30 Minute Sketching - Using different grades effectively

30 Minute Art - Sketching
By Alwyn Crawshaw

Straight after positioning Crawshaw goes into the different gradients of pencils specifically the B grade pencils. Beginning with a 2B pencil "For this sketch I used a 2B pencil, which allowed me to draw some detail in the trees" (Crawshaw 18). In his second sketch he used a 3B pencil describing it to be much faster at making the sketch but at the cost of the quality of the sketch due to the use of a softer lead (Crawshaw 19). Replicating a drawing for the last time using a 6B pencil, "Because the 6B has a very soft lead it is not easy to draw detail, but it is easy to shade in areas quickly to create a simplified image" (Crawshaw 18). Instead of replicating a drawing three times, I opted to utilize all three of the pencil grades to effectively make a single sketch.

With the 3B pencil I was able to very effectively make a base structure with branches in slight detail.

Leading up with a 2B pencil I drew in some twigs, also fixing up the base structure to be much more detailed.

Finalizing the drawing I put some light shading on with a 6B pencil drawing in the light from the left.

I was extremely satisfied with this drawing up to now I believe this is the most improvement I have seen. Finding the difference in gradience has been probably the biggest eye opener to towards all types of drawing, as everything seems so much better using each separate pencil to improve my sketches. Coming this far I'd like to know how much you have learned not only from my posts but also in your own time from different books?

30 Minute Sketching - Styles/Techniques

30 Minute Art - Sketching
By Alwyn Crawshaw

Next I would like to talk about the different positions/styles that are available to sketch, and how to use them effectively. In order to use your pencil most effectively you're going to need to learn at least the three basic positions (Crawshaw 16). Crawshaw goes on to short detail of the three positions Short hold, Long hold, and Flat. In addition an eraser can help in the drawing process of sketching, as when shading an eraser can help lighten areas when needed (Crawshaw 16).

Testing out the techniques I started with a long hold using a 3B pencil to set out a base structure, base of the tree and the branches

After using a short hold I put a more definitive structure to the sketch, and making the twigs of the tree done with a 2B pencil.

To finish the drawing using a 6B flat hold pencil I added some shading.

I remember the times I used to sketch before this since then I would use a mechanical pencil and really only use a close short hold even for the shading. But in the last week I can say my skills in drawing have very much improved. Ending another I'd like to ask how much you've improved in skills and what has changed since then?

Drawing: Body

            For my last and final blog of drawing, I decided to go with the idea of my first drawing and draw another person. This time I decided to draw the body and not the face. I draw faces all the time, so i took it up a notch and drew a young girl who with our perspective has her back turned to us. The book The Usborne Complete Book of Drawing by Alastair Smith and Judy Tatchell, accompanied and navigated me throughout my process and journey of the piece I drew.
          The first thing I obviously need to draw is the outline of the body. In the book it states, "Begin your drawings of whole figures by marking a sketch of the body, using pencil. Start your sketch by drawing the rough shapes of the main body parts" (smith, Tatchell 10). In the drawing I first started with the basic shape of a head which is not circle but kind of like an oval. As I went along I drew the neck which will eventually be covered up and the the shoulders. The arms that I drew were not straight but they were slightly tilted inward as if she were holding her hands together. At first I drew her main body as a rectangle, lightly with a pencil before I added curves. The book gives very critical advice. Before i drew this piece I tried drawing a body before but it didn't turn out the way I expected because I tried drawing the clothes and everything, I didn't start out with the basics.
         The second and most important thing in my opinion is the stance or pose the body has. The stance of the girl I drew is with her back towards us as i mentioned before. The great tip that the book gave was that when they said, illustrating poses and proportions is exaggerating the drawing of the body. To emphasize the drawing, there can be different styles of clothes such as ones that are elegant  or comfortable (Smith, Tatchell 18). I took the advice from the book and gave a girl a pretty and flowing dress with an intricate design. I drew a dress that was strapless and her hair was down so you couldn't see her whole back. I drew a band around her upper waist and then the design below that.
       All in all I think the drawing turned out superb. This was the first time I drew a person without the face showing and I am glad i took the risk and learned how to draw more. I would like to say that drawing is not always my forte. I only draw good when i'm in the mood to draw and I can't be forced to draw. Over this 3 moth period, I found time when I was in the mood to draw, and drew these pictures with all my effort and focus. Hopefully to your eyes they turned out good.

How would you say this drawing turned out?
Do you like the drawing without the face or would you have preferred it with the face?
If there is anything i can change, fix, and add what would it be?

Smith, Alastair, and Judy Tatchel. The Usborne Complete Book of Drawing. Usborne Pub., 2009.

