New ink technique

I thought I might make use of today's 30min sketch to try out the technique Alison Woodward used in her youtube video.  If you didn't get to see it when I posted it last time, here it is again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3oUFXq6Msc

There's a tree near my house that produces long bean-like seed pods.  Before it makes these pods it has the prettiest white, orchid-like flowers.  The flowers are falling right now, so I decided to take one home and see what I could make of it in ink with a paint brush.

I drew it out first in pencil and then went over it in ink with a vey small brush.  I used my calligraphy ink again and diluted it with water to create the greys.  I thought it would be fun to do it outside, where I could also try one of the other small flowers in my garden (upper right).  The ink did dry very quickly, but I was able to wet it again in my palette with a little water.

New technique practice - blending

Today I didn't so much sketch as work on a new technique that I learned in one of the library books I borrowed: Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil, by J.D. Hillberry.

I only had 30 min and you wouldn't believe how little gets done in that amount of time!  I wanted to try the multiple blending technique he uses to create texture.  First of all, he combines things in ways I hadn't heard of or considered.  For example, he will darken an area with charcoal and then blend graphite over top.  At first I thought - why?  But I tried it and it does create a neat effect.  Mostly the graphite fills in all the gaps left by the charcoal pencil and seems to seal the charcoal to the paper a little better.

I'm sure there are other ways he could've gone about filling these gaps.  I know you can use charcoal/graphite dust and apply with a paint brush for example.  I also wonder if it would look any different to apply the graphite first and then the charcoal?

The other thing I wanted to try out were his blending techniques.  He doesn't just use a stump/tortillon or paint brush, he also uses felt, chamois, facial tissue and paper depending on the effect he's going for. And he will combine blenders for different textures (i.e. felt and chamois).

I don't have a picture of my work this time - it wasn't really anything to see anyway, just some black/grey rectangles, but I really enjoyed playing with his concepts.  I want to work some more with his techniques because I think they might be time savers!  Anything that will reduce the amount of time it takes to create a realistic image is definitely worth knowing more about!!!

Oh, and I did some research on my calligraphy pen from my last post.  Turns out it isn't a dip pen (glad I looked into that) and is meant to be used with ink cartridges (not refillable unfortunately).  I found out I can get the cartridges from Amazon.ca for $5/pkg of 4/5 which isn't too bad a price considering.  I will wait until my next book order though so I can make use of the free shipping :)

Dip pen and ink

I got a very nice calligraphy pen set from my Grandpa that I really wanted to try out.  This was an especially exciting idea as I had heard so much about how using a dip pen can create a better variety of line thicknesses and enhance a drawing.  So, with much anticipation, I took my fold-out table and camp stool, my sketch pad, ink and pen set outside to give it a whirl for 30 min.

This is the pen set, by Sheaffer Eaton.  It's probably not their newest model, and upon opening it I discovered that this set had a refillable ink well.  I didn't have any means to fill it, so I persevered with the dipping plan.

And this is the small ink bottle that I had previously from another project.  This is a nice ink to work with.  It dries a little fast for my liking, but I guess the alternative wouldn't be better and likely messier :P

I'm not sure if it was my technique, the pens or a bit of both, but I found the pen dipping thing very frustrating!  After 30min this was all I had:

I tried out the different width pen tips to see the difference but I couldn't get the larger ones to work at all.  I mostly did the drawing with the smallest 0.03" tip.  When I could get it to work it was lovely!  I could work for several strokes before having to re-dip.  Although if I tried to do a straight line, forget it!!  The pen would stop working no matter how much ink I had loaded on it.  

I think I will look up some advice on how to use a dip pen and see if I can learn anything more and improve my technique.  I did really like the way the variable line thicknesses added to the drawing, compared to the drafting pen I used last time.  I'm also going to see if I can refill the ink reservoir for the pen and see if that makes a difference.

Introducing the 30 min sketch series!

If you've been reading my posts lately you'll know that I've been trying to draw an owl for a few weeks now.  My most recent attempt has been the best (thank you Brenda Hoddinott!), but I'm finding that lately I just don't have the time I want to work on a finished piece right now.  Summer's almost here and the kids will be home more, more vacation times, more house chores, plus I am in the middle of other projects that are due to be complete soon, etc.  So what can I do to keep my creative side at work that isn't as daunting as a full-fledged finished piece?  30 minute sketches!!

