Life drawing

From a couple of weeks ago. Drawing with coloured pencils is quite different to using pencil and each time I learn something about how much can be achieved in the time. I'd like to do a lot more layering and blending of the colours and by the time the session is up I'm just getting into the swing of things! This is nowhere near finished but I'm quite happy with it as it was going quite well and there were many areas like the ribs and face that I would have enjoyed working on.

Life drawing

I've never tried doing only a portrait at life class as generally they are too scary to attempt in such a short time but I didn't have much choice this week. I'm pleased with how it turned out so perhaps it's good to be forced out of the comfort zone now and again!

China sketches - entertainers

A variety of entertainers seen in Beijing. From left to right, a man playing an erhu (a traditional two stringed instrument) at the Temple of Heaven, a male opera singer and a man spinning a diabolo in the hutong district.

Sketching in China

The trip to China was my first since I got back into drawing and sketching a couple of years ago. I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to do and it turned out to be not very much at all but that was mainly because it was an organised tour and I had no control over the itinerary.














Much of the time was spent waiting at coaches, ticket desks, hotel lobbies etc., but one of the times I could make use of this was waiting in the coach outside the hotel in Beijing - this is a detail from the wall across the street.


















Another snatched moment waiting for the rest of the group at the Forbidden City.














The Great Wall was the highlight of the trip for me - a wonderful experience, very peaceful and enough time to do some drawing!



















I added this figure later.




















Some of the workers - everyone seemed to be employed to do something, even the elderly.





















Horses and soldiers of the Terracotta Army in Xi'an.














A very long flight home from Shanghai to Beijing, Paris and Geneva.













Sketches to fill the endless hours.














More details on my other blog.

Feet

I'm afraid the blog has been very quiet recently as I've been practising (not very successfully) with skin tones. Doing them from photos was relatively straightforward (the few I've done anyway) but I've been struggling with pale skin in cool light and trying to find some sort of system that works for me. It took a while to do this drawing as my feet got so cold every time I tried that eventually it just got to a stage where I'd had enough and it was 'good enough'! I didn't resolve the cool shadow areas to my satisfaction so there is some way to go before I can put my feet up!

Life drawing

My first life session using colour pencils and it was an useful experience. I've written a bit more on my other blog but I found that my usual combination of Yellow Ochre and English Red doesn't suit all white skin tones! Olive Brown, a greenish brown was a surprisingly good match for the model's olive skin but I still have trouble decided on colours to use in shadow areas.

Hands

Paul and Alex's hands taken from a photo from around 1997. Skin has always been my favourite thing to draw, so it was fun to do this while I was trying to make up my mind what to draw - I have quite a few things I'd like to try in colour just to see if I can and it's fun to draw familar things in a new medium and not know how it will turn out - suddenly my list of things to draw has become a whole lot longer again!

Cretacolor Aqua Monoliths on W&N cartridge paper.

Paul, London '07

Not the same Paul as the last drawing, this is my brother. Drawn with Cretacolour Aqua Monoliths on Daler Heavyweight cartridge paper (220gsm) and is quite large for me - 12 ins high.

Paul, Dubai '97

Trying a slightly larger portrait from a photo. I kept adding to the colour in the face and then felt the tee-shirt would have to have a similar amount of work so it become more finished than I originally intended. I used a combination of Cretacolor Aqua Monoliths, Prismacolors and Supracolour Soft.

New year, new direction

Over the Christmas period, inspired by the illustrated carnets de voyage I bought myself (such as Madagascar by Claire and Reno Marca and Mali Secret by Stefano Faravelli), I got out my watercolours. News of a possible trip this year had spurred me into action - I'd love to be able to add colour to my sketches, if not this year then sometime in the future. However, the inspiration wasn't enough, it was still a struggle trying to get my brush, paint, water and paper to play nicely together and I felt a bit despondent.



So I went back to basics, back to what I used to do for many years - draw from photos, keep it small and don't practice, do it for real. Doodling, scribbling, making thumbnails, doing little studies, call it what you will, that never works for me and that's what I was doing with the paints. Using my cheaper paper, trying washes, mixing colours - it just wasn't working because I didn't have a real purpose, a 'final destination'.



















So I want to do travel sketches, that's the purpose. I learned to draw using photos and I have a whole load of travel photos. I would use those and try to imagine how much time I might have, which situations would inspire me or give me time to draw and give it a go. I tried the watercolours to start with but pretty quickly found that the whole set-up, balancing paper, water and paints was not going to be practical for me even if I could get a decent result (which I couldn't!). So I tried my watercolour pencils and finally, a breakthrough, I felt at home with them! I guess they didn't work for me the times I tried before as I didn't really have a set purpose other than to use colour.




















The first two drawings above were done with Caran d'Ache Museum watercolour leads. I like these are they are quite hard. However when I was drawing the quokka above (photo taken on Rottnest Island, Australia and contrary to the info on the Internet, the guides allow them to be fed or given a drink) I found that they go blunt and wear down pretty quickly so for the portrait of Alex I used Cretacolour Aqua Monolith as well. These pencils are even harder and feel like graphite sticks so they keep a sharp point.

Happy New Year!

This is not what I was hoping to show for my first post of the year but a virus kept me away from my pencils and I'm just glad it's finally finished! I haven't been feeling sorry for myself since I was so thrilled and surprised to see that one of my drawings, Cream Burmese, was nominated by Robyn on Katherine Tyrrell's Making a Mark blog for the category of 'best overall artwork completed and posted on an art/illustrated blog in 2007'. As if that wasn't enough, it then got through to the final five and was also entered into the category for best animal in an illustrated blog! There are so many beautiful works of art on blogs, I'd never believe mine the best or even near it, but it's an honour to have my work acknowledged and it's a wonderful way to start the new creative year! Thank you Robyn and Katherine and for everyone that took time to vote, I appreciate it very much. I highly recommend that if you haven't seen Katherine's blog, to go and check it out not only for the amazing artwork of the nominated artists but for one of the best art blogs out there!

H - 4B pencil, Winsor & Newton cartridge paper.

'Grateful' challenge

Another collection of things I'm grateful for but also wish I didn't need!

Life drawing

I've had quite a long absence from the life class so I felt quite rusty. I'm happy with the legs here but I would have like a little longer to work on the shading of the upper body.

HB and B pencil.

EDM 'wood'challenge 147

This weeks challenge is to draw something made of wood, although not a tree. I've done a few wood drawings but as my hairbrush broke only this morning, it seemed appropriate to draw this today. The tablets (now discontinued) are included as both of these items would have been drawn as part of my 'things I'm grateful for' series and both are things I have relied on and not managed to successfully replace.

HB and B pencil

Exotic Shorthair

This cat has a very striking face that I thought would be interesting to explore. Although it looks a little comical, I couldn't help feeling sorry for it. It raises questions for me about what cat breeders are allowed to do and what controls they are subject to.