Monday, January 28, 2013

Abstracted Minutia

This was a fun exercise. Collect a bunch of little doodads, arrange them, and draw them using different media.

Moving the sofa yielded several of the knickknacks, and it also facilitated a much-needed vacuuming.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Variety

Believe it or not, these were all drawn from the same reference photo. Today's theme was "abstracted drawings", and the variation among these proves that point. Pop over to my Flickr to see some other drawings of the same picture, done with stick graphite. (There are also some more figure drawings from yesterday, artfully NSFW,)

We had an "ice day" today. That's like a snow day without snow. Rain falling on cold streets makes a slippery mess. Many churches, including ours, cancelled services, so we hung out at the house. I made pasta, and then kicked it up a notch with chocolate chip cookies. Then I drew. That makes a good day all around.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Feel the fear

You've heard the saying, "Feel the fear, and do it anyway"? Yeah, that.

Today's art assignment was ten-minute figure drawing. Even though I'm a prude at heart, I wanted to have the full artist experience, so I browsed both clothed and unclothed models here.

The first picture that said, "Draw me!" appears to be a vintage photo from the flapper era, with the Louise Brooks hair and all. Heck, it may BE Louise Brooks, for all I know. A quick Google search just now indicates that she was not unfamiliar with posing au naturel.

I decided if she could pose it, I could darned well draw it, and I did. Parts of it are a mess (pay no attention to the calves), but parts of it are impressive.

Luckily, I am more enchanted by the good lines than I am annoyed by the bad ones. I was nervous about doing the exercise at all. Just finishing it was a victory, and liking some of it is a wonderful bonus

Even better, it was fun, and I can't wait to do it again.

(Don't know who Louise Brooks was? Look here, and here, and below.)


Thursday, January 24, 2013

Almost like life

Today I did some 10-second and 30-second gesture drawings of figures. "Figures" is art speak for NEKKID HUMAN BODIES ZOMG!!!

I didn't have any actual nekkid bodies on hand, though, so I used the figures at Posemaniacs. That site uses muscle figures, for lack of a better term, so it's somewhat less shocking to my delicate sensibilities than real people with skin and everything.

This was actually a lot of fun, once I got started. If not for the annoyance of turning the pages in the sketch pad, I'd probably still be doing them.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

The weather outside was frightful

DRAW! Day 11: Pencil sketch by chaimann
DRAW! Day 11: Pencil sketch, a photo by chaimann on Flickr.
So I had plenty of indoor time to work on today's drawing. I wanted something that had irregular lines and shadows, and boy, did this crumpled cap meet that requirement.

Parts of it I like, and parts of it remind me that there is still a lot I don't know. I'm cool with that.

And the part over at the far left, the line sticking out from the bill, all crazy-like? That reminds me to check the scanner for cat hair.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Don't look back

DRAW! Day 8: Blob Animal by chaimann
DRAW! Day 8: Blob Animal, a photo by chaimann on Flickr.
This dude, today's drawing project, appears not to have like whatever he saw when HE looked back.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Who???

DRAW! Day 6: Cheater Blind by chaimann
DRAW! Day 6: Cheater Blind, a photo by chaimann on Flickr.
Today is Day 6 of the three weeks of drawing adventures. For this project, I could draw a person or an animal. Once I thought of owls, I spent more time than I should have, just looking at owl pictures online. This one was titled "Mad Owl", but trust me, there are some that look way scarier.

Monday, January 14, 2013

New year, new look

I was looking at the blog the other day, and decided it was time for a change. So, out with the old staid brown, and in with the new pink and orange and whatever color this is.

I've probably mentioned before, I no longer do New Year's resolutions. That doesn't mean I am immune to the desire to start, or restart, projects during the deep of winter. First up: drawing, every day for three weeks. Today is Day 5, but this picture is from Day 1. These are drawings done with my left (non-dominant) hand.

The car is a cheap piggy bank. When I was in junior high, my mom and I saved coins in this bank to finance a trip to Washington. DC. and the Pennsylvania Dutch country.

When a friend's grandmother died, they brought her collection of stuffed toys to the visitation, and invited visitors to take one. I took the little stuffed lamb. It bleats when you press the "Try Me" spot.

The wooden doohickey is a Turkish spindle. It's a wool thing.