Sketching The Sky

Often times when we are sketching the sky we want allusion of a smooth, subtle, flat sky that is glossy rather than seeing hard lines made by sketching. To create this smooth, glossy, flat sky you need to blend. Blending is key to creating this allusion. Charlie Bowater suggest not using a pencil unless you are really careful because pencil lines do not blend properly (78). I did try to use a normal lead pencil, as you can see from my swatch above, but it didn't blend properly. Where as when I used a graphite pencil, which is my bottom swatch,  it blended much easier.

Along with using the right tool, you should make swatches to get a feel for how you would want your sky. When you do your swatches, keep using the blending stick and add more scribbles as you need. With drawing clouds to use the same technique. You darken the areas around the clouds to define the tops of your clouds. Then you can also sketch the outline of your clouds as you can see from the image below my attempt at it. With practice you can get a better result, but this was my first attempt at it.

Bowater advises "using a smaller blending stick to continue witting away at the cloud shapes"(78). But I don't think that is that important, because there are other techniques to add more detail then having to use a smaller blending stick. But you can if you would like. I prefer making a darker outline and doing it; but you can do it either way. With these tips you can make a start to make a scene. because just clouds don't make much. Make sure when you do this you are using a kneaded eraser to help highlight and bring out edges. Using these tips and a little creativity you can have a very successful sky.
How do you draw your skies? What techniques work for you and do these techniques help to improve your sketches? 
Bowater, Charlie. Beginner's Guide to Sketching: Characters, Creatures & Concepts. 3DTotal Publishing, 2015.

Using Line Variation in Your Art

Drawing with patterns and certain shapes can help add element to your artwork. Not only does it add variation to the style of artwork you produce, adding patterns can actually make the process of drawing simpler. "Strengthening your manual dexterity will improve your confidence and ultimately appear in the quality of your marks" (Sherman 24). What Sherman means by this statement is, by using simple patterns and textures of lines in your artwork, you can overall improve in that skill.

On the right and left are examples of  textures and variations of lines shown in Playing with Sketches. To complete this exercise, I used some of the patterns shown in the book to make unique characters.

Sherman states, "You will have the endurance to maintain a consistent line quality and the flexibility to easily change your line work, bringing variety to your image," (24). Overall, this exercise was simple and fun. Those who want to add variety to there artwork should try incorporating line variation.

Do you think using different line textures/variation makes art more interesting? 

Bicknell, Sarah. Sherman, Whitney. Playing with Sketches. Beverly, Rockport Publishers, 2014.

Using Other Senses to Draw

Blindly drawing is a very difficult task, it involves using all senses except for site to draw. Whitney Sherman states"Use the same technique to to take your mind away from what you think an object should look like and allow your hand to freely interpret shapes," (116). While drawing without looking, you have to use your memory to make something presentable.

Above, is the example shown in Playing with Sketches. The book used lettering rather than just normal drawing, however, since I am looking to improve my drawing skills, I chose to blindly draw.

Drawing from memory, while being very difficult, helps you gain a better understanding of the object you are drawing. "When looking at shapes we readily know, such as letter forms or faces in a slightly rearranged formations, we can observe new relationships in the imagery" (Sherman 116). Overall, I would recommend this exercise to anyone who like to gain a better understanding of a certain object like a face. Personally, while doing this exercise I close my eyes and do not lift my pen/pencil.

Do you think drawing an object blindly can help you draw that object overall better?

Bicknell, Sarah. Sherman, Whitney. Playing with Sketches. Beverly, Rockport Publishers, 2014.

Sketching Reflective Surfaces

Sketching reflective objects can be hard. But knowing the basic techniques of reflection can help enhance your sketches and take them to a new level. To know how to draw these shinny objects you need to know the basics of reflecting before mastering it. Charlie Bowater suggests knowing your environment and where the light hits your object (80). I agree with this suggestion because knowing you environment helps you to know where and how you would draw your reflection. For example I drew a metal shield; for the environment I drew a sun to symbolize the light coming from the top, along with two rectangular objects, one dark rectangle and one light rectangle.

