And Another One….Figure 2

Continuing on with my series.  Here’s the right side of the body.



With layer one on…..I continued on with the arm.



I could sketch skin all day….but to embrace this challenge I had to move on to the top.



I’m getting more comfortable with colored pencils.  Appling stronger/thicker coats.  I hesitated going so thick, because I still think in “shades have to be the same color”….but in reality, shading is an entirely different color than it's base.

Lets Finish….Figure 1

Went to class and it was suggested that I dull down the pants some.



I had to get the instructor to clarify what she meant by “dull down”.  Go figure…it’s to bring in the opposite color…you know…mute it a bit.  With blue I use orange cuz that’s the opposite on the color wheel.



Here ya go….the evolution of the jeans.  As you can see, it’s not true photo-realism because I get to embellish, change the color and shape.  I think that’s the fun part…the interesting part.  I think I’m liking how the jeans turned out.  More vibrant I think.



I’m getting more and more comfortable with my “wing-it” interpretations.  I had no idea how to portray the sleeve folds.



This is about as done as it’s going to get.  May go in and sharpen up some edges.  What a fun piece to work with.  I like the size.  I told my instructor…..I would like to go even larger…..Now wouldn’t that be interesting….doing a life size piece?

Lets Play Nice….Figure 1

Had my headphones on and listening to my current favorite song…and coloring away at a pretty good clip!



Adding my layers to my shirt.



Even getting brave enough to work on the hand.



I thought the shirt needed some interest…..endowed it a bit.  And that’s when I should’ve walked away.  For some reason….don’t know what I was thinking….I decided to erase with my exacto knife….since it worked so well on the hair from the previous sketch…..Well, I created a big mess!  Tore the paper up pretty well. 



I finally walked away…but couldn’t stop thinking about fixing it.  That’s when I wrote this note!…..cuz I really wasn’t fixing anything.



Live and Learn.  Hoping my art teacher has some magic cure.

Lets keep coloring….Figure 1

Grabbed all my blue colored pencils…and started in on the pants.



Continued on with the arms.  That elbow area can get tricky…..fine line between muddy and shadow.



Totally misjudged the vein…had to bring it up a bit.



Started in on the pattern in the shirt….I’m really wishing it was a solid shirt.  Most likely will resort to “stripe-winging”….makes me dizzy just thinking about duplicating this.



Well….at least the pants look like jeans…..not exactly like the picture….Yes….these are more weathered and worn.  Keeping that creative license handy in case I get asked.

Let the Games Begin….Figure 1

Ahhhh…..figures and colored pencils!!  What more could a girl ask for?

My favorite art teacher told me to get illustration board because he has seen and witnessed my frustration with the paper I have been using.  His degree is in drawing….specifically colored pencils…so I gathered he knew what he was talking about.



This stuff is thick….a bit like cardboard.  Hoping, it can take my abuse.



Drew the contour in….then used three base colored pencils.  Light blue for the jeans, pink for the top and salmon for the skin.  Have to layer my color…lightest to darkest.



Going for the easy stuff first…cuz … well, it’s been a rough week and I need all the confidence I can get!



Don’t think I’ve ever drawn jeans before…this should be interesting!

I’ve upped my size (10” x 20”)…which is good for the challenge, but bad for the portability!  I’m hoping that the larger size will allow me to show more detail. 

Portrait Pose…recognizable

I expanded the mouth…a hair wee bit.  And I tried to imply strands in the hair.  All different colors, all different shapes.



I am not comfortable with hair.  I feel clumsy replicating it.



Pulled out my exacto knife to create hair strands in the colored pencil wax.  Kinda cool effect.



Well…she’s not quite finished.  She’s still very model-ish looking.  And….I still need to work the hair in her part and her crown.  The hand passes, but could use a little more work as well.

And ….most likely…knowing me….To finish it up….I’ll pull out my extra-fine microns to clean up those edges!!  Haha

Freaky Friday….Foto Fun

You’ve probably seen this picture on here before since it’s one of my favorite shots.  Many attempts were made to capture all these girls air-borne….let me tell you!



Drew them each out individually the template-way.



I really want to explore watercolor pencils more….but haven’t a clue what I’m doing.  Don’t know a thing about the boundaries of the pencils either.  I know I’ll be trying my hand at more than just “clothes & hair” in the w/c pencils, just gotta figure out what to draw.



It was discussed that the watercolor pencils play well with regular colored pencils, so I tried that here….but you can hardly tell!



I was almost going to finish this off the way I did the butterfly drawing, but I thought that might be too boring.



This turned out kinda cute.  I’m not sure if this is done yet…cuz there is a lot of white space up there.

I’m enjoying these Photo Phun pictures (Wacky, Theatrical)…there easy and mindless….meaning I don’t have to stress over line quality.  That Photo-Realism stuff sure uses that left side of my brain more.  It can get exhausting!! Haha

Portrait Pose….Returns

Well, she’s coming along.  Since I’ve hardly worked on this all week, I really can’t complain.  But when you leave your sharpener at home, it makes for slow progress.



The right eye was too slanted.  I had to bring that slant down a bit. What gets me, is…. I nailed the mouth in my first drawing…and I can’t seem to tweak it as well here.  Ugh!!  If only, I could cut and paste!  Haha



Worked a lot on the complexion and the hair.  Hair is such an interesting feature.  So much movement and color.  I’ve got a lot to learn!

Portrait Pose….Resumes

Continued on with my color-sketch on different paper.



I was told to build everything up to the same level….meaning…slowly…and to fill in the piece overall one layer at a time.  I like to color in portions….you know…do the arms…then the face…then the dress….then the hair…then the background.



Apparently my way of dividing up the sketch…isolating features, is not good.  Look at the hand here….then look at the hand in the next picture.  Nothing was done to the hand at all….the background build [of the top] really made the subtle colors in the hand stand out.



Because the colors play to, with and against each other.  They are constantly influencing each other.  I noticed this right away when I added the background blue grid.  My subject was too dull, a bit washed out.  I think that when there is a background we can’t get away with our comfortable color palettes.  The background will make us use colors that we hadn’t seen before.

Most likely….for me….it’s now telling me to use purples and greens! 

September Digital Desktop

                                                           [Larger monitor view]

I needed a new wallpaper for my desktop since the one I had up was (in)courage’s monthly desktop download from last March.  Finally noticed six months later that I was out of date.

So, I played around with my favorite artsy-photo image and created my own digital wallpaper.
If you too…need a new desktop picture …You are welcome to download this one.

Three sizes available for download at 4shared.com:
Please click on the appropriate link below.

• 1024 x 768 Small
• 1280 x 1080 Medium
• 1980 x 1080 Large

                                              [Smaller monitor view]