Sketchbooks

  • A collage of drawings: one of sewing notions in color pencil, one of three pumpkins in color pencil, one of seashells in graphite, and one of croissants and coffee in graphite.
    Drawing,  Sketchbooks

    Last week’s sketches: Sewing notions, seashells, croissants, and pumpkins

    Took a week break from blogging and then I’m back, hooray! It’s been a busy few days so I have a few things lined up to share. Color pencils and graphite pencil still life studies for tonight. The 14 day observational drawing challenge didn’t stick, unfortunately, but I have been drawing other things. Mostly keeping it very simple and relaxing for sketchbook number 9.

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  • A sketchbook page with studies of a large antique wooden spool with thread, and a small pair of modern scissors, with a photo of the still life objects collages on top.
    Drawing,  Sketchbooks

    Daily Drawing Day 4

    Gah, it’s already 9:30pm and I still have a lot left that I want to get accomplished today. I did sketch today in a coffee shop, which was a nice change of pace, but I want to add more to that page before posting it, so here is yesterday’s daily drawing, from the Proko 14 day challenge.

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  • A sketchbook spread, with pencil drawings of pumpkins. A red-violet colored pencil sits in the middle of the book.
    Drawing,  Sketchbooks

    Pumpkin sketches

    The weekends always go by way too fast. Still, I managed some quick sketches. Didn’t quite finish the page I was working on, but I’d rather post a WIP photo here then wait until it’s done. Seasonal studies, yay! ^_^. My mom gave me a pumpkin on a recent visit – it’s larger than the small ones we grew in the garden this year, and barely fit in my still life box/lighting box, but it still made a great object to study. Especially the twisting planes of the stem.

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  • Photo of a green, metal picnic table. Ontop of the table is a an open sketchbook with drawings of trees, an plastic cup of iced coffee, a purple backpack, and a pencil case with art pencils and erasers.
    Drawing,  Sketchbooks

    Making Time

    I’m going to try to commit to 14 days of daily sketching, specifically for posting at Proko’s drawing basic’s course, but I have tried to commit to this several times over the last year, and I always end up skipping out. It feels a little like a cursed task, every time I add “Day 1 of 14 days of drawing” to my daily to-do list. The idea of blocking off time in my calendar is nice and all, but chores or sleeping at least 7 hours or whatever takes precedence. I still like to think I can just wake up 30 minutes earlier and draw, it’s just no matter how…

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  • Collage of sketchbook pages showing various drawings of clouds, mostly in bright and light blues, some that are gray and violet. They are simple studies of small cloud shapes. Text on the collage states: Calming Cloud Drawings in Colored Pencil & Marker
    Drawing,  Sketchbooks

    Calming Cloud Drawings in Colored Pencil & Marker

    More small studies, similar to my lace ones that I recently posted. This time the focus was clouds and thinking of them more as three dimensional forms rather than flat. These studies were fun and quick, and a nice way to start December. I’ve tried to approach these as: OK what’s the simplest, easiest and fun version of the subject I’m studying – even if it’s a doodle on scrap notebook paper – and how can I refine and push that version to something else? Hopefully this approach challenges me while still allowing me to maintain a non-judgemental view of my skill as an artist overall.

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  • A photo of an open sketchbook. On the left page are cloth studies in red marker. On the right page is a pencil sketch of a long haired sorceress looking forlorn.
    Drawing,  Sketchbooks

    A Lonely Mage Redux

    Sharing another redraw from my collection of childhood drawings – this time a very forlorn looking mage. I’ve included the old version of the drawing from when I was a freshmen in high school! ^_^ Rather than cringe at the super rough drawing, I feel a fond sense of nostalgia. Redraws motivate me to being kind on myself: non-judgemental on how I “should” draw. I am only comparing myself to my own past, and seeing if I can do better. And pulling from the far distant past, I know my skill has grown a lot since then, so I go into the practice of drawing with confidence and joy. That…

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  • Image of an open sketchbook showing lace designs on either side of the page, drawn in pastel fine liners and markers. Cursive text on top of the image reads: Lace & Cloth Studies. To the right of the sketchbook on the table in a ribbon of lace, a few pens, and a pink mechanical pencil.
    Drawing,  Sketchbooks

    Lace & Cloth Studies

    Hooray for another longer holiday weekend. 😊 Feeling a bit better from the flu. I’ve pretty much just been testing out Procreate brushes, rather than working on any new artwork. It’s certainly a low-key, peaceful art practice. But I’m thinking tonight I might be able to do some more smaller studies, similar to these lace ones I created in late November. And there are a couple cloth studies and lace doodles from this past Wednesday done in Procreate.

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