92. Me And My Shaaaaaadoooow...

(04-30-2011. Two half hour stints with the blind drawing tonight to try my hand at getting more on track.  Fun, and not too bad.  I had to peek a couple of times to start drawing again when I ran into an end.  And my face seemed to be rather long.  Which amuses me.  Probably because I went in and drew it last.  Hmmm...)

Cowboy

(04-29-2011. Yup.  I got on the train, and there he was.  An honest-to-God cowboy.  Well, as cowboy as a city boy can get.  Falling asleep against his hand, he still did a fair amount of moving around.  Mostly from nodding then having to sit up again.)

90. Cool hat.

(04-28-2011.  Except I never GOT to the hat.  The top of it anyway.  I started drawing people several times, but each time they'd get blocked from view or get off.  Finally I found this guy who was on the longest.  And the hat really WAS styling.)

89. Appearances can be deceiving....

(04-27-2011. This lady was sitting across the aisle from me, quiet, listening to her headphones, not smiling.  And then she saw a man standing in the doorway and a big smile lit up her face.  She got his attention, said "I like your shoes" and at his thank you, went back to her music.)

88. Where's the nose?

(04-26-2011.I had a wonderfully fun time on the trainride home playing "Where's the nose?" I started out drawing his face and partway through he turned away.  I kept watching him as I drew, waiting for him to turn back and show me where his nose went, but I could never quite catch the glimpse of that sought for appendage...)  :-D

Contour Drawing

(04-25-2011. A friend suggested this book to read and I'm all for anything that gets me cookin'. The first exercise was to draw a contour drawing of a model.  Well, I'm the model, since I am the only one I see around here.  Except for the cat.  Who can't even hold still while he's sleeping. So with movie in, background noise on, I did several blind contour drawings. A total of 6, actually, all different poses as much as possible.  Unfortunately this one's a bit light, as it was done in pencil.)

today.

(04-24-2011. Staring up at the T.V., lips clamped in tension....will they score or not!?!?!)

Sketchy on the train...

04-23-2011.  I had to ride the train today to work.  It gave me a great chance to practice a sort of style that seems to be evolving in my sketching...the kind that I really enjoy, anyhoo.)

Nose

(04-22-2011.  Today a lady with an oddly stiff hood, and on the ride home....lots of noses.  I have a bit of trouble with noses.  Practice makes fun...)  :)

Look at THAT photo!!

(04-21-2011. I love watching people.  Watching them watch others, watching them in their introspective moments.  You get some cool glimpses into their personas.)

82. Phone Guy.

(04-20-2011. Upper right hand guy was my first attempt today.  And I thought "Man.  I can do better than THIS." So I drew handsome, here, typing away on his phone. More satisfied with him.  And loving the concentrated look on his face as he thumb-typed away.)

81. Shake it out, baby.

(04-19-2011. I couldn't shake off the stiff today.  And it was getting frustrated.  So I took a step backwards and started blind drawing faces.  All under two minutes.  I had/HAVE to quit frigging *parDON my language* focusing so hard on trying to draw it perfect.  Some days it feels like I'm back to square one. Sigh.  It's all for the love it's all for the love*)

80. Me. And giggly teens.

(04-18-2011. The top one, I must say, was a cheat.  I did that at home looking into the mirror.  As opposed to doing what I've been doing, the past four days with the dense amount of lines, I went extreme opposite and left it very open.  Why?  Good question.  Better answer:  I felt like it.  Nothing more.  Because I do something one way doesn't mean I'm stuck with it.  And this is all about having fun, as life should be.  The bottom is what I came up with on the train.  Surrounded by giggling late-teen-ers, I wasn't able to relax and just get into my zen-space. My fun was kaput. So I practiced eyeballs.)

79. "Smile for the Camera!"

(04-17-2011. Experiment #4, taking what I learned from the first three and adding them together.  So far this one is my favorite.  I made it a bit larger, too, for it to be easier to work on the features.  I think this is about as large as I'd go (11x14) as it takes a bit to do.  Thanks goes out to my old school chum, Ryan, for letting me borrow him and his cute little son to practice on....)

A continuation of the experiment, day three.

(04-16-2011. using what I liked from day 1, adding it to day 2.)

Experimental Fail

Note to self:  When you scribble shade, make sure you leave enough hilights so that it doesn't turn out looking like an odd blob.

(04-15-2011.  So this one was a fail.  At least I know.  The experiment?  to sort of define the curves of the faces with lines like a topographical map.  Yeah...no.  Too much dark.  No fixing the lins with shading because everything gets too dark.  Onward and upward....)

So much fun...

(04-14-2011. Shaky Shading once again.  Pen tip, a mirror, and me.)

So much fun with the train window I wondered how much further I could go.  This is me in the mirror.  If I hadn't run out of paper at the bottom, I might've added the Cat, too...

