Since today is my birthday, and more importantly since I’ve been very busy both with work and in my personal life this week, I thought I’d take a break and show off, just a little.This sketch is one of mine, from 2001. I really don't have anymore of a name than "Korean Model" for it.
First disclaimer, I don’t have any formal training that is worth a darn in teaching the basics of figure sketching. I’ve got books, and patience, and a fair eye. My mistakes may not be noticeable to an amateur, but I assure you they are there. (Look at that ear, for example! My word, what was the artist THINKING?)
I had a lot of art classes while growing up. Standard high school stuff and one freshman art class with a mediocre teacher. (He was actually a decent teacher, but only a fair artist.)
The model for this picture is a magazine image. I liked her eyes, and wanted to capture her warmth. The original image was in color, but otherwise was mostly as you see.
The problem with the ear – Artists must train themselves to draw what they see, and not what they think. Ask any non-artist to draw an ear, and they draw a coffee cup handle. Ask someone to draw a nose in profile and they’ll draw an upside down question mark.
You fight your preconceptions and draw what you see. I wasn’t quite successful. If I had turned the magazine upside down and drawn from that, the ear would have been more lifelike, but the rest of the image would have suffered.
Shading was accomplished with a soft lead and a kneading eraser. I used hairspray to bind the lead and then shaded again over that in layers to create the dark shading that I needed. I love the knead-able erasers! I used a tortillon and my finger for blending.
I like this drawing. I wish I had more time to draw, but honestly it doesn’t fascinate me as much as working in wood or as much as learning something new. Perhaps I will concentrate on my own artistic abilities later in my life, I dunno.
In any case, I hope you enjoyed it.
5 comments:
Hope your birthday weekend is going well!! Miss you!!
-Brat
Thanks Sis!
I treated myself for my birthday. I got a new remote control helicopter, bought "Letter to a Christian Nation" and "The God Delusion". I also picked up a new Bible, "The Journaling Bible", into which I've already started transferring my notes.
Oh, and a bought a piece of wood to play with in my woodshop.
Love ya sis.
Cool.
Hey, someone is saying that Steven Hawkings has disproved the existance of God with 95% certainty. You're better at getting this stuff than I am. Can you break it down for me?
Here's the link to the links.
http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?p=3872715#post3872715
I think it's a lovely piece, Cal- and far better than most people I know could produce. Funny about the "drawing what you see" thing; I was trying to explain it to a fellow student two days ago, and I got nowhere. Maybe I'll refer him to your blog.
Myself, I know I can't draw what I see. I'd like to take a sculpture class- clay, maybe- someday, though.
Scientia,
The brain makes 'visual shortcuts' for the things that it sees. You have to fight yourself to overcome these shortcuts. The only way to do it is through practice, and during practice showing yourself that your shortcuts aren't working. You end up learning new shortcuts that work for you.
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