FDFAIW - Figure in Motion Sketch 2

I'm starting to see why so many titles to drawings and paintings are so boring. You have to describe what you do. I don't know whether this one went faster or not. I'm looking forward to learning more about anatomy to get better detail, but these quick sketches are fun and make me feel like I'm getting my artistic sea legs back, so to speak.

FDFAIW - Figure in Motion from the Imagination - Sketch #1

I stopped working on the art for a graphic novel about a year ago because I was too intimidated to draw people. I had no idea how to get them into a sketch with buildings, etc. So I picked up Loomis's Figure Drawing for All It's Worth and ran into another bump when, in the first pages, he discussed dividing the figure into eight equal parts (the male figure--the female is about 7 1/2). I think the parts were the size of a human head.

But after a while, I read a little more and saw that he didn't really like that method. I can see why. It's tedious and cumbersome. And, as he points out, the bodies look dumpy.

Now I'm past that in a much more dynamic area of the book. He sketched out a bunch of male figures in motion and recommended the reader draw them. Yesterday I posted the first one I drew. He also recommended drawing figures from the imagination.

This is my first sketch. Definitely too long arms and the torso is pretty small.

Still, it's not a stick figure. I think what I like about this is that a) it's from my imagination--not a small deal, considering the kinds of art I'm interested in creating, and b) it feels a little... brave. And bravery is something we will all need in the coming year. 

Figure Drawing for All It's Worth - Figure in Motion Sketch #1

First sketch I've done in a long while. This one's from Andrew Loomis's excellent Figure Drawing for All It's Worth. What you try to do in these sketches is capture a sense of movement, a sense of improvisation. Accuracy is not as important, but of course I got caught up in that. You still have to get the proportions correct, and while this particular sketch is a vast improvement over the ones I'd done before, I still have a ways to go in gaining facility. But I'm pleased that every day brings new progress.

Tomorrow: First figure sketch done from the imagination. I'm rather enjoying this particular sketching project. Have a couple of paintings in the works, but it's so cold outside, it's hard to photograph them. Maybe tomorrow it will warm up.

Band - Paint Journal

Another paint journal painting. I kind of like this one, given that I had no idea what the result would be when I started. I think it looks like a wild, three-man band, though the middle guy is kinda sketchy. That's all right. This is a watercolor piece initially not meant to be seen. But I liked the result enough to share.

Hopefully I'll have more stuff ready soon, for sale. 

Paint Journal 6/13/2016

Too long of a break.

This is from my paint journal--well, one of them. (I have three, so far... mostly because I forget them when I travel and have to buy a new one on the road.) It's watercolor, something fairly new for me.

Another new thing I tried was using a photo editor on my cell phone. I photograph my paintings outside--it's cheaper than doing it in a studio, since you need all kinds of equipment to get the same effect as you would just stepping onto your porch or balcony. Sunny days are fine for that, but overcast days are better.

I think it worked out fine. I don't use a lot of effects, if any, on my paintings. All I do is straighten and crop, and my cell works fairly well for both taking the photo and editing. I don't think it captures all of the nuances, but it works for paintings I feel like posting and not selling. I could probably get similar results using a camera and sending the photos to my phone to edit.

I love living in an age where all this stuff is completely portable. I don't travel a lot, but I probably will more in the future, so it's nice to have everything I need right there in my backpack. (Typically I don't bother with an easel. Most of my paintings are small enough I can complete them at a table.)

I like trying to complete a painting a day. Painting is meditative for me, and I like that I can get the same effect as simply meditating, but having completed something creative by the end of the session. I guess it makes me feel more productive, even if the results aren't spectacular. I always feel better after painting no matter how demoralized and frustrated I feel going in. For that reason alone, it's worth doing.

Kwik Stop Mart

A preliminary sketch for a graphic novel I'm working on. Well, I'm working on the script, anyway. Creating some of the art helps me formulate the story, and I'm enjoying learning how to sketch in a "comic book" style. The next challenge is drawing people in this style.

I'm beginning to see that comic book artists have taken the tradition of the masters' drawing and painting from the imagination and carried it forward. It's a lot of fun to draw something from the imagination (even if I have to use a lot of references right now.) Exciting!

Another Day, Another Crash

So I arted yesterday. This is kind of a comic book style--I'm studying vanishing points--and I sort of like the result. I tried a similar one, but in color. Wound up with a couple of hot pink buildings, so yeah... that one's not going up. I don't have proper comic drawing supplies (Blue Line illustration boards, ink, etc.) so at the moment I'm using pencil. Obviously this one has one vanishing point.

One thing I learned here is that having a T-square is not only essential for outlining, it can be used to fill in some "color" using harder-pointed pencils, such as 2H or even 4H. I've always been annoyed by those unintentional heavier shadings I get when I simply "color in" a spot. Using the T-square to draw successive vertical lines felt like a much better way to control the process, and I was happy with the result. Filling in by "lining" gives a feel of smooth granite on the buildings, I think, and you can control how heavy or light you want to shade. (This is particularly effective with softer pencils.)

I don't have a full range of pencils yet, and I'm still experimenting. This one was a lot of fun.