Look twice, draw once

Landscape Color Studies

2012-02-15T19:58:00.000-08:00

I was impressed by Nathan Fowkes' post where he did a sheet of 16 color studies from Edgar Payne paintings. As I am new to painting and color mixing, this seemed like a perfect exercise for me.

I ended up using 2 Frederic Church paintings (top) and 2 John Kensett paintings (bottom).

I will be doing this kind of thing again.

Acrylic on paper

Ceratosaurus skull

2012-02-08T20:32:00.000-08:00

Ceratosaurus skull

at Dinosaur Discovery Museum, Kenosha WI

I started this one sometime around Nov. or Dec. 2010 and finally got back to it a week or so ago.

Colored pencil (Caran d'Ache Chestnut) & graphite pencil (for lay-in) on Borden & Riley #234 paper

first oil painting

2012-01-31T20:05:00.000-08:00

This is my first attempt with oils. It's a deer.

Blick Artists' oils on paper

(limited palette of Yellow Ochre, French Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red Medium & White)

After Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

2012-01-25T20:20:00.000-08:00

I drew while waiting for Henry at Cub Scouts tonight.

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736-1783) created very unique "character heads" a collection of busts with extreme facial expressions. Some at Wikimedia Commons.
Also, here's a documentary that can be watched online.

Derwent water soluble colored pencil (Oak) & waterbrush in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

charcoal portrait (& Happy New Year)

2012-01-06T21:06:00.000-08:00

Portrait of my brother-in-law, Jon

black & white charcoal on kraft paper

Christmas still life

2011-12-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

I painted this as a gift for my Mom this Christmas

acrylic on board

Horse head

2011-12-15T07:32:00.000-08:00

A month or so ago we were invited by a coworker of my wife's to visit Springfield Stables in Mettawa, IL

I photographed this horse while there and painted him/her later at home.

W&N Designers Gouache on watercolor paper

2 Figure Studies

2011-12-11T20:49:00.001-08:00

2 pen, brush & ink figure studies done from photos a month or so ago.

pen & ink in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

Library Fish

2011-12-02T06:56:00.001-08:00

Some of the residents of our library's fish tank. They live with this guy.

Goache still life at home

2011-11-25T12:51:00.001-08:00

Continuing in the vein of stuff I did in class.

This is a complimentary neutralization study: only Violet, Yellow, Black, & White were used (and mixed with each other).

Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache on some kind of watercolor paper

Monday Evening Rabbit

2011-11-14T19:36:00.001-08:00

Because I haven't posted anything in a while, I will post this rabbit I did as a quick watercolor sketch while on vacation in Michigan this past summer.

W&N watercolors in watercolor Moleskine sketchbook

Gouache Color Studies, pt. 1

2011-11-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

I took a 4-week workshop at Evanston Art Center called Painting Studio Intensive: Color & Practice with Nina Weiss, an instructor I had back in my Columbia days.
I got a lot out of it in terms of thinking about color, practice handling an opaque media, and will be painting more in future to continue these experiments...

Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache on Arches watercolor paper
TOP: monochromatic BOTTOM: complimentary neutralization

Ditzy

2011-10-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

We visited Monches Farm on our recent visit to Wisconsin. They have some exotic breed chickens there and I drew this one that my son and our friend's son nicknamed "Ditzy."

Quick watercolor landscape studies

2011-10-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

This is the kind of thing you do when you're trying to learn a new medium.

Giraffe

2011-09-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

Giraffe at Lincoln Park Zoo

Caran d'Ache Umber & Derwent Baked Earth Inktense colored pencils & wash in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

Library Frog 1

2011-09-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at the (Aquatic) African Clawed Frog that lives in our library's fish tank. A kind of fascinating/repulsive/beautiful/comic creature. He/She moved after a bit, and so I didn't get time to draw all his parts right. (Also wound up a bit too cutesy-looking.)

Caran d'Ache Supracolor II Black and Greyish Black w/s pencils & wash in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

Plein Air Goat

2011-09-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

Today we attended and very much enjoyed the 2011 Festival on Prairie Avenue.

While there, I drew this goat.

Caran d'Ache water-soluble colored pencil (Umber) and wash in sketchbook

Chipmunk

2011-09-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

One of our backyard inhabitants.

This is my attempt to emulate the pen & watercolor techniques of Claudia Nice, who specializes in this kind of mixed media and has put out some great books.

Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph Pen and W&N watercolors in Moleskine Watercolor sketchbook

Equestrian Statue

2011-08-28T07:38:00.000-07:00

If I was in Europe, this is the kind of thing I might like to stop and draw.

