Doodles and disasters

[blogmatix]

Hearing you talk about the care centre and kids makes me want to get certified as a day care teacher and apply for a similar job as you do. LOL

Heh, wait 'till those little monsters begin to make a noise around you and see if you still like it as much. :-)

I am actually studying to be a teacher in order to get a full time job, which is partly why I have little time or energy for much else. Even worse, the studies consist of the most contentless and boring drivel you can imagine.

For construction, you don't need extensive anatomical knowledge, although the more you know, the more accurate the construction will be. Cylinders for the limbs, box for the chest etc. It also trains your understanding of perspective and rotation of objects in space. The anatomy can be added later.
Xeon

Yes, I have been thinking about this, and about spending more time out in the open simply sketching people passing by. It's way more fun than working from reference photos anyway. I do not really have ambitions as figurative artist, but one will want to be able to do decent portraits, which may need to include hands and feet, and to put decent, more or less well-proportioned figures into landscapes. So I guess one could argue that I hardly need to make a very extensive study of anatomy or nude figures, and should instead focus mostly on proportions and how clothes fit around bodies.

Well, it is an ongoing process. Will see where I end up. I have to hand in lots of assignments next week, so it will be a while before I get around to much drawing anyway.

[blogmatix]

And another quick line drawing of a (compound) leaf. I now and then go through a fad for botanical art. Alas, one needs more precision and patience for it than I am ever likely to possess.

[blogmatix]

Two very rapidly sketched portraits of kids at the after school care centre where I work. They leave a lot to be desired, but considering they were done in un-erasable ballpoint with a dozen excited onlookers milling about me, and that in both cases friends and parents report that they are recognizable likenesses, I'll forgive myself... :-)

[blogmatix]

Went with some friends for a picnic at the Pretoria Botanical Gardens; had time for a quick sketch of a tree. I should go back there on my own some time, because for anyone who wants to draw trees, the place is a veritable paradise of virtually unlimited opportunity.

[blogmatix]

In some or other thread on the board, I recently lamented my utter inability to work from reference photos. Now I notice to my astonishment that when I work in ballpoint pen, I seem to have somewhat more success when working from photos. I have no idea why this should be so. But perhaps something to follow up on - I like ballpoint anyway. It's a neat modern substitute for silverpoint, or etching. :-)

[blogmatix]

I have been battling the mother of all flu attacks for two weeks now, and there is no end in sight. For the past few days, just as the fever blisters are beginning to subside, I have acquired a lump of glowing coal in my throat. I decided that sick or not, I want to make at least a little quick sketch. So here it is, a portrait sketch of one Riaan Cruywagen, popular news reader around here. I think I can state with some confidence now that you have not experienced real terror until you have tried to draw a portrait in un-erasable ballpoint pen... :-)

[dylanj70]

Niiiicee, love the portraits man! Great inspiration as I'm trying to improve my portrait work too!

[Xeon_OND]

I think I can state with some confidence now that you have not experienced real terror until you have tried to draw a portrait in un-erasable ballpoint pen... :-)

LOL, wrong! You have not experienced real terror until you have tried drawing a portrait (or anything for that matter) with a brush / brush pen!

[Aaron_]

I think I can state with some confidence now that you have not experienced real terror until you have tried to draw a portrait in un-erasable ballpoint pen... :-)

Hahaa, don't worry about it, you're doing pretty good. I think starting lighter and plotting it out way more carefully would help too. I love drawing portraits with a ballpoint. And you do train your confidence this way.

[blogmatix]

LOL, wrong! You have not experienced real terror until you have tried drawing a portrait (or anything for that matter) with a brush / brush pen!

Haha, true that! I have tried a bit of brush drawing in the past, and very rapidly acquired a very great deal of respect for those oriental artists who work with brush and ink.

Hahaa, don't worry about it, you're doing pretty good. I think starting lighter and plotting it out way more carefully would help too. I love drawing portraits with a ballpoint. And you do train your confidence this way.