A

(04-13-2011.  Today I gave myself an A.  I had fun, I really liked what I'd done, and that's what I was looking for, after all, right?  The top was on my way to work.  I got on the train and the only seat left was in the end of the car, facing no one but the windows and the car in front.  Then I noticed something cool.  The sunlight was bouncing off my extremely pale visage and I was there, reflected in the window, sort of, with loads of shadows.  Which gave me a chance to practice no lines, just shadows.  The bottom one was on the ride home.  All line, no shadow, this man was very immersed in his reading and was an excellent model.)  :)

nottoomuchdonetoday...

(04-12-2011.  My friend Shawn and a lady sitting a few seats away.  She had the most interesting nose... and Shawn has a great face for drawing, too.  Alas, we got to chatting and the time flew by without a lot of sketching.)  :)

73, back on the Train...

(04-11-2011. This lady's [on the top sketch] fingers were just FLYING on the screen of her phone.  The entire ride to work she was TOTALLY focused on it.  Amazing.  And the guy sitting between her and myself had his hood up the entire time.  Was he hiding?  Was he cold?  One never knows.....  In the bottom page I most like the lady sleeping against her arm.  I was going to draw the whole thing but once again fate intervened and people came in and sat next to her.  Even though I'm pretty sure I caught her talking to herself.  Most of the time, unless you're REALLY tired, or REALLY lazy you don't pick those seats.  The unexpected...  The gent on the bottom looks VERY odd, but I SWEAR his lips were like that. He was concentrating on his phone and...well, there it was.  Not a bad thing, but I thought the oddity of the drawing was worth a mention.)

Not on a Train

(04-10-2011. But at the dog beach. I took along my pastels and paper etc. and found a great spot to sit and watch and sketch. A little sand castle, abandoned to its fate, sits on the rocks as dogs wander up, sniff, and off and the people sat and enjoyed the sun.  No lines or pen in this one, but a lot of fun.)

71. Light and shadow.

(04-09-2011. I started just scribbling in the shadows in the face, goofing around.  It was quite fun, and it reminded me of a woodcut so I kept going. Boo decided to sit on a pillow and watch me, so I added him in too. It was suggested that I try to remove all lines and try to paint it with just shadow at one point in my art group.  I kind of mixed the two, but will be exploring the no-line-just-draw-the-shadow in the future.)

New Hire.

(04-08-2011.  BOY was today a bumpy ride.  I think I got a new hire.  Needless to say it made trying to make any sort of straightish lines pretty much impossible.  That and certain jostles gave this lady a bit more interesting face than she actually had, and not in a good way. C'est la vie.  She was pretty tired, it seemed, and it's always weird to try to hold onto the plexiglass panels like she is...grabbing from the underneath.  I did have time to add in some of the fake wood on the bottom, but alas, had to grab my stuff and bolt out the door at my stop or I would have added the leopard spots to her fuzzy little gloves...)

Bags and more Bags....

(04-07-2011.  I loved this lady, with her ponytail-dread-stretching-out-her-striped-stocking-hat-carrying-around-two-armfuls-of-big-old-bags-self.  I'd be tired, too, and want to sleep if I had to haul around that weight hanging over my arms and shoulders.)

TwoFace...

(04-06-2011.  A twofer.  I liked the guy sitting in front... he reminded me of Woody Allen, but a bit rounded.  Second day giving up focusing so hard (and therefore probably screwing up) on the facial features.  It DOES lend to finding a bit more personality...)

Today felt better...

(04-05-2011.  It felt looser, proportions more correct, and a personality was showing through.  What's more to ask?)

I know that it sets the date up for me on this (well, I know now) and for some time have thought "Why the heck am I still typing the date in there?" Forgive me for my quirks. I feel the need to continue, once I have started....

And some she loved and some she didn't....

(04-04-2011. Pretty self explanatory.  I like bits and pieces.  And the entire lady up in the upper left corner.  But some are showing through as too stiff still.  Which is a bit maddening.  One day, oh yes, one day... my fingers and my brain will figure it out.)

scribble

(04-02-2011. Coming off the train. Scribbles to show shadow instead of solid mass.)

odds and ends

Today's all odds and ends.  Bits and pieces from the coffee shop, the couch, and my photo cache... different strokes...

 (04-02-2011.  At the coffee shop, drawing the man sitting across from me as I waited for my sammich.  I finally drew a pair of feet that I liked.  Hallelujah!)

 (04-02-2011.  Blind contour drawing of my cat. Who refused to sit still. Little Stinker.)

(04-02-2011.  A photo of my brother and niece and nephew wrestling around on the floor. Loosening up was suggested.  And I agree.)

thoughts....

(04-01-2011.  That is the question... is it TOO stiff?  Does it need loosening up? Hmm..... things to ponder....)