How to daw... #2

Ok where was I?

Rule 2: Light, shadow, tone.

No screw the lot. I still suck at these. My advice choose a point of light source and practice. If realism isn't you're thing then it doesn't matter anyway. But if realism is your thing you're most likely using a reference picture or drawing from life so back to Rule 1.

How to draw...

I'm procrastinating.

There are so many YouTube clips that claim to show you how to draw something realistically but really it's not the how but simply watch me draw.

So I thought I'd write about something a little different. I'm not claiming you will learn how to draw from reading this but maybe find your own approach to learning this skill if you so wish.

Rule 1: What you see, not what you think it looks like.

I've always believed that everyone has the ability to draw - If you can write. You can draw. Writing in itself is like drawing. Letters are symbols after all, and symbols stem from pictures. I had a friend in high school - well I also knew her in primary school - she chuckled at this belief. She'd claimed many times that she could not draw and based on her outputs it's hard to argue against her. But put it to a simple test and I soon realised it was not that she couldn't draw it was more she didn't try. Her overwhelming belief that she could not, paralyzed any effort.

Have you ever participated in a simple realistic drawing exercise where four people sit around a table with a still life arrangement placed in the centre? Each individual attempts to draw the objects as they are sitting in front of them for just a few minutes. The participants are then instructed to rotate seats and move around the table but leave the drawing they were working on for the next person taking their seat; and so each individual will have to continue the work of their predecessor and draw the objects from each of the 4 perspectives.

I remember doing this activity with a glass mug and an interesting-looking hammer. I started my drawing, paying attention to the shape of the forms I could see from where I was sitting and transferring it onto the page. Moments later I then moved to the seat next to me where this friend had sat as instructed. And to this day I can still visualise the sketch I saw all those years ago as I looked down at her drawing. It was a sketch of the still life sitting in front of me - yes. But it resembled an abstract drawing as if she had only read a description of the composition and promptly attempted to depict it rather than drawing what she could see in front of her. The oval shape I saw as the rim of the mug was depicted as a full fledged circle and drawn physically larger than the body of the rest of the mug. The mug handle put simply as a double C and the hammer... well, remember how I mentioned it was unusual-looking, she had replaced the hammer head with a plain regular one. I realised that she had not tried to look at what she could see. Instead she succumbed to her belief and drew haphazardly of what she knew of the shapes.

Ask yourself, what do you actually see?

****To be continued... stay tuned.

Because I love sleep...

I love sleep. I love it above so many and possibly all other things in life. Unfortunately I just come off as a sloth to my peers. They just don't get it.

Russell Foster: Why do we sleep?

Who am I? II

Hello!! From home.

It's been a long week and it's strange how it feels like I never went away at all.

Anyway here's a little tease of something I was working on long before my little trip. This is not the most current wip of the drawing. I think it had more potential then than it does now. I got sloppy with the shading. I'm not going to show you its current state because I can still perfect it. I hope!

Can you guess who it is??

wip lp1

Home time ...almost

My last night in Lithgow... and it's pouring. Lucky I'm in doors with the lovely heater. I can't say the same for this morning though. I went rifle shooting... In. The. Rain. The cold, cold rain! Ok you may be thinking I'm missing the plot here. And you may be right. Rain is not as exciting as getting to handle a firearm. But just to emphasise: it was really cold.  But the the rifle thing, that was cool! Now don't go thinking I'm a gun enthusiast or anything! Because I'm not. And I show very little interest in weaponry. But this experience is probably something I'll never get the chance to do again. Plus, it was a controlled test shooting at a patch of empty sloping grass and at nothing alive. So don't you go all hippie on me.

So I'm finally going to be heading home tomorrow morning! I'd be excited if it wasn't for the fact that I'm so ready to nod off. It's like I'm about to head back to reality because I'm been away for so long. But what I really want is to head back to reality to sleep. Ha!

That's it. I've got to nod off.

Less than one week...

Less than one week till I will find myself back in home sweet Sydney!

My second week in Lithgow went like *click* and I really enjoyed myself. But now into my third week and I really think it's time to head home. What can I say? I'm not one for long trips. =/

One thing I have found is that I really crave getting back to my drawings! You know how people crave chocolate? Well, I guess I'm weird and I crave making a drawing. No. I crave chocolate too! I'm not that weird... Or am I? O.o

Unfortunately, I didn't bring any of my gear. Ergo no drawing for me, and no drawing for me to share with you, i.e. no drawing for you. Ha! But who am I kidding it's really just me who suffers isn't it? Anyone care to share?

Anyway got to go. Laters!

Hello from Lithgow!

Helloooooooo!

I'm here in Lithgow where it's so cold tonight for some reason. I've been here for a week and it's felt cool but I haven't felt the chill to my bones until now!

I haven't lived up to my word and the rest of my Doctor Who episode posts never came did they? No, they didn't. Sorry, my bad! - Well, of course it's my bad. Ha!

I had planned to come up here to Lithgow and have plenty of free evenings but I've been snowballed in by my commitment to become a Chartered Accountant, with the immense amount of studying. Yes, I'm an accountant. Are you shocked? Although, I have a strange preference for the title, Bean Counter. Ha! Let me just say it was NOT my career ambition as a child. Could a child be any less creative if there ever was one that wanted to be an accountant when they grew up!

Ok, so you definitely know what's not coming... any posts on Doctor Who any time soon. Which means this is one of my rambling posts to let you know I'm not dead and you have not been abandoned!

That's all for now! Laters.