Drawing A Horse

Alright, I think that out of all the drawings I did for this project, this one was my favorite to draw. The horse section of this book is the longest of all the animals at four pages long, but once I started, I found that it was the easiest drawing to do of the ones in this book. The 6 Week Drawing Couse book that horse are an excellent subject because you can see many of their muscles (Barber 106). I got the chance to be very close to the horse and have it tethered so that it was very still for the most part. Barbers book states that you should get the main shape down as quickly as possible (108). So I did that, and to not keep the horse out in the cold too long, I skipped taking a picture of the first sketch.

But I’m very proud of how this drawing ended up, and would love to draw a horse close up again.

What do you think I could have done to improve? I attempted the cross hatch shading recommended by Ansleigh Coplin, and I think it turned out okay, but what do you think?

Barber, Barrington. 6-Week Drawing Course: a professional programme for artists.
     Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2014.

Drawing a Zoo Animal

Now, most people don't go to the zoo with the sole intention to draw. Most go to just look at all the animals and maybe take pictures. For this section of the book, I got the opportunity to go to the zoo with the sole intention of drawing. And I have to say that the next time I go to the zoo, I'm definitely bringing along my drawing pad. My chosen book 6 Week Drawing Course by Barrington Barber states that is you go places like a zoo you "usually have limited opportunity to move about much and you may not have a wide choice of viewpoint" (110). This was very true, especially around the more popular animals, which coincidentally were the easiest animals to draw, like the giraffes, lions, bears. So after roaming the entire zoo for an animal with less of a crowd, I settled for a penguin. This was one of the more difficult drawings because, not only was there a sizable crowd at the penguin exhibit, but I was also drawing them from a bit of a distance. I took a picture before it got even more crowded and I needed to walk away from the exhibit to get out of the way.

While I was forced to move away, I had been able to get down the basic shape of the penguin, which was alright, because as Barber states, "detail is less important that with domestic animals"
(100).

Then, going off of the picture, I got most of what I still needed to complete the drawing.

What could I have done to improve this drawing? Please give me any feedback down in the comments.

Barber, Barrington. 6-Week Drawing Course: a professional programme for artists.
     Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2014.

Drawing a Bird

Personally, I've never like drawing birds. There aren't many near my house, and any that are near are about the size of my palm and are still for only a few seconds, which makes it very hard to get their rough shape. When I saw birds in  6 Week Drawing Course, I was hoping I could just skip over it. But while I was doing the drawing for the next post, I had an opportunity to draw a bird so I decided to follow what the book said on drawing birds. The book states that " although they aren't often motionless, they have fairly straightforward shapes and can be drawn quickly" (Barber 100). Since I was already at the zoo for my zoo animal drawing, I headed over to the avian section and found a bird called the spur-winged lapwing and took a photo, even though the book states that " Taking a quick look and remembering what you saw is a very good discipline" (Barber 100).

I quickly sketched out the rough shape of the bird, with the only really noticeable movement being the leg.

Since there were a few of the birds, I was able to get the markings down with relative ease.

I think with a bit more practice I could learn to love drawing birds. What do you think about drawing birds? Or do you have a way that I could improve my drawing? Please let me know, I'm always looking for feedback.

Barber, Barrington. 6-Week Drawing Course: a professional programme for artists.
     Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2014. 

Drawing Candid Animal Poses

For my final blog post, I have decided to recreate an old photo of my dog in a candid state. Candid, for those who do not know, in the photo sense is when a photo taken informally and without the subject knowing.

Hammond shares her opinion on how art and emotion go hand in hand and that candid poses can showcase the personality of your pet and prevent your art from becoming dull and boring (80). I agree with Hammond in the sense that I love to take photos of my pet, but she does not always like to be photographed. I have some of the most funniest and cutest photos of my dog trying to get as far away from me as possible when I pull my phone out.

Throughout this section of the book, Hammond displays different candid animal sketches she had done through the past. There are humanlike poses, enthusiastic movements, viewer involvement, and playtime.

The type of candid photos of my dog I will be recreating is that I personally enjoy. Out of the four displays Hammond showcased, I will be recreating photos that are humanlike and enthusiastic.

Hammond states in her humanlike poses section about the Pug she drew, "To me, this pug looks like a distinguished old man" (80). This solidifies her point on how recreating candid photos can express a certain type of emotion, in this case, the emotion was humor.

In her section on enthusiastic movement, Hammond draws a dog with his tongue sticking to the side and pure joy in his eyes. You can tell feel that emotion despite not being in that moment through his facial expression.

