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.