Now with that environment, you determine the effects of your environment on our object. For example the sun in the middle would reflect a very shinny light, causing the center of your shield to be very light. The side with the dark rectangle would have a dark reflection, and would cause that side to be darker. Where as the side with the lighter rectangle would have a lighter reflection. As you can see from the picture below I have arrows indicating how this part of the environment effected the metal shield.

Beside the environment effecting the object, there are other factors that can effect the the object's reflection. According to Bowater " the consistency of your surface will have the biggest impact on the reflection" (80). Which is quite true because if your object it circular or has rounded edges you have to take those factors under consideration when you think about how your environment and the impact it has on your object. Depending on the consistency, your reflections me change a bit to highlight certain parts. For example if your object is round the reflection would change a bit to capture the roundness of your object and the environment around the object. Or if you have a tube as your object and you are reflecting things off that tube you need to consider how the consistency of the tube will affect the reflections; the effects of the tube will have is  it will reflect your  environment to appear slimmer. Another factor you have to take in consideration is if your object it matte. If so then you object will have a blurred and softer reflection instead of being intense and the smaller details would get lost. Lastly, Bowater suggest you consider the form of your object, because your object will always reflect the environment around it but in different forms (80). Which is true, because when you draw a cube as I have done in the images below, you see the light reflects in in different areas and some sides of the cube are darker than others because light hits it in a different way. Where if I had a shinny sphere it would reflect everything around it, making the scene around the it crammed in the in the reflection.

By taking all these considerations and precautions will help you draw a successful reflective surface, that can help enhance the quality of your sketches.

What object do you find difficult to make reflective? And do you think these tip will help you draw reflective objects and make the process easier?

Bowater, Charlie. Beginner's Guide to Sketching: Characters, Creatures & Concepts. 3DTotal Publishing, 2015.

Sketching Curly Hair

When it comes to sketching curly hair most people dread it. Often people see them as hard to do and hard to get the look they want with them. But according to Charlie Bowater "if you understand how they work, it is a lot easier" (71).  To understand how they work you need to know how to draw them. First I started off with two vertical lines and added a wavy line down the middle. Now depending on how far apart and long you draw the lines will affect the width and length of your curl.  Also when doing this step make sure that the lines you draw are light because those lines are like the guidelines for sketching the curls. Then draw another wavy line a little below the other one.  After that connect the open parts and lastly, remove the guidelines and add detail.  Now when drawing curls variety is key. A tip from Bowater is "look at the hair and how it behaves, simplify, and then draw" (71). Using that tip you are going to have to change the width of your curls, make them slimmer or thicker, split and pull the curl together so the curls look more lively and bouncy as well as you get variety with the curls. As well as you will get a better understanding of how they work and how to add detail to your curls.

Finally when drawing a curly hairstyle, make the curls look natural when drawing the guidelines give it some flow and direction. Then draw the curls.

Bowater suggests that using this technique you can layer the curls one after the other (71). I have tried layering the curls using this technique but it is a little time consuming, though it does give you a better results then what I have tried before.
What techniques help you draw curly hair and do you often dread drawing curly hair? 
Bowater, Charlie. Beginner's Guide to Sketching: Characters, Creatures & Concepts. 3DTotal Publishing, 2015.

The Benefits of Drawing With Your Non-dominant Hand

"Relying on my memory of forms, I challenged my unskilled 'other' hand to recall those shapes. The goal was not to get better at drawing with my non-dominant hand, though in short order I could see improvements. The goal was to see my accidents, memorize them ... and overall look of my artwork," (Sherman 68). According to Sherman, as difficult as using your non-dominant hand is, it can be very useful for recognizing your stylistic mistakes and common mess ups you make in your artwork. Below are some examples of art shown in the book that compare and contrast dominant and non-dominant hand drawings.

"By using your non-dominant hand, you will discover a new language for your line and form," (Sherman 68). To attempt this activity I used my left hand to draw a person, like shown in the book. Although this exercise is about improving mistakes rather than just learning to draw in certain way, I was pretty impressed with what my left hand can draw.

I would highly recommend others to try this activity if they have basic drawing skills (because is will admit, this is a lot harder than normal drawing). I definitely enjoyed drawing in a new way, so I will likely try this again.

My question is, Do you guys think using your non-dominant hand to draw, can help you improve your artistic skills?