In this photo of my dog, Hiwakea, she's not even looking at me, or paying attention to the fact that I'm right in front of her. Her eyes are focused to something out of the picture and that I can only assume was another dog, cat, or something that she'd like to chase and eventually catch.

  

Being a husky, she feels more in her element outdoors when the temperature is colder or, in this case when there's snow around.

A person that does not know her at all can tell through her eyes that she wants to just play or do something active, at least by the look of eagerness in her eyes.

Now this next photo can be arguably one of the best photos I have ever taken of my dog. This picture was very tricky to draw because of the many different things going on in the photo, like the look of confusion in her eyes and the may fur lines. I had done my best to recreate it, but ended up not doing so great.

 

I really hope you can feel the emotion that she's emitting. You can believe me when I say she made the same exact facial expression when I showed her the drawing of her.

What do you think of the emotions shown in the drawings above? Did you like them? Did you not? Let me know! Thank you to all that commented!

Love, Jadenne and Hiwakea.


Hammond, Lee. Drawing realistic pets from photographs. North Light Books, 2005.

Drawing the Body Shape of a Cat

In this blog post, I have decided to draw the shape and facial features of a cat as a comparison for two things; my drawing post on the body of dogs, and my first blog post.

My first blog post included a drawing of a cat from Japan named, Hana. Here is a my drawing of the cat from the post as well as a comparison of the drawing to the original photo:

 

As you can see in this drawing, it's a lot more sloppier and more hesitant. The blending isn't all that great as well as the shading. In this next photo of another cat from Japan named Ura, you can see a major difference.

 The photo on the left is the base I started off with to draw Ura. 

I find that Japanese cats, especially ones with large pupils and eyes are the easiest to draw for me because photos capturing them mainly focus on their facial expressions rather than their fur markings.

Going onto the topic of the base used for Ura, you can see a major difference in the base I drew for my Siberian Husky. According to Hammond, "A cat has a very round contour" she continues, "Some of the most common shapes in an animal are the sphere, the egg, the cylinder, and the cube" (53). As you can see in the picture of the rough base, I made Ura's head an oval like shape, and the rest of her body roundish.

Hammond has talked about the differences cats and dogs have before, saying that their shapes differ in the way that cats are more eggish and dogs are more boxy (67). Only after drawing a dog then a cat did I truly realize how different their shapes truly were. This made me realize that learning to draw more than one animal would help me in the future.

Do you agree with me? That learning to draw more than one animal body shape will benefit drawing other animals in the future?

The purpose of my inclusion of my first blog post was to reflect back on how I drew only a couple months ago, versus now. I'd like to say I see a major difference, do you?

Hammond, Lee. Drawing realistic pets from photographs. North Light Books, 2005.

Drawing the Basic Body Shape of a Dog

In all my previous blog posts, I have only drawn the face of my subject, Hiwakea. There was only one attempt of me trying (and failing) to draw part of her body. However, Hammond has a specific section in her book dedicated to drawing the shape of a dog, cat, reptilian, and even rodents!

It peaked my interest to see that cats and dogs have different outlines when drawing them. Hammond compares the two animals and implies that dogs are more angular, whereas cats are more round (67).

In her section on cats and dogs she provides examples of how the two differ, a cat having more of a egg shape whereas a dog is more pointed. Hammond states, "Dogs, however, are more muscular than cats and that makes them generally boxier in shape" (67).

The way I see it, when outlining a dog and its basic shape, using rectangular structures make it easier to add in details like fur and markings.

Do you think there are other methods to outline a dog when drawing?

This evidence made me worry less on having the perfect shape of Hiwakea. I learned to use a rough foundation and to build from there by adding details to their facial features, body, fur, and background. I then began to build up the tones and blend them together as well.

As you can see, there were parts of my pup that were lighter, or were darker than most of her fur. Doing this portrait took lots of shading, blending, and erasing when I put too much on the paper.

Adding parts of her like her tail and her belly that were furry were also a challenge in itself, due to the fact that it needed to stand out, but not to harshly. Looking at the finished drawing below, you can see parts of her body like her tail that I tried my best to replicate real fur.

Side by Side comparison. The original photo features the model Hiwakea, and my little sister

Hammond, Lee. Drawing realistic pets from photographs. North Light Books, 2005.

                  

Drawing a Cat

Quick, which is easier to draw, a dog or a cat?

Now, this would be a pretty split question. Some people say because dogs can be trained to stay still, they would be easier to draw. Some say that because cats sleep more they are easier to draw. Then fur length becomes a factor, with most cats having longer fur. But the same could be said about most dogs, examples include Golden Retrievers, Pomeranians, and other long haired breeds. Personally I think they are both semi-difficult, with the cat being slightly easier. Because as Barrington Barber said in the 6 Week Drawing Course book "Domestic cats are very useful models as they are very somnolent - most sleep for about 16 hours a day"(101). The section of drawing cats says to draw the main shape of the pose very simply and add heads and legs to that (Barber 101).

