Speeding up

I just started my 7th sketch pad (or, more grandly, visual art diary). Adding in pages I've drawn outside these, I've filled something like 440 pages in the past 3 years. That only averages out at around half an hour of drawing a day. Most of what I've read about getting good at anything indicates I'll need to up that to something more like 2 or 3 hours, if I'm serious about developing.

That said, I've drawn more in these past few years than the previous 32 years put together, so I'm allowing myself a little pride, for improved effort if nothing else :) And nothing breeds quantity better than statistics, so I'm sure my latest pad will be full in no time!

Then and now

Sometimes (OK, often) I find myself doubting there's been any improvement in my outputs. I wonder if the (admittedly meager) commitment of time I make to drawing actually moves me towards a skill level I'm proud of. And then I accidentally see an old effort and a new one side-by-side, and realise that I've made some definite positive steps.

Here's a comparison between a Kate Beckinsale drawing I did July '07 and one I just finished:

The week so far

After a very productive day of drawing last Wed, I nearly let things slide again, but Mon night I did another couple of hours, and I'm about to start hour 2 for today. Mostly I'm just drawing quick sketches from my pool of reference material, rather than committing to any one detailed picture. I'm happy with the results so far, and enjoying the variety. Here's a selection:

Scream

I'm really pleased with how this turned out. My results have been a bit mixed lately, so it's nice to have a drawing fall out easily.

Some more sketches

August

I still need to work out the best settings to clarify my scans, as the old s/w I used died completely last month... The tablet-drawn pic shows clearly though!

More collages

I haven't been drawing anything too detailed the past few months, but I thought it was time for me to at least show off a sample of my output from June and July:

Felicia Day

Inspired by watching The Guild S1 and S2 last week, as well as a re-watch of Dr- Horrible. Turned out OK I think.



Here's the pic it's based on.

More shading

I was trying a different technique with this one, and it didn't work quite as well as the previous two. I think the unshaded version is probably best (would have been nice to know that a hour earlier, and I could have left it as it was!).

Salma Hayek

An all-digital effort, which turned out really well:

Dark and smiley

I've traditionally been scared of ruining the "perfection" of my line art, meaning that my shading has been hesistant at best. Which is exactly why I bought my digital tablet. Below is the result of actually using some dark shades, and I think it gives me heaps of scope for treating my initial drawings as just a starting point.

Faces

As much as I love drawing women, it was time for a change, so here are this morning's efforts:

Heroes

Another (I think) successful likeness:



I've spent 9 hours drawing since yesterday morning, and (un)surprisingly the result is a steady improvement in consistency and accuracy. Who'd have thought that doing more drawing would make one's drawing better...

Another collage

A small selection of my recent output:

The comic begins

Here's a little teaser of my in-progress comic (this is part of the cover art). Working title: "Krafty vs Sizza and Knotz".



All suggestions or requests for story or art welcome! Sometimes my own creativity and motivation aren't enough on their own :)

Nervous

I'm really happy with how the hand turned out in this one:

Alyson Hannigan

Not quite as successful, but still an OK picture:

Jessica Alba

Really pleased with how this one turned out:

Lost

I've been doing lots of rough sketches lately, but wanted to target some more likenesses. While I was too lazy to fill in the hair, I'm pretty pleased with this one:

Mixed bag

I did lots of drawing yesterday, so here are a few highlights from this month to celebrate:



It's nice not being afraid of drawing hands anymore, gives me much more flexibility about the pictures I take on.

Just chillin'

Getting angry

I wasn't aiming for a comic style with this, but it looks just like a John Byrne rip-off (ahem, homage) from my high school years.

Action!

In preparation for my upcoming adventure comic, a little taster:



Disclaimer: No comic actually upcoming...

Loss

I think this captures an emotion really well. Exactly what the emotion is... that's up to you :) I've gone for "loss" as the title suggests, but happy for other suggestions.

Basketball

A very rough sketch that I think worked well capturing an action pose.

Quantity

Nothing very different in this set, so I thought I'd group the varied results as a single image. This has a mix of electronic and pencil, see if you can pick which are which :)

Allison Mack

Commemorating the fact that I watched Smallville S1-7 in less than 4 weeks, and that my favourite character was undoubtedly Chloe, I think this may be my best likeness ever:

Sitting

I hadn't drawn anything with pencil this year, so thought I'd go back old school:

Neve Campbell

Still not a great likeness, but shows more of what's capable with my tablet. It's one of 14 pics I've drawn the past 2 days, so using the tablet as a motivational tool continues to work.

Compilation

Before the heatwave I'd been doing lots of drawing, and was finally able to return to it yesterday. Here's a compilation of some pre- and post-summer efforts:

A taste

Some experimenting with using a "paintbrush" rather than a "pencil" for shading. Worked out quite while, I think.

Face

I've done a bunch of rough sketches via the tablet - I've spent about 15 hours using it since Friday - but this is definitely the best of them:

A new drawing tool

I've actually wanted a graphics tablet since before I ever had a computer (so for at least 20 years). I made a deal with myself that if I did enough drawing over the course of December I would buy myself one, and 50+ hours counted as "enough" so here is my latest gadget addition:



and the start of the first drawing I've attempted with it:



I was a bit nervous that it was going to end up a white elephant, taking up desk space, but it's been surprisingly easy to use, and I think will result in more, better and more varied artistic efforts from me in the coming year. Maybe even some colour!