WaterCircles

It was medium-moleskine time.  I haven’t worked in this puppy since the end of February.  It’s a most convenient size…..at 8 x 12 it’s not too big to carry around and it’s a good size for a decent sized drawing.



Played with my watercolors….trying to apply different colors to the background.  As you can see, I tried to work with patterns…then gave up.



I like the vibrancy of watercolor….which expends very little energy.



After doing the alternating black/white borders to the circles, I wasn’t too impressed.



But the almighty-marker got me out of my visual pickle.



I really need to remember that watercolors can get muddy fast!



What I took away from this whimsical piece is the fun it is to bring out the shapes of the watercolor by outling the shapes with my finest nib micron.  Possibly I can carry this into something else????   Who knows

Manicure….4

So…it all started with this picture. (It seems I can’t find the link to this source picture., sorry).  I think I have a thing for hands!  Heck, who wouldn’t, cuz ya know….”the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world”.

But seriously….this was not the best picture to work from in printed form.  Had to do much improvisation, oh boy!



Art class pic from last week.  Didn’t work on it much last week.



Very disappointed in my nail art selection…I thought I could make those American flag nails pop….but with the stripes et al, it just wasn’t going to happen with my skill level and with this color background.



I’ve outlined with my fine tipped marker…which means “in my head”…I’m done and ready to move on….even though I can see the apparent flaws. With my critical nature I must take into consideration how much I enjoyed this and how much I learned.  If I were my teacher I’d give it an 85.  Not bad, not bad. (but I may just have to go in and fix that third fingers knuckle placement.)

P.S.  You may be interested to know that my art studio is now offering live figure nude drawing classes….Yikes!  Haha….not to worry won’t post any of those pictures here

Manicure….3

This angle really intensifies the largeness of the sketch.  Kinda funky!



Put down about 85% of the color build for the skin tone.



Then I had to make a decision!  Had a bunch of ideas….I debated between:

• Silver metallic polish
• Pink series of color (where the pinky is the lightest pink then the following nails are just a bit darker with the thumb being the darkest).  
• Doodles, Designs, flowers, or various colors on a single nail

Since I really wanted to try some “nail art”, the Patriotic nails won.



I liked doing the navy nail, because I was able to show reflection more. The flag nails are harder to show the shininess. 



This is the picture I need to study.  The colors in the inspiration picture are very dull, flat and monochromatic.  I need to step away from the sketching then come back  only in a visual way, I’m hoping I can “spot” where to shadow or highlight next.

Manicure….2

What this type of drawing requires is for me to keep my lines moving in the direction of the grain…..meaning, across the finger.  Much easier to just go length-wise but can’t do much sculpting and contouring that way.



Gave some color and shadows to the four fingers.



Then I went to art class!  After taking the month of March off, I forgot how much I learn here.  It was hinted that I should use some orange!  Before, every time I went  to use orange, I didn’t know if it’s a highlight or a lowlight. 



This picture doesn’t show it much….but Orange works!  It’s making things much more fun and way more interesting!  Who’d have thought?

Manicure….1

Keeping with my theme of drawing body parts, it was time for a more intense look at the hand.



What drew me to this picture was the nail-art.  What fun!  I don’t think I’ll sketch what’s in the inspiration picture.  I may try to do something a little more colorful.  Since my own manicures get so abused, and I’ve always wanted to do some of my own nail-art, this is the next best thing.  Haha!



Another big piece…..22 x 15 inches.  The same size as Blonde Beauty…but half the size as Hand Jeans.



I’m going to need to build up the colors in the fingers more.  Can’t really copy the “colors” of the picture, but need to use the pencils in a way to imply the correct shapes.  It’s really….. all about shape.

Sunglass Saturday

Yea, Yea, I know it’s not Saturday…but I started this drawing on Saturday, so that qualifies! 

Above, is the inspiration picture for this drawing.  Found on pinterest, but the website [here], doesn’t take you to the artist.  So I don’t know who to give credit to for this. 



Contour drew everyone in….and embellished where I could.



My favorite combination:  Markers and watercolor.  Markers for the skin and the rest watercolor.



Just tried to make the colors sloppy….and swirly. I wanted some white space to show thru.



Added a winter hat to the guy (he turned out to be my favorite in this), and made the lady on the left give the Louisville sign.



Soon, I got to the details….the fun and flowery details.  What really makes this work is when I keep things loose.  Meaning……keep some circles open, let the lines overlap.



Had to do something with those mouths!! They were huge!  I opted out of drawing lips…lips are Hard!  I went in and made all the mouths gray.  Well, big mistake… everyone looked half-dead.  So then, I went over the gray and gave everyone white teeth.  Teeth so white it would make any dentist proud!



Just fun!!  I love how the blue lady looks like Janis Joplin…..too funny

Contest…..Like

Ok, I admit it…..I’m a “Liker” on facebook.  I like to like!  If you’re a facebook liker too and you’re so inclined.  Please go to this contest and like my “blonde beauty” color sketch.  Lots of neat drawings in the contest already.  The people that win won’t win any stuff or money…..just exposure.  It’s just fun!



Check out the contest here:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.550941721612787.1073741825.148861118487518&type=1

See the drawings and enter yourself.  Contest ends April 30.



To LIKE her……go here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=551783254861967&set=a.550941721612787.1073741825.148861118487518&type=3&theater

Thank you for your time and your support!!
Eden

Blonde Beauty….woman

As is my habit….finished things up with my very fine nibbed micron marker.  Just cleans up those edges.



If I could take a private art lesson with a master…it would be in the hair category.  Mine always looks so plastic.  I opted-out drawing the mole on her upper cheek.

*Inspiration Image found HERE

Wow!  This woman is a beauty!  I’ll give that to her.  What a fun image to sketch.  As you can see I had to work with my tools and my skill level and make it fun for me.  Which means ….not to worry too much about the scarf colors…..not to worry too much about skin tone…..just play with the shapes.  That’s what I enjoy 


If you’d like to follow the sketch from start to finish…here goes:

1. Wash
2. Wrestling
3. Wingin'
4. Whittling
5. Woo'ing

Blonde Beauty….woo’ing

Well, the hair is not going to match the picture much.  I don’t know how else to do it.



I think I’ve worked the face as much as I can without messing her up.  I am at the point now that I need to decide just how much of the scarf do I have to “detail”.



I’m liking how this is shaping up.  I totally made up the lower right corner scarf design.  It really didn’t matter anyway.  I’ve gone in and added the white paste to the eyes and used white to show some hair strand-stragglers.  Will need to enhance those more.  She’s almost done and almost “woo-worthy”.

Blonde Beauty….whittling

I’m running out of “w” adjectives or verbs to describe this drawing and I finally settled on whittling.  Because drawing is a bit like sculpting with color.  Can anyone relate?



About 90% done with the eyes.  I will need to go in and show some shininess with white in the pupil….but I’ll wait until the end to do that. (picture showing the wax build-up around the nose reflection, ugh!)



Worked whittled the nose today.  The thing most interesting about noses in these types of drawings is…..we really don’t have to “oversketch” it.  We have to let the shadows tell the story.  Kind of against my instincts!

Blonde Beauty….wingin’

Most of the pattern details and all were winged (made up).  Cuz a scarf, is a scarf, is a scarf….the specific details wouldn’t make her or break her.



I must say, working with all this color is fun.



Need to build up a lot more of that eye shadow.  I’ve erased twice already because things were getting muddy.



Very similar picture to the one above.  It helps me to see it on the monitor to judge just what needs to be done next.  Remember….I can’t trust my initial instincts.  Things are not always as I think they are when drawing.