Room with a view

A painting I did since I found a bit of time for it. I put a little more time and planning into this and I think it turned out. As always, the background is a stretch for some sort of subtle vehicle for the painting of the figure that I really enjoy.

below is the detail:

Flower

This one turned out nice, its a drawing of a flower with a little girl attached to it.

Alphonse Mucha is my favorite artist ever, I thought this channeled his style a little.

figure 47

This ones a couple months old and not as smooth as the more recent drawings using my new method but I think it turned out nice. I understand many of these figure drawings are less popular because, lets face it, this guys not particularly beautiful, but for me it is a more accurate drawing with a good natural look to it. A natural feeling to a person is key for me and is missing from much of the artwork that I find around these days.
I read somewhere that practice with a focus on what you are learning as opposed to the results is a more effective method to improve. I think I have always been naturally inclined to work in this way which has left me with stacks of sketchbooks full of half finished drawings. It also has a downside as I look over my work now and find very few really good finished work to show for all my time. Oh well, I am typically happy just to create art.

figure #46

I really like how the arm turned out on this one. I really feel like the figured drawings are coming around lately(until I crash and burn on the next one).

Poker

An illustration done for the Weekly Standard magazine. I like a lot of things about it but it was less then one day turn around which doesn't allow for much polish, you got to get it right the first time.

Dorthy

I've come to terms with drawing my little girl all the time. a) I've decided I put so much money into this little girl I better get it out in model fees. b) she is the greatest little person ever, bar none.

We've got a little boy coming in a couple months I hope he knows what is in for, high expectations, long hours, low pay.

more plagiarizing #4

This time from the great Nicholi Fechin. I got a very nice book from the Nucleus gallery bookstore that had some fantastic drawings. For some reason its really hard to find a good book of this masters work. Does anyone have the Balcomb book? Does is have good drawings in it? His paintings are interesting but its really the drawings I am interested in.

I was just drawing with my usual mechanical pencil but thinking to really get anything close to those nice lines you need to be working with the edge of a stick of charcoal. This one was done that way and got a lot closer.

I start all my head drawings with a light circle, you can see it coming across her lower cheek, I usually erase anything noticeable.

Leyendecker

Leyendecker was a genius.

Character

So I'm walking to my car yesterday with my latest drawing in tow thinking about how pleased I am with the results when a big gust of wind blows it right out of my hands and down the street into traffic and way too fast to chase. I followed a bit but had to give up because of an urgent appointment. Maybe 20 minutes later I decided to drive by just to see if I could see it. I drove 2-3 blocks and as I was ready to give up I see my drawing tumbling by my passenger window. I pulled over and it dutifully attached itself to a parking meter for me to pick up.
Just like a disobedient little dog that wants to run around but in the end is happy to go home. I'm glad I found it and I suppose the experience adds character to the piece.

On a side note: My favorite art in the entire world is Alphonse Mucha's Slav Epic. I searched for years for good large digital copy's and finally found some here, also more great links here.

sketch 40

Sorry for the lack of posts, work has been breaking me down for a while now. And after a sad sports night I had to get something positive so I got the sketchbook, this drawing turned out pretty good. That much black space is hard to cover with my little .3mm mechanical pencil.

If your in the mood for some great art visit this new sight by my favorite artist around Doug Fryer.

sketch 39

My friends kid, I want to do a full digital painting of this in the near future.

I actually was having a really hard time getting the likeness, my wife said I was close but I didn't believe her. So I tried twice then got out the tracing paper(no, not to trace the photo) to use my handy tracing paper method. I assume I was getting closer but the next day I couldn't tell which was the most recent drawing. Anyway, once I got in there and darkened the eyes, which I typically wait to do because it is hard to erase if you miss, it looked good. I think I wasn't feeling the likeness because this little girl has big pretty dark eyes and it didn't feel right until they were there.

Waterhouse

Peeking

sketchbook #37

I asked my wife if she thought people would be getting sick of non-stop pictures of my little girl. My wife said no because she is pretty. So once again here is another drawing of my pretty daughter. This one feels pretty good to me, I got away from the sketchbook for a while there and could see my drawings getting sloppy. So I've been back at it and there getting better, just got to get back on that bike.
A couple posts down the drawing was done for a painting so its messy, this is done to look finished.

Santa

A quick pic for the Avalanche blog "Speed Santa" topic, and for Christmas, although it may not entirely be in keeping with the spirit. The blog is showing signs of life (Death throes?)