When I started out I worked mostly in ballpoint, and then at some point, for reasons I can't remember, mostly abandoned it. I am now trying to rediscover it; it seems to give me much better results than pencil, especially on the cheap paper I use. I just love the ballpoint drawings in your sketchbook thread, by the way. I am still trying to work up the confidence to lay down as much hatching as you do. It's pretty terrifying to make what looks like a reasonably nice drawing, and to then start scribbling all over it! :-)

I do indeed try to start very light and plot it out before committing, and then the light initial marks are sort of subsumed into the drawing and erroneous ones seldom show. But I still have much trouble with this, because I tend to only notice errors once a drawing is fairly advanced. With pencil it is not all that unusual for me to erase extensive parts of a drawing and redraw. With ballpoint that is of course not an option, but it is also an advantage in that it forces me to take more care in observing.

To address my problem with shading (namely that I tend to do way too little) I am now think of trying some drawings in which I first lay down lots of hatching and cross-hatching before doing much in the way of line work. Perhaps that way I'll be less terrified of ruining a sketch.

It may have to wait a while. Yesterday, after days of an absolutely agonizing throat infection, I finally went to the doctor, for the first time in more than twenty years. She prescribed antibiotics and a whole array of other stuff. My throat feels much better now, but the meds have made me so dizzy and shaky I can hardly type, so I may not be in much of a condition to draw for a while.

[Xeon_OND]

Not sure if you've tried this, but if you get a sore throat again in future, make a honey drink (hot water + those off-the-shelf honey) and mix that with squeezed lime juice, the more the merrier. Take it in sips (not all down in one gulp), 2 times a day. The next morning, the sore throat is gone!

Works for me 99% of the time and you won't feel groggy from the pills!

[blogmatix]

Not sure if you've tried this, but if you get a sore throat again in future, make a honey drink (hot water + those off-the-shelf honey) and mix that with squeezed lime juice, the more the merrier. Take it in sips (not all down in one gulp), 2 times a day. The next morning, the sore throat is gone!

Works for me 99% of the time and you won't feel groggy from the pills!

Tried it for several days. Had no effect. I then tried drinking lots of brandy, and lo and behold, it actually worked (perhaps the alcohol kills the bacteria?) but only for an hour or two, after which the torture would be back. Eventually went to the doctor as last resort. :-)

And now for something completely different. While randomly surfing around, I stumbled upon this page:

http://paranormal.about.com/od/ghost...a/aa042108.htm

A competition to make a hoaxed photo of something paranormal. I have never tried photo-manipulation before, so my attempt was rather amateurish, but it was a lot of fun. Anyway, I think lots of people here on CA would easily win that competition; if you look at their previous years' entries, you'll see most of them are not all that much better than mine. So hurry up; the closing date is 15 May! :-)

[blogmatix]

While innocently looking for something else, I unexpectedly stumbled upon a press photo of a dead child, yet another victim of our insatiable appetite for war. It was one of those thing that unexpectedly creep up on you, making you feel sad, and like you want to do something about it. But all I could think of to do was to make a drawing of it.

[blogmatix]

At last slowly emerging from my huge bout of flu. It's really time for a still life again, so here's a simple one of a peach kernel and an egg, just to get me back into drawing.

[blogmatix]

Quite incredibly, after a week of antibiotics and a brief remission, my throat infection is back in force, so here I sit in misery and unable to do any real work. Oh well. Here's a quick caricature sketch of Tim Burton, and another photo manipulation...

[blogmatix]

Went with friends to a restaurant. But I had already eaten, so instead of stuffing my face, I made a quick sketch of a milk jug in my small A6 sketchbook.

[blogmatix]

Marmite. Also known as heaven in a flask. Couldn't quite get it dark enough with HB pencil, but otherwise sort of vaguely in proportion. It's fun to do still life again. I missed it, and I have a feeling what I learn from it is going to come in very handy later on.

