quick studies

I got experimental with the gestures and short poses during my last figure drawing session.

2 minute poses using ink brush on toned paper


5 minute pose using photoshop. I have this recurring digital painting fantasy - that only requires practice to become a reality - but my comfort level with the tablet seems to come and go at random. These days I feel very 'rusty' and unsure of myself when drawing with it. This was a brief attempt to do a little practice. Though 5 minutes is not much. Next class I'll have a go at one of the longer poses.


I did some pencil drawings of longer poses that I am thinking about making into 'comic book' pin-up images... but I have quite a bit inking to finish before I start a big new drawing.

Weekend work

This weekend I got a couple of very different things started.
1. An oil painting of a cow - gonna try for a trompe l'oeil effect and have it 'realistically' looking in through the frame. The weather was so nice on Saturday I sat outside in the driveway and painted.

 

2. I spent Sunday afternoon inking a page for a comic book project that I am getting tired of looking at - but I'm going to finish ...and I'll just do a better job of drawing on the next one.

I almost made it through the whole page in one afternoon but I'm starting to feel a little tired and on the verge of making mistakes. I should easily be able to finish this up during the week.

figure drawing 3-11

It looks like Monday and Wednesday nights are going to be figure drawing nights 'with model' for a while! Last night I had to stop and help my students a lot (first time with a live model for most of them) so I didn't get to spend as much time on my own drawings as I would have liked.

I am going to start doing thumbnail sketches for cover/pin-up drawings and asking the model to take a similar pose.I think it would be cool for my students to do the same. Instead of just copying whatever pose the model takes we could make more practical use of them.  

Jumbo Sketch Dump

Well, I was proud of myself for doing all those little figures on Sunday but since then I have been disappointed by almost everything I've drawn. Most of it has been rushed - drawn in classes where I have to stop and help students or rush through to demo something, instead of really focusing on my drawing... so yea, I have excuses. Mostly I'm just seeing these same mistakes I'm making and not feeling like I'm really getting past them. ):

I'm also starting to think that perhaps there is a very significant difference between the 'academic' process of figure drawing (from reference/model) and the 'illustrative/comic book process' (from memorization/imagination). The distinction has something to do with "copying" the figure vs 'constructing it, but I am still trying to figure out the details... and what the best overall approach is.

In the back of my mind I know that in total I might spend 3-5 hours drawing during a week (weekends are random) and that simply might not be enough to push myself further and make any real/fast/substantial progress. The incredible irony about teaching art at the college level - for me - has been that every college I have worked at the emphasis for art instructors has been on anything and everything EXCEPT making art. Could be I just have not worked at the right college yet. But I digress.

Like I often tell my students - seeing what is wrong with your drawing is a good thing. That is the first step to being able to fix stuff and improve. When you don't see your mistakes, you keep on making them.
Time to practice what I preach.

Monday:




Wednesday

Ok, I am kind of happy with the one below

Art Splash 2013

Thursday night, March 28th, I participated in an event called Art Splash that was held in the Kress Building in downtown Montgomery. It was an art auction to raise money for a local, very small k-5th grade school called The Montgomery Christian School which is doing great things on a tiny budget AND putting an emphasis on art.

The instructions were that the artists would finish their work to be auctioned on-site with food, drinks and an artists assistant to be provided. It was a very cool event and I got to chat with a lot of friendly folks, show a couple of paintings and draw. here is my in-progress drawing:

and here is the state it was in when time ran out and the auction began: