Next Challenge: People

So I don't really feel that I've completely conquered trees yet - and I definitely need to also continue the battle with architecture, but nevertheless I'm moving forward towards my next big hurdle - People.  Despite years of art school training and endless sessions of drawing naked models - I still find whipping out a sketch of a human being that doesn't suck to be - damn hard.

Practice - that's what it's all about, right?  right.

So therefore I give you: (what I certainly hope will prove to be) - "Before" Drawings

at McCoys Pub.  My husband teased me and called this "drunk sketching"  I was not drunk.  I was trying to draw fast.  Maybe one of my problems with drawing people is that I'm always nervous that they'll catch me staring at them, and then I might have to interact with them or something.

 I attended a long and boring PTA meeting and drew the speakers.  I've been looking at a lot of other sketcher's work lately, and decided that one of the things they have that I don't have is color - so when I got home I added some watercolor.  I dunno.  It still kinda sucks.  Maybe it needs some colored pencil :P

 She really didn't look pissed off like this - none of them did.  They are sweet nice people and they look grumpy and mean in my sketches.  oops.

 This is my husband, though it really doesn't look much like my husband at all.  But this actually was a "drunk sketch" so I'll use that as a handy excuse :)

 bowling with the kids.

 I decided to try the "do it over and over until you get it right" approach.  This is a random girl from a toy catalog.  I don't really like any of these.  But I hate the watercolor one the least.  Maybe because it has colored pencil.

I can only go up from here.

Watercolor Sketch

I've been continuing to play with watercolor.  Despite painting 20 bazillion weathered barns and hillside landscapes in middle school, I still feel like a doof when I try to do anything with watercolor.

But here is my latest effort - it ended up being something of a fox nativity.  :)  I like it for the most part- even though I feel like I'm cheating because I had to pull out the watercolor pencils at the end to get the foxes to look right.

Drawing Lab 42: Abstracted Minutia

I was supposed to collect a variety of natural found objects arrange them in a pleasing composition and create an abstract drawing in charcoal pencil based on them.

I got part one and two right at least.

I didn't really end up abstracting them much.  But I really like drawing little things that I find on the ground - so it's hard to make myself just make smudgy shapes when I really just want to sink into the details on that stick.

Still - I tried to keep it smudgy and simple as I could :)