Below: The one on the left is a portrait(second attempt) of a friend who is a really amazing musician and doesn’t believe that she is but she should because she is… and she frustrates me very much .. a lot. The one in the right is referenced from a random picture with a sexy gal. They are freehand drawings: graphite, sharpies and watercolor.. Oh, and some whiteout 😉
A new addition to my learning process: tracing paper.
In the past, I have always been against using tracing paper because it made me feel like I was ‘cheating’ myself but I was recently advised by a professional tattoo artist to use it for practice. He said that by tracing I would learn the lines and curvature of any given subject and he was completely right. Since Ive began using it my work has been more consistent. I trace a picture over and over until I get bored(about three times) then I draw it freehand.
I highly recommend this method. Try it, you’ll see. 🙂
Below is some freehand work after having practiced by tracing the original.
I’ve been doing quite a bit of drawing from reference for practice. Sometimes it’s just nice to use my imagination.
I find that I am often discouraged from my urges to add color to my sketches and I really don’t understand it. Don’t get me wrong, I love graphite or charcoal work but in my opinion as far as my own is concerned, color always comes to the rescue.
The late French artist Fernand Leger said it best:
“The craving for colour is a natural necessity just as for water and fire. Colour is a raw material indispensable to life. At every era of his existence and his history, the human being has associated colour with his joys, his actions and his pleasures.”
I have gone back to add color to to some of my past sketches. For the most part, I used Sharpies(love em!) but I have also used color pencils, inks and acrylics. The second one below was a disaster at first (I should have taken a picture of the mess I had made) but somehow I managed to make it work, well, sort of. I had to completely chance her face with layers and layers of poster paint.
It has taken me almost an entire month to work up the courage to post my work and to fight my arch nemesis, Laziness…
Dear World,
Today I have won.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
The sketches I am posting today are a small part of the collection I’ve created over the past month. Most are based off pictures I found online on random sites, some more loosely than others. My drawings seem to always end up looking “cartoony”(not really a word) but I like that.. I think.
In case you are asking yourself “Why only naked ladies?”.. . Two reasons- 1) A nude figure art competition I am thinking about entering. 2) I am infatuated with the beauty that women posses.
I understand I’m talking to myself at the moment but I believe that one day that will be overlooked for what I’m hoping to achieve with art. I once heard something that Malcolm Gladwell said about the “10,000 Hour Rule”… Essentially it takes about 10,000 hours to master any given subject.
I’m willing to believe it.
I figure I’ve already logged about 300 hours since I took art seriously as a grade school student, so I’ll use that as the starting point. From here I officially begin my 10,000 hours. I will draw, review, paint, reflect, self-critique, celebrate success, fall short, scream in frustration, smile and just try again. All the while I will post my progress here.
While this process is more for me than it is for you, I do hope you take something from this – so that I’m not just a loony talking to myself.
In all seriousness, if anyone ever does read this I hope my 10,000 hour journey is as insightful for you as it will be for me.
-W
Artfromscratch's Blog 