Perspective Roulette

Had a blast drawing today. Did a little drawing for my nephew. *see below* Evidently he really likes it when I draw. Which is always nice to hear. Worked on a bit of perspective. Took quite a bit to get some of the angles down, but I think I handled it okay. Gotta keep practicing though.

I discovered a great way to practice and speed up my sketching, chatroulette. NSFW! Now I know what you're gonna say, and ya you have to sift through all that, but I found out a few great things that it helps with. First of all I should explain what exactly chatroulette is and how I was using it. Chatroulette is basically a site that randomly connects you to someone else in the world with a webcam. So I thought hey why not draw the person on the other side! I quickly learned you have to hook the person fast, meaning you have to draw fast. Not only draw fast, but you have to look fast. You can't just stare at the image for hours on end you have to look quick and draw quick. Not only quick, but you have to draw an accurate (to some extent) representation of the person on the other side of the webcam that they will like. Anyways if you're ever looking for a great exercise and need some images to draw from, try it out. (I can't believe I just spent the last two hours doing that ><). Above and beyond being just a drawing exercise you get instant feed back, and if you're doing it right instant positive feedback.

Today's inspiration comes from Walt Stanchfield's Book Drawn to Life Vol 1 "The goal is to find the essence of the gesture and make all the parts of the body contribute to and enhance that gesture."

More Bulldogs

Just a couple of quick sketches for tonight. Running kind of late.
Today's lesson: draw darker. Today's lesson part two: try to draw clean while still drawing darker.

Hey Bulldog

I think it's becoming a trend of "those" days. Either way had to stay up late tonight to get my daily drawing done, but they ended up turning out alright. I actually find I really like drawing bulldogs. Probably because I have the cutest bulldog in the entire world. *see below* I'm learning a lot by drawing through this book or that book, but at the same time I've noticed I'm finding it harder to draw without any specific point of reference. That's the main reason I have my other sketchbooks, but some of those doodles are just too rough for my liking. Either that or I'm just noticing more things that need improving in my drawings. Which must mean I'm learning!

One of those days

Nothing seemed to turn out right today, in drawing, in life, in everything, but I tried to remain positive and stay focused and I was able to knock out a few pretty decent drawings tonight.

Today's lesson : perseverance

got nothing to do today but smile

Lots of drawing today, but I didn't feel like I adequately trussed out any of them. Sometimes I feel the essence of the action of a drawing is lost if I try to make it too precise. Other times I just have more fun being loose with drawing even though I like the look of the exact. Either way, I had fun. I found out something new too. I can't draw straight when I'm cold. I start shivering and well, that hinders my ability to focus and knocks around my usually pretty steady hand. As far as inspiration goes for today I just found The Examined Life of an Illustrator podcast by Joshua Kemble. I really like his approach to drawing and life. He seems very sincere. The real nugget of inspiration I gleaned from listening was actually a line from a song that he played on his show. I never heard "The Only Living Boy in New York" by Simon and Garfunkel before, but I just fell in love with it. The best line in the song, in my opinion is, "Got nothing to do today, but smile." I liked it so much that I even pulled out my old guitar and well... you can see the result below.

So Smile!

Hoo Hoo

Got a lot of drawing done today. Worked a little rougher than usual, but got a lot more done. I'm really enjoying Walt Stanchfield's Drawn to Life Vol 1. I'm reading through it almost a page a day, and trying to take it in as much as I can. Today was about drawing simply to be more clear and effective. I like his take on draw one finger (the focus "action" finger) and the rest are just basic shapes. I think this will be the next book I draw through, but we'll see. I'm still loving Preston Blair though. Along with the usual study drawings, I put up a little red tree frog I drew for my friend Sarah.

Finch on the Quick

Today was quite the busy day. I had a long day at work and then went and saw How to Train Your Dragon in 3d. What a great movie! Rhys, I think, said it best. "This is the best kids movie since Totoro!" Sketches today are a bit rougher than usual, but they didn't turn out too bad :). A couple things I gleaned from my Podcast listenings today, from the Asifa Ahaa Podcast I believe it was Eddie Fitzgerald that said something to the effect of "If Anything is easy, you're probably doing it wrong." I really like that. Another idea that I want to put into action I heard about on the Ninja Mountain Podcast. They suggest keeping a library of images around your workspace that inspire you and write down on the images what inspires you or that you find interesting about them.