Hoppy Easter

What a day!  Holidays always seem to have more hustle and bustle than I'd like.  There just isn't enough time to get what you want done.  Fun with the family is still important too and with little ones, even more so.

Well since studio work was a bit of a bust today, I thought I'd cheer you with a nice Easter illustration (wish it was mine!).

Hoppy Easter!

Kitty Part V

Kitty is progressing well I think.  I've managed to work more in the detail of the grass (adding highlights and shadows) and in the leaves to add more realism to the background.  I'm hoping that at this stage you get the impression that the light is coming from the right side of the picture, that the kitty is lying in a lush patch of grass and plants, and that this is a friendly-type cat.

We are close to the final stretch now.  At the moment everything looks good, but kitty isn't as luxuriously furry as I'd like him to be.  I'm hoping to make his fur not just soft-looking, but silky and thick too.  Also I have to work on his right ear some - there was a bit of a booboo there.  

I've managed a bit of preliminary work - sharpening up the darkest areas and the lightest areas.

It looks a bit rough right now, but I will go over the kitty with a brush to gently smooth the harsh lines into fur (hopefully anyway - it's all talk until I do it).  I also STILL have to work on that @#$% ear.  I tried to go over it to fix it and now it looks more deformed than before.  And if you take a really hard look at kitty's chin, you will see that some horrible accident seems to have befallen him because it's all lopsided and...well it just isn't right.

Friday is a holiday here, so that means the whole family will be home.  While that is wonderful as a far as relationships go, it's not so good as far as having time to work in the studio.  It may be a few days before I post again, but I'm hoping my next post will involve a completed kitty drawing! 

Have a Happy Easter to all of you that celebrate it!

Kitty Part IV

We might actually finish this piece soon!  It can be difficult when there is so much detail to decide when you are "done".  We aren't there yet (as you will see), but I think we're in the home stretch!

I had a horrible flu this weekend so I didn't get to do any work on kitty here, but this morning went very well.  I have found in the past that if you aren't able to focus (even a little) on what you are doing then you will likely do more harm than good and you should leave it for now.  Today was a different story however, and I was able to make good progress.

So first of all, I tried the kneaded eraser to remove the offending arm.  Remember what I said about the green paper?  Ya, I noticed pretty quick that this wasn't the way to do it.  All I had was a green arm over a black body - not very realistic!  So instead, I went over the area with black conte (much better result) and used an eraser to re-shape the arm.  I had to go back to my reference photo for this.  And then I started applying the lights and darks.

I think the arm looks much more appropriate to the rest of the body shape now and even comes forward toward the viewer better.  Since I still had some time left over, I started putting in the lights and darks and shadows on the grass and leaves (right side of pic).  Instead of using a stump to blend the grey tones, I used an acrylic paint brush (natural hair) to sweep in the direction of the leaves.  The brush creates a much softer blending than the stump and I will be using it in my final application of fur on kitty (you can see that I've actually already done some on the new arm).

I'm not too happy with the leaves in the top left and I still have to do the shading, etc on the left side grass area, but we are in the home stretch now.  If I hold my breath and think it very quietly, I might even finish this week - but don't tell anyone ;)

Kitty - oopsy

So after looking at my kitty picture I noticed that his left arm looks a bit deformed and slightly broken.  I didn't think it looked like that when I first sketched it on the paper.  Fortunately an advantage to having a blog is I have a step-by-step series of pictures to double check where I went wrong.  Looking back at the first post I don't see much wrong with the shape of the arm.  I think the problem may have happened when I got over-zealous with my smudging.  I must have changed the shape of the arm then.

If you look at the last post, you will see what I mean.  Fortunately I haven't done anything permanent to the picture (like spraying a fixative or denting the paper).  If I had pressed too hard with the conte I may have put engraving marks into the page and that will effect the final piece.  I won't know for sure until I remove and attempt to reshape the arm.  I think that if I use my kneadable eraser I should be able to reshape fairly easily and then I will just have to shade and smudge to match the rest of the picture.

I will try to do this over the weekend so I can stay on schedule, but I make no promises :)

Kitty Part III

I am suspicious that this will probably go up to Part X if I'm not careful.  It's so easy to get worked up in the details and have a never-ending project!

Work today focused on the Kitty herself.  I removed a lot of the white from the leaves and smeared some of the black along the left side of kitty to create a shadow on the grass from Kitty.  I then corrected and enhanced the highlights and shadows so that it was clearer where the light source is coming from.

I think I may have done a little too much blending as the fur doesn't look quite "furry" to me.  The kitty is looking very "smooth" which is a bit too unrealistic.  However I am going to leave it for now.  Now that the leaves look more like leaves and less like mushrooms, I will work on the "negative" spaces around them and the grass to create more depth.  This part does become a bit tiresome as there's so much to cover, but if I work patiently the results will be well worth the effort!

Overall the image is looking more realistic and less like a child's book illustration - which is what I am going for.  I could've left the leaves as mushrooms of course, but it wasn't what I was going for so...

