Scattered, but Happy. Serious, but Cartoony.

Psst..I've had an idea. (Shocking, isn't it?) More than an idea, really. I've had an idea for a picture book and I've written the first draft.

I would like to pursue this idea. So I need to plan the book, prepare thumbnails, and then draw illustrations. The illustrations will require characters that are somewhat more cartoony than my usual moleskine fare, and also more active. The characters will need to be almost theatrical in their poses. I consider this an opportunity to improve any number of skills. I am going to study bodies and their poses, and perhaps this will get me to buckle down and master the ever elusive hand. It seems to me that I need to know how to draw realistically first; then I can be as cartoony as I want to be.

Every now and then while sketching a target individual in my moleskine, a well-meaning person would lean over me and tell me with great enthusiasm that I was good, and ask have I ever thought of drawing cartoons. I would accept the compliment and then mutter under my breath that I am not a cartoonist. That was not my goal. Not at all. The sketches were to improve my "serious" drawing and painting skills.

But now I've seen that I have improved enough to potentially illustrate, and that means, maybe, in a cartoony manner since that seems to suit best what I have in mind.

How interesting.

Never say never.

And if I never do the book, that's okay. I'll be a better artist for the exploration.

I am scattered but happy. I am also continuing my ink and watercolor sketches, at least one larger watercolor painting, and an even larger acrylic work. I want to paint much more in acrylic.

And I have many more ideas than I have time.

So I am returning to Illustration Friday, a website that provides a weekly topic for illustration. And I'm going to try various styles/ideas. Some will work, and some will not, I guess. My first effort is to illustrate this week's topic of "Prehistoric". You will be proud that it is larger than my pocket-sized moleskine (6-1/2" x 10") In fact, the quote Illustration Friday gave as an example suits my illustration just fine: "Drawing is still basically the same as it has been since prehistoric times. It brings together man and the world. It lives through magic." (Keith Haring.)

Painting hasn't changed. The critics have even always been there.

Speaking of critics (of the discerning kind), I am honored to have received the 2010 Top Watercolor Painting Blog Award from a website designed to provide information for online graphic design degrees. In an e-mail they sent me, they say that they consider my blog to be "a resource that explores the art of sketching, or provides inspiration for your next painting..This is why we've featured your blog, as it is one of the best to teach our readers."

Aw shucks.

OK, I accept.

Tell me I'm good looking, and I'll accept that compliment too.

[P.S. - My apologies to the first few folks that commented, but I forgot (how could I?) to mention that if I had a creativity award I would give it this month to Raena for the amazingly creative and magical addition to the page in our joint sketchbook. So if you have a chance, and haven't visited already, please check out our shared blog at 2'nFro!]

Good Evening Ladies and Germs..

This began as a well-structured exercise in a book called "Exploring Textures in Watercolor" by Joye Moone. All wet-on-wet painting, I was supposed to create an orderly design of shapes. Wetting the interior of each shape one at a time, I was to paint around the edges and let the water in the shape do its magic. Some shapes were to be with one color and others were to be with multiple colors so that the "wet" would blend multiple colors within a shape together. So far so good.

The thing is, I was supposed to wait for a shape to dry before painting its neighbors. But I kind of, well, lost patience. I mean, I understood the concept anyway, right?

So colors from one shape began running into others and then I had streams going, and then rivers, and then veritable tzunamis; I was sailing happily in the ZONE, as Raena would say, placing color here and there, wherever I pleased, creating abstract art until it looked good to me. This was my mess - mine! - not some academic drivel.

Disease (n) (definition) - a disordered or incorrectly functioning structure.

So you might call this little painting diseased, since it took order and turned it to chaos. In fact, it kind of looks like an illustration of colorful germs smugly floating about their microscopic world, doesn't it?

Well, it just so happens that this week's Illustration Friday topic is "Germs". Coincidence? I think not! So I happily failed the assignment and I am quite satisfied that I have an Illustration Friday entry for "Germs".


