Donna n.e.e.d.s. to Draw

My favorite way to start a drawing…..yep, the good ‘ole coloring book stage.



It’s so nice that our personal music library can go everywhere with us!!  And….we can get just about any new song we want without much effort!  Just a click away!



Absolutely had to have her wearing a colorful outfit!



The less I say about the shoes, the better….I’m not quite sure where I was going with these!



Markers for the girl, the trees and the boat…..watercolor pencils for the rest.



Donna the Drawer……growing up in a big family, she often got irritated with all the demands and distractions created by her brothers and sisters.  She really didn’t mean to be so snippy with them, but she couldn’t help it. She  just forgot how easy it is just to remove herself from the commotion.  She doesn’t need to be away long, just long enough to hear herself again.  She then rejoins everyone and they are very happy she took that little break!
I don’t know about you, but I sure can relate to Donna.  Why do we feel so selfish when we take time for ourselves?  It’s always best if I can figure out what my triggers are……it’s a bit of a relief, cuz then I can do something about them …..or not.

Back to school Bird

Had to make a college bird because I’m overwhelmed with the get-my-child-to-college-and-not-forget-anything preparations.  Oh my, lots goes into getting these young people set up especially if they are going away to school.



It is fun when I get to pick the color of her tee.



I’d like to find a backpack with this design!   Haha



Keira……the college freshman.  It’s her first day of classes and she thought she’d get lost on campus, but she surprised herself and made it to each class on time.  She even met some other nice students.  She is loving this new freedom.  She has to fight the urge to facebook friend request everyone she meets.  Otherwise, she won’t get any studying done…..we can only hope!

So much is going on with this age group isn’t there?  They’re learning how to be independent, manage money, and listening to lectures in some classrooms with over a 100 students.  Easy to feel invisible.  But they’ll probably learn more about themselves and people in these 4 years than ever before. 

I approached my daughter last week and asked her to take that Myers-Briggs personality test so that I can figure her out better (yeah….right!).  But she couldn’t be bothered.    If you’re interested here’s the free on-line test, it’s only about 70 questions, took me less than 5 minutes to take.  I came out as an INTJ.  I think this stuff is fun.  Have you taken this type of test and what are your thoughts?

I <3 Moleskines!

Yes, It’s true….love these little books!  So uniform, so predictable, many paper choices and that little black band secures the contents so well.  Perfect!  Excellent!  Wonderful!

This post is going to have lots-of-pictures, be forewarned.  I thought I’d show the scratch-pages, the drawings that I either gave up on, or tried something new with, the practice pages if you will.  Some are kind of funny, some boring, some sloppy.  But they’re practice pages and they worked for me at the time. 


*trying an alphabet stencil out.


*colored pencils at work here, I found I like the markers or the watercolor pencils much better.

 
*trying to see if those watercolor pencils can make a tye-dye look.


*this is my kind of VIBRANT


*just a quote I came across while trolling some blogs.


*practicing stencil writing and watercolors on same page. Markers used here too.


*Another quote I like.

 
*just a bunch of stencil play


 
*playing with color

 
*This was a fun one.


*Used those dip inks here.  The paint used for the flowers is iridescent, but hard to tell in this shot.


*I think my goal was to fill the entire page with color


*the word prompt was Endeavor and I didn’t like how this turned out, so I never posted it to the NaNoJouMo group.


*I’m working on a logo.  You may see more on this.

Are you still here?  My goodness, Thank You for sticking around so long.  Hope you found this entertaining to look thru my old moleskines and see the things I was testing out.   We all have to have our play pages!  Funny how I wouldn’t dare post the pics right when I drew them, but now that I have a little distance from them I don’t cringe so much. Hahaha

A sketch of a Person on a Paddleboard….fini

Since we were a day without power, and I’m a person without much sleep, please excuse the run-on sentences that are bound to occur.



I used my new copic gray multiliners to outline just about everything.  But not the folds in the suit.  That would’ve been too much!



Didn’t have the patience for the effort it would take to get those toes right.  But at least they’re not as bad as they were from this post.



Public Criticism:

1. Didn’t bend the upper body over enough. (and to think I brought it in from the first post)
   
2. Right hand drawn higher than original
   
3. Left arm should’ve been longer in the forearm and less long in the bicep
   
4. Entire sketched body (legs, torso and head) thicker than needed
   
5. Arms longer and leaner than they should be

Public Credits:

1. Was able to draw a look-alike (to some degree) of the entire body + a bit of the face
   
2. Shading was not so dark as diver girl (using the tortillon worked well)
   
3. Hair passable
   
4. 2 legs, 2 arms, 10 fingers, 10 toes….
   
