Day Thirty

I really want to dye my jeans (oh man I keep forgetting to put my pictures on here during the day and then when I write my post for the day I'm ready to go to bed and don't do it then either... sorry about that) but I can't get to the store to buy dye because hubby dear has our only car at work all the time. We're working on getting another car soon. So since I can't do the jeans and I'm sick of the rug (poor abandoned thing) I just made a couple snowflakes today. Mitch is so sick of my snowflakes. They are ALL OVER the house, and I always get tiny little paper scraps everywhere.

I was more ambitious today... I made PEOPLE snowflakes.

First I tried a dude. he turned out ok. Proportions are a bit off.

Then I tried a Marylin Monroe-esque woman, who turned out much better. I didn't use the best scissors so both are a bit messy.

I drew arrows to the face that is the best: the further down the fold is when you're cutting, the weirder it looks. If that makes any sense. And sorry the photos are a bit blurry. Shame on my for not checking and re-doing them.

Day Twenty Four

All done with my painting! It looks pretty much the same as it did yesterday; all I did was add some highlights. They're most noticeable in the eyes, lips, and hair.

This is definitely not perfect, but I'm pretty satisfied with it.

Mitch should be home late tonight unless something goes wrong - I am worried because the roads are quite slick - so I should be able to have better photos soon!

UPDATE: Here's a better photo as promised! (1/25/13)
I just realized that the highlights in the hair makes it look wet. Dry hair would not be that shiny- or at least dreads wouldn't be. Silky hair maybe, but this lady's hair definitely not. Oh well, learning moment for Jessica I suppose. I've also noticed a lot of other flaws after finishing it... I won't point them out though, because there's a chance you have not noticed them, and I'd rather let you continue to think that I am so talented! Baha, kidding. Sort of.

Day Twenty Three

Almost finished the painting I started yesterday... I think I might go in with a white or light gray (grey? I've always liked grey better but I think technically it's gray in the US) acrylic paint to add some highlights. On the other hand, if I mess with it any more it may be ruined.  That happens to me way too often.

I'm not entirely pleased with this one. I used india ink, which behaves pretty much like watercolors, and I can never quite master the more watery paints. There is so much less control than with acrylics or oils. The ink/paint is always spreading somewhere you don't want it to go. Ugh. And there are a few places where I misjudged how strong the ink was and made it way too dark, and there's very little to do to fix that. It was quite frustrating!

On the plus side, I managed to make the shadows on the lower half of her face not look like a beard, which it did when I started.

I haven't worked on the rug today. I really should probably go do that, because if I skip a day I may never touch the thing again.

Day Twenty Two

I worked a little bit on the rug today, but then was so bored with it I started a painting instead. That's not finished yet either, but it was refreshing to take a break for painting/drawing.

I did a wash of ink and then added in some dark areas. I plan on adding detail to the hair by creating highlights with white acrylic paint.

The face is all done with a watercolor pencil at this point. I wanted to draw it first with something I could erase before diving in with the ink. I always regret it when I do that.

This painting is something of a step for be for a couple reasons: I almost always draw straight from a photo, or at least looking at something in real life in front of me, but this time I just drew from my mind using the rules of drawing faces and proportions that I learned in school. I did have to google faces to see how to get the shading right though. Another step for me: I don't think I've ever drawn anyone who wasn't white! Or at least not that I can remember. I'm enjoying it.

Another terrible photo.... by the time hubby's home it should be finished, and I can post a better photo then. I hate that I spent the most time putting in the shading and that part practically disappeared with the webcam picture. Grrr. 

Day Seven

You know how in drawing class at school they teach you to draw people by first making a few lines and circles and then filling in the details of the body around them? I never quite got that. I started drawing before I was taught that, and when I was taught it, I thought it was dumb (and/or more work) so I stuck with my own method. My method was working pretty well for me at the time, so why change? More accurately, I couldn't tell yet how my method was not working for me. My method was to start at one side of the person or object I was drawing, and draw in the outlines (in way too much detail), working my way over to the other side. I almost always ended up having the end lines not quite match up because something got skewed along the way. I'd either have to do a lot of erasing and redrawing, or I'd just fudge it and somehow make them match up, usually ending up with an oddly warped drawing. I'd shade it beautifully and meticulously and that usually hid the error in proportion enough to satisfy me.

All that to say that for my art requirement today, I practiced my gesture drawing, and tried to use those lines and circles. My husband was a dear and let me draw him- lucky devil just had to work on the computer, watch TV, and not move much. I pulled out my 18 x 24 newsprint and a pastel stick and got to work!

My first go was not what I would call successful. The couch is alright, the shirt & pants are pretty good, and I'm quite happy with the hair, but the face and hands... sigh. I really messed up on his facial features and when I went in with white to try to fix it, they just looked weirder. And the hands are kind of disproportional blob things.

My second go was much better! I'm actually really proud of those jeans, and I got his hair spot on. And look at that hand! Such an improvement. His face is still not right, but it's better. I'm quite good at drawing faces in close ups, but tiny features in a bigger drawing like this always mess me up.

I guess I need to keep practicing. If anyone follows this blog at any point, they may be seeing quite a bit of Mitch; he's an easy target for portrait practice.