Stuartdraws

Figure Drawing again

Aug 4, 2015Aug 29, 2015Stuart3 Comments

Wow, … no easel today, no charcoal, no newsprint, just a 4B pencil and smooth drawing paper. Inbetween a stint at watercolours, which actually doesn’t look too bad for a noob like me.

Tutor wasn’t there tonight, so I took over the role of setting the timer, I also sat all night at a desk, which was probably quite hilarious for the other students.

We begin with three 5 minute poses, then <coffee break>, then two 10 minute poses, then <small chat (break)> and a 15 minute pose, then <walk around and inspect “competition” break>, then 20 minutes for the watercolour (started with 3B sketching, then an obviously non-water-resitant Japan-nib 0.5mm Derwent fineliner and finally the watercolours, that’s where the fineliner ink starts to show its non-water-resistance), then <yawn, stretch and take a break>, in the End a 13 minute sketch for me (3B) … and clear up and go home to a glass of Prosecco.

New Model

Jul 28, 2015Aug 29, 2015StuartLeave a comment

A very interesting evening with a new model. And this evening I arrived with the idea to do some watercolouring. As I am not very experienced with watercolours, I need to do more and more and make mistakes for the first year or so.

So here goes, after a phase of warming up with charcoal on newsprint, one watercolour was achieved during a 3 x 5 minutes spree and a 5 minute break.

Tea Room

Jul 13, 2015Aug 29, 2015StuartLeave a comment

Slowly getting back into the drill of sketching in public places.

I actually feel pretty comfortable doing this in cafes now. Just using a cheap drawing tool here (roller-ball pen) on childrens’ drawing paper (DIN A4, 100 sheets cost 2€). Makes a light weight set to carry around.

More Faces with George B. Bridgman

Jul 11, 2015Jul 11, 2015Stuart1 Comment

The few attempts I made at practicing faces again while on holiday … need to do this more often and more deliberately … fight that sloth in me! The practice helps obviously, but not practicing helps all the hard earned skills fade away.

Urban Sketching in Lithuania

Jul 11, 2015Jul 11, 2015StuartLeave a comment

Just back from a 10 day holiday in good old Lithuania.

Visiting relatives, taking in the sites and even a short trip to the Baltic seaside.

Here are the few sketches I managed to get done while there.

(CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGES)

1: from out of a Lithuanian Kepyklele (a bakery)
2: in a small restaurant in the “Republic of Uzupis”
3: an exhibition case in Medininkai
4: view from our hotel room in Vilnius
5: at the Beer Library (Alaus Biblioteka)
6: from the veranda of our hotel in Palanga

Failing at Gestures

Jun 29, 2015Aug 29, 2015StuartLeave a comment

So, coming back to gesture drawing (practicing) after so long, it is really hard to be pleased with the results.

It always seems like I’m failing.

I’ve been looking at the gesture drawings of some fellow artists in the forum of pixelovely.com. I have read often enough — and I actually believe in it myself — comparing your own drawings to others’ can lead to a dead end very easily, it can make you withdraw inside and strengthen your own doubts about your skills, basically it isn’t much help at all and will only keep you back. Still, I catch myself doing it. So here I am “saying” it out loud and clear: You are you, and you should listen to your own thoughts, emotions, ideas. Make some new rules. Perhaps try out a few things the others are doing, but DO NOT COMPARE YOUR DRAWINGS TO OTHERS! (… you don’t know what background the others have, how long they have been doing this, where they went to school, who their mommies and daddies are, how long they have each day to work on this stuff, what they eat for breakfast, whether they have family or even friends (I’m not saying you can’t have a great family and many great friends, if your a good artist, just sometimes they can be a distraction, but also a good source of input and perhaps one of the days, a source of cheap models for you …))

Here goes, the collected 2 minute gesture drawings of the last 48 hours. Gals w/ or w/o weapons, men w/ or w/o underwear, and a few faces to round it up.

June 26: 21 Gestures

Jun 26, 2015Jun 26, 2015Stuart2 Comments

60 second gestures from quickposes.com. Gals with swords, pistols and rifles, or just their bare hands.

(Stabilo point 88 fine 0,4 on brown envelope. )

Preparing for Figure Drawing

Jun 22, 2015Jun 22, 2015Stuart2 Comments

So, I go back to figure drawing classes regularly, starting tomorrow night.

I’m going to continue from where I stopped with the ink class, so I’m planning to use paint brush and India ink on whatever I have at hand. To get into the swing of things, I’ve attempted a few sketches on newsprint tonight. All based on photo references.

Em Höttche, USk part II

Jun 18, 2015Jun 18, 2015StuartLeave a comment

Urban Sketching (USk), part 2.

Back from an afternoon in the fading sun on the top steps of Bonn’s historical Rathaus (town hall).

Looking down upon “Em Höttche” (a “typical” German tavern) and a few bistro, cafes. It was getting cold as the sun finally decided to leave us at 8 pm and the sketching process of my first picture (45 minutes with 2B pencil, kept sharp with a sand paper board) accelerated more and more. In the end, I used the accelerated technique to sketch the view onto the market place in Bonn from the flight of stairs, where JFK, CDG and QE2 have all stood before me (10 minutes, “F” pencil).

Last night at ink

Jun 16, 2015Jun 16, 2015StuartLeave a comment

Today was the last night at my inking course.

I didn’t really get into the swing of things, but came out with this flowing water study. No references were used here. The teacher gives you a few ideas and let’s you make the mistakes for yourself. I’m especially not very fond of the smokestacks in the background.