Colin's Daily Timed Thread 2011-2012

[Kvenh]

You got such graceful lines, loving it

[PoO-kiE]

awesome sketches!!

[Grzessnik]

I love your inks. Want more. Don't stop.

[Dark_Eyes]

kvenh: Thanks! Glad you like it!
Poo-kie: Nice stuff, you have a unique style!
Grzessnik: Thanks! Can't promise I'll stick with the inks exclusively, I'm developing a fetish for jumping between mediums! Keeps me on my toes!

12 min (observation)

[Grzessnik]

Incredible sketch.
It's great to see you playing with different mediums. Good luck

[Dark_Eyes]

6 min (imagination)

[Grzessnik]

I really like your approach. Brush and ink drawings/paintings are totally different from gesture drawings. I love both of them, because they show great treatment of subject. Gestures are rapid, dynamic and inks are silent and meditative.
Have you tried work with bamboo pen? I found it very interesting tool. You can make thin stroke, broad stroke, blots when to much ink. It gives also different lines when it is wet and constantly runs of ink and goes dry.
I love it for being very "primitive" tool.
Keep going
P.S. What paper do you use for brush and ink?

[JPW]

This is a great sketchbook. Can't believe how much you're able to put down with so few strokes, amazing that you're able to capture your subjects so well. Really impressive. Thanks for the share and keep it updated. I've given you five.

[Dark_Eyes]

Grzessnik: TY! I am still a pretty terrible inker, but it has so much potential as a medium, that I'm bound to explore it further. Speaking of bamboo brushes, I just discovered this guy a few days ago, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUzwtb8qtYw I really want one of those big bamboo brushes, Live painting on a biiig canvas like that looks REALLY fun! My last one was sumi ink and dip pen (gillott 303 nib) on a cheap canson sketchpad. Bristol is a little better for nibs though, the paper doesn't tear with the nib as much.
JPW: Thanks! I guess I've learned that what makes a "good" drawing is one where the lines/shapes/values relate to each other well. Whether you take 5 seconds, 5 minutes, or 5 days, as long as the elements relate well, you've got a good drawing! Cheers!

5 min (observation)

[leondrago]

well... what to say?? Great sketches and beautiful lines... well done and keep it up

[Grzessnik]

Really great one.
Speaking of bamboo, i thought about bamboo stick cut slant. I suppose, you'll like this tool . Bamboo brushes from link are great, but i prefer watercolor brushes (sable or squirrel). They are more flexible. I've tried work with sumie brush, but i can't control it.
Thanks for your works.

[Dark_Eyes]

leondrago: Thanks for visiting!
Grzessnik: Thanks, and yes I have one of those brushes I just haven't really posted anything with it. I happen to like their unpredictability.

4 min (observation)

[Grzessnik]

Your sketches are improving all the time. The last one is superb. I love it.

[Danny_K]

sweet stuff as awlays! keep it going mate keeeeeep it going

[Dark_Eyes]

Grzessnik, Danny K: Thanks Guys! I have a giant stack of newsprint building up in my corner from this sketchbook alone! There are layers going back chronologically to the new year, and I decided to peek slowly down to the bottom to see my progress. It's funny how you can't always feel yourself changing from hour to hour, or week to week... but when you start looking back over months, you can really see the difference! It's both humbling and encouraging knowing that the hard work is having an effect (albeit slower than I'd like , )! Speaking of.. gotta' draw!

6 min (observation)

[Grzessnik]

I like tension in this pose. You can almost feel it.

[The_Flying_Dutchman]

Your fast figure studies are great. Best kind of practise!

Keep posting.

[Dark_Eyes]

grzessnik: TY! I do like the dynamic poses!
The Flying Dutchman: TY! Quick drawing is GREAT practice, it's changing the whole way I approach drawing!

5 min (observation)

[p sage]

Keep going, Colin!

[Grzessnik]

You're the master. Teach me please.
I love your approach.

