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I just finished my figure drawing challenge, which mostly drove home the point that I still need to work on my foundational skills. So, my objectives for the next 100 days are as follows: improve observational skills; increase dexterity and ability to execute on the planned line; use line character (thickness, assertiveness) strategically; improve my ability to draw basic shapes in perspective; use mark-making to achieve the desired value while supporting the gesture and realizing the form. I’ve also realized that my daily exercises should go beyond merely logging the miles. Each day, I’ll strive to have a learning outcome for my exercises, along with a self-critique and a refinement of future exercises. “Amateurs practice until they can get it right; professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong” (most likely attributed to Percy C Buck)
Day 1. The first exercise is in line with the March household objects challenge. My objective was to draw objects free hand, achieving the right proportions and “believable” perspective:
Assessment: I’m happy with the perspective and proportions. My lines are still pretty wobbly (which works in favor of the ceramic box, because it’s not perfectly even). My ellipses still need work. I should dedicate some warm up practices to ellipse in perspective on a daily basis.
The next exercise is based on the recent Master Monday challenge. My goal was to improve my dexterity with a dip pen, while drawing curves that meet the given pattern. I plan to tackle the next plate in the upcoming days
Day 2. More objects.
Ellipses felt a bit better today. Should’ve approached the key fob more deliberately – I didn’t properly draw it all through because it seemed so easyDay 3 There I was thinking I was all sick of figure drawing, but the Friday live drawing has become a habit, and without the “pressure” of an explicit challenge around this topic, I had a lot of fun today.
Day 4 Live Portrait drawing with France Van Stone on Sketchy, 1 hour. Goal was to have fun and practice value control
Day 5 Late in the day and didn’t really feel like doing anything, but I did it anyway, so I’ll count that effort as success today. Back to drawing eyes from the Fialetti plate; they are getting more complex. Focusing on matching line shape as well as the overall form of the example. I finally “found” the G nib in my set of Tachikawa nibs. It really is my favorite so far
Day 6. Line drawing for a still life. Since January, I’ve been meeting with a local artist and art teacher, Robin Cole of Arvada. NMA has been a wealth of education, but I also benefit tremendously from personal feedback. It’s that fresh eye that notices that my ellipses need work or that the sides of my box don’t converge. – Blocking in and relative measuring seem relatively easy now, and I’m closer to symmetry for the vessel. Box shaped forms still give me a run for the money – they seem so simple, but they also offer no room to hide. The ribbon also needed quite some updating after my first pass.
Day 7. Portraits are calling me again. Used one of the NMA references. My goals were achieving resemblance through accurate shapes, and creating depth through shading. As for overall resemblance, I’m fairly happy with how it turned out, although I tend to not allocate enough space between eyes and brows . The shading is pretty awful. The reference was a light skinned woman of middle age. My marks are very harsh and streaky (with mechanical pencil. I should practice value ranges through mark making. Maybe I’ll take another pass tomorrow
Day 8 Second attempt today; third overall. I need to remember to pause after the rough in to evaluate proportions and alignment. I still have a long way to go in rendering subtleties, but this one is better than yesterday’s. It’s funny that I see flaws more easily in the photo than the original drawing
Day 9 Back to the very basics – trying to create 10 step value charts in different media, without smudging. I’ve realized that in my portrait and figure attempts so far I have neglected the basic value range assignment
Day 10 Initial attempt at a line drawing for another little still life. Drawing two identical flower pots in perspective and in relationship to one another is still quite a mental and kinetic effort – I guess that just means I need to keep doing it. Wrong pencil angle for the plumb line – it made a broad stroke which added to confusion when pencil measuring for symmetry. I’ve been meaning to create a “stencil” of ellipses of varying degrees and widths on tracing paper, both to practice the true shape as well as to have an objective tool for evaluating hand drawn ellipses. These aren’t “quite right”, I know
Day 11 A second attempt – I’m not sure it’s much better, except for the thinner plumb lines. This feels like a portal into potential madness – “she started drawing two flower pots in 2021, and she still does the same drawing every day, ten years later…” I think I can let the ellipses rest for a few days. I think I’ll draw the rest of the scene, and then maybe transfer it to better paper to do a full rendering. Still burning to read more about ellipses in perspective
Day 12 Futzed a little more with the ellipses and then added the board that one of the pots is resting on. Angles are slightly wonky – I’ll try to correct that in the morning. Started to shape the succulents. The one in the back has a lot going on in terms of leaves – I think during rendering, I’ll pick out a few for detailed emphasis and let the rest get lost. My eye can’t even make fully sense of it
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