5. Not discouraged yet

These type of sketches are just plain fun to draw.  They don’t take F.O.R.E.V.E.R and I get good sketch practice in.   Thanks for your kind comments about the process these last few days.

A sketch showing some potential….part 4

The shading is done mainly with my lighter H pencils and my tortillon.  I think that’s the key, use that little stump for the light areas.  It already has a lot of graphite on it from previous shading jobs.



See how dark that tortillon gets at the tip.



Gotta give credit to Sande for her knowledge about gray fine-line markers and directing me toward these.  Thank you!!

I purchased the .05 and the 0.1 of the Copic multiliner in gray.  This is the first chance I’ve gotten to use them.  I think I’m going to like them



I may have gotten ahead of myself, cuz I outlined the suit and the top of the thighs with the Copic marker already.  Highly unusual, I usually do it at the end.  Can’t go back and fix any line problems in the suit now!  Hopefully, I’ll be ok with that.

I still need to:

• Fix the nose
  
• Thicken the visor and shorten the sunglasses
  
• Shade more on the upper arm
  
• And much more….

A sketch beginning to take shape….part 3

Had to pull up the image in the computer and ENLARGE to see the details in the face.



At the top of the arm you’ll see two lines….yep…tweaking going on!



These are my favorite shots…..feels like I’m looking over someone’s shoulder.  Keeping those pencils real sharp helps immensely.



I am trying REALLY HARD to not overdo my graphite gradients.  Have to do a lot more dabbing this way.

More to come

A sketch with SOME proportional sense….part 2

Slowly, the figure is gaining her identity.  S.l.o.w.l.y.  I used to be irritated when my drawings came out so misshapen….now, it’s “par for the course” and I’m not as afraid of the early graphite marks.



Had to play around a lot with the shoulder(s), the head, and the front forearm.  It’s apply small line….erase…apply tiny curve here…erase…. apply curve there then.



Yes, I’ve fed my drawing Growth Hormone,  isn’t the disparity obnoxious?  I use more paper than necessary.

I will see more imbalances tomorrow.  Just the way I work.  Distance helps…..oh yeah, and patience.  My favorite part is not too far away……shading!  Goody-Goody!

A sketch with No SeNsE of PrOpOrTiOn….part 1

There is no Fan-fare with sketching…..none….at least for me.  Sketching doesn’t appeal to the masses like true art does….IMHO (in my humble opinion).  UNLESS, you sketch something for someone.  You know, draw a picture of a family (or member) for them to display; at the top of the stairs, along the staircase, in the foyer, above the fireplace.  This is when the real profiteers can hone their talent with the task.

But for me…..

I just like sketching.  Don’t know why, possibly it’s cuz I get to copy.  And tweak toward perfection. 



With my birthday next month, I think I know what I want.  Look at my pencil stash, there’s 7 light green pencils, 4 dark green pencils, 2 blue and 1 black.  Different brands that I picked up over time, shopping at various art stores.  THIS DRIVES ME CRAZY.  What would work better for me when I sketch would be to have all my H pencils (2H, 4H, 6H, 8H) in one color, my B pencils ( 2B, 4B, 6B….) in a different exterior color and my blends (HB, F, H, B ) in a third color.  This would help my poor little brain …..do you see how tiny the identifying lead numbers are on these pencils? 

I must be due for a new sketch, it’s been almost 2 months since I completed Yanina.



Since I gotta start somewhere, I chose to start at the bottom of the figure on the paddleboard.



As I continued, it was all about erasing….you see…I have no sense of proportion, especially early on.  The foot-to-knee took up more than half of the leg.  Anyone know any tricks to help in the beginner stages to keep things in line better?

Time flies

7 Days….8 Nights…..v.a.c.a.t.i.o.n……I don’t really count the first day as a day because when you get to your destination after 10 hours car bound and after 6pm….then it’s not a day at play in my opinion.

Relaxed and Recharged with:

• My Marker Stash (above)

• My Journal

• My walks beach-side, dock-side and for something chocolate-sided.

• My water-time

• My swing-time

My flickr buddy Sheila (Bostinstuff) does aMaZiNg doodles, and what’s so interesting about her work is that she will draw everything out first….and….then….color…it…in.   Not the way I do it, I’m not that good!  But since I had the time I thought I’d give it a shot.  Lots of benefits to working this way, because I can color it in any way I want digitally once I have the black & white jpg.



It was very slow going with my doodling, I must confess.



3 days later and I’d only gotten this far!



Once home I felt compelled to complete this.  Just something endearing about taking a break from routine, seriously!  It was somewhat of a digital-break too.  No wifi, only my phone!  Maybe that was the best thing about recharging!  However, I did watch a lot of shark-week.  Wouldn’t recommend doing THAT before your salt water swims though.