So first, I found myself a cat to draw.

 

I kept her in the same spot by playing her favorite show and drew the basic shape.

Luckily for me, she stayed put and in mostly the same position as I added details so I was also able to add shading along with her markings.

So what should I have done to improve? Add some color? What could I have done to make it more detailed?

Barber, Barrington. 6-Week Drawing Course: a professional programme for artists.
     Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2014.

Drawing the Face of a Dog from Pictures

As stated in my previous post, the motive for wanting to draw realistic animals was to focus on drawing my Siberian Husky, Hiwakea!

Using about three different photos, I tried to recreate her as best I could. Showcasing my failed attempts is to let you know that as a reader it takes time to draw something, and you have to work up to drawing that something. 

Attempt #1                                                             Attempt #2                                                           

  

Attempt #3 

 

The first step to drawing the face of a dog according to Hammond, is to check the accuracy of the line drawing (31). The impact on doing so made my sketch of Hiwakea more accurate and to scale to the original photo, as shown above. 

Hammond also states, "Carefully study      

each of the facial features and memorize 

their characteristics as you go." (30).  

A crucial part in drawing a photo of a dog 

is to capture its emotion and one way to do 

so is through its eyes. 

I agree with Hammond with saying that 

emotions are seen in animals through their

characteristics, do you believe there are 
other ways emotion can be distinguished in 
art? 

In the photo of Hiwakea to the right, you can see
that in her eyes that she seems to be focused and
strong. However, the seemingly slight smile she
gives with her mouth says that she can also be
playful.  

The second step to drawing the face of an animal is to
add tone and the final step is to blend. In this photo up close, you can see the layered individual pencil strokes and how it blends out. Near her mask, or the crown of her head, I smoothed out the harsh coloring. The fur looks thick because of the many layers I have drawn and blended with my tortillon. Since my dog has what I like to call eyeliner around her eyes, it paints her as serious or more guarded.  

Hammond, Lee. Drawing realistic pets from photographs. North Light Books, 2005.

                                                                                                

Drawing a Dog

Ask most people and they will agree that drawing can be difficult, and drawing living things even more so. Personally I disagree, because I have always found it much easier to draw animals as apposed to things that don't move. There is more room for imagination in animals with so many positions and designs to choose from, which is probably why they are used more in cartoons.

The "6 Week Drawing Course" book by Barrington Barber is a book that goes over how to draw many things, including still life and its branches, landscapes, animals and portraits/figures. But I'm going to be focusing in on the animal section. It covers birds, cats, dogs, farm life, horses, zoo life, and herds. The book states that "...you need to make a conscious effort to draw only what you see"(Barber 17). This is essentially saying that it is best to have what you are drawing right in front of you.

The first thing from the book I will be drawing is a dog, the breed being a miniature pinscher. If I had access to other dogs I would have drawn them as well. The book states that you should "... draw the main shape simply at first and add detail in the time you are given" (Barber 103). It also has  these pictures as an example.

 

First I hunted down my dog while he was mostly asleep so he wouldn't move much, and I began to sketch him down.
Here is the position

                                                      The sketch looked like this.            

 

Then I added more detail until I was satisfied with the product.

If you had done this drawing, what might you have changed? Should shading have been added? Let me know any thoughts in the comments.

Barber, Barrington. 6-Week Drawing Course: a professional programme for artists.
     Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2014.

Drawing Realistic Animals From Photos

Drawing in general is a controversial topic in itself, but drawing realistic things? Animals, especially? How could someone capture every single detail, from the wetness of a dog's nose to the scales of a goldfish? My strong suit in the drawing department is cartoonish, and so realistic drawing seems so out of reach.

The ability to draw, I feel is subject to person. Some people count sketching as drawing, some do not. One thing that people can agree about drawing however is that, if you put emotion behind your art it will shine through.

In this guide on Drawing Realistic Pets From Photographs by Lee Hammond, Hammond expresses the connection between emotion and art. "Artwork is always more inspirational when you are in love with your subject matter." (7.)

Hammond's statement stood out to me through the motivation behind choosing this guide. That motivation would be to draw my own dog, a Siberian Husky puppy named Hiwakea. I agree that using emotion behind artwork makes it easier to accomplish.

Do you agree with Hammond and I: is emotion is the foundation for the motive and inspiration of artwork?

