Concentrating on a Cat (Tim, That Is)

I'm still thinking about my upcoming time at the Center for Cartoon Studies this summer.

In addition to wanting to practice simplified people, I want to practice simplified animals as well.

Happily, my cat Tim is quite willing to pose almost any time.  He loves to be looked at and admired.

This first page shows Tim in a variety of positions--and me messing with a variety of approaches to drawing him and his striped orange and white coat.  How to best depict that with just pen and ink?  How much detail is necessary?  How much can I simplify?

This next page came from an online course I took with Veronica Lawlor, experimenting with mark-making, and drawing without a contour line (which I almost always use).  Not the sort of style I'm used to using, or seeing in comics, but then it reminded me of some of the greats who use a great deal of lines--R Crumb, Roz Chast.  Not that this looks like their work.  But it reminded me to go back and study how they do what they do.

Finally, I share this portrait of Tim, which doesn't look like him at all, but which I did in pen and ink, and then washed with color.  I wanted to play with how I could use color with the pen and ink.  I wanted to see if, knowing I was going to add color, I could have left more ink lines out.  I wanted to play with left whites and with shadows.

Also, this is the first thing I've done in a new Hahnemule Nostalgie sketchbook, which several of my drawing colleagues have raved about.  You can only get them from Wet Paint Art in Minneapolis--they have a lovely online shop as well.  The paper is thick and smooth and the pen glides beautifully on it.  And the watercolor is slow to absorb, so you can move it about.  The paper doesn't buckle.  I look forward to experimenting with it more!

New Sketchbook at Call of the Wild

I recently got a new Stillman and Birn gamma softcovered sketchbook and I've been dying to try it out.  So I started so new pages on a recent trip to Call of the Wild in Gaylord, Michigan.

I also have new stamps I'm trying out.

And of course, I'm still practicing bears.

And eyes.  I keep reading that the key to good animals is to get the eyes.  So I'm working on those a bit more.

So much to learn!  That's the big fun for me about all of this scribbling:  every time I change something, it seems that everything changes!  I loved this paper because nothing bled through (though you can see a bit of translucence in the image above, where the stamped word "bear" is visible.  That is more visible in the scan than on the page).

I loved using my ink pen on this paper too.

My initial impression is that the watercolor soaked in too quickly for me to do much with it other than spot color.  I was hoping it would work a bit more like watercolor paper, but it didn't.

More to come in this journal!

Practicing on My Cats

Most of these drawings show my practice with the lessons in Mattesi's book Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators which you can find on amazon here.  (I am not affiliated.  I just like the book.)

I am using a china marker on Strathmore toned tan sketch paper.

This next one is one I did on my ipad, using the same principles.

There is something different about these pictures when I practice Mattesi's ideas.  I want to do more of it.  I find more energy, more life, more shape and movement in the sketches.     And they are fast!!  Really scribbles.  My hand flies across the page and I can do them in seconds--and I find they are better (at least, in the sense of more pleasing to me) than ones I work much harder on.

More to explore!

Skull in Charcoal

A bit more work with the skeleton.  My drawing instructor challenged me to try to work on dark paper, so I had to draw the whites.

Not as easy as I thought it might be!  This kind of turns my brain inside out.

Working with a Plaster Venus Part Two

In my summer painting class, I did more work with the plaster Venus.  My goal was to work fast and scribbly, capturing shadow shapes.

I also played with different media, just for fun (and because my teacher said I could!).

So, first, I used some scrap kraft paper and a bright red pastel chalk.   The black line you see is something someone had started and abandoned.    I did this portrait and thought it was done.

However, my teacher suggested it would be stronger with white highlights on the face.  So I started using a piece of white chalk over the eyebrow and across the cheekbone.

He wanted me to try smudging titanium white acrylic paint on it, though, just to see what the effect would be.  So I did, because, hey, that's what scribbling is all about!  Give something a try!

You'll see below the difference in value in the white paint on mid-forehead, nose, lip and chin versus the white chalk above and below the eye.

I'm glad he pushed me to try both and learn the differences.

Next, I switched to a more fuschia chalk and tried a similar drawing on a different paper--a white Strathmore 400 drawing pad.

Super interesting to work on the mid-value kraft and then a pretty white paper.  Also interesting to see how the different textures of the paper made the chalk look so different.

I did another quick scribble on the drawing paper.  This time I used two chalks, one much darker, so that the fuschia became the middle value.

(These are 18 x 24, by the way, and completed in under five minutes each. I really was just experimenting with papers, media, contour and value.)  

After that, I decided to return to my favorite scribbling tools:  fountain pen, waterproof ink, and watercolor.  I think this is Daniel Smith sepia, which is a great paint for monochrome work because it mixes to so many different values.  This is on a piece of rough watercolor paper, about 4 x 6 in size.  

I worked more slowly on this piece--I think it took me as much time to think through and execute than all of the above combined.

Then, for fun, a final piece of work with the plaster cast.  This time, using only a brush and watercolor paint, I did the figure at a different scale.  I thought a bit about design (using columns and the rule of thirds, considering background color blocks and playing with freehand lettering).  For this, I really was just having fun.

What fun to tackle the same subject with so many different scribbling tools!  I had the luxury of a class and could do this work pretty much in one sitting.  That takes some stamina, but it also builds momentum and really allows me to compare and contrast my experience with the different art supplies. 

Still, doing a series like this over time would be interesting as well.

