Daily Drawings

こんばんは。 How’s it going?

During our Thanksgiving dinner, the subject of Inktober came up and I began to wonder if I would be able to handle a project like that. These days, I can only devote 15 minutes or so each day to work on an ink drawing. For the line-drawing-to-digital-versions I have enjoyed creating, the process takes a few days (off and on), so these types of artwork are not feasible, but for the simple doodles, I spend just a few minutes on them and these are the pieces that I think are realistic to create daily. And then I thought, why wait until next October to start? So I’ve decided (not wholeheartedly, mind you) to being a daily drawing exercise.

And if I have time, I would love to add some extra details using watercolor so I can build up my skills with that medium (plus it’s fun!). The piece below took about an hour to complete, so I don’t think it is possible to do each day, but perhaps on the weekend when I have more time late at night.

"Cold Weather Watercolor" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/125 sec, ISO800
“Cold Weather Watercolor” Cedar Park, 2018

So, I think I’ll to commit to a daily drawing habit in addition to my daily blog and photo activities. But can I carve out time? Let’s try!

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.

"Cold Weather Watercolor" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/125 sec, ISO800
“Cold Weather Watercolor” Cedar Park, 2018

I hope you had a nice weekend.

またね~

Girl and Her Camera (Digital Art)

"Girl and Her Camera" Digital Art, 2018
“Girl and Her Camera” Digital Art, 2018

I don’t know how I forgot to post this one, but I finished this drawing a while back! Anyways, it changed somewhat from the first iteration, and I ended up having her hold a Fujifilm X100 camera (of course). The reference photo had the model/actress holding a Sony NEX camera, but I prefer Fujifilm so…

Below are some photos and progress images.

October has started and I am following a bunch of artists who are participating in Inktober. Someday I’d also like to try it, but I know that I just don’t have the time every day to devote to it. Right now I am perfectly content to take my daily photo and write a bit about what happened in the day. However, props to those who are tackling Inktober! Much respect.

"Digitizing" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO1250
“Digitizing” Cedar Park, 2018
"In Progress" Cedar Park, 2018
“In Progress” Cedar Park, 2018
"Brushes" Cedar Park, 2018
“Brushes” Cedar Park, 2018

A Fun Sketch

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Here’s the digital paint version of the pencil sketch I did a couple days ago. In the previous digital painting, I used the pen tool in Photoshop to create smooth lines for filling and erasing, which I found super-convenient (and fun). So for this latest sketch, I decided to use Illustrator to create the line art, then copied and pasted as Smart Objects into Photoshop.

I also found out about the Width Tool (Shift+W) to vary the width of a stroke. This blew my mind! I loved creating the line-art in this way. Check out the Smart Objects that I created using Illustrator and the Width Tool:

I think this version looks really cool. Maybe even better than the finished drawing. I guess that just means I need to practice more. 😀

Anyways, for the final version, I had a little fun by putting a Nyan cat on the shirt and giving the character a more goth look. Both my kids said she looks like one of the Splatoon girls, which I don’t really see, but I’ll take as a compliment. 😅

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!

おやすみなさい!

Erasing and Re-Drawing

"Sketch Practice" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/125 sec, ISO2000
“Sketch Practice” Cedar Park, 2017

Last night I made a sketch using the same technique as the night before: create a perfect circle using the compass, divide it using a straight-edge, and then add the features. It’s funny because I measured out pretty accurately where the eyes, nose, and mouth sit within the circle, and also measured the chin, but the ensuing sketch was way off! It looked very compressed. So I erased the nose, mouth, and chin, and lowered those by a millimeter or two, and redrew them. I think it turned out a lot better!

I thought the face shape was still a little too short, so I brought the sketch into Photoshop and lengthened the face even more. However, when I did that, although it looked perhaps more proportionately ideal, the face lost a lot of its character. At least that’s how it seemed to me.

Anyways, I was thinking about how I sketched out the nose and mouth the first time, and while those two features looked good to me, the position was off. I used to be hesitant to erase elements that I put some effort into thinking that it was a shame and a waste. But now, I am getting faster at re-drawing, so it’s not such a big deal to erase.

I watch a lot of speed drawing videos, and used to be surprised that an artist could spend a lot of time working on one portion of their drawing, and then later, just totally change or erase it! I was like “dang, but that was good!” But now I think I understand. I mean, they have probably drawn/painted these things hundreds of times, so the little elements that I find so precious are not anything special to them. They could re-draw it in less than a minute, after all, whereas I would spend a half an hour drawing, tweaking, erasing a bit, re-drawing, until I think it is good enough. (and many times, the next day I look at the drawing and think it is horrible!)

So I think I am making progress in my sketching in that I don’t feel any regrets about erasing. It’s part of the process, isn’t it?

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.

Happy sketching! 😀

Pasta and a Sketch

"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