Bicknell, Sarah. Sherman, Whitney. Playing with Sketches. Beverly, Rockport Publishers, 2014.

Learning The Basic Fundamentals of Sketching: Using Basic Shapes

Ever since we are little, we learn how to draw; though it may not be the best we still draw and sketch. Sketching and drawing are some of the ways we show our creativity. Using my creativity, I have decided to learn how to sketch. With sketching there are a few fundamentals that play a role in order to create various types of drawings. Most of those fundamentals have to do with shading. As Charlie Bowater in the Beginner's Guide to Sketching says " Light patterns, such as objects having light and shadowed areas, help when creating the illusion of depth on paper. Since you have your pencil in your hand, you can decide what other people see" (19).  When working with basic shapes and learning light patterns and shadowed areas have a big impact on how your sketch will turn out. With your creativity you can chose with what you would like people to see. I will take you through some of the fundamentals of shading using the basic shapes. First I drew a circle, oval, and square.

 Starting with basic shapes helps because you can make many variations and combinations. With these basic shapes you can elevate them into a sphere, cube and cone. When sketching Bowater recommends not use to much pressure (18).  Sometimes we have a tendency of putting a lot of pressure while we are trying to draw something out which can become hard to fix if you make a mistake while drawing.

Now as you can see in the pictures above I started with minimal pressure until I was done with sketching out my shapes and was pleased with my final shapes. From there start the basic fundamentals of shading. From the step above I went on to shade in my shapes. But before I shade I had to chose where I would want to highlight. Now highlighting is where the light hits your shape and those areas are the brightest. Once that decision was clear I started to shade in my shapes while making sure the areas I want the light to hit are brighter/lighter than the rest of my shape. With that came cast shadows. Because once you are done highlight/shading you want to know where the shadow of you object would lay. Cast shadows is an important feature because it can help make you object look as if it were actually placed on top of something and give it more of a 3-dimensional shape. I would recommend when you do this step to sketch out how you would like your shadow then shade it in. As Bowater states "the further a cast shadows is from the object which it casts it, the lighter and less defined the edges look" (19).  Using what Bowater said helps make that shadow of your shapes look more like a shadow than a mirror image.  The last fundamental is reflecting light. It is similar to highlighting and closely related. With reflecting light you take the the areas you would like to highlight and lighten it up making it seem more natural.

As you can see you can take an eraser and erase the small areas where the light reflects the most. You only want to erase small areas because the area around it have to gradually get darker making it so the light is focused on a specific area. Now with that said you can also erase edges as well were the light reflects as I did to the cube.

Using all those fundamentals that was my product.

 Do you agree with Bowater that you can make people see what you want them to see using shading techniques?

 Bowater, Charlie. Beginner's Guide to Sketching: Characters, Creatures & Concepts. 3DTotal Publishing, 2015.

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.

Using Common Materials in your Artwork

"This exercise is an adaptation called the Exquisite Corpse... the drawing is constructed using sticky notes... Using them spurs collaboration and promotes healthy competition... As the drawing grows, so does the opportunity to grow the drawing's complexity," (Sherman 54). This artistic exercise is based on a group of people working together to add to an art piece. In this exercise you and others add a sticky note and add to the artwork that was there previously. Here, below, are some examples shown in the book.

 The book states that this activity is commonly done by "inviting friends or colleagues," (Sherman 54). However, In this activity I decided not to work with others, but by myself, (since the purpose of reading these books is to boost our personal skills), So I added a sticky note each day and added to the art I had made the previous day. Overall I feel this activity was nice to try, and I did feel that this was abstract compared to the art I normally prefer to do.

I would highly suggest this activity to others if they wanted to attempt something other than their normal artwork. I feel many people could gain from this activity. So my question for you reading this blog post is,

Does working with others to make artwork help improve your artistic abilities?

Bicknell, Sarah. Sherman, Whitney. Playing with Sketches. Beverly, Rockport Publishers, 2014. 

Importance in Variation of Art

"When I started Art school, I had a Yale-trained drawing teacher, Micheal Economos, ... His reputation for hard work and relentless exercises  preceded him. Here is the first exercise, ... the one that made us mentally salivate for an organic shape to draw, the one that made me a better drawer," ( Sherman 20). The quote from the author above, speaks about special exercises using different types of line variation to create unique art and improve your skills as an artist. Here, below, are some of the examples shown in the book to give an idea of how people could use lines to make unique art.

