123. Next door...

(05-31-2011. I was going to draw a cat that was sitting in the windows...but, well...I got a wee bit carried away.  Love these lines. It feeds my need for patterns, but I held the pen at the end, so the control was cut by well over 50%...more like 75%.  But it felt good in my gut. Just not my rear end. I was sitting on the cement ground...)

:)

MOM

(05-30-2011.  Happy Holiday! My mother was an unwitting accomplice in my sketch-o-the-day. I got as far as I could, quickly, before she found me out and demanded to see the evidence...then said "Awwww!!! CYNDI!!!" [and not necessarily in a good way.] Addendum: as her vision is, well, crappy, the lenses were not able to reflect her eyes...hence the Little Orphan Annie look...)  :-D

hand(s)

(05-29-2011. Today I decided that I wanted to go loose and fly blind [relatively...once again  peeked to refind the line]. Then one turned into two...then three...and fun was had by all.)

waterbabies

(05-28-2011. Yes, more babies. Today I had to call the game because of rain.  Instead of getting soaked outside and cold to the bone [did I happen to mention my umbrella died the other day?] I stayed inside, played video games, did my laundry, and wished for good walking weather as I wanted to walk out the door and not stop for a good long time.  And I sketched.  Today's sketch is thanks to my friend Jason, who has some cute short relatives that call him dad. Thanks for letting me dig through your personal life.  This photo tickled me.)

:)

Eric

(05-27-2011. Sometimes you just have to go with what your gut wants. I had no idea whatsoever to sketch today [yes, my book called to me once again.  What can I say, I'm hooked on books.] and my friend Eric graciously let me play in his photo albums on Facebook. I started out by drawing the top one, and was pretty satisfied for a quick drawing, but I had to go back in and let my fingers roam again. Short, simple, almost, if not, cartoonlike, the second sketch took a fraction of the time, but pleases me so much more. Could it be the hat?  The mustache? [both of which I am fascinated with, by the way...they make him look like a badass Texas Ranger...or maybe I've been watching too much Lone Wolf McQuade...] Either way, I'm pretty sure it's because my fun side wanted to play. Thanks, Eric, for the use of your face...)

clothing

(05-26-2011.  Okay, since I was sitting around half the day waiting for a delivery and inside by choice the other half...who wants to be outside when it's blowing, cold, and rainy?...and I'm pretty sure by now you're tired of seeing my mug I thought I'd give my hand (and some fun) over to drawing the coats and drying jeans from yesterday.  Today I was going for definition through line thicknesses and a bit of angularity...is that a word?... in my fun.  I did keep looking at this one.)  :)

Back to the train...

(05-25-2011. It must have been the day...rainy, dark... everyone was napping on the train on the way to work.  Including this guy.)

116. Gimme a hand...

(05-24-2011. Never mind.  I've got one. Today was my fault entirely for not sketching on the train. But the book was SOO good. Okay, maybe not THAT good.  But I was almost at the end and wanted to see how it turned out.  So I did a blind drawing of my righty. I really didn't intend for it to be THAT big.  But at least I did a better job of keeping it more in proportion.)

115. Claire

(05-23-2011. An avid photographer, Claire is always good for some interesting sketching opportunities, as she has a phenomenal amount of exploratory self-portraits.)

114. patterns

(05-22-2011. Cat moved, so it became more about what was around him. Which wound up being more fun, as it became about pattern and not subject so much.)

:)

113. Two pens

(05-21-2011.  I know, I know, not as exciting as it sounds.  The sandwich was good, though.)  ;-)

112. Train Peeps

(05-20-2011.  More just sketching vs. trying to meld things together.  Not sketched on the train for a bit makes it harder to jump back in... but jump one must. It's a lot easier when I go in a bit later, to get a seat and not be in the press of peeps.)

I've noticed that it might be worth it to ride at odder times.  It seems that the peeps riding the train down to work downtown during the normal rush hour can be a bit plain white bread.  It's harder to hold any interest when they just don't look interesting.

