John H, 100 day challenge, Sketchbook time

[John Huisman]

Thanks Joshua for the comments, gives me something to think about. One of the things that impressed me in Glen’s video is the time he takes in controlling his lines. Mine always feel like I am scribbling.
I would like to hear your other suggestions as well.

Here is days 89 & 90… but who’s counting anymore? Gouache, ink, watercolor, pencil…
#100DayArtChallenge #PathToMastery #ink #Pencil #Sketchbook

[John Huisman]

Day 91 &92 More sketching, gouache and a bit of ink on a tan tinted paper #100DayArtChallenge #PathToMastery #ink #Pencil #Sketchbook

[John Huisman]

Day 93 & 94, probably a hour and a half into this over a couple days. Definitely over worked again. A pose like this has so much potential for movement with all the curves etc. and I don’t think I quite got there.

#100DayArtChallenge #PathToMastery #ink #Pencil #Sketchbook

[John Huisman]

Day 95 A figure drawing session this morning from one of the New Masters Academy videos. Charcoal on regular printer paper. Mostly quick gesture and one I spent a little more time on. Charcoal on bond paper is not good but it’s not in a sketch book so I don’t feel bad just throwing it away.
#100DayArtChallenge #PathToMastery #ink #Pencil #Sketchbook

 

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by John Huisman.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by John Huisman.

[John Huisman]

Day 96 & 97 thought I would give some thought to hands…

#100DayArtChallenge #PathToMastery #ink #Pencil #Sketchbook

[John Huisman]

Day 98 & 99, another page in the gray paper sketch book. Working with ink and white charcoal

#100DayArtChallenge #PathToMastery #ink #Pencil #Sketchbook

[John Huisman]

Day 100, I have been working on some thoughts hopefully I can post here in the next day or two. Life takes a lot of time every day. It is good to draw. #100DayArtChallenge #PathToMastery #ink #Pencil #Sketchbook

[Joshua Jacobo]

Congrats! I definitely see a lot of growth here! Would love to hear your thoughts about the challenge and where you go from here.

[Christopher]

Hi John,

congratulations on completing the 100 Day challenge! I found your sketchbook pages to be really impressive and enjoyable to look at. In my opinion your proportions for the head and figure got alot better especially in the last days.👍👋

[John Huisman]

Something I have always wanted to try harder at was just spending more time drawing every day so I decided to simply commit to 20 minutes every day working on something in a sketch book.
This was my self imposed, (at the prompting of NMA), “challenge” over 100 days ago.

To be fair, I probably cheated in this to some degree since I normally spend 20 minutes or so first thing in the morning practicing figure drawing and my “challenge” to myself was to spend 20 minutes outside of that sketching whatever is in front of me at the time. In reality, I used a lot of my normal morning sketch time for this effort, though I did spend more time than I had been, probably averaging more like 45 minute to an hour a day so I feel OK about that.

I am not sure what I got out of it other than the practice from the commitment, (which is not to be taken lightly), and the realization of how far I have to go, how much I don’t know and how hard it is to carve out that time every day.

One thing that I am sure worked against me here is the daily posting online. This has the effect of making me want to make sure I have a presentable product, (in other words the ego is in control), and risk taking becomes extremely hard. I have a hard time letting go of control issues as it is but it is getting to that line and crossing it that is one of my main goals. I mean the line where I feel draftsmanship can become something that might be described as art, (an elusive and hard to define term for me).

At this stage in my life I am quite sure I will never get my 10,000 hours in but maybe I will get to a point where I can see things clearly and do what is necessary to tell the story in a compelling way that might touch a viewer somewhere somehow. Regardless of whether I can ever accomplish anything like that, it feels more and more like drawing is what I am supposed to be doing… and so I will continue.

We live in a world where anger and fear and uncertainty are fed to us in a constant streaming feed of data. It is hard to avoid. Drawing helps me to sort out some of the truths, the day to day beauty of this planet that we all share, this tiny speck of dirt in this vast universe. Life is fleeting and the days and minutes continue to fly past and the only thing we know for sure is that one day this life, at least as we experience it here, will come to an end for each of us.
So tomorrow and the days that follow I will face the many tasks that come at me in my daily work day and somewhere in there, hopefully, I will find 30 minutes or maybe even an hour, to pause, look around me, take in the beauty of the moment, and draw something.

[Joshua Jacobo]

Congratulations, John. What an inspiring journey. You’ve improved so much since the beginning of this challenge.

I think that our self-negotiations (even “cheating) still result in more work, more growth, and a more finely tuned mental instrument.

I agree with you that the social accountability is quite useful. Perhaps after a break it would make sense to start another challenge. I’ve certainly been thinking about it.

[Jeanette Assies]

Congrats John! Goed gedaan jochie!

[Author]

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