  Not sure why that is.  I'm not overly pleased with the teeth or the helmet, but the rest of the drawing is pretty good.  I'll take it, because I'm ready to move onto something different. 

Welcome Home Ivy Ray

Our new baby girl was born yesterday at 3:32pm.  After a quick scare mommy and baby are doing fine. 

And then it ended!

Oh.  I love the weekends.  I actually got to draw for a few hours this weekend.  And it charged me up so much that I really want to keep drawing.  But, then Monday hits and time slips away.  It's so hard to get any time on the weekdays.  I'm lucky if I get one night per week.

So, c'mon weekend!  I have a drawing to finish.

Orc: Work in Progress

Here's the work from today.  God, I love weekends. 

Orc Sketch

Decided to work on something other than eyes for a change.  Just did some sketches of an orc's face.  Then decided to try to transfer the pencil drawing to a Bristol Board by retracing the image with a very heavy hand over top of the board.  It didn't work. 

Here's what I did tonight:

Colored Pencil - Eyes in Three Quarters View

First Foray into Colored Pencil

Here is my first attempt at using colored pencils.  I picked some up and was anxious to use them.  I didn't do any prep work.  I just sat down and decided to see what would happen.

First Attempt at Sketching Heads - Loomis Style

I'm back after a short break.  We took the kids to Disney.  And, as I'm sure you all know, when you take a couple of days off the days surrounding the vacation are filled with twice as much work as normal. Tonight was the first night that I had an hour to sit down and do anything other than work, unpack, etc.

So, I downloaded a book by Andrew Loomis.  I'm reading a bit of it.  I decided to practice some of his ideas of creating heads.  The first attempts are dreadful.  The last couple are almost passable as human. 

At least it's progress.....

Two Cups - First Sketch

In realizing how my much trouble I'm having with ellipses I've decided to draw some pictures featuring them.  I've also decided that I'm less interested in the shading and detail work and more worried about the accuracy of the lines.  Here is my first attempt at this sketch.

I can see that this isn't quite right.  Both cups came out a bit too narrow.  Not sure how that happened.  But, I'll try again soon.

In other news, I'll be leaving to take the kids to Disney in a few days.  This trip is coinciding with one of the busier weeks I've had in quite a while.  So, It might be a few days before I can post again. 

Ellipses - My Mortal Enemy

The shape of an ellipse is my achilles heel. I never manage to get the shape right. But, It's a critical part of drawing and I know that I need to practice it. It's for this reason that I'm doing the classroom exercises from Wet Canvas; particularly the ellipses.

Here's what I did tonight. This is from a single 18"x24" piece of newspaper that I used tonight. I scanned it in quarters. Because it's essentially just doodles breaking it up doesn't cause any real issues.

I'm aware that this isn't especially interesting reading. But, I need to catalog these efforts for a couple of reasons. First, it keeps me accountable. Second, it helps me to see how I'm progressing and allows me to see later what helped me the most.

Blogs I actually read!

Here are some blogs that I actually read.

Hyperbole and a Half
This is actually the blog that first got me back into drawing. 

Self v.s. Self
Not just great artwork, but something real.

CGUNIT   
Ok, this is less of a blog and more of a daily indulgence.

Eye Suck Ink
Fun and Unique.

Don't Wake Me Up
Unique stuff.

Ashley Bambaland
Cool sketches and oil paints.

Brilliant Anyway
Lots of portraits, with a twist

Pencil Shavings
A local (to me anyway) artist.

At some level all of these blogs were motivations to get back into drawing. Hyperbole and a Half was the first one to make me pick the pencil back up. Because of that I've searched and found these other sites. They each help to motivate me in some distinct way.

First Foray in Figure Drawing - Scribbles and Sketch

Today I made a trip to a crafts store to buy a few items including a figure drawing mannequin.   So, I did some scribble drawing, which I read about in "Basic Figure Drawing Techniques," by Greg Albert.  The premise being that you draw for about a minute while constantly keeping the pencil moving and in contact with the paper.  Below are my first two attempts. 

 

Afterwards, I decided to do a slightly more involved sketch of the mannequin.  This took about 15 minutes. 

After this I decided to sketch a Nutcracker that we still had out from Christmas.  The results were horrible.  I've realized that I have a terrible sense of scale when dealing with live objects.  I'm far better working from a photo.  But, I assume that it's worth the effort to learn to draw from a live model/object.  All in all, I'd say it wasn't a good night for drawing, but hopefully this is just me paying my dues.