This next sketch is colored lighter than usual, and I used brown ink which is new for me. I think these changes give the sketch a different feel from past drawings.

Disease (n.) (another definition) - a condition wherein one or more of a body's parts does not display normal functioning.

I never entered the ZONE for this one and the arm and face of the woman (the copy, not the original) suffered a bit as a result, though I've patched her up as best I could. And I've posted her with my germs, which seems appropriate to me, even after treatment.

Illustration Friday: Pattern

This is my submission for Illustration Friday. The theme this week was "pattern". Technically speaking, I've just spent an extraordinary amount of time trying to place my thumbnail on their website. I finally succeeded, though I have no idea how! So now it's extraordinarily late! And tomorrow I'm going to be extraordinarily tired! So for once I'll just let the picture (which is worth a thousand words anyway) speak for itself.

Illustration Friday: Theater

In this play, drawn for the Illustration Friday theme of the week "Theater", each actor has only one line. Get it? I have used one continuous line for each character and one continuous line for each component of this pen drawing. Sorta like Etch a Sketch. Got any Etch a Sketch artists out there?

This was a fun exercise, and I wanted to do it again to try to improve on it but ran out of time.

I will be traveling for several days, so won't be able to post. I expect Blog Withdrawal. But I plan to draw and maybe even paint. See you next month!

Failure is Fleeting

Last week, the Illustration Friday topic was "Fleeting". I picked up my watercolor pencils and in spare moments I worked on a picture with two figures - one, a female, walking and looking forward at a 3/4 view and the other, the male, looking back at the first. The idea was that of a young couple and the tenuous beginning of a new relationship.

I searched websites for photos to use as guides and so as to create an original work, not derived from any one photo, I chose parts of many photos. This was easier said than done. There were the size relationships of the various parts of the drawing - each figure to the other - and parts of each figure (from separate photos), one to another. Hands, for instance - I must have drawn a hundred hands to get the right size and angles. I used lead for the more challenging parts, and made liberal use of my kneaded eraser before applying color.

Then, the two figures done, I started brushing on the water. The girl's face, which had been very carefuly drawn, started to melt like something out of a Stephen King movie. Lips were falling, etc. I managed to give her a facelift with corrections and moved on. In the end, the picture didn't look so hot. I then began applying more color, scribbling all over the drawing in a misguided effort to fix things - to make it more "arty". When it was done, drawings I had done in 10 minutes looked better than this one.

After a few days I cut the drawing into pieces, excising the parts that were passable. I like it better now, and feel I've had my revenge. I'm thinking I'll try a collage, and if it comes out any good, you will see it. I will not be defeated!

Failure is fleeting. And from this one I learned many things. I was able to practice figures, hands, hands, and hands, and composition; I think I learned that using composites of different photos for figures doesn't work so well, although I may not be ready to give up on on that one; and I learned a little about the watercolor pencils. So this was not a waste. Everything is an experiment at this stage. I do think I need some formal training in some medium, but at this point do not have the time. Everything I am doing here is in snatches of time.

Anyway, this next week's Illustration Friday topic is "Impossibility". From my perspective, I already did that topic.

These watercolor pencils are funny things. So I have included two quick drawings that I like much better than this last week's experiment. The first, of the girl reading, was done by wetting the pencils themselves. The second was done by applying water on a brush to a dry watercolor pencil drawing.

It's a new week. Thanks for joining me on the ups and downs of my journey.

Illustration Friday: Talisman

This week's theme for Illustration Friday is "talisman". My submission was done in pastel, with some details in color pencil.

Last week's Illustration Friday topic was "poise". I did not finish that one in time. I had drawn only the outline of an Olympic athlete in a floor-exercise pose. This week, though, I had an ace in the hole. Change the outfit, grow the hair, add the talisman and the forest and voila! It is I that have performed magic!