 Overall, I think stepping out of your artistic comfort zone can be scary, but after you attempt an exercise like this, you may enjoy drawing more when there is a special twist to your drawing. As stated in the book, "this activity works to improve your skills," (Sherman 20). Personally, while I attempted this activity, I didn't see any improvement in my artwork, however it was a cool style of art to work with. I would highly suggest others to try this style of art or take on this type of activity.

Above, is my attempt at working with this artistic exercise. I used only lines in my artwork to fit in with the description of the exercise. Although this is not my favorite work made, I did highly enjoy trying a new type of style and attempting something I had never tried before.

Does trying different art styles (such as this one), improve your artistic abilities?

Bicknell, Sarah. Sherman, Whitney. Playing with Sketches. Beverly, Rockport Publishers, 2014.

The Torso

The final piece of the series before I finally draw the whole body: the torso. The base of the body, where everything comes back to. Though not the most acknowledged region of the body, it's the most vital one.

Torsos are perhaps the most diverse region of the body among humans, coming in all shapes, sizes, and variations. The general torso for a male is built and muscular, yet not overly buff, and the general torso for a female is slim but curvy. Though these are not the builds most typical people possess, they're most commonly seen in drawings, which is what I'll be using.

I'll be drawing both a female torso, from the shoulders to the pelvis. The main reason I'm drawing a female torso is because the end product, a whole-body sketch, will be of a female, as I just personally find females easier to draw.

Here I'm just starting with a basic outline, specifically the shoulders and general torso area, as well as marking out where the chest ends in order to accurately shade it. Bridgman explains how "the masses of the torse are the chest, the abdomen or pelvis, and between them the epigastrium" (Bridgman 111). These are the three areas that will be concentrated on in the drawing!

I didn't use construction lines in this drawing, as I was rather scatterbrained and just started sketching from the photo. However, if I were to redo this drawing, I'd most definitely try to use construction lines, as I'm sure it would've given me and easier time proportioning the torso.

I added some slight alterations, but you can clearly see how this looks more realistic than just leaving lines on it. The drawing seems simple, but when just sketching (especially when you're learning how to sketch something), Bridgman strongly recommends that it's best to not overcomplicate it, and to gain a strong understanding of the basics before proceeding to add the microscopic details (Bridgman 65).

I didn't pay too much attention to the arms since that isn't our focus, and just tried to get the arms to look vaguely proportional to the torso. Another important tip is that the elbow generally will line up with the belly button, which will be helpful in my next blog post!

Have you ever had a situation where you overcomplicated something? Is it better to start out in slow steps or just dive right in?

Bridgman, George. Constructive Anatomy. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 2016. Print.

Gerbera Daisy

This is a new angle and much more detail to my last post (Shaded Daisy). This drawing used a lot of layers and overlapping. Both helped to achieve a unique perspective. For this drawing Holmes needed us to understand "how to create the illusion of layers so that parts of the drawing appear to be in front of or behind other parts"(64).

The process started with a small oval and florets I'm the middle. The book then instructed to add petals of different lengths and then added layers. This part was difficult because I felt the petals were not in proportion with the eye of the flower. They seemed either too small or too big or stubby in an ugly way. But I moved on to shading. Holmes instructed that the closer the petal is to the eye, the darker the shading should be (65). I finally added the stem to finish it off.

I was unhappy with the final piece. My obvious mistake was making my seed/oval too wide and not fixing it from the beginning. But one can always learn from their mistakes. I also don't feel my shading was very good. Both of those took away the realistic look and the illusion of it being 3D. What would you have done differently? What changes would you make in terms of shading? 

Facial Features

Perhaps the most complex human body part to draw, and my personal weakness: the face. Some unknown aspect about the face makes it extremely difficult for me to draw, and all my faces end up looking unrealistically cartoon-like, unproportional, and 2-dimensional. I aspire to create faces that are realistic and can convey some kind of emotion or feeling to the viewer.

