Apr
12
2009

04.12.09

happy easter!!

my awesome mom, and mother in law were sweet enough to send easter treats our way! While talking to my mom on the phone today, she asked how my drawing was going, and she requested that I draw something and send it to her. 

Soooo….. I decided to draw some still life right out of my easter basket!

Here’s the little chicken gum dispenser with 3 of the eggs from the basket :)

I worked hard to make sure the proportions were mostly accurate, and I worked much harder on toning, from some techniques I learned today.

This is probably my best toned still life so far (hopefully I’ll just keep getting better)

Time: This probably took about 1 hour, off and on.

Medium: Pencil- 2B, willow charcoal

I hope she likes it!

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By unruly | Posted in stillife | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)
Apr
05
2009

04.05.09

Sorry for the no posts- I hadn’t drawn in a while, but I’ve recently enrolled in a drawing class, and it’s really fun. It’s just a beginner class, but I love it anyway, I think it’s important for me to get a strong foundation, and self study could only take me so far. I really like that this instructor provides good constructive criticism, and she’s helpful in teaching concepts. The drawings below are from week 2- still life. I hate still life, but this was pretty cool. Here’s your standard still life pictures- Wine Bottles and Cardboard Box. Hope you enjoy. I SUCKED at drawing cubes last week, so I’m proud of my cube this week. It’s the little things, I tell ya.

You know what else was AMAZING about today? Jim picked me up from class and took me to an art exhibit @ Northwestern- a collection of renaissance drawings- including 3 from Michelangelo- my favorite artist of all time! Holy Cow…. it was pure bliss- to see his quick sketches of figure studies. Brilliant.

I’m in heaven right now….. again….. the little things…..

medium: charcoal



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By unruly | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (1)
Feb
17
2009

02.06.09-02.16.09

I know, I know…. It’s been forever. I suck at updating. It’s been an absolutely insane week, trust. I’ve been dawing though, does that count for anything? Since Jim is pretty much the only guy reading this blog, I don’t really feel guilty since he sees my drawings right after. On the off chance my mom is reading though, I’m promising to make more of an effort to update more frequently.

Before getting into the drawings, I want to say that I really feel drawn to drawing people, and I feel drawn to ink, but I’m still experimenting.

2.16.09

I drew this in a cafe this afternoon while waiting for Jim. It took about an hour. My focus here was an attempt at portraying depth, and using less “line” and more “tone”. If you look carefully, the tea kettle, woden chair, and leather chair all take up about 1/3 of the picture.  In this picture, I’m proud of the proportions, I think they match what actually was. I’m happy I used more tones, but I’m not sure how successfully depth was portrayed.

Media: Pencil

Time: 1 hour

Location: Pause Cafe

 

02.08.09

I drew this picture from a magazine. I showed my last picture (see below post) to my instructor, and the first thing she said was… Too many lines!!! You need to define with tone, not lines, and her eyes are wrong, and it’s flat. Haha. So, here’s another practice pic. I feel like I did better with tone. The eyes came out funky and she ended up looking like Britney Spears, but whatever, it’s practice.  I’m most poroud that it looks less flat than my last one. The proportions seem pretty good.

This drawing took about 1.5 hours

Media: Pencil

Location: Work Desk @ home

 

02.07.08

This drawing wasa  very rough quick sketch of a man reading a paper @ the Chicago Art Institute. Jim and I were in the members lounge, and I snuck in this very quick sketch while he was reading. I came out pretty 5th grader, but I showed him anyway, and it made him smile. That made my day :)

Time: 10 minutes

Media: Pencil

Location: Chicago Art Institute

 

 

02.07.08

very fast sketch of feet on the bus to the art institute. People were watching, oh well, whatever. Not great, lines are horrible, but happy was able to complete in 10 minutes. Thinking about going back and re-doing this one with cleaner lines.

Time: 10 Minutes

Media: Pen

 

02.06.09

Lady on a bus. I drew this one fast on the bus too. I saw this lady and had to draw her. For whatever reason, I love this one. No idea why, I just do.  It’s not complete in any way, and slightly messy, but there’s an essence of something there that I can’t explain. I still remember her furry hat, and purple scarf.

Time: 10 minutes

Media: Pen

Location: bus to work

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By unruly | Posted in Bert Dodson, people, photos, stillife | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (2)
Feb
01
2009

02.01.09

Here it is…. the drawing i’ve been working on since yesterday. I feel torn about it. First- it’s very hard to explain, but there’s a dimension of my drawings that’s completely lost when I scan them. I can’t explain, and I feel it happened moreso for this particular picture. I se it in my sketchbook, and it seems SO much prettier when I look at it, vs the scan. Second, I want to really love it, but I feellike there’s something off or missing.

For the most part though, I think my drawing is improving, and this might be my boldest work yet.