I came up with this not-so-original idea while reading through the Artist's Guide to Sketching.  I can do field studies (drawing outside), which I've always wanted to do, and I can expand on it by trying out different mediums like ink, pencil crayon, heck even taking the paints outside!  I am very excited by this idea and I have already begun.  The following are the sketches I managed in 30 min in pen and ink from my backyard.

Partial shed with poppies - note the poor perspective (apologies for the image quality - I can't seem to get it in landscape format)

Nectarine tree with fruits, columbine flowers, smoke bush.

Some book reviews

Further updates on the owl are proceeding as expected - in that they are proceeding :)  I don't have a picture to show today, but I will attach one next time.

In the meantime I have had the chance to do some reading of the books from the library.  Did I mention at any point that one of the books I borrowed is currently out of print?  Of course it's the one by James Gurney and Thomas Kinkade.  It's been a really great read and I would love to get my hands on a copy, unfortunately with it being out of print, the cheapest I can get is $80 not including shipping (the most expensive one I saw was $700).  I'm thinking of asking the library if they will sell it to me instead.  In the meantime I can probably get away with borrowing it for 2 months, so I intend to read it until the print get lighter ;)

The other book I finished was "Pen & Ink Sketching" by Peter Caldwell.  I don't know if this one is out of print or not because I don't intend to own a copy of this one.  Don't get me wrong - it's a very good book!  It's a relatively light read - I finished it in a few hours, but it's packed full of good tips and advice for working in ink and sketching.  Has some very good tips on perspective (including arches) and general composition placements.

I highly recommend both of these books if you are interested in learning to draw or sketch ever.  Mr. Gurney's book is neat because, well one, it's a lot longer, with a lot more info, and two it was written shortly after he graduated art school and he and Mr. Kinkade basically backpacked through the U.S. sketching and drawing and learning.  A fantastic experience that I'm sure had both their parents' sleeping restlessly.

Brenda Hoddinott is awesome!

I spent some more time online looking for "how to draw an owl" this time.  Some amusing finds, but eventually I came across a site called www.drawspace.com.  It offers free and membership lessons (I believe there's a certificate option as well) and is primarily run by Brenda Hoddinott.  She's a self taught Canadian artist from the East Coast and wrote 2 books (I have both): Drawing for Dummies, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Drawing People.  Both can be purchased at Amazon or Chapters.

Brenda is an excellent drawing teacher, and uses some pretty cool techniques like "squirkling"!  Anyway, on this site there was a free pdf lesson on how to draw one of her owls she calls Hooter.  Of course I took this opportunity and printed myself a copy.

It's pretty well detailed with step-by-step instructions on drawing this very cute owl, though I'm not sure what type of owl he's supposed to be.

I decided that since I didn't want to draw just any owl, but a Great Horned owl, that I would modify her steps a little and modify my model a little to create a new image (yes, I have a knack to do things the hard way).

The only flaw with her lesson is that I think we might be using different brands of pencils.  The HB she uses to get such nice dark shadows is a bit too light for me.  Otherwise I think this is coming along well.

It was nice to get some drawing in again.  Lately I've been feeling like all I do is read and research!!  I can't wait to see how this will turn out.  I'm hoping that after I've drawn him, that I will be able to maintain my enthusiasm and interest long enough to paint him.

Reading, reading, reading

Not a very exciting post today I'm afraid.  I spent the morning going through the books from the library.  Lots of reading!  At least 2 of the books I am seriously interested in owning already.  Unfortunately the one by James Gurney is out of print.  For some reason this means that anyone selling it can price it from $80 to $700 in new or used condition.  Talk about a mark up!  I guess I'll just have to do my best learning from the book with the time I've got.

Not to leave you with nothing, I found this cool video on youtube by artist Alison Woodward in Vancouver showing how to use ink and watercolour to create an illustration.  I found it very instructive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3oUFXq6Msc

If you'd like to see her website/blog, it's here:

http://alisonannwoodward.blogspot.ca/

The rain is finally at an end here - hopefully I'll be able to work outside soon!

Library research

I went to the Public Library on Friday and managed to narrow down my selection to these 6 books.  There were two more that I wanted also, but I can only read so much in 30 days!  I had to put something back.

