A Little Figure Drawing for late May

Houston again. Another photoshoot for DR. More super-top secret machines.

I’ve been drawing a bit more than usual lately. Which is still not as much as I used to… but it’s a start. After a few less-than-satisfactory results in the inking department over the past few days, I put aside the cartoony stuff from the last post—needed to give it a little breathing room. In its stead, I started in on an online figure drawing workshop over at CGTalk. Just for practice.

It’s been a while since I’ve completed a fully rendered graphite drawing. Probably since college, actually. It’s been kind of frustrating that most of my freelance illustrations have had timelines and budgets that all but prohibit that type of laborious process. Or maybe I just need to be faster.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about they way in that I have been making images. There’s the slapped-together-instantly-gratifying nature of the photo and paint collage contingent. Then there’s the fast and loose brushed ink, textured background, and crackled printouts. But to date, I don’t think there’s been anything quite as satisfying as seeing an image develop under the point of a pencil.

Back to the CGTalk figure drawing workshop. RebeccaK, who is leading the workshop thread, asked if I wouldn’t mind putting together a traditional shading tutorial… so perhaps I shall! Now if I can just figure out exactly WHAT I’m doing in that respect… I’ll write it down.

Things I’ve learned lately:

• Dixon Ticonderoga 3H wood pencils art still a bit soft for some detail work.
• When meeting friends for a bike ride on Angel Island, don’t be late for the ferry.
• The extra few inches of clearance in the airplane exit row makes ALL the difference in the world.
• Alton Brown is my new hero.
• The Marriot Courtyard has a mighty fine breakfast setup