[Frank Gressie]

great life drawings man! great lineweight and flow!
cheers,
frank

[Dark_Eyes]

psage: TY! I will!
Grzessnik: Naahhh I'm not a master yet. So you know, you don't have to post here EVERY day... lol You might just ask a question every once and a while and I can answer for the benefit of other readers here.. That is much more useful to everyone than continuous praise and attaboys'. Thanks for your interest though! Your comments are greatly appreciated!
Frank Gressie: TY! I'm really trying to control my line weight more lately, keeping my firm/soft/dark lines on parts of the form facing away from the light and my sharp/light lines on parts facing the light.

5 min (observation)

[Dark_Eyes]

What an amazing day! I'm an UNCLE! It's crazy, inspiring to meet little Noah, 7lb 5oz of joy! CONGRATS DAVID!

3hr

[Conniekat8]

Wow, you really capture the motion and the moment in the sketches. Superb!

[p sage]

Congratulations, uncle Colin!

In this last one, I like the way you pulled her away from the drapery using contrast. Nice drawing.

RE: Your question--a SB reboot is coming. Not sure when.

[Andrew Sonea]

I haven't left a comment in here is a while, but I check it almost every day. It's hard, because I want to say something, but all that I have is praise and nothing constructive really. But I figured I may as well throw some ass pats every now and then your way--you certainly deserve it. Your stroke economy is astounding!

I really like the long poses you have going on here too, and I was thinking of your style when at life drawing last time. I have yet to try a master copy after you, but I was definitely keeping in mind a bit of your handling of line and charcoal. Maybe it's not so apparent though haha. I would really appreciate it if you could stop by my sketchbook and give me suggestions though, since I am changing my approach and using charcoal for the first time more seriously.

PS: Congrats on becoming an uncle!

[Dark_Eyes]

conniekat8: TY!
p sage: TY! I'm looking forward to it!
Andrew Sonea: TY! I don't mind the positive comments, after a while though, you just don't know how to respond to the same thing over and over again, lol. I really appreciate questions and critiques. That stimulates my mind more, and I think in the end it helps people who might be curious about the same things. I have to be honest, I think there's a bit of a plague of that kind of thing going on in these forums... people just endlessly dropping the "I love this" post, without providing any information behind it (guilty as charged ). I understand that this is a time issue for most, but me, I'm after information, and that comes through questioning and continuous refinement of our mental models. I want to know why something is good (or how to make it better), rather than just know that it's good for some unknown reason... By the way, I meant no ill will to Grzessnik, he has been really generous with his input here.

5 min (observation)

[p sage]

How about this then? I like this recent drawing because the economic, triangular, almost angry strokes set an intense mood. There's no ambiguity. And you did it in 5 minutes

[Grzessnik]

Colin congrats on becoming an uncle.

I think you have right. It should be something constructive in posts. It should help people who posting their works on forum learn something new or rethink their approach.

I have one question. You work usually with broad strokes for building mass and thin lines for contours. Have you tried work only with thin line? With fountain pen or something. It changes way you think about form. There is no way to mark masses quick and add contours defining figure. I'm asking because i don't remember works like this in your thread.

Keep going

[Dark_Eyes]

psage: Thanks man! That's exactly what I'm talking about! What's great is I hadn't thought of the angular/angry nature of the strokes when I drew yesterday's image, but it totally makes sense! Now that I'm conscious of it, I can try to apply the idea to other drawings. I would've never seen that if someone only said, "I like it."
Grzessnik: Thanks! I'm glad you agree,... will make for more interesting dialogue here. I do work with a nib & dip pen like in today's post. I wouldn't say I only use thin line for contour when working with charcoal. A lot of my lines are soft or firm lines depending on where they are on the figure, and I'm not sure if I'm understanding you, but you can definitely define your contours well with ink, even make them quite gestural. Heinrich Kley is a great example of a flowing, gestural style of inking. http://www.heinrich-kley.com/ He frequently worked from imagination too, which blows my mind, lol! It definitely changes the way you think about form though.. By the way, you can still make a line "soft" with ink by breaking the line up into tiny sections, that way when you back up from the image, the broken line takes on a grayed appearance. You can also mass forms with thin line, but it takes longer because you have to hatch in the values. Check out how Kley does that, you can get a wide range of darker greys if you have the dexterity. (something I definitely don't have yet, lol). Cheers!

7 min (imagination)