I really like the library for reference materials.  A lot of what I've learned over the last 6 years has come from resources at the library in either book or dvd format.

The only flaw in this set so far is there isn't the detail I was hoping for the owl picture I want to do.  I may be going back to the library in a week or so to see if I can find any bird anatomy books.  Maybe something on ornithology?  I don't know yet.

At least one of these books I am going to read cover-to-cover!  The one on drawing textures has some really cool information about using different tools to create uber-realistic effects in pencil.  I am really excited about that one.

The other book I plan to read thoroughly is the Artist's Guide to Sketching.  One of the author's is James Gurney and I've decided that anything Mr. Gurney puts to print should be read - it's usually very valuable information!

I may decide after reading these books that I have to add them to my personal collection.  That's were Amazon.ca comes in.  The only thing I enjoy more than shopping at the art store is shopping at the book store!

Owl re-think

It was a crazy day today.  Work had me re-arranging my schedule and it completely threw off the rest of my day - including the portion I usually assign to painting!  I did do a LOT of thinking about the owl though and I have come to a few conclusions.  First, I need to take a better look at the eye and understand how to shape it properly.  Probably be a good idea to make some sketches of the characteristics of the bird as well so I can get a handle on how they work.

Second, I'm not exactly inspired by the image I have chosen to paint.  Don't get me wrong he's a beautiful example of owl-iness, it's just that this image isn't calling to me to get in there and get him done.  This is a fairly bad thing since this is an image I chose.  Sooo...I thought I'd look up some images of great horned owl eyes via Google (thank you again internet!!).  I found so many really cool examples of owl faces and postures that I didn't see the last time I researched it.  These images had so much more personality to them - which is more what I'm looking for in a subject.

I also thought I'd check out my local library for books on drawing and working on bird images.  I did find one or two that looked promising when I checked their online catalogue.  I guess what I'm coming down to is that I won't be continuing the current owl image.  Don't worry, I will put him in a drawer for now and if I become a really incredible artist one day, I may be able to come back to him and see what happens.  For now I think I need to go back to the drawing board (pun intended).  Similar to the skull image I did (see previous skull posts) I have never drawn a bird before and so I should get back to basics.

For those of you that thought I'd be able to whip up an owl image in no time - I am sorry to disappoint you, but I don't see the point in creating an image I won't be proud of or even a little satisfied with.  I hope you enjoy the ride as I work through this project anyway, I plan to!

Continuing the Owl

First off, I want to apologize for the missed blog entry last week.  I injured my foot and have been pretty much off everything until today.  I'm not entirely sure how I hurt my foot, but it was incredibly painful for several days and I had to wrap it and take some hefty pain killers to walk.  After a lot of rest, things are looking up and my doctor has recommended I go to an orthotic clinic for an assessment.  I have had low grade lower back pain pretty much continuously since at least the beginning of the year, so there may be something connected to that.

So, after more time off than I wanted...back to the owl!  I didn't do too much more today.  I decided to start work on the eyes.  Fortunately, owl eyes are only two parts: the coloured area and the pupil/eyelid.  I mixed a light yellow-green for the coloured part and a deep violet/sepia for the pupil/eyelid.

He looks a bit like he's winking.  And looking up, unfortunately not what I was going for.  I also started on the beak.  This gave me a bit of trouble because my model makes it look like his beak is a grey-ish colour.  Oddly, grey isn't really a good colour in watercolour - yes you can mix it, but it tends to look dull.  That's actually it's purpose in most cases, to dull a colour to the background, or to enhance a colour next to it to pop it into the foreground.  Since I didn't actually want to do either of these, I thought I'd try mixing a pale purple colour with some cobalt blue and alizarin crimson.  I think the effect is working.  

I also added texture to the middle of the top of his head.  I think there must be shorter feathers here that do not exactly lay flat against the head.  There's still a LOT of work to do on the head feathers!

Then I finished the other eye and added some more pupil to even the eyes out a bit.

I also added the outer grey ridge of the eye feathers (also pale purple at the moment).  I'm not really liking the way the eyes are working out at the moment, but I'm treating this whole thing as an exercise so we'll do what we can with it and go from there.  I may be able to save the eyes, but it looks to me like there's an inherent flaw in the original drawing in that one eye is WAYYYY bigger than the other. However, I do like how other things are going so I think for now I'll continue and see where this goes.