The source of the drawing is a magazine ad. I finished it in about 2 hours total time.

What I like:

composition, EYES,  hair, and overall feel

What I don’t like:

Shading looks off, seems flat and amatureish

But despite my own criticisms, I think I’m growing, and that’s what matters. I think I’m only going to get better, and hopefully more realistic.

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By unruly | Posted in people, shading | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)
Feb
01
2009

random thoughts and lake pics

Sundays are probably my 2nd least favorite day of the week, because it usually signals the end of fun (for me anyway). Maybe I’ve just conditioned myself to hate Sundays. I dunno. Saturdays are just so much cooler.

I’m working on another portrait drawing from a magazine. It looks way better in person than scanned. I think that applies to all my drawings though.

I have to say that I’m incredibly excited about drawing lately. I’m experiencing a shift into seeing shapes and tones in things I had never really noticed before. I feel like I’m experiencing the world with a new sound sense.  It’s refreshing, really. I’m slowly becoming less judgemental, and more creative. I’ve been having vivd dreams lately, but not sure if it’s related.

Anyhow, I worked form home on Thursday, because I had a doctor’s appointment, and I looked out the window, and here was my view:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First let me say, it was downright frigid on Thursday. I just want to get that out there. I hate the cold.

Anyway, there were these cool twirly patterns kinda melted into the ice, so I felt the need to capture them. I’m really glad I did, the ice has since melted, and I’m not sure when I’ll see that again, if ever.

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By unruly | Posted in photos | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)
Feb
01
2009

01.28.09

Perspective. That’s what we covered in my last class. Before class, I did some reading from the Bert Dodson book. I’ve been reading his book ALOT lately. I’m glad that I’m finally at a point where I can really utilize and apply his tips. I just bought another one of his books- Drawing with Imagination, and I hope to get there someday. For now, I have problems putting on paper, what’s in my head- so I draw from life.

 

This first drawing is a pretty rough sketch that I had to do quickly on the bus. I finally grew a pair, and decided to whip out my sketchbook and draw on the bus.  The perspective is from a higher ground at the back of the bus. I’m also proud I did this in ink- no erasing!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the second drawing for perspective that I did. This one was for class, we drew the hallway. It’s a prett ugly hallway as you can see here :)

I actually like the ink sketch better.

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By unruly | Posted in perspective | Tagged , , | Comments (0)
Feb
01
2009

01.25.09

Man, I’ve been awful about posting this week. BUT good news is that I’ve been drawing with much of my free time, so I have some new pics to post!!

This is a drawing I did from a Sally Hansen magazine ad. I did it in pencil. This one took me about an hour to draw and shade. I went back to it the next morning and finished some of the shading on the foot. Overall, I struggled with drawing fabric, but it was an exercise in shading for me, and trying to improve my technique.

 

 

 

 

This is another picture form a magazine that I drew. If you look at the magazine, you’ll see her nose and eye faintly, but for some reason, I wanted to leave them out. I wanted to focus on the lips really. This was another exercise in shading for me. Although, I think I could have done better with the highlights, I like the outcome. It’s kind of experimental feeling.

 

 

 

 

 

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By unruly | Posted in people, shading | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)
Jan
20
2009

01.20.09

Happy Inauguration Day. Did you see that ceremony? I can only imagine how it would have felt to actually be there.

Tonight is a pretty simple drawing. Just an apple. Not great, not bad.

I tried to take a picture of said apple before eating it :)

Thoughts?

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By unruly | Posted in Bert Dodson, shading, stillife | Tagged , , | Comments (1)
Jan
19
2009

01.19.09

Happy Monday! Finally, a Monday I’m happy about! (because I’m off today). My goals today are to complete one more drawing and find some volunteer opportunities.

Till then, here’s a drawing to tide you over. I skipped last Wed class, but we were supposed to be dawing from pictures, so I did one this morning.

So I usually draw with the drawing pad flat, and I’m now seeing the value in a drawing board that would allow me to prop up my drawing. My proportions are off on the little bottle opener guy, I noticed after I propped up my completed drawing against the pic. Oh Well.

Thanks to the best husband in the world Jim for buying me my new drawing pad (14″x17″). It’s bigger than I’m used to, but I’m really digging all the space to draw!

Thoughts?

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By unruly | Posted in CPD Class | Tagged , | Comments (1)
Jan
12
2009

01.12.09

Happy Monday? Mondays are never happy for me, because Friday seems so far away. Anyhow, I had class today, and we drew a tin flower pot and a candle from puerto vallarta. The instructor said this drawing was way better than my circles…hehe. She also said she like my reflection of the candle in the tin, and that I have good proportions and relationships. I’m proud of the little candle, I like that best. Thoughts?

Cheers!

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By unruly | Posted in CPD Class, stillife | Tagged , , | Comments (1)