Merry Christmas all the same.

study

A study for a painting(I hope). Kind of rough and choppy, but I am much more interested in correct proportions than a nice drawing.

By the way, Scott Waddell has some very nice drawing demonstrations that he has been posting to his blog, check them out for some good pointers.

figure drawing

Last weeks figure drawing done in my sketchbook. 9"x12" mechanical pencil on regular old sketch paper. When I am in my sketchbook I usually stay away from rendering the whole figure because it is a lot more difficult to shade large areas with a tiny point so i prefer to focus on the face.

sketchbook

probably about 8"x10" pencil on paper

fig. 43

I've got a newish technique I've been using in my figure drawings lately that seems to be working out. I am not very happy with how hi-key the drawings are but its been something I am not aware of as I am working, only later. So something to work on.

Oil painting practice

I am pretty sure coming up with good ideas is the hardest part of painting a picture. I'm stuck in an idea rut right now so decided just to do some master copies, this philosophy works well for drawing why not painting? Although I never get a nice finished piece, I am getting better and that's what I prefer.
So this is a Thomas Dewing work in my top 3 favorite paintings of all time and if you are a long time follower of the blog you may remember this copy done years ago in the digital medium. Don't pay too much attention to the drawing because it is off(though not as far off as that old digital version, ugh) but then that is not the intention. It's the painting that is the focus and I am very happy with how the brushwork turned out although the colors can also use some work. There is another practice copy going on at the bottom of the picture to show you how I just use it like a page in my sketchbook, drawing wherever I've got enough space. This makes me excited to get back to doing a painting of my own after this.

Treaty

Figure #42

Last weeks figure drawing. While this was done on my sketchbook 9"x12" with my trusty .3B mechanical pencil, I've really warmed up to a new technique with my large figure drawings and as soon as I get around to getting some pictures I'll describe it.

Bonus! if you look close you may be able to see the llama portrait I drew last night.

Sketch36

Bowler hat

Done in Painter

sketchbook #35

Getting back on the horse after too many projects around the house.

Hoopes

A figure drawing from a few weeks back. done with Conte on 18"x24" drawing pad. Conte is nice to draw with but very hard to erase so it's tricky, whereas the Nu Pastel I usually use is easily smudged and also easy to erase but harder to control. So I've always been torn on which to use, this one turned out good because I just sat down and drew it, instead of building it slowly with layers. So I have just started doing a combination of the two. I will show one of them pretty soon.

*For coworkers, this is not Mike Hoopes, just a model that happens to be his doppleganger.

Bandana

*Updated color adjustments*-looked good on my home screen but terrible at work, this should be better.
My baby all dressed up, current progress. Done using the drawing in the earlier post. I was planning on leaving it alone for now, then I was smart enough to put it out where it got paint flicked on it from another painting I've got on the easel.
Oil on board 9"x12"

figure #40

Couple weeks old.

Man on fire

Exercise

I've talked about this drawing exercise before, but I am so convinced it is great practice I will share it again. It comes from the great William Whitaker so it can be trusted. Note, this is not how I learned to draw but it would have saved me a lot of time on the journey. I've included some examples below.

step #1 - Get a pad of tracing paper. Set it up on an easel or whatever, close to a photo/model that you want to draw.
step #2 - Draw the subject. Try to do as much measuring as you can. Measure the distance between features with a straight object. Stand at least arms length, close an eye, hold your arm straight and use the end of the pencil and your finger (this is a useful technique for life drawing too). You'll get something fairly rough.

step #3 - Now step back and squint you should be able to see some structural problems. Tear off the drawing and put it underneath the next page and trace only the correct lines. Next, pull away the drawing #1.
step #4 - Now you've cleaned out a bunch of messy measurement lines. With the new simplified lines as a base, re-draw the subject. You should get closer this time around. Continue to step back and squint to find all the problems.

step #5 - Repeat 4-5 times.

Now this is never intended to be a nice finished drawing and it's not beautiful, but it should help get you closer and closer to accuracy with each iteration, you can transfer it to good paper and do a nice drawing or use it for a painting.
You are learning to see. Most people can handle a pencil just fine but seeing where a line should be is much more difficult and takes a lot of practice. Another very important trick for drawing is putting a line down. It doesn't have to be right just put something there and you can then use that line as a fixed point to decide it you are too low/high/long/short/left/right.

This is the basic measuring process I use for every drawing but all together at once on one page and without the tracing paper. This method is just a good way to break it down and take a more analytical approach which helps with learning and makes problems more apparent.