Drawing: Cars

         I can draw animals and humans but 1 thing I don't usually draw machines. So this time I tried to draw cars. In the book The Usborne Complete Book of Drawing by Alistair Smith and Judy Tatchell there were many different types of cars you could draw. some of the cars were vintage, cars with different patterns, or crazy cars with expressions. Cars with crazy expressions seemed interesting to draw since I could basically add emotion to my drawing. It really amazes me how you could turn an object that doesn't have emotion into one that does so that is what I went with.
      Since I have never drawn a car before, I needed some tips to get started and the book gave exactly that. The book stated, "A car is roughly made up of a box shape, with four circles near the corners, and a smaller, flatter box on top. By varying the proportions of these shapes, you can create different types of car, from an upright vintage car through to a sleek, low-slung sports car" (Smith, Tatchell 88). This advice gave me the basic idea of what a car should look like, even though I see cars all the time, I can't really draw a good car just from thinking about it. Now that I had the basic information about drawing cars, I decided to look for something to enhance my drawing, and that would be adding some expressions.
      In the book it showed a couple of different cars with different expressions, and I chose to draw a happy car and an angry car. the book said, if you want to give a car a happy look then you should have big eyes with a smile and also bright colors that give the car a happy feel. But if you want an angry looking car then you should add shapes that are sharp, small narrow eyes, with a fierce mouth (Smith, Tatchell 89). For my happy car, I made the car yellow and gave it big eyes and made like the front bumper the smile so it looks like the car is smiling. For my angry car, I gave it sharp yellow teeth with narrow eyes so it looks like the car is angry, plus I made the car red and green to add more fierceness. Overall, I would say the expressions on my cars came out great and they really show emotion through the drawing.

How do you think the 2 different cars came out?

do you get the feeling that they are happy or angry?

would you ever giving objects expressions or feelings?

Smith, Alastair, and Judy Tatchel. The Usborne Complete Book of Drawing. Usborne Pub., 2009.

Drawing: Face

               I have been drawing for quite a while now. when I'm bored at home a draw. when I'm bored in school you could find me either talking to my friends or doodling in my notebook. In elementary school if we ever had to use whiteboards and I had extra time, I would draw random things on the white board. it is kind of a hobby of mine. I am definitely not the best drawer in the world but I could say that I draw pretty well.
            As I have been reading my IRP book which is The Usborne Complete Book of Drawing, designed by Nigel Reece and edited by Alastair Smith and Judy Tatchell, the first page is about people. The book states "People's bodies are made up of lots of different shapes so they are tricky to draw realistically. Don't try to draw a finished outline straight off. Instead, sketch rough shapes lightly and loosely until the proportions look right" (Smith, Tatchell 5). For the picture I drew, I drew a face and it took me a while to get the right proportions for the head, eyes, nose, mouth. I drew an outline of the head and then proportioned all the face features to the size of the head since that order makes the most sense. The words in the book are true, it truly is hard to draw a face without an outline.
           Another thing that I noticed while reading my IRP was the fact that they showed how to do different face angles so the face is directly straight. the book showed how you would angle the face with specific instructions and an angled view of a face is also called a profile (Smith, Tatchell  7). I personally think that drawing an angled face is hard but it turns out pretty cool after the finishing touches. In my drawing I drew a girl with an angled face and I actually liked how the drawing turned out.

Do you like to draw or doodle? If so what do you like to draw?
Did you like the way my drawing turned out? why or why not?
Was this a good thing to draw or should I have started off a little more basic?

Smith, Alastair, and Judy Tatchel. The Usborne Complete Book of Drawing. Usborne Pub., 2009.

Camila Kang - Perspective Drawing

Now it's time to explore the wonders of perspective drawing. There are multiple types of perspective drawing, but it all comes down to a few things: a vanishing point, horizon line and straight lines. Perspective looks complex, but it is actually very simplist.
The first one I drew is one-point perspective. "One-point perspective is the simplest form of perspective and often the only one you need to know" (Barber 78). The steps to this is "you need to establish a horizon line, or eye level" (Barber 78). In the book he established a "viewing point" which is "perpendicular to the horizon line" (Barber 78). What I have done or have been taught to do is use a vanishing point, a point where all the line will meet. Here I used one-point perspective to make 3D words and a simple room. Two point perspective is used when "you're dealing with much bigger spaces and with large objects" (Barber 80). Here I used two vanishing points to create a scenic view of a imaginary town. Three point perspective I didn't have time to play around with, so I drew an example. It's mainly used to "draw very tall buildings" or have a bird's eye view of objects (Barber 82).

Examples of point perspective. The number of perspective is represented by how many sides you see. One point you can see only one side as three point you can see three sides.

Drawing of a two point perspective city. See how are the lines are connecting straight back to the vanishing point? That's how perspective drawing mainly works.