Hammond introduces the use of graphs and how useful they can be. Useful in the sense of proportion - size of the ears, eyes, nose - and for later on shading and blending. The squares isolate the different shapes of the animal, making it easier to emphasize and define. Hammond claims using grids serves as a base for the mentioned techniques. (20). This is Hana the Japanese Cat and my use of graphs.

Hammond, Lee. Drawing realistic pets from photographs. North Light Books, 2005.

Give Your Bae a Swan Towel Animal For Valentines Day!

Not sure what to give your significant other for Valentines Day? Don't settle with a meaningless box of chocolates, why not give them a swan towel animal instead! They will be in awe of your talent and effort to break the boundaries of a standard Valentines gift. From my experience from reading Holland America Line Towel Creations, I will be demonstrating the steps and instructions on how to make this easy towel creation!


For materials, you will need a large 30 x 50 in. towel and a medium sized 17 x 28 in. towel in order to create this towel animal. Additional accessories like googly eyes or decorations I would recommend to your towel creation, but its not necessary.


1st: For this step I recommend you have a hook attached to a wall so that this step can result in a more accurate towel fold. Either way, grab your large towel and "Latch the towel onto a support and tightly roll both sides of the towel to the center." (Holland 85)

2nd: Flip the towel over and grab the tip and fold it around 3/4s backwards (Holland 85)

3rd: Grab the very tip of the towel and curve it (Holland 85) to form the neck and mouth of the swan

4th: Now get the medium sized towel from before and "Spread over towel over the bottom body and tuck two corners into the front of the body"

5th: Finally, "Pick the center up and put the rest underneath to make it stand" (Holland 85). Optional, add any decorations or googly eyes to your swan. If not, your all done!

As I come to a close with my blogs, my journey with creating cute and adorable towel animals was a fun yet challenging task. I would make towel animals for my own use or to bring joy to others, either way, I consider this my favorite hobby or activity I would do in my spare time. For this Valentines Day, my hope is that you create or give something meaningful and special to your loved ones. For this, I ask you what is your favorite activity/hobby?

Thank you for reading my blogs throughout this season!

Have a Great Day!

Janice Herrador

Holland, comp. Towel Creations: Holland America Line 40 Designs. Seattle, WA: Holland America Line, 2007. Print.

Hang On Through Finals With a Monkey Towel Animal!

Ever felt like you were at your maximum limits, that you just want to give up, that you have no motivation to carry on with life?

Welcome to finals season!
Is it just me or that I personally dread this time of the year. Test and presentations back-to-back with hours of preparation and studying, I'm going to need better motivation other than getting an A on my chemistry test (which I am barely passing that class anyway). So as we all brace for finals, why not take a break from studying by making a monkey towel animal based off my book Holland America Line Towel Creations! Recommended by Ms. Robison, I'll demonstrate the steps and instructions on how to create this monkey with ease.

Materials you will need for this will be a large 30 x 50 in. towel for the main body and a medium sized 17 x 28 in. towel to create the head for the monkey. Additional materials like googly eyes or fun decorations are optional but not necessary.

1st: You may have seen these steps in my previous blogs, but you will need to lay out your large towel and "Roll widthwise tightly into the center from both edges" (Holland 53) to form what looks like 2 burritos.

2nd: Fold your towel again in half so that the edges are together (Holland 53), but now it looks like 4 burritos clumped together!

3rd: Finishing up the main body, "Pull out the center of each roll to form the body" (Holland 53), then your going to need a clip or hanger that holds the body in an upright position.

4th: Now that your done with the body, lay out your medium towel  to fold it in half widthwise and then fold it in half again (Holland 53).

5th: Grab the corners of the towel and pull them down to the center of the towel (Holland 53), to form a triangle

6th: "Fold the triangle backwards, take the loose ends from each side of folded triangle and fold back" (Holland 53). Almost done!

7th: Wrapping this up (see what I did there), "Shape the side with the flaps into the mouth and place the head on the body" (Holland 53). When I placed the head between the hands, it would fall out of place, so i recommend using a clip to hold the head in place. After that, your done!

Big tasks or assignments can take a toll on your ability to learn or think after a long period of time, so it's important to take a breather once in a while. Anything from having a snack break or using 20 stress balls at a time, let me give you another alternate activity that will for sure clear your mind from stress. This works for me all the time, which makes me wonder why I have such a bad grade in Chemistry... Or ending up with piles of towel animals all over my room...
I want to ask you how you clear your mind from stress when you have big tasks coming up.

Have a Great Day Everyone!
Janice Herrador

Holland, comp. Towel Creations: Holland America Line 40 Designs. Seattle, WA: Holland America Line, 2007. Print.