Oh well. I have exams coming up, and I may only have time for drawing again in a month, though it depends on how much time the (not art related) studies will take up.

[blogmatix]

Until such time as I have the time and inclination for a proper study of the figure, I'll likely stick to mostly clothed figures done in this post-impressionist, Hergé-like style... :-)

[Xeon_OND]

Until such time as I have the time and inclination for a proper study of the figure, I'll likely stick to mostly clothed figures done in this post-impressionist, Hergé-like style... :-)

That drawing is linsanity! Oh my god.
You definitely have been improving recently, looking at your recent still lifes and that portrait of the child.

[blogmatix]

That drawing is linsanity! Oh my god.

I like that term: I think I'll adopt it as description of my style. :-)

You definitely have been improving recently, looking at your recent still lifes and that portrait of the child.

I keep on struggling with accuracy, but it is slowly improving.

[blogmatix]

And another one in the linsanity style (Thank you Xeon_OND for that neat term)... :-)

[blogmatix]

And another...

[blogmatix]

Back to still life.

[bodied]

Nice progress! I just stumbled onto your sketchbook. Have you thought about experimenting with color?

[Velocity Kendall]

i thought this one was good, and sad.

[blogmatix]

Nice progress! I just stumbled onto your sketchbook. Have you thought about experimenting with color?

Thanks for the kind comments. I have experimented a bit with colour in the past, and will return to it in due course, but I remain very dissatisfied with my drawing ability, so I want to improve it a bit before returning to colour. I'll probably take out those oils again by the end of the year or next year, and see what I can do with them. :-)

[blogmatix]

I was visiting with friends when they insisted on watching "American Idol" on TV. Not that I disrespect the contestants, but it's not the kind of music that appeals to me. Luckily one of the judges caught my eye. I have no idea who he is, but he has one of those faces that just beg to be caricatured. Pity the program ended before I could finish and I had to complete the thing partly from memory. I think I did capture his mouth nicely though.

[blogmatix]

Linsanity alert: This drawing contains lots of shameless lines. Viewer discretion is advised.

Hmm, messed up the proportions here and there. Somehow I find accuracy impossible to attain, especially when working from photographs.

[rishenko]

This is very nice sketchbook. I really dig the motion and gesture you captured of the lady in post 111, and the emotion of the boy's face in 118. Keep working hard, you are improving.

If I may, I'd offer two suggestions, one of which was told me a couple weeks ago. The first is to add tone to your background. This will help set off the still life objects and contrast them with their surroundings. The other is to vary the thickness of your lines. The lines will be thinner, lighter or altogether gone in the highlight, and darker, thicker, or merged with the reflective or core shadows in the shade. While the shading is great on the bottle of glue and yeast extract, they seem to be flattened by the hard and heavy outline.

[blogmatix]

This is very nice sketchbook. I really dig the motion and gesture you captured of the lady in post 111, and the emotion of the boy's face in 118. Keep working hard, you are improving.

If I may, I'd offer two suggestions, one of which was told me a couple weeks ago. The first is to add tone to your background. This will help set off the still life objects and contrast them with their surroundings. The other is to vary the thickness of your lines. The lines will be thinner, lighter or altogether gone in the highlight, and darker, thicker, or merged with the reflective or core shadows in the shade. While the shading is great on the bottle of glue and yeast extract, they seem to be flattened by the hard and heavy outline.

Thanks for the kind words. I do sometimes add tone to the background. You are right: it does tend to make the objects "pop." I am often too lazy, or do not have time.

And yes, I tend to draw unvarying outlines around everything. I grew up with Hergé's "Tintin" comics, that's why. And I work mostly with a mechanical pencil. :-)

Whenever I try not to outline things, the result somehow seems to "soft" to me. I'll need to find some balance between line and tone. It's an ongoing learning process!

Thanks again for the comments. I appreciate it!