Drawings 3

Only one this time!
This blog is still young and more of a journal at this stage, though.

This one was done a while back, around September. It was originally intended to be a preliminary sketch for a pastel painting, but it turned out unusually well.

Graphite drawing on Strathmore 400 drawing paper.



She's probably been my favorite person to draw, ever. (Well, next to the various self portraits I do, heh.)
I've done a few of her but this is my favorite so far.

She also really loved this.
That's one of the things that makes art so worthwhile.

Drawings 2 (Demo)

More drawings!



These two were part of a demo I did:



There is the preliminary pencil drawing and the final color drawing.
Differences are visible between the two, I cannot recall which are corrections and which are just minor accidents. Generally, the color version is more technically correct.

As for the actual technique, I use conte crayons, pastel pencils, and soft pastels.
A simple conte sketching set has rapidly one of the most used tools in my arsenal. I begin with bistre for the darkest areas, blend it in with a cotton swab, and layer on the sanguine crayons and blend to shape the general form of the skin. I use three or four soft pastels to add in a little extra color to the skin afterwards.
Pastel pencils are used for the mouth, eyes, and details.

It's a very straightforward technique and I think it produces pretty good results.




This is another portrait produced using the same technique:





I don't really know either of these ladies very well but they were nice enough to allow me to use their photo for a reference and seemed very pleased with the results.





I have come to realize that I'm fairly good at what I do... it kind of surprises me just how happy a simple drawing can make someone.
The longer I do this, the more confident I become in my skills.



Hopefully I'll be doing this for a long time.

Drawings 1

There will be many of these posts... I'll keep them numbered as "Drawings 1, 2, 3, etc." so they're easy to find. As I gain more experience, you'll also see paintings and the like.

I found a paper I particularly like. It's Strathmore 400 drawing paper: not specifically archival, but good paper and I figure it'll last a long time anyway. It's so cheap, I can't really find anything else that really compares for the price. I use a better paper for more in depth works, but this one works great for general purpose drawing.



You'll either recognize this woman or you won't. This graphite drawing took about 3 hours and is one that a lot of my friends really like for some reason. I've done better ones, but they still like this one. The lady herself is very aesthetically pleasing, in my opinion.

One of the things I'm liking about blogger is that I can post higher resolution images. Art is best viewed large, preferably from life but this will work fine.







Here's one I did of a friend. He's a good guy and easy to draw because he his head is so ellipsoidal... heh.
This is an ink and brush drawing. This is actually probably my favorite technique I've ever tried. It allows me to work very fast and still maintain a high level of detail. I use a #4 white nylon brush and india ink thinned with water for this technique. My personal preference is Higgins Black Magic. It goes a long way: this is actually probably cheaper than drawing with a pencil because so little ink is needed.

Many of my methods are based on cutting costs and spending less while maintaining a consistent quality of workmanship and materials. I feel you shouldn't have to break the bank to create art.

Who I Am: Part One

Greetings again!

This is more Getting to Know You, but it may be of interest to someone, and it helps me to better understand myself as well.


I've always felt a need to draw. Ever since I was a kid, I don't think there was ever a time when I didn't do it.
I got my first taste of portraiture when I did an amateurish first attempt in about 2004. I did a couple more (Literally. I did two drawings.) and some of my friends liked it because nobody else around here could really draw. I did maybe four portraits that year... all of them pretty mediocre, yet they made people happy. I can't say I had the best work ethic. I didn't practice much and basically took a sabbatical after that year.

In 2007, one of my friends asked me to draw her, and I did.
An odd thing happened. Apparently, in the couple years I'd been slacking, I'd somehow gotten pretty good. I have no idea how this happened. Naturally, this prompted me to take another year off drawing altogether... I didn't have much time anyway, what with school and all. Not that I ever really studied in school, it just ate up 8 hours of my day and left me too tired to draw in the afternoons.

Cut to the year 2009.
I started drawing again and it started coming to me fast.
I can't explain it, but for some reason, I began really, seriously picking up the skill. It's not that I spend days practicing; in fact, I don't really "practice". I do maybe one drawing a week at most. Maybe it's just because I put a lot of effort into it. I research a lot. Perhaps my brain just is good at applying learned knowledge.



At any rate, one of the things I'll be posting a lot of here is art.
You can watch as I work, improve, and try new things... hopefully I'll learn something in the process and others will as well.

Good Day to You

Even I have a blog in this day and age.
If you know me in person, you'll recall that I'm an extreme introvert and, from what I understand, blogging can get quite social at times. I don't really mind such a thing, it just strikes me as something I wouldn't normally expect to appeal to me. However, this is actually fairly interesting.

Amazing. We'll see how long this lasts.


To anyone who feels like taking the time to read any of my posts here, I suppose you'll get to know me a bit better over time. I'll post a more in depth introduction in a day or two.


Well, it's nice to meet you too.