Hope you're day is going well!
I finished another semester of college recently as I inch closer to completing my degrees in Fine Art and Digital Illustration at Mesa Community College.
I usually pour myself into classes so even if I only take one it quickly begins to eat up most of my free time. So when a semester ends I realize how much I've had to put aside my own interests.
One thing that suffers is how much time I can spend on my own art...both on the digital painting side but also in my personal sketchbook.
As I looked back through my sketchbook over the semester I didn't like a lot of my efforts recognising now I was often too tired to really feel inspired about drawing.
Thankfully I still enjoy sitting in a coffee house, or after a meal sketching...so it's only in retrospect that I can see that about individual drawings.
Fortunately there were still a few that I felt I could share here:
I call this guy "Crunch". ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
I'd found a tiny little Mexican Restaurant, owned by an older couple. He took the orders, and she was the chef. They spoke only Spanish between themselves and I had the impression she spoke no English.
There were only 3 tables inside and all of them were occupied so I found myself sitting out on the covered patio.
That wouldn't have been my first choice but soon enough I was very happy about it.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining but there was a gentle cool breeze so the temperature was just right.
The patio is set off the roadway just far enough that I could indulge in some people watching without being seen myself. There were pretty girls and street people...and young toughs...and old timers and families passing by.
After my meal I began to scribble in my sketchbook and eventually "Crunch" began to appear.
As I was getting close to finishing him, there was a knock on the window beside me and the old guy who took my order (and was a little gruff with me at the time) was smiling down at my work. A few moments later his wife also tapped on the window and smiled and gave me a thumbs-up.
All in all a very good day. :)
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I really enjoy using the "scribble" technique to begin a drawing...and use it fairly often.
(see my May 2, 2012 blog post for more examples)
The old woman, admiring her coiffure above, is another case in point...begun as a scribble.
I'd started the sketch a day or so before and then sat one evening in a fast food joint and finished her up.
Sometimes I go "un-noticed" by the people around me, other times I see that people are interested in what I'm doing but don't approach me. And then sometimes, usually after someone first gets the courage to come over and break the ice, I get a steady stream of people coming over wanting to see what I'm up to...and often we end up in conversations that cover all kinds of ground.
It can be a lot of fun.
That night I had a lot of company...and was enjoying my sketch...so it was definitely a good night.
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They are done without any references so I know that the anatomy isn't perfect...but it does help me practice movement and musculature in my characters...and makes me hungry to really understand anatomy so that in the future I can spew out this kind of work without reference but have the anatomy be more accurate as well.
The next drawing below came at the end of the semester, and after a few weeks of sketching again on a more regular basis.
Later I was thinking about where her sad face and look came from.
Then I remembered seeing a mug-shot of one of the stars of "That 70's Show", Lisa Robin Kelly, after a DUI arrest.
I did a google search I found the photo again...and was struck by how much seeing this image just one time influenced my drawing.
These sub-conscious connections to my drawings come to me from time to time and I really enjoy when they do!
(I hope nothing but the best for Lisa Robin Kelly)
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Finally, this last drawing came about one day after a meal at a little Greek cafe. It probably falls into the "super-exaggerated" anatomy because of the over sized feet and musculature.
Later I returned to the cafe and realized I might have also been sub-consciously influenced by the table tops there.
They are apparently left-overs from the previous restaurant and have an Asian-Chinese flavor with flowers painted on them...and honey bees.
I call this picture "Worth It"...imagining our hero got into a bee hive to eat some honey and is now being chased by its angry occupants.
Well...that's it for now.
I'm already at work on more pages from my sketchbook and plan to finish up a lot of my digital paintings this summer.
So look for those in the future.
As always I really appreciate you stopping by.
Until next time...God Bless!