As usual, my medium of usage will be pencil, as it is, to me, the easiest medium to use. For novice artists, it provides good control, and you don't have to worry about selecting the appropriate colors and shades, but only focusing on the values used. Also, pencil is easily erasable, which is a feature I'm certain I'll be using quite thoroughly in this particular drawing. As Bridgman states in his book, when first sketching something that a person is uncertain or uncomfortable with, it's best to pick the medium they're most comfortable in. This provides a way of easing into the process without imposing too much of a learning curve (Bridgman 35).

As shown below, I started with something that many people have probably seen before. It's essentially a circle with a straight line down the middle, and then two lines curving from the sides of the circle to meet the end of the vertical line. This creates the basic face shape for a view of the face straight-on. However, if the face were at an angle, I'd curve the line towards the right or left. The vertical line serves as a helpful center line for the face, and helps with placement of the facial features.

Now, in this particular post I got a little too concentrated on drawing the face and didn't take pictures of the overall process. However, a tip that I have is to not dance around it. Don't nervously draw lines and contemplate if that one line is perfect! Just go for it and do what you think you need to do in order to achieve your desired result. There's no right or wrong place to start or finish.

Bridgman also explains how the facial features should follow the contour of the face. He exemplifies this when he states, "The shape of the mouth and lips is controlled by the shape of the jaw. The more curved the jaw in front the more curved the lips; the more flat it is, the straighter the lips" (Bridgman 106). In real life, there are certainly exceptions, and this is not meant as a generalization, but as a tool to utilize when drawing.

I personally decided to begin with the lips, as they seemed the simplest to draw. However, to my surprise, the nose was the easiest to draw. As expected, I spent the longest time on the eyes, simply because they held much more detail than anticipated. Once I looked closely at the photo I was using, I realized that a lot more detail goes into the face than I had previously thought. Everything, even the whites of the eyes, had shading, angles, and shadows. If I wanted it to be realistic, I needed to draw every detail I could find.

As for photo selection? If you're just starting out, I'd recommend a straight-on photo. This is typically how we envision faces, and you also won't have to worry about making the features protrude out or sink into the face, but simply showing this depth with varying values.

Overall, this is the finished product! I found that I'm quite satisfied with it, and that it's turned out much, much better than any other of my face-drawing attempts. Its not perfect of course, but it's quite a large improvement. The drawing probably took me a total time of four to five hours, from drawing the starting base to adding the final touches of shading. This clearly exhibits how time-consuming art can be.

However, I found that I strangely didn't mind it. For one, I was drawing something I actually enjoyed (the woman I drew is one of my favorite actresses), which helped quite a lot with the process. I actually had quite a bit of fun drawing this, and it was quite relaxing. I put on a TV show for some background noise (I personally cannot stand working in total silence), kept some snacks on hand in case I got hungry, and wrapped myself in a cozy blanket, and it created a very warm, comfortable experience.

Do you use art as a relaxation technique? Do you find that you draw better when you're passionate or inspired by something? Does your environment impact the quality of your work?

Bridgman, George. Constructive Anatomy. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 2016. Print.

Designing Beyond the Box

Design? Maybe the first thought that comes to mind is fashion or models on the runway powdered with dozens of different types of makeup and elaborate styles of clothing. Sure, simplistically thinking, but design applies to all fields such as; engineering, architecture, science, so much more and it’s not all related to designing fashion; art is another subject that requires that field.

In the book, Basic Watercolor techniques, the two authors (Greg Albert and Rachel Wolf) introduce the “Principles of Design” and start off with, “All good paintings are done on the basis of good design… A design is the blueprint or pattern for the painting” (48). This is very true for myself and I believe to be also true for many others. To me, a design is a sketch or the rough draft before the final outcome. I followed through with this idea with a sketch that I made of a woman;

Sketch

Watercolor

I then drew another sketch from the same idea, but I changed a few details and painted it over with watercolor. It was my first time employing the method of informal balance, “Most pictures are created with informal balance, one in which the elements aren’t mirrored top to bottom or side to side, as in formal balance” (Albert and Wolf 48). It was a new and exciting way to paint, and more importantly it was a very fun way to paint. It’s the concept that a human’s face isn’t that color, but when looking past of what’s in front you, the result is entirely different. The mindset of looking at the beyond and at the full spectrum of colors, helped me develop a new style for me to paint.

