Daily Portrait Challenge Days 6,7 and 8

 Good day finer person reading this - should it be anyone besides me.  And if not, good day to me and congratulations for getting over yourself and taking time to document the process of trying to expand your artistic horizons!

Today I present days 6.7 and 8 of the Creative Bug class I am taking that will (I am certain) improve my portrait drawing skills.  Which is to say, I hope I will stop making squat faces and cartoon faces.  Not that there is anything wrong with that!

Day 6:  Ten Minute Facial Expression.  OK. I will admit I took a few more minutes - maybe 15 minutes sketching this little cutie.  It came out fairly well, BUT here we are with me compacting and widening the face. I think if I'd left off her blouse I could have gotten it completed in 10 minutes, but it would have looked like her head was floating.  With that expression - goblin.  So as this is not Halloween, I gave it 15.  I'm the boss.  I give myself a B today. I enjoyed drawing her.  Who wouldn't.  Learning a lot in this series.

Day 7: Twenty Minute Pencil Sketch.  Again, looking for tonal differences when sketching and filling her out.  We were to interpret what we believed to be in the shadow and draw that.  Not blacking out the shadow. AND we were to scale it down so we could get proportions correct without sort of measuring with the pencil.  Harder.  More fun.  I made her too short again, but not grossly. I used the full 20 minutes.

Day 8: Ten Minute Monochrome Sketch:  I took longer that 10 minutes.  I took 35.  Why?  I wanted to and I got a false start. I took extra time because colored pencil is not erasable (I just figured that out with that guy I made) and I wanted it to look right.  Her face AGAIN is too wide and not long enough AND her forehead is too high.  So maybe if I started higher the length would be fine, but it would just be too wide.  I will not get frustrated.  A weird phenomenon with me.  I think my things must be perfect but I know I am a beginner and will suck for a while. Two completely conflicting notions.  Total bullshit. I am a beginner drawer. I am working out how to get better. Recognizing the problems will help me to be more cognizant of the problem when sketching.  I AM getting better. Sheesh!  Cut yourself a break.

A fore mentioned false start. 

And now for your amusement.  You know how I said I draw cartoon people.  Yeah, I really do that.  I enjoy making cartoons.  I just this week made a cartoon for Kevin, the sweet and funny husband to my fellow creative and hilariously bawdy friend Kim.  My sister from another mother.  We are a lot alike except she will not wear a bra.  TMI. It is my blog, I can say what I want.

Anyway, he just got his second knee replacement.  He is also extremely, shockingly handy.  He has basically redone their house - inside walls, flooring, kitchen, doors, landscaping, he made Kim's incredible studio.  So, you can imagine his being downed by having his knee sawed off and replaced might have made Home Depot fairly upset. He too was no doubt feeling the pains of withdrawal from not being able to prowl their aisles.  The dog in the walker carrier is Hank. 

 

Feel better Kevin.