Refining a drawing

Based on the information in class, and since it's homework, I'm working on taking one of my smaller sketches and turning it into a more finished drawing.  Here's a progress shot.

As you can see here, I even traced the vanishing points off to another piece of paper.  I dont have a long enough ruler though!

Class

Oh hi!  Class on Saturday was pretty awesome.  I learned a few techniques with regard to using tracing paper as refinement layers to achieve a more finished line drawing.

Posting doodles/notes from class.

Tree Sketching (Cont)

More tree sketchin.  I was out the door late today, but I still managed to bang out multiple sketch studies before I called it a morning.

More Tree Torture

Trees are hard.  Do you know why trees are hard?  The more I know about their foliage structure, the less I know about how best to represent the structure in masses that form the tree's overall shape.  It was also cold outside.  And my chair broke. 

I'll buck up though.  I can figure this out.  Just need more studies!

Treeeeess

I chickened out guys.  I couldn't set up in front of someone's house and draw it.  I kept thinking to myself "Self, what would you do if you woke up in the morning, looked outside upon what is most likely another perfect southern California day to find a strange man in a stocking cap smoking a pipe with a sketchpad, busily sketching your front door?"

I'd probably freak out. Life would never be the same again. 

Anyways, I went back to the park and started on a long overdue tree drawing festival.  In my book, these suckers are the hardest things to draw, so like usual, whenever I feel myself fearing drawing a subject, I just dive in and do it, trying my damnest to look at them as if I've never seen them before.  I think the rest of this week will consist of drawing trees.  They're everywhere!  I'm noticing them now in places I didnt really realize they were there.

And best of all, they don't freak out or feel weird when I plunk myself in front of them, eyeballing them intently.

Good morning!

Well howdy there everybody. I spent some time this morning sketching an interesting house around the block from me. I think im going to be brave and start sketching more houses in the neighborhood. I hope people don't think im creepy sitting in a foldable chair outside their house with my coffee and a sketchpad. Anyways, here's the fruits of todays labor:

Again, I make a complaint about editing my posts in google chrome. No resize handles, no image moving? what the hell Google? Isn't blogger your baby? wouldnt it make sense to make it work with your browser? Crazystyle.

Morning Outdoor Sketchin

Good morning! Today I grabbed a portable chair, coffee, and my headphones and walked down the block to sketch a building I had my eye on.

Im beginning to get used to these woodless pencils. After my teacher in my environment sketching class gave me some tips on how to use them, I am using the angle of the pencil to block in shapes very similarly to how I block them in using prismacolor markers.

Sketching in public has slowly been teaching me to ignore people staring at me constantly as well.

Anyways, time to go to work!

Instrumental Perspective~

This evening's pencil workout was some instrumental perspective practice. I got confused super easily earlier on in the task. with all the crazy pencil lines/wireframes, I sometimes lost track of what it was I was going to draw. Anyways, it was fun, and I learned some things about uphill vanishing points. my next practice session will include some projected shadows!

Oh, and I also learned that I need a G-D yard stick or T-Square. I was using crazy shit as straight edges between the vanishing points.

Sunday work

Howdy. Today was kinda tough! Our homework assignment was to sketch the exterior and interior of a diner, bank, restaurant, whatever, so I once again returned to the Orange Circle to draw the old Orange Daily News building. It's been turned into a starbucks, so that made getting an interior sketch way simple. I had a hard time nailing the details of the building at first, and it was windy AND cold as heck, which made it even harder. On our way there, we found some kid's wallet in the alleyway, so I was distracted every few minutes looking around the area trying to see if I could spot the kid from his photo on his ID.

Anyways, the exterior took a bit of work, and weirdly enough, the interior was a snap. I used these new Copic markers, but I think I didn't get light enough values, so I gave up trying to pencil over it, and instead just drew it with the markers only. Worked out well enough.

Also, posting images in blogger is a pain in my ass. It ALWAYS inserts the photos above the text. Also, Chrome won't let me resize the previews, but I need to every time because blogger's idea of "small" thumbnail = FULL SIZE IMAGE. Dummbbbb.

Pasadena Americana

Hey friends--

Today our class went to the Americana in Pasadena. It's a pretty fancy mall with a huge outdoor area, a trolley, and a huge fountain. It seems alot like disneyland to me, due to the timed fountain show, the trolleyman's sweet outfit, and all the fake building facades. Amongst the facades, however, are some really outstanding modern architecture, which I am slowly learning to appreciate.

Anyways, im still learning to deal with visual overload--that thing that happens when I see so much awesome shit I want to draw that I can't settle on one shot. I had a hard time today, but im fairly proud of one of the interior shots I did.

Check it:

quick sketch before class

Here's a sketch of an old theatre turned into a church. I edited out the massive crucifix. A few elderly folks came by as I was sketching it. I got compliments :)

Still Life Casts

Hey ya'll,

I've been making a concentrated effort to draw from life every day. I made a promise to Harley Brown in his book Eternal Truths Every Artist Should Know

Here are a few from the last few days. I'll put new ones up as I do them from now on, but you can also check out the last 50 days worth of drawing on My Flickr Page

I'm currently drawing these badass special order plaster cast shapes. They're a wonderful study tool. I looked all over the internet for them, but it wasn't until I placed an order at my local art supply store that I found them.

Week 2 homework

Here are a couple of my favorites from my week 2 assignment for my current class "Sketching for Environment" at the Concept Design Academy.

Hey dudes

This is my learning art blog. I've been drawing since forever, but now I'm making a concentrated effort to get proficient at it. I'll be posting homework assignments from my current classes, my daily drawings I make from life, doodles, and digital/3D work.