EDM #34 Leaf

EDM challenge for week #34 was to draw a fall leaf. We don't really have fall here but this is my response. My youngest had picked this leaf to "feed her pet bug" but decided that I could have it after her "pet bug" ran away.

Drawing Class

Botanical Drawing II began this week. I have a different instructor than I did for BDI and I think I am really going to enjoy this. It is funny how different people feel about their art supplies. The first instructor didn't like any pencil softer than HB and hated tortillons. This instructor told us to grab that 6B and make it darker and tossed out tortillons to the entire class.
He gave us this basketweave exercise to practice blending and to see how the various pencils differed. On the vertical pieces I justed used my pencil for shading. On the horizontal pieces I used a tortillon. Using the tortillon was much faster but I lost the texture that you get with just pencil. I personnally like the texture. On the scan the it doesn't look as well blended as it does on the actual paper (especially the 6B)


Another exercise that he gave us was to roll a strip of paper about an inch wide by 4-5 inches long around a pencil and then tape it down in a spiral. This is how it came out. This was started in class and finished at home so the lighting changed dramatically so in trying to continue where I left off in class had to visualize to a certain extent different lighting. I still have a hard time with "imagined" light sources (this makes doing anything from memory difficult as I end up with crazy light from everywhere). Hopefully that will improve as I have more practice with real light sources. With both of these I had some problems with the brightest spots but with practice hopefully that will get easier.

Snowball

I purchased "The Creative License" by Danny Gregory this past week. I am really enjoying it, but using a pen and not erasing is a bit intimidating. One weird thing I have discovered though is that I actually relax a bit more than I do with pencil. Maybe it is because I have no idea how to go about shading with a pen so I know I don't have to worry about that part of it or maybe it is because I am doing it on scraps of paper and things like that and it is very easy just to throw it away (as opposed to being in a book). I was actually very pleased with this drawing of Snowball (the big fat guinea pig) that I did the other night - it really looks like him.

Mouths

EDM Week #53 - A collection of mouths drawn from life and photos. Is it just me or do mouths always appear feminine when in isolation? My oldest daughter was quick to point out that she didn't like the kiss because "it just looks weird".

Draw a Shoe

EDM challenge - Draw a shoe: This is one of my favorite pairs of shoes. Leather clogs with a wooden heel. I tried this in color pencil. I am not sure how to get the look of leather - all the little crinkles and wrinkles. I also have a hard time with the bright highlights. Since I can't listen to the inner critic all the time, overall I feel ok about it. I actually like the heel. Anyone have suggestions on how to get that leather look?

The Gargoyle

EDM Week 6 - Draw a favorite well loved object-- This gargoyle that one of my sisters gave to me years ago is one of my favorite well loved objects (previous post of Christopher is another). He has always sat where I could see him. This was one of my first attempts with colored pencil and I don't feel I really got the texture of him right, but overall I am pleased.

Artichoke

This drawing was for my Botanical Drawing class. I was really struggling with it due to the (self imposed) pressure of it being "for a class". I then remembered that there was an EDM challenge to draw a vegetable. So I decided that this was an EDM challenge instead of for class which made it much easier to handle (go figure). I didn't finish the stem because the artichoke gave out on me before I could finish. Overall I am pleased with the way it came out and am contemplating trying one in colored pencil.