Figured I should give the Panpastel drawing set a go, this was done with the set of 10. I've never used these pastels or this style before, and I had no idea how the colors were supposed to be used together, of rolled with it and was amazed by the way they started magically coming together as I added the different colors in. I had no idea what the blue pastel was for so I just kind of started throwing it in wherever it felt right and I'm pretty pleased with the end result. It looks sort of like an oil painting, and honestly they handle and mix very similarly to oil paint except they're already dry and smooth.

Apparently the technique is called "colorism" when you use cool colors in the shadow areas and warm colors for the light areas. Too bad somebody else invented it first, because I'm digging this technique after having done so many tonal black & white works, it's really different and fun and refreshing.

9.5x13" on orangeish Fabriano Tiziano paper. About 2 hours.

Watercolor Demo

I wanted to make a blue painting so I figured why not record it as a live demo as well?

YouTube link.


8x10" on an Arches HP watercolor board. About 1.5 hours.

Me as Everything (pt.1)

Spiral



Lion


The Machine Spirit

A while back, I figured I'd try something different from regular self-portraits and start incorporating other elements into them. So the result is these weird amalgamations of me and various other things. They're kind of creepy.

The Machine Spirit & Lion are both 9x12" ink and watercolor paintings on Arches cold-pressed watercolor paper. The nautilus one is an 8x10" on an Arches hot-pressed board. Can't remember what all colors I used, usually it's a mix of Maimeri and Winsor & Newton. Mostly burnt sienna, cobalt blue, sepia, and thio violet.

I can't say enough good things about the Arches boards, they're the same great paper but mounted on an archival board that doesn't warp when wet, so it's more convenient than plain paper albeit more expensive per sheet.

Another one for 2012

This one was a request from a buddy's sister. The actual color of the drawing is more like the sepia one but I put it in grayscale when I scanned it also, since it looks nice that way too.

8x10", strathmore 400 drawing paper. Same HB and 3B pencil as well as a B pencil for VARIETY.

Hey, I finally figured out how to draw blonde people! Now there's a milestone.

2012 productivity!

Super detailed realism takes too long. I wanted to finish out the family series of some of my relatives, so I adopted an old-school style of pencil drawing akin to what you'd see artists in the 40s and 50s and I'm pretty happy with it. I still gravitate more towards the detailed rather than the sketchy style, I guess it's just personal habit.

Here's a couple. They only took 2-3 hours apiece and are 8x10" on Strathmore 400 drawing paper. Done almost entirely with an HB leadholder pencil and a 3B regular pencil for the dark parts.

These two kids are siblings. There is one more in the family I need to draw, then the set will be finished.

Drawings 4

I haven't updated this in a while.

Here is a carbon pencil drawing I did of my grandparents as a christmas gift for my grandma.


General's Carbon Sketch pencil is probably my favorite pencil I've tried. It's soft and easily blended with a tortillon, keeps enough of a point for details, and is really, really black. I still use charcoal pencils, but this has basically replaced them for general sketching or drawing. It also works well with pastel pencils as a black.

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.