Carl

Paid a visit to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery today and was inspired by some amazing portraits by upcoming artists. I decided as it is the beginning of a new year that it would be a great time to attempt a self portrait. Also made a pleasant change from drawing other people.

The above sketch was done on A3 and was definitely a challenge. I worked from a photograph so I would be drawing how others see me rather than drawing my mirror reflection as I have done in the past. It is a flawed drawing despite a lot of time trying to re work areas. In particular the left side of the face gave me problems. This is a great example of a piece of work that follows the "art is never finished, only abandoned" quote.

Life Drawing III

These sketches are from the last life drawing session of the year just before Christmas. I wasn't overly pleased with these sketches when I had finished the session. I can see some good qualities to them when viewing them a few weeks later. I tend to struggle getting the head size correctly in proportion with the rest of the body but the drawings have more consistency than previous sessions.

Life Drawing II

Had my second life drawing class this week. Would have put the pictures up after the class on Thursday but my camera was struggling to focus in the dark evening light. I've finally got around to taking the pics again in the light of day so you can see these new drawings properly. The class followed the same pattern of several 5 minute drawings, a couple of 10, a 20 minute and finally a 45 minute pose. The pics above are arranged in that order. All are in an A3 sketchbook, same one as last week.

The poses were very challenging this week. I think I only succeeded in capturing a couple of them properly. The final drawing above of the 45 minute pose was the most challenging. I spent a lot of time reworking the legs. I rubbed them out and redrew them at least 3 times. You can still see the various different positions the legs went through. The first attempt had them positioned way too low and out of proportion of the rest of the body. Still not sure they're correct but it's good to push myself.

My favorite drawing of the night is number 5. It's a great pose and I really wanted to get it right. Would have liked to have had more time on this pose. I would like to get some larger paper for my next class and maybe try using some charcoal again to loosen up my line work.

Life Drawing

 

Finally found a local life drawing class. Went along for the first time this evening. I haven't done any life drawing in a few years and it feels great to be doing it again. The class was only 2 hours but I feel I got some great drawings from that short amount of time. There was some 5 minute sketches but they aren't included above as my camera couldn't pick up the light line work very well. My personal favorites are the first drawing with the model lying back. It was a really nice pose and came out really well for a 10 minute drawing. I also enjoyed the final drawing above which was a full 45 minute pose so plenty of time to work on the proportions and shading.

Girl In The Fireplace Poster

Here is my poster for my fave episode of Doctor Who, The Girl In The Fireplace. Spent a while today working on the portrait's of both the Doctor and Renette so they would match the quality of the android. I decided I would keep pushing to get this finished and add the other elements. I cheated a little bit with the fireplace. My original version just looked shit. I also realised I should make more of a feature of the clock  that sits on the fireplace. I created a new larger element for the cracked clock face which is also an important plot point in the episode. It makes for a great center piece as anything circular usually does. Once I had that positioned it was much easier for me to place everything else. The poster could still do with some tidying up. I'm not sure what to do with the bottom edge of the portraits. They look very rough in their current form. Maybe I'll stick a soft opacity gradient on it and be done with it. I'd love to add a title and find a nice font too but for now I just want to share the image as it is. Think I'll go watch an episode of Doctor Who now...

Kayleigh

Digital Painting - 3 hours

I finally got around to doing this portrait of Kayleigh. I promised to do it months ago but had never found the time to sit and do it. I decided to use my wacom tablet for this pic which I found to be a struggle trying to get a nice blend and softness. I always find myself missing the feel of a pencil on paper or a paintbrush on canvas. I still need to find that more painterly style when using the tablet. I really want to just do some simple sketching tomorrow.

Masquerade Android

I got really into this painting. Took a few hours to complete but I couldn't stop once I started. The colours and lighting really work well and makes for a really pleasing image. The sketchy blue background line was only a sketch for proportion and placement but it seemed to naturally work into the final image. I'll be looking to put the poster together next with the different elements.