This type of informal painting made it more interesting and eye-catching, and it’s to realize that the formal style or what I call the straightforward-method is bland and boring. It also made me question the reality or what is really there. Then, a surprising and a somewhat humorous thought popped up in my mind when I was thinking about the fine lines of looking at the beyond, it was what Voldemort said from the series, Harry Potter, by the author J.K. Rowling, that unexpectedly fit and connected to my thoughts, "There is no good and evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it" (Rowling 211). Perhaps it isn’t about the topic of painting, but it fits the theme, that there’s more than just what you see in front of you,

 and to be creative is to look outside the box. 

Would you rather follow what’s in front of you or think outside the box?

Albert, Greg, and Rachel Wolf. Basic Watercolor Techniques. Cincinnati, Ohio: North Light Books, 1991. Print.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York City: Scholastic, 1997. Print.

Shaded Daisy

"Radial or Rotational balance is any type of balance based on a circle with its design extending from or focused upon its center" (Holmes 62). This term was like a part of a foreign language to me, and the technique itself newer. While the idea of it seemed helpful it was difficult for me to do in a rush. When it comes to drawing, I'm a perfectionist and at the moment I had nothing to make the perfect circle or have perfect lines. It was hell on Earth for me.

Okay not hell but it was very frustrating!

Then I used the lines as guidance for the petals

The result wasn't great. The object failed to have rotational symmetry which Holmes described as "an object that looks the same after a certain amount of circular movement around that objects center"(62). After sketching the daisy I shaded and added the stem. 

I wasn't completely satisfied with my drawing but I was till able to learn a new technique. Did you already know about rotational balance? What other objects might this be useful for?

Drawing a Face for the Absolute Beginner

        In my first post I explained how I wanted to be able to create my favorite characters. The struggles of being unable to express my appreciation for a character really frustrates me, but what is even more frustrating is not being able to draw said character in the first place. In this post I decided not to draw a specific character (in fear that it would turn out horrible, it'd be an insult to the original creator) but instead, establish how to sketch a head and facial structure by following the book Drawing for the Absolute Beginner by Mark and Mary Willenbrink and adding my own details to it. 

        We learned in my previous post that sketching basic shapes is a helpful tool to begin a drawing. Hence, I started by sketching the basic shape. "Start with the basic shape egg-shape of the head. It should be five eye-widths wide by seven eye-widths high" (Willenbrink 82). The Willenbrink's then suggested to add eye, nose, and mouth lines to guide you in drawing those features (Willenbrink 82).

        

        From here, I added all the details to the face. Since the book didn't have any hair or eye tutorials, I took it upon myself to figure it out. Again, sketching basic shapes immensely did help me. 

        This here is the final product I was best able to create. I did lots of readjusting the facial structure and lines and it didn't turn out as I had hoped. Hair was the most difficult feature for me to create. I can't say I was somewhat satisfied with this outcome, but I did learn that sketching basic shapes is a reoccurring technique that should always be used and that maybe I shouldn't attempt to draw my favorites just yet. What techniques have you guys learned that seem to be a reoccurring or important aspect to always keep on hand? 

        Willenbrink, Mark, and Mary Willenbrink. Drawing for the Absolute Beginner: A Clear & Easy Guide to Successful Drawing. Cincinnati, OH: North Light, 2006. Print.

Shaded Snail

Catherine V. Holmes writes,"Shading is one of the easiest ways to add depth, contrast, character and movement to your drawings"(41). The author recommends the use of a light pencil such as 3B, 4B, 5B, etc. But of course an HB pencil will be just fine as well. I used HB 2. The process started with a sketch of the snail shell:

  

When beginning the shading process Holmes says to pay special attention to glared and reflections on the snail, those are the lightest areas and should be left almost white. I made sure to press lightly as Holmes recommends "don't use the full darkness of the pencil so that areas can be erased..." . Throughout the process I always made sure to keep the value scale in mind, it is a crucial part of shading. This actually took longer than I thought, about an hour and I finally had a snail:

I feel blending was the hardest part of the process. Smudging is messy, but usually my approach. However, I feel it's just not right. What is your blending technique? 