One thing I want to point out - when you are drawing anything from life, the secret to keep it from looking like a cartoon is removing the "outline".  In life, nothing has an outline.  Objects have edges.  The way to define those edges is through tonal differences.  If you look at Kitty's left arm and left side of the face, you will notice that I have a dark patch right up next to a light patch.  This is how you show an edge.  With the rounded leaves, you can tell where the round leaf ends and the straight leaf begins by the change in tone (white against black).  Next time you draw something, give this a try and see if your subject doesn't look more lifelike.

To see the progress in this image, I recommend taking a look at the previous 2 Kitty posts and see if you can follow what I've done.

Kitty Part II

My littlest girl was feeling better today, so I was able to make some more headway on the kitty image.  Here's what it looks like now:

You can see that I've developed more of the shadows and highlights in both the cat and the grass and clover leaves.  There was a lot of kneaded eraser work here - especially in better defining the shape of the grass leaves.  I love working with the kneaded eraser, it works wonderfully with charcoal and conte.  You can shape it to remove dust from any size crevice.  In this case I used a flat but wide section to "sweep" the eraser along the page and create blades of grass.  I also spent a lot of time with the white conte to define the fur, the edges of the grass blades, and the clover leaves.  I may have gone a bit overboard on the clover leaves because they are starting to look washed out.  Fortunately, I have a kneaded eraser to lift some of that next time!

The tricky part about this method is keeping in mind that my paper is green.  This means that if I don't want the kitty to look green (except the eyes), I have to add a LOT of conte.  So far it seems to be working, but there are a few spots in the tummy area that have a bit of a greenish cast to them.  I also have to work on kitty's left arm.  The highlight there is a bit stark, as well as the paw.  There's too much of a line when it should gradate more.

It's also fun to notice all the different textures I am trying to convey - soft fur, long thin simple grass, and rounded complex clover (okay I have to admit that I'm pretty sure these aren't clover leaves but I'm not sure what they are so I'll keep calling them clover in the meantime).  These textures all require a different stroke of the line.  The fur gets short thin and thick strokes with moderate gradation of tone to create a "soft" look.  The grass will need long thin even strokes to maintain the look of sharpness.  The rounded clover leaves need a "smooth" look so not a lot of strokes, so much as sharp gradation of tone.

There's more work to be done, but I think this is coming along nicely so far.  If anyone knows what the leaves are I'd love to be able to call them by their proper name!

Playing Nursemaid today

Not much is happening today.  I have a sick little girl to look after so there won't be much progress on the Kitty picture.

The neat thing about drawing in conte or charcoal is that you are really drawing with an eraser!  In the method I use I tape my paper onto a board and then carefully scrape a stick of conte/charcoal with a blade to create dust all over the paper.  The dust is then blended smooth over the whole piece of paper with paper towel.  I use an eraser to draw the shapes, then put in the lights with white conte and darks with black conte/charcoal.

It's really cool how the process works to create a realistic image!  I will use a blending stick to make grays and you can even use a brush to gently blend for fur.  I love working with this medium because it can be very quick and very detailed at the same time.  It's also very messy, but washes up well.

There are lots of ways to use conte/charcoal and I have fun with a lot of them!  Since I have no real progress to report I thought I'd offer you a few sites to look at for other ways to use charcoal:

• www.artinstructionblog.com/charcoal-drawing-basics-techniques-for-beginners
• http://www.drawingprofessor.com/tutorials/charcoal/index.html
• http://heatherwardwildlifeart.blogspot.ca/2009/12/drawing-tip-23-applying-charcoal-with.html

I definitely recommend trying this out.  You can do something similar with graphite too if you wish!

Ahh Painting...

Today was a day of painting.  I spent hours working with the brush and honing my brushstrokes to perfection.  I prepared the surface in an exacting manner - sanding and washing.  Then I meticulously taped the edges to prevent transfer of the paint and keep things "contained" in the wanted space only.  The paint I picked up a few days ago, though this project had been in the working for months.

My daughters helped choose the exact "tone" of the project.  My eldest even added her own touch with the brush.  I have to admit that this particular medium is new to me.  I've had it explained to me several times in the past, how to go about doing it and I always listened in awe and amazement.  I watched videos.  I read books.  Now it was time to finally act.

Success is mine!  My girls' room now has 2 purple-pink walls.  It's very girly and they both LOVE it!  It was both easier and harder than I had expected.  I have done this once before, but the room was much smaller and I had help.  I noticed that after finishing the first wall that I was EXHAUSTED!  Who knew that wall painting took that much out of you?!  But I was able to cross off a major project from my list and I can go to bed satisfied in a job well done.

I didn't completely slack off in the art department though.  I have done some research on cat eyes (thank you internet) and to my surprise I have found that cat eyes are very diverse in shape.  Not the eyeball of course, but the lids and the way they sit in the face.  Now I get to try to narrow down what I'd like.  However, I am also thinking that the picture itself might best be able to tell me what eyes it should have, so maybe we'll have a heart-to-heart instead.