:)

111. Different strokes...

(05-19-2011. Some lines, I've found, work well for some things...not so well on others... welcome to experimentation land.  (:  This guy was one of those experiments gone wrong.  C'est la vie. On to the next one... )

110. Reminds me of Degas' bathing women

(05-18-2011. The train was crazy busy today when I was on it, so I couldn't juggle everything.  I pulled out my books and this lady's shape and pose reminded me of Degas' bathing women.)

shoes

(05-17-2011. Blind drawing again today.  What can I say, it's fun!? And those shoestrings are reeeaaaallly harder than I thought they'd be to place.)  :)

108. Abstract Kitty?

(05-16-2011. Blind drawing my faithful familiar actually turned out somewhat interesting.  I left out the fur marks, and whittled it down to single lines.)

107. Toes

(05-15-2011. Why do feet never seem graceful when drawn?  Why do they never seem graceful period?  Hmmm....)

106. Oh, Brother!

(05-14-2011. Yes, my brother. On the train, staring up his nose.  A bit hard to do from this angle... sketching the face, not looking up the nose.  That was relatively easy. It's good to not necessarily sketch from the same angle all the time.)

Here kitty kitty

(04-13-2011.  Happy Friday the 13th.  I don't have a black cat, but I've got a white one for you... mid paw lick.)

104. Yesterday.....

(05-12-2011. An uncomfortable looking drawing.  An uncomfortable looking man on the train being drawn.  I hope he had a better day yesterday after he got of the train.)

Yesterday's photo had to be posted today as Blogger seemed to be having issues.  My bad.  Well...their Bad.

103. Angry Lady

(05-11-2011. Okay, maybe she wasn't angry, but she did seem sort of peeved as I watched her standing at the streetlight.  Maybe she was mad she had to wait?  Hmm... dunno.  But she was fun to draw.)  :)

102. Bulls Man

(05-10-2011.  Bulls Man sat across from me reading...yep, you guessed it... a sports magazine the entire way to work. Sadly, he got off before I could write the Bulls on there, but hey, what other jersey is going to be WORN downtown Chicago?!?!)  :-D

blind drawing

05-09-2011. A Blind Drawing.  Suggestion: Never stop and then start a blind drawing.  It throws you for a loop.  I was drawing myself, and got the head done when my eyes were so tired they started bouncing all over and I was falling asleep.  I stopped, and after a bit picked up where I left off.  Notice the difference in sizes?  Yep, me too. I allotted myself a half hour for this, no more.  Usually I get done a lot faster, and believe it or not, a lot more off in my composition.  I was having flashes closer and closer together of "seeing" my pen ON me, tracing the contour.  It slows you down, definitely, but it also reads more true.)  :)

100. Self-portrait

05-08-2011. Definitely not my best, but definitely not my worst. This time I did some experimenting with the background.  I'll blame it on the pain of some smashed fingers.  Even though they are on my right hand and had absolutely nothing to do with this.)  :-D

99. Shades of a shade

(05-07-2011. Today I used no lines to delineate, just shadows.  It turned out pretty cool, I think, aside from the fact that toward the end my hand was getting a tad tired.)  :)

98. Sleepyhead

(05-06-2011. Poor guy was so sleepy this morning on the train.  He kept moving, couldn't get comfy.  But then who could with a briefcase as a pillow?!)

97. It's a boy!

(05-05-2011. A male figure this time.  Not nearly as curvy, so it's a bit harder to keep the proportions on.  I was drawing and forgot where to put the elbow. heh.  I tried a yellow to make an incandescent like yellow glow on him.  I'm on the fence about that.  One thing is for sure...either I need to get a bigger sketchbook, or accept that if I do heads that small...picture the size of a Ken Doll, then the face is going to become a bit of a mess with the shadow in there.  A little harder to interpret.)

Something new...

(05-04-2011. Today's sketch went a bit wonky.  But remember the mantra..."Love the Line". I added in this really cool water soluble pencils that I found yesterday.  They're called "Inktense".  The ink that I used wasn't waterfast, so it bled some with the water I used on the pencil.  Pretty cool.)  :)

95. Sketchy sketch sketch

(05-03-2011. A return to non-scribbly.  I like to practice it all, so I can have fun with it all...and not lose what I have gained by practice.)  :)

And for you... some flowers.  Yay, spring!!

94. The back of his head.

(05-02-2011. I finished the back of the elderly gent's head.  But not the lady.  She got off the train one stop too early.  So she looks a bit of a hot mess.  Ah well... practice.)  :)

93. Seated

(05-01-2011. Sketching out of a book of poses that I have for the human form today.  I decided to try to go without the clothes to see if I could do it without failing.  Not too bad for not drawing a nude since college.)