The Inner Workings

Why does a body look the way it does? The answer is quite simple, really: because of what's inside the body. When you make a fist, the protrusions on the backs of your hands are caused by bones within the body; the lump on your bicep when you flex your arm is caused by the muscle under the skin, and so on. One of the key elements of drawing human anatomy is quite simple, yet nobody seems to think of it: the inner anatomy. Not just the exterior, what we see on the outside, but recognizing what is present and where it is on the inside.

Bridgman himself states that "the eye in drawing must follow a line or a plane or a mass...the line, in actual construction, must come first; but as mental construction must precede physical, the concept of mass must come first, that of plane second, that of line last" (Bridgman 7). What he is generally saying is that when actually drawing, the line will come first; however, when picturing what to draw, you must first know the mass of what you are drawing: to visualize the foot first in order to determine where draw your first line.

Instead of drawing a complete external view all at once, I will instead draw three separate drawings: one of the leg's muscles, one of the leg's bones, and one of the legs as viewed externally. By doing this, it will give me a much clearer understanding of why the leg is structured the way it is.

A very simple drawing. The main components here
are the femur (thigh bone) and the tibia/fibula (calf
bones).

Not forgetting what I learned from my last blog post,
I also used simple construction lines here to mark out
the placement of the knee and where the foot would
begin, as well as how long the femur and fibula/tibia
would be.

The bones are quite simple, and in this particular drawing, the muscles are of more importance, as it dictates what kind of dimension and shading we'll be applying to the leg. To clarify, I also purposefully started drawing the bones first, because it's the smallest layer of the leg. From there, I would build on it by drawing the muscles, and then the exterior of the leg.

I again start with construction lines, already noting that
the muscle drawing will be much thicker than the bone
sketch.

The completed muscle drawing, with labels to the
following muscles: rectus femoris, vastus internus,
sartorius, gracilis, semi-tendinosus, semi-membranosus,
gastrocnemius, and soleus.

It should also be noted that I purposefully chose not to remove my construction lines from the bone and muscle sketch, even though I will remove it from the final drawing. This is because those lines will help me to determine some of the contours of the actual leg, and will help show me where to put construction lines for the exterior drawing.

Even though this drawing by far doesn't depict every muscle in the leg, it still serves as a good guide in order to actually begin drawing a leg. When drawing the leg, Bridgman suggests dividing the lower limb into separate parts in order to focus on the unique aspects of each area, as opposed to just adding loose details to each area (Bridgman 138). I've personally chosen to divide the leg into three parts: the leg, knee, and calf. By doing this, it will help me concentrate on each part individually and to create an overall more detailed drawing.

Once again, I start off with construction lines, trying to
stay as close to the muscle sketch as possible in order to
maintain a similar size across all three sketches.

The overall completed leg! Instead of something like
my last post, I took a more realistic approach. It's a bit
difficult to see, but there was quite a lot of shading and
detail involved even though legs are rather simplistic to draw.

I chose to use a different drawing style for the leg, as the leg doesn't have as much detail as the hand does. I opted for a realism-oriented style. A major differences you'll notice is that there isn't an outline like in my previous blog post. This is because in life, there are no outlines; I've marked out the area of the leg by very lightly shading in all parts. In order to emphasize the leg muscles and bones and the shape of the knee, I've added shading to those areas to make shadows instead of leaving it as lines. For an extra touch, I also added a gradient shading from the back of the leg to the front, representing a light shining in front of the leg.

Even though the leg doesn't have as much detail as say, the face or the hands, you still have to take into consideration many things when drawing it. For example, the small, barely noticeable bump on the back of the knee, or how the heel comes slightly out at the bottom instead of just being a straight line. This is why knowing the inner structure of the body part you're drawing is so important: it helps you to correctly draw the basic structure of the body part. If the basic form of the body part is wrong, it throws the entire drawing off, even if you put the utmost detail into everything else.

Truthfully, I don't find myself completely satisfied with the end result, but I'm also not quite sure how to fix it despite spending quite a bit of time on it. As a whole, the three drawings probably took me about an hour each, resulting in a total time consumption of three hours, possibly more for the final drawing. Do you find that art is too time-consuming, or a good way to pass time? What do you think I could do to make it more realistic and lifelike?

Bridgman, George. Constructive Anatomy. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 2016. Print.