Tag: creativity

Takoyaki, a New Pencil, and an Edit

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"Takoyaki Dinner" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO800
 “Takoyaki Dinner” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Our younger son requested takoyaki for dinner, so we got out the electric takoyaki pan and cooked up a few batches. If you don’t know what takoyaki is, it’s a ball of batter, filled with octopus and other small ingredients (we also add cheese) and cooked into what looks like a donut hole. It’s then topped with a sweet sauce, Japanese mayo, green seaweed flakes, and dried bonito flakes. It’s a popular dish in Japan, and originated in Osaka. Since Mariko is from Osaka, I think she’s got natural talent in making Takoyaki! 😀

I received a nice little goodie in the mail today: a Kuru Toga mechanical pencil. The special thing about this pencil is that it has a mechanism which will rotate the lead slightly each time you lift the pencil from the paper, thus ensuring the lead is always sharp, or at least has a consistent angle. I tried it out for a little while, and it seems to work!

"New Pencil" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
 “New Pencil” Cedar Park, 2017

My Amazon order actually came from Japan, so it took a couple weeks, but it was only around $4.50 US, with free shipping! I excitedly showed Mariko the pencil, but she was unimpressed… letting me know that Bay has had a Kuru Toga for a few years already. 🙄

Later this evening, I scanned in last night’s sketch and did my usual edit in Photoshop. Basically, I cut and paste the nose, mouth, and eyes, then adjust the position, size, and angle of each to what feels right to me. I can use that information on my next drawing so that I can get closer to my ideal sketch. And even though I have only started using this technique, I think it helps! For this latest sketch, I didn’t have to edit too much… just a pixel here and there, and resizing the eye on the left a little. The top image is the before, and the bottom is the edit. Can you see the difference?

To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.

I hope you had a nice Monday!

またね～

Pasta and a Sketch

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"Homemade Pasta" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/70 sec, ISO3200
 “Homemade Pasta” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight Mariko and her friend made pasta from scratch using our Kitchen-Aid mixer with the pasta attachment. In the photo above, you can see the pasta hanging on an old laundry rack. 😂 The pasta was yummy and had a really nice texture. It was a nice change of pace from the store bought dry pasta, that’s for sure! 🍝

After dinner, I sat down and sketched another small portrait. This time I started with the face shape and then filled in the features using a technique of dividing up a circle and creating rectangles to get the proportions for the eyes. I like how it turned out, but I think the mouth and nose need to be brought up a tiny bit.

One thing I spent a lot of time on was the hair. I tried to give it a little more shape and I think I was successful. But we’ll see if I feel the same way tomorrow when I look at it again with fresh eyes.

"After-dinner Sketch" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
 “After-dinner Sketch” Cedar Park, 2017

To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.

I hope you had a nice weekend!

おやすみ

Pencil Case

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"Pencil Case" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/30 sec, ISO3200
 “Pencil Case” Cedar Park, 2017

Today, just a photo of the pencil case my son gave me. He doesn’t use it anymore, and I needed one so it worked out well. 😀

To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.

Digital Adjustments

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Hello! I worked on the drawing that I blogged about the other night. The first photo is the one from last night.

In the second photo, I worked on the eyebrows and mouth a little bit.

The third photo is the final version of the sketch, adjusted digitally to what I think looks good. As is my pattern, the eyes were moved closer together, and the nose and mouth moved up. I also adjusted the position and angle of the eyebrows.

"Eraser Collection" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/100 sec, ISO800
 “Eraser Collection” Cedar Park, 2017

Now that it is clearer which adjustments I always seem to make on the computer, maybe I can create the original sketch with those adjustments in mind, and draw the eyes closer together, not put the nose and mouth so low, and also pay more attention to the eyebrows.

We’ll see! It’s like teaching an old dog new tricks I guess. Woof! 🐶

To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.

またね～

Erasers

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"Eraser Collection" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/100 sec, ISO800
 “Eraser Collection” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight’s photo is of the erasers I am currently using as I practice sketching. I have found that I spend a lot of time erasing and re-drawing lines in order to get them closer to what I like. It’s actually really fun to erase and re-draw. I think it’s the instant feedback which is satisfying to me.

I’ve been using the computer and digital cameras for many years now so it is refreshing to use pencil and paper once again. I find myself really getting into how the pencil lead angle gives either a sharp line or dull line, and how different amounts of pressure leave behind grooves on the paper that an eraser cannot remove. It’s fascinating to me to observe all these mundane things. Is it strange that I find it kind of fun too?

The erasers that I use are the plastic-type. To erase large areas, I like the Sakura Arch Foam eraser because it picks up the marks so well. Today Mariko gave me a Pentel Ain Black eraser, and I just used it for a moment but it was fantastic. And then there’s the old Pentel Hi-Polymer which is pretty good, but not as good as the Arch Foam.

I also use the Tombow Mono Zero 2.3 mm eraser to get into tight spots. It’s so convenient to use to clean up thick, jagged lines and also to remove guidelines that are close to the elements I don’t want to erase.

And lastly, I just found a battery-powered eraser that my kids used to use. I’ve only used it to erase parts of the irises to create highlights, like in the photo above. It excels at that task. 😀

So, today’s sketch shows some progress. I sketched it without looking at a reference photo so I am pretty happy with how it turned out. It’s funny, but while sketching I find myself falling back into the style of drawing faces that I am so used to (and have drawn my entire life), but that I dislike. It’s a constant battle to resist that style and technique. It’s not frustrating, however, but just interesting. Like I can step outside my body and observe myself struggling to not get into the same ruts.

Looking at the photo, I want to redo the eyebrows. They are too delicate and timid… not really striking or strong. I mean, they are okay but are kind of boring. Since the kind of drawings I want to do aren’t realistic, but more leaning towards manga style, I should loosen up!

Also, I didn’t spend any time on the mouth except a very basic outline. I guess I haven’t really practiced how to shade them, nor how to shade or depict the nose. But I think that will come in time. Right now I just want to work on proportions and shapes, and not on shading. I spent too much time on the eye details I think.

To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.

I hope you had a nice day. Onwards and upwards!

またね～