From a photograph of Equestrian statue of Joseph I of Portugal by Joaquim Machado de Castro in Lisbon

Copic marker & W&N watercolors

bug from MI

2011-08-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

A bug Reid found in Michigan

Rapidograph pen & watersoluble colored pencils in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

watercolor fruit from MI

2011-08-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a trip to Michigan, and did this watercolor while there of a lime and cherries.

I suppose this would qualify as my first "real" watercolor, as there's no pen or anything else (other than the pencil lay-in). This is also my first attempt at using masking fluid (for the highlights).

W&N watercolors in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

Crow in pen & ink

2011-08-02T21:45:00.000-07:00

Crow after a photo by Jacques DeMarthon

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/105207846/AFP

Pen & Ink (Resterbrook No. 6 nib) in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

Bacchanale

2011-07-23T09:33:00.000-07:00

Figure from Bacchanale by Aimé-Jules Dalou (1838-1902)

Derwent Inktense pencil (Payne's Grey) and wash in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

the Zebra (finished)

2011-07-17T21:13:00.000-07:00

I started sketching this zebra at the Field Museum, quickly ran out of time (Henry had finished his zebra), took a photo of it, and continued work at home.

I wonder how long ago this creature lived? Some of the stuffed specimens at the Field are from the 1893 Columbian Exposition. Anyway, as I worked on this I couldn't help but think of what it's life might have been like, and also came to feel that it's pose reflected its anguish at its fate.

Rapidograph pen, brush and ink, Caran d'Ache (Umber) & Derwent water soluble colored pencils in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

Flowers

2011-07-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

Flowers from a pot in the front of our house.

Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph pen and Winsor & Newton watercolors in Watercolor Moleskine sketchbook

Tree w/ brush marker

2011-07-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

I liked this tree I saw in the Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park and tried my hand at drawing it with a Pitt brush marker I recently bought. I like this, but I do think Tombow brush markers allow a finer line.

Faber-Castell Pitt Artist (Brush) Pen on Strathmore Wet Media paper

Encounter with Goose

2011-06-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

This goose was standing ahead of me as I walked along the path at our local nature center. I thought I'd push my luck and sit down right in front of him (8 or so feet away) and try to draw his or her portrait. Well, this kind bird sat virtually still for 40 minutes! Long enough for me to draw him (or her) in ink and then add color with watercolors. Thanks, pal.

Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph pen with Windsor & Newton watercolors in Moleskine sketchbook

Michelangelo's Leah

2011-06-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

from Michelangelo's sculpture of Leah

the tomb of Julius II, San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome

Derwent water soluble colored pencil (Prussian Blue) and water brush in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

the Zebra (in progress)

2011-06-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

Obviously he still needs his stripes painted on, among other things.

Emily Oaks creatures

2011-06-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

from a walk in Emily Oaks Nature Center

Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph pens & Derwent watersoluble colored pencils in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

Alium

2011-06-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

Alium in our front yard

Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph and Staedtler pens in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

Pen and Ink 1

2011-05-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

I am taking a pen and ink class.

nibs: top L&R: Gillott 1066, bottom L: Hunt 100, bottom R: Hunt 104

the hand must be done

2011-04-28T20:39:00.001-07:00

Onto other things...

more work on the hand

2011-04-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

If this Bruynzeel Sienna pencil holds out, I can finish this. I need to further even out the contrast between the highlights and shadows. (Too bad the paper I grabbed to draw this on has a notch cut out of it.)

The idea here is to emulate Watteau's "Trois Crayon" technique, although I am not really using the exact colors he did. He used Red, Black and White chalk. I am using Sienna, Black and White colored pencils.

Here is an example of his beautiful work.

I think for a drawing soon I will use the proper 3 colors on some nice cream-colored paper I bought a while back.

A hand I've been working on...

2011-04-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

I have most of the deepest shadows done on the hand and some of the highlights. Time to fill in all the rest of the mid-tones. The background black may get some water brushed on it to deepen the black and make the hand pop out more.

Bruynzeel and Caran d'Ache colored pencils on colored paper

from Lincoln Park Zoo yesterday

2011-04-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

A Chimpanzee.

He or she was eating some lettuce.

grotesque bird 1

2011-03-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

Pike Place column capital

2011-03-09T20:41:00.000-08:00

Column capital at Pike Place Market, Seattle

Stabilo Point 88 & Tombow ABT markers

Twig

2011-03-05T23:00:00.000-08:00

a twig I picked up and drew last weekend

Staedtler pigment liner & Derwent Inktense colored pencils & wash on Canson watercolor paper

Le Pautre, pt.2

2011-02-20T21:24:00.000-08:00

Some more ornamentation stuff after Jean Le Pautre

Staedtler pigment liner (0.1) and Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen (M) on Strathmore Wet Media paper

yet another Michelangelo head

2011-02-06T08:56:00.000-08:00

Le Pautre, pt.1

2011-01-29T22:57:00.000-08:00

I was looking online at some of the images of Jean Le Pautre, a 17th century French designer and engraver. I had to try drawing some things found in his ornaments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Le_Pautre
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/lepautre1751bd1/0001?sid=12b680fc5c2dc016f9ded3ef4a943723

