Illustration Friday - Snap

sketch journal, 5x8.5

My simple offering for "snap" in my new hand*book journal - can't wait to fill it up.

Have a great weekend, get out there and enjoy that Spring weather!

EDM #111 - draw a bowl

5x8, prismacolor pencils on white Bienfang drawing paper

A bowl, upside down and metallic - with reflections everywhere. I love a challenge, did I mention that before?!!

I decided on a loose, sketchy interpretation for this and it went fairly quick - for me. I started to draw this from life and then I snapped a digital (that would be me just behind my daughter in the sketch with my camera) . She said there was no way she could hold her hands on the bowl longer than 15 minutes - no matter how cool her reflection looked!!! =)

Overall, great fun with this one!

Time: approx. 1-1/2 hours

Still-life sketch - "oranges in red netting" (cont'd)

Continuing on with my sketch to show how it finished up. The netting took the longest to work in and although I could have added in shading for it as well, I decided to leave it as is for now. Quick mention: it really helped to have my red pencil super sharp at all times when doing the netting - electric pencil sharpeners are the only way to go!

Step 3 - netting almost complete and shading started....
















Step 4 - finished piece: netting completed, shadows deepened, highlights brightened

Still-life sketch - "oranges in red netting"

I've seen a few artists post works in progress and always find their process interesting, plus I think it's very cool to see something "come to life". Therefore I thought I would share a current sketch step by step (well mostly, I regret that I didn't scan the initial graphite sketch and/or the process of shading of at least one of the oranges, next time...)

This is a fairly simple still-life but it has a lot of detail...

Step 1 - shows the oranges completed and a faint outline sketch of the netting that two of them are wrapped in
















Step 2 - you can see how I've started the netting and am working my way across...
















After I finish the netting, I'll work on the shading and with some tweaking, it's done! Will post the final steps and of course the finished piece, so check back if you want to see how it all comes together....

EDM #48 - resolution: aromatherapy & art

"draw something that represents your new year's resolution or goal"

I accomplished capturing 2 of my resolutions for 2007 in this sketch: take more time to relax & meditate and to draw daily. This candle was a christmas gift, Bath & Body Works Aromatherapy in Lavender, my fave - very soothing and aromatic.

This sketch was my first attempt at depicting glass and reflections, I didn't achieve the full effects or shading properly but I think I have a good grasp to try it again. I had a hard time with some parts of the candle as it was lit and glowing while I sketched it. The grey used for the candle's darker tones was not quite right for it - maybe a shade with a hint of brown would have been more suitable, have made a note to get some new colors to add to my growing stash of prismacolors.

EDM #24 - draw a piece of fruit

I love apples, so it was easy to decide which fruit I wanted to draw. plus the winter season brings an abundance of my fave the "braeburn" variety our way without having to buy the whole orchard (wink)

I kept the palette muted & soft with the apple getting all of my attention for the most part. The olive green cloth peaked my interest here and there but all the textures just didn't do anything for me. I'm finding that the more I draw, the more selective I am, ie. as in what i'm willing to invest time in to explore

EDM #10 - draw your hand

Continued work with the structured block-in method, I like the discipline it involves and hope that with more practice it will be easier and more natural to work like this (old habits die hard!).

All the great painters were also superb draftsmen who employed the concept of breaking subjects down to shapes & stacking them together like building blocks. It's also training your eyes to draw what they see as opposed to what they know - we all have embedded symbols of objects into our brains but when we try to draw one sitting in front of us, our eyes want to retrieve that image from our *file* and draw that, and that's where the resistance comes in. Once I pass the resistance stage, I thoroughly embrace that shift into right-brain mode, it's such a wonderful zen-like zone to be in! I believe we all have inventive, intuitive, imaginative powers that we can tap into when we're *there*.