Archive for January, 2012

Find a famous painting/drawing of a portrait with plenty of drapery. Replace face with your face. I wanted to be a baller so I went with Jacques-Louis David’s famous “Napoleon Crossing the Alps”… Done with black and white charcoal pencils on gray canson paper. Didn’t do the background because I was tired and lazy by the end of the horse’s mane… This’ll have to do. :[

My art final from basic figure drawing class. Model kept moving/shuffling her legs and scratching an itch on her back. :'[

Three minutes for a quick sketch of the model. Three minutes for the drapery we put on her after. Drapery is fun.

Black + white charcoal pencil on neutral-gray-ish canson paper. References pulled from a Google image search.

Another year passed by… but I feel good about my art progress. Better than I’ve felt in ’08, ’09, or even ’10. In those years, I didn’t push myself nearly enough, taking it easy, drawing when I “felt” like it or when I was prodded to… yet I stuck to a same formula of style that curses me even today. I draw faces the same way, I shade with a fixed light source that has NEVER changed, my linework is all the same, etc., etc. I don’t want to fall into a mold nor do I want to sacrifice flexibility.

Thank goodness for art classes. The last half of 2011 was mostly dedicated to nothing but work for Figure Drawing and Figure Drawing for Animation classes, both with brilliant teachers who helped me realize how art SHOULDN’T be done. Looking at my recent work, I feel accomplished and satisfied in that I might have learned something (especially about the human anatomy). Now it’s my job to make sure I keep this knowledge fresh in my head.

Most of the things I want to show are too large for my scanner so I’ll take pics of them another day. For now, here are two experimental drawings done on Bristol board with Tombow markers. Fun stuff.

First attempt was strictly experimental since I’ve never sketched a nude model with colored markers before. It was intimidating, and I don’t like making mistakes that I can’t erase. The fingers are easily my greatest regret. 😡 Btw, the model was pregnant.

Here’s the second attempt. I realized I didn’t like the no-line quality of the first drawing so I decided to grab one of my generic sketching pens. I tried to keep my linework sparse and decisive in one stroke. Suffice to say, I was rather proud of the outcome. The core shadow was a little tough to spot since the lighting in the room was indirect… and the marker selections didn’t exactly give me the options for an entirely accurate depiction of her complexion, but I’m pleased regardless!

Will post more if I can get my hands on a camera.