Drawing the Scene Outside My Window

Recently I wanted to work on capturing my quick scribbly sort of style, the one I use so freely in my sketchbooks, on bigger 18 x 24 paper.

For some reason, when I work on bigger paper, I feel like I need a subject worthy of that size of paper.  So, instead of just drawing the thing in front of me, like I do all the time in my sketchbook, I fuss around trying to figure out what I will draw.

Well, a few weeks ago I decided to give it a whirl.  I was simply going to do a pen and watercolor sketch of whatever I could see looking out my window.  And I was going to create the piece in the same way that I work in my sketchbook--only bigger.

No fussing about doing better work because the paper is bigger!!

So, here is my direct pen sketch of two of the trees and a chair in my side year.

After I did this, I decided to add the split rail fence in my neighbor's yard.  Then I began adding watercolor--a first wash of colors, to identify the light and shadow shapes.

I liked this quite a bit, and had gotten this far in maybe a half an hour.   At this point, I walked away to let it dry (which didn't take too long).

Then I went back to add additional layers of color, to deepen the shadows and make the colors more vibrant.   Here is the final version:

This experience really pleased me.  I worked quickly and freely, without fussing, as I usually do in my sketchbook.   I captured the image of my side yard in late summer.  I practiced scribbling in a bigger format, which really has some delightful physical benefits!  I stand when I work.  I move my whole arm and my whole body in ways that I don't when working on a small page.

Yes, it took longer than a journal page because it required more paint and more water to cover the larger sheet.  But I certainly will do this again.  It's a great way to make everything feel different, and helped me overcome the mental blocks to working on large paper.

Beware perfectionism and anything that makes it come to life!  No need to fuss any more over big paper than on small paper.

Sketching at the Ottawa County Fair Part Two

After a wonderful three hours sketching at the Ottawa County Fair on Thursday afternoon, July 28 (see those sketches here), I returned for another three hours on Friday morning.

The sky looked ominous.

But no rain came.

I met with my sketching friend, Julie, and we went straight to the goat show in the pavilion.  There, I not only drew a lot of goats, but I got to learn about showing goats from a proud grandmother of some competitors.  Notes about what I learned from her add to the fun of the sketches, I think.

From there we went from bunnies to birds to cows and eventually, when I realized I only had two journal cards left, I went back to the rescue donkeys, Bowie and Red.  They had been my first sketches when I arrived the day before, and I wanted them to be my last sketches of the event.

All in all, it was a terrific experience!  I learned that I have the stamina to sketch for over three hours straight.  I loved working with the journal cards.  It was definitely worth it to carry water, even though it is heavy.  The tiny amounts of paint in the Richeson child's palette (filled with my own selection of 8 Daniel Smith paints) lasted through about seven hours of sketching, no problem, with plenty left.  So it is the perfect lightweight palette for an event like this.

Below are the 15 cards I did on day two, in order.

If you ever have a chance to sketch out at a local county fair, I really recommend it!

Sunrise Swamp Times Four

A few weeks ago, before the leaves returned to the trees and in the middle of all the spring rain, I put on my tall boots and took the dogs splashing through the puddles in the woods.

Swampy spring woods produce a lot of mess, namely soaked and muddy and pollen-coated dogs.

But at sunrise, swampy spring woods also produce a lot of beauty.

Which is probably the state of most things in most of our lives, most of the time, isn't it?  A little bit messy.  A little bit beautiful.

Anyhow, I used four ATC-sized pieces of watercolor paper to nab some practice with composition, value, and hue.  So each of these tiny painting is just 2.5 by 3.5 inches.  That allows me to do them fairly quickly.  I think I did all four in less than one hour.  But unlike working in a sketchbook, I used really good paper.

The scribbling practice here for me came through messing around with how to shape the really dark portions of the scene in relationship to the really light portions.   In particular, as you can see, I was experimenting with how much of the surrounding thick woods to include.  Should I eliminate the many many trees, but make just one tree larger?  That sort of thing.  Plus, I worked with several different triads of color, just to practice.

The first one is most "realistic."  The first two used the same triad of paints.

What better way to spend an hour that looking at and thinking about the dark and light of spring?

Fifty Itty Bitty Paintings, Part One

On Christmas weekend I watched a wonderful video on the Artist's Network TV website (subscription only) called "A Little Watercolor" with Karin Huehold (you can check out a preview here).   The idea is to buy one sheet of watercolor paper, tear it up into 72 ATC (artist trading card) size pieces (2.5 x 3.5 inches), and then paint a bunch of quick, tiny watercolors.

The purpose is to have fun and learn more about how your brushes work and how your colors interact.

I thought this sounded like a good project for my vacation during the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve.   So I decided to try to create Fifty Itty Bitty Paintings before 2016.  That gave me an extra twenty-six cards to share with my family members or use later.

I bought a nice, thick piece of paper, 22 x 33 inches.  I didn't know what I was buying, but later I figured out it was Strathmore Gemini mould-made paper.  Very stiff, and rough.  It held up beautifully when ripping into the small pieces.

Then I bought painter's masking tape in 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch widths.  I wanted to have the nice clean edges that Huehold had in her pictures in the video.  This tape was pretty hard to find--I wound up ordering it from amazon here and here.   I taped the fifty pieces while I hung out with the family, so I was all ready to go!

Since part of the point for me was learning what colors did together on the paper, I wrote on the back of each painting which colors I used.

Here are numbers 1-10.

All of these are from my imagination, but inspired by memories of things I've seen walking in the woods especially in western and northern Michigan.

I'll share the rest of the series in the next few posts!