From Last Sunday

Here are my sketches from last Sunday, a bit of a cartoony day.

This is pretty photo realistic, I'd say.

Last Sunday

I like to focus on one thing at a time when I'm sketching like learning anything else. 

I remember when my brothers and I were younger, our swimming instructor would teach us to improve on this at a time when swimming. I think the same can be said about sketching, whether you want to work on line, shape, form, hands, hands, eyes or whatever - I think we learn much faster if we focus on one thing at a time. This week for me, it was about cross-hatching.

Someone commented that my faces capture the "character" of a face very quickly. I have to give credit to Jason Seiler for that one in finding shape and "weight" in someone's face. Is the person's face heavier on the bottom or the top?

On the upper right hand side, we can see that the "weight" is moreso on the bottom on this particular person's face, and that really captures someone's character a lot faster. 

There were a few new people as well as regular sketchers last Sunday.

Drawing and sharing, that's what it's all about.

Fun with a Ball-Point Pen

 I did these a bic ball point pen, I like those ones. They have just enough flow so that you can make very light construction lines, but not enough so you can get a lot of different line variety. If only I knew the wonders of the average everyday bic pen in highschool!

 

Here I am focusing on line work and cross-hatching. Bic pens are great for cross-hatching.

I've gotten pretty confident in my shape and line work. The more you practice, the better and faster you can see things and thus draw them.

I'm currently reading "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards and I've found that her use of modern psychological research and empirical methods of teaching drawing have really helped how I tackle my own drawings.

For one thing, Edwards talks about how the logical side of the brain and the creative-right side often conflict. The right side knows no language, so when you hear yourself criticizing your own work, it's usually the left-mode which is doing it. Ironically, the left-mode cannot draw worth anything.

Thus, according to Edwards, it is very important to quiet the left-mode of the brain and use the right side, which is responsible for visual-spatial perception. You can tell you are in "right-mode," the artistic mode, when you: lose track of time, since right-mode has no concept of time, no use of language, a keen focus, and energy. In sports, they often call this "being in the zone."

We can always go back to our work later on to see what we like and dislike about it.

Anyway, I do recommend the book if you have the money or burrow it from the library! It is full of useful exercises and tidbits of knowledge on how to switch over to the artistic mode of thinking.

Happy drawing!