Sketchbook Month: Day 25

Not just one but three deadlines today (!) necessitating that I wake up at 3am to meet them all. To get the juices flowing I banged out this warm-up sketch of Jeff Bridges ala Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. Easily one of the best movies I’ve seen in recent memory. If you haven’t seen it yet Google your local discount theater. Chances are good you can still catch a screening at a cheap price. I finally saw Grit last weekend for only $3. As a bonus the theater was packed which made the experience even more enjoyable. People tend to laugh and scream and ooh and aah a bit more when it’s a full house.

Here’s the clip from which I made the above sketch. Try to ignore the YouTube ads that pop up (dontcha just hate those?):

Sketchbook Month: Day 24

Today was a pretty stressful day. Fortunately I was able to unwind with a 90-minute sketch/painting based on a movie still from Ben Hur. I’ve submitted it as today’s Sketchbook Month entry.

Lately I’ve been challenged to think more about form in my drawings instead of just contour and shape. Attempting to sculpt with light and color definitely helps me with that kind of thinking.

Sketchbook Month: Day 23

Today’s Sketchbook Month submission is a warm-up sketch, loosely based on an old snapshot I took of myself a few years ago using one of the facial distortion modes in iChat.

I also thought it would be fun to try do draw something on toned paper. The idea is to let the color of the paper represent the middle tones of the drawing, leaving the artist to shade in only the very dark and very light areas. Some artists get terrific results with this method. Personally I have a hard time “letting go” and allowing the toned paper to work for me. My tendency is still to over-render everything myself instead of letting the background tone do its job.

That’s the whole point of a sketchbook, isn’t it? To keep practicing and improving so as to strengthen areas where I tend to be a little weak.

Sketchbook Month: Day 21

Today’s Sketchbook Month entry is a few studies on how to convey the emotion of fear. My notes are based partly on the excellent book “The Artist’s Complete Guide To Facial Expression” by Gary Faigin (Amazon.com link). Full disclosure: If you click on the Amazon link and then buy something, Amazon will drop a few coins into my checking account.