Here kitty, kitty, kitty...

I had to take a break from the skull image for a bit.  There are some details with it that I'm trying to work out.  But in the meantime, I had this guy in my head suddenly for the last few days and thought I'd try to see what comes of it.

As you can see, I'm using a reference photo for the inspiration of this one.  It's still in the preliminary stages, but you can see that I've got the shape defined as well as the major lights and darks.  This piece is being done in conte on green canson paper. 

There's still a lot to do on it, but I'm pretty much done with the reference photo at this point.

What I will be focusing on next are the eyes.  In my opinion the eyes can make or break an image.  If you get the eyes right, viewers will forgive other minor deviations, but get them wrong and the whole image is wrong!  Unfortunately my understanding of cat eye biology is limited so I'm going to have to do some research to get them just right.  Because I like to work in a "realistic" manner, I will also double check my shape placements before continuing with the midtones, lights and darks. 

I plan to better define the grass and clover leaves so they are thick and lush-looking.  I also have to better define the light source (from the right).

Blog Update!

I have added new pics to the "Drawings" page if you are interested.  I've also added some details on what they were made with.  

Another update to the blog

I've added 2 new pages to the blog, "Drawings" and "Paintings" (see the tabs above).  As you may have guessed, these each showcase various drawings and paintings that I have done.  Right now I only have a few because they were readily available.  I have to collect a few more to round out the displays (some are on my old computer which isn't in the best shape).

So keep an eye on these pages for updates.  Also, let me know if there's anything you'd like to see or would like to know about the images!

Rain (sigh)

It's a very rainy day in Kitchener today.  Rainy days tend to make me feel more sleepy than usual.  I should be excited because the weather is warming up and this means spring is around the corner.  And I am happy about that.  It just doesn't add any energy to my efforts :P Plus it doesn't help that I am working on a tonal, monochromatic picture.  Bleak all around.

My 5 year old is home this week - March break.  She spent the morning drawing with me in my studio. Her self-portrait is a much better effort than my work today!

I wonder what other artists do to keep up their energy on days like this.  It sure didn't stop my daughter from creating something she clearly loved.  Maybe the next rainy day I should try following her example and work on something with a lot of colour!

Updating the Blog

Hello!

As you can see, I have been hard at work updating the usefulness of this blog.  I have a list of cool sites that I recommend anyone checking out.  Quite a few with *FREE* lessons for drawing and painting (I LOVE the internet!).

There is a listing of books I have used and am currently using.  I highly recommend all of them if you want to learn how to draw or paint.

I also have a new page with information on what materials I am currently working with.  I will be updating this page with pictures soon.

I hope you like the new template and organization!  Please check out the links and feel free to comment on anything you like, don't like, or recommend!

Diversity!

I am very surprised at how a creative hobby such as drawing can be so diverse.  Last month, I was working on images of a cute baby lamb for my sister.

This week I am working on a sinister, evil skull with my nephew's name hidden in it for my other sister.
 

I've gotta say that I am very much enjoying the diversity and challenge!!

Keeping Focus...or trying to anyway

I am not a full-time working artist, though I would love to be.  I have an alternate full-time job as a food chemist during the off-shift.  I also have two small children and a husband.  I have a house and multiple projects (not art related) that also make demands on my time.  Not to mention eating, sleeping, grocery shopping, and all the other things necessary to life.

I've read the odd book here and there about commitment to one's work (which I think I have) and scheduling it into your day.  Some of them warn against the "distractors" like laundry and paying bills.  I laughed and to an extent agreed with them.  These are necessary things but they will take all your time if you let them.  But how do you manage to find time to be creative when you have millions of other demands on your time?  Do other mommy artists suffer from the same problem?  I  don't feel I have enough time for the important things in my life (this blog being a new addition to that list :) ), and my time machine has broken down again.

Prioritizing helps.  I have committed 2-3 hours, 3 days a week to what I call "art time".  This is the time I can lock myself in my "studio" and solely focus on being artistically creative.  I also spend a lot of the free time I do have (bathroom breaks, waiting in lines, etc) to come up with ideas for my "art time".  I almost always have multiple ideas to take into my studio, which I then have to break down into something I'd really like to do.  More often than not though I have multiple projects on the go.

The other thing that I find gets a lot of focus is learning about art.  In my case drawing in pencil, conte, and ink, watercolour painting, etc.  There are just too many resources out there to read from and I keep coming across more basic skills to learn.  I'm always worried that I'm missing some important skill that I should be developing.  I think it might be developing into a bad habit (who knew learning could be a bad habit?) that is distracting me from actually doing and practicing and creating.

I am always looking for new ideas and tips (another distractor I expect).  But I'd love to know that I'm not alone in this.  If you're a full or part-time artist, what do you do to keep your focus in a world of distractions?