Kestrel in progress 1

2011-01-21T22:29:00.000-08:00

Derwent and Caran d'Ache water-soluble colored pencils on Canson paper

earlier stages:

Another Michelangelo head

2011-01-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

Another go at copying from the Master

January 12, 2011

Derwent Inktense pencil & wash on Canson watercolor paper

Joy, the Christmas Donkey

2011-01-08T08:40:00.000-08:00

I follow Dinotopia creator James Gurney's blog pretty religiously. I liked a photo of him drawing Joy, a donkey born on Christmas Day 2009, so I had to draw her with some pencils I had just received from my family for Christmas.

James Gurney's original post with photo:
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-donkeys.html
(He's drawing her with a cat on his lap and Joy about to chomp on his sketchbook)

Happy New Year 2011

2010-12-31T22:42:00.000-08:00

Figure Study

Derwent & Caran D'Ache water-soluble colored pencils & wash on brown paper

Drawing on non-white paper, pt. 2

2010-12-28T21:07:00.000-08:00

Or, maybe you prefer it like this:

Caran d'Ache colored pencils on grey-blue paper

Disgraced Politicians, part 2

2010-12-25T21:32:00.000-08:00

Tom DeLay

Derwent water soluble colored pencils on Canson watercolor paper
Nov-Dec 2010

Disgraced Politicians, part 1

2010-12-20T19:51:00.000-08:00

Charles Rangel

Not a great likeness, but I still like this drawing.

Derwent Inktense pencil & brush pen filled with water

on Canson watercolor paper

Nov. 2010

Drawing on non-white paper, pt. 1

2010-12-18T20:37:00.000-08:00

Lately, I have been looking at a lot of wonderful books of drawings.
Like these (with links to Amazon):
Rembrandt Drawings by Seymour Slive
Master Drawings of the Italian Renaissance by Claire Van Cleave
I was struck by some of the drawings where the artist worked on some sort of colored, non-white paper.
I decided to try it with this squirrel, one of our backyard visitors. He's looking at me in the kitchen window, taking his photograph.
It's interesting to work on a darker surface where you can darken AND lighten to depict something.
Suddenly that white pencil has purpose.

Derwent Watercolour pencils on tan paper
Dec. 2010

Field Museum shell

2010-12-17T10:44:00.000-08:00

I was able to quickly do this while Henry and Lucie (and Megan) played in the kid's area downstairs. Getting a feel for the new colored pencils...

Caran D'Ache water-soluble colored pencil and water-filled brush pen in Moleskine sketchbook

Dec. 5, 2010

sketch from a Michelangelo drawing

2010-12-14T22:21:00.000-08:00

I've heard it can be helpful to copy from the masters, so I thought I'd try it.

(after a Michelangelo sketch "Ideal head of a woman")

Derwent Inktense pencil and brush pen filled with water in Moleskine sketchbook.

Dec. 11, 2010

Introductory note

2010-12-14T22:11:00.000-08:00

I decided to start this to chronicle my attempts to improve my drawing, color-handling abilities, (and hopefully, in future) painting skills. (I worked as an illustrator until my daughter was born. At that point, being a stay-at-home father of 2, I found work too difficult to fit into my life.) My daughter will be in kindergarten 3 years from now, so I will have much more time to work then, and I want to have a better skill set to offer my clients by that point.

When I was in College I never planned to be an illustrator. When I finished my degree (BFA) at Columbia College, I had visions of being a web designer. I wound up working in children's non-fiction (educational) publishing. First doing maps and other assorted things, and then doing illustrations. Had I known I could do this kind of thing, and would enjoy it so much, I would have taken a whole different set of classes in college. As it is, I am now working to broaden my skills with natural media. Most of my illustration work up to this point consisted of pencil (monochrome) drawings that would get scanned into Adobe Illustrator, traced, and color and fine details added, so the final product would be a digital file. I really want to learn to paint, but am starting with water-soluble colored pencils as they can act as a bridge between drawing and painting, in a sense. I also intend to take some art classes, including figure drawing which I've never taken.

I know I may be offering too much information on what materials I use for the pieces I show, but I do that as much for my own later benefit ("What did I use for that?") as for anyone else who might actually be interested.

I must credit a site that has given me a great deal of inspiration as well as practical tips.
Gurney Journey, the blog of Dinotopia creator and generous artist James Gurney:
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/
His books are great, but you can also learn a hell of a lot just by reading his blog (and searching for topics that interest you).

John