Sketching Skaters

I've been falling greatly behind on my sketch practice of late, and haven't done any for probably two weeks.  This isn't to say I've not been doing art type stuff, just no sketching.  I should probably get back on it huh?  The art type stuff I've been doing I can't show until August, even when it's finished, which it isn't yet. It's digital, although I did do a prep sketch before I started, so that's something.  Before my sketching hiatus I bought Skate 3 (one of those new fangled video games). It has an in-game editor for editing videos and taking photographs, letting you move the camera around and capture just the shot you want.  Handy for sketching!  So I tried it.

Facing the Facts

I've not been practicing anywhere near as much as I should have over the past few weeks.  Those figures you saw in the last post?  Between the good and the bad that was about 80% of what I'd drawn, barring what now constitutes this post and the next.  That's just not really enough.  Yeah, I could come up with excuses (I was sick, I was working late, my son was being a pooper; all true BTW), but at the end of the day how hard is it to pick up a pen or pencil and draw something?  Right.

Random Pose Sketches #3 (May 2010)

I just realised that I opened two consecutive posts with "A couple of posts ago."  I realised this mostly because I was about to start this one the same way, and thought I may have done so before.  Clearly my head would currently be in the shed if I happened to own one.  Not in a drunk way, just in a way too much on my mind way.  Still, even with so much going on right now I managed to get some sketching done (and it's not that much if I'm honest, just a few high stress not that muches).  So it's time for a look at how much I suck rock.

Facing the Worst

A couple of posts ago I said I was too sick to draw anything.  This was true (at least I was too sick to draw anything and enjoy doing it), and to a degree it still is, but I've managed to get together the motivation to do a few small things.  One of those things was to pick an image that I not only would like to draw, but that I would like to draw on an occasional basis, and use it as a measure of my progression.  I picked an image, gave myself an hour to draw it, and set to work.

A Musing

A couple of posts ago I pondered why the small thumbnail I had at the top of the post looked human at all, given that it was just a series of sketched lines (I've included it again for good measure).  I stated that it was now possible to tell that the figure was in her birthday suit, and that this might offend people. So the question remains, why does it look human at all?  How can a series of black lines with minimal light and shade represent so definitively a female form?

The Best and Worst of Figure Drawing (Week 8)

And now, the end is near (and so I face the final curtain)...  Yup, the last week of figure drawing, bringing me, more or less, up to date.  OK, so it was a week ago last Friday, but I've been too sick to draw much since then, so there's not much else to cover until I do.  That said, I do have some ideas for a couple of posts to tide me over while I draw something else for your attention.

Random Pose Sketches #2 (April/May 2010)

This is the point where I have to wonder if this blog should go forward without some sort of warning on it.  For the first time I have images that are recognisable as humans with their kit off.  Now for me this isn't a big deal, you can see nude art pretty much anywhere (Statuary!) and (with some exceptions) I'm fine with even my Son seeing such things.
Other people are not so open minded regarding this sort of thing and may feel my feeble scribble of a boob and nipple is somehow going to convert their child, or even themselves, into a crazed deviant.

The Best and Worst of Figure Drawing (Week 7)

Last but one week of Figure Drawing (This time around anyway).  For this session our model wore a couple of costumes to make things more interesting, and also for us to practice our drawing of cloth and drapery.  The first outfit was something a dancer would wear during a practice or workout (I don't know what they're called to be honest, but tight fitting, 2 pieces...), the second was a fairy costume.  The first was difficult to draw with time constraints due to it being silver and black and having the word "DANCE" printed all over it: all things that do a good job of masking the folds and creases in the cloth.

The Best and Worst of Figure Drawing (Week 6)

I didn't attend Week 5.  Wanted too, couldn't, not crying about it :)
Did I mention that each week of this course had a "theme?"  No, well, they did.  Gesture, Rhythm, Attitude, Emotion, Costume.  This weeks was Attitude and Emotion, but as you can probably tell from the following I didn't do a great job of capturing either.  I was to busy struggling to make the figures look human to worry about making them look miserable (or happy, as the case may be).  Hopefully I mostly succeeded in the first aim at least.

Random Pose Sketches #1 (April 2010)

So week 4 of figure drawing didn't go so well, and I got home from that sorta depressed.  Cake and ice cream weren't helping, so I decided to try some hair of the dog that bit me.  No, not alcohol, more drawing!
One of my co-workers who also does the figure drawing thing (and just happens to be my boss) put me on to the awesome posemaniacs back during week 1 of the figure drawing, and this finally felt like the time to try it out.
These are the first couple of weeks worth of the results.  As usual, divided into the best and the worst (in my opinion).  No commentary today though, I think they speak for themselves.

The Best and Worst of Figure Drawing (Week 4)

It occurs to me that no-one is reading this blog.  Not yet anyway, probably not ever.  Oh, I know there's one person who reads it right now, and I guess it's for them rather than anyone who may come later that I'm going to keep writing it.
Why do I think no-one else is ever likely to read the thing?  Well, I figure there are three kinds of people in the world other than my current lone reader (She's my wife, by the way, hands off):

The Best and Worst of Figure Drawing (Week 3)

So, here we are at week three's coverage.  Before continuing though I suppose I should say a little about what this figure drawing lark is.  Once upon a time the company I work for had a figure drawing class every week.  I attended it to begin with (and I'll share some sketches from those sessions with you eventually, so you can see how much I back slid for yourselves), but eventually life got in the way a little and my attendance dropped off and then stopped.  Eventually the same happened for most of the attendants and so they stopped holding it.

The Best and Worst of Figure Drawing (Week 2)

Week 2 of figure drawing took an unexpected turn; I was far worse than during week 1.  This struck me as a little strange, and in retrospect I wonder if I was simply more relaxed and feeling less pressured during week 1.  Then again, I did experiment a little more in week 2, and had a new sketchbook, all of which could be factors conspiring against reasonable quality work.

The Best and Worst of Figure Drawing (Week 1)

So it took a while to scan images in from the Figure Drawing sessions I've been attending at work (I still have one left to scan).  It was an 8 week thing and finished last Friday, of those I missed one.  This post shows the first week.

I had considered only showing the best of the work that came out of the sessions, but since this blog is about my improving that seemed a little counter productive.  You'd see my work get better, but only my best work - better if you see the worse work improving too I think.  So, you get the best and the worst...