244th post... closer...

(09-27-2011. I wanted to try out baby proportions again. It's not as easy as you'd think, since children's faces are proportionally different...)

243rd post...Challenge: Pattern

(09-26-2011. First, I'd like to say that all day today I've kept thinking it was the 27th. That aside, in Art With Big Arms, the challenge was Pattern. So, I borrowed my friend Tif's cute little baby with allll her blankets to show pattern. This is a fairly tiny sketch, being about 6 inches tall and four wide, with my small pen, and the one thing I've learned...it's hard to draw a toddler with any sort of shadow on their face without it aging the baby. I'm still working on that.  I may need to borrow her again....

242nd post...single pen for a couple.

(09-25-2011.  Okay, so when I use a fine point pen, I'm really either going to need it for just small sketches of maybe 2x3 inches or so, or I'll need to add in a thicker brush pen to add in some excitement. A larger size like this, 10x8, feels too big for that tiny pen...)

241st post...Saying "Hi!" to Eric again...

(09-24-2011.  Say "Hi!" to Eric.  If you remember [probably not, it's been a while...] I practiced on my friend Eric who so graciously loaned me his face to sketch.  I wondered what it would be to try it again after several months of daily practice, and once again Eric came through for me. He even put his photo up so that I could easily find it [ maybe not, but sometimes in my fantasyland I like to pretend for a second or two that I am the most important person in the universe. Yeah. Then reality rears it's head again *wink*] anyway, where was I? Oh, so he came through like a champ, letting me use his photo and allowing me to post again. I think I've definitely gotten a few things since then. Just don't ask me what, but it feels better.  If you'd like to see and compare I believe that it was May 27th that I posted the other.)

more....

(09-23-2011. I have absolutely nothing to say about this one... except that I'm sad that my pen is dying. No more easy cute thin lines and big fat wiggly ones. Oh, it's doable, but not easy doable. Or maybe it's just because it's Friday and tomorrow I have to go to work and do laundry. Not at work. But afterward.)

:)

239th Post... If it were physically possible.....

(09-22-2011. For Martin Sheen and Robert Downey Jr. to have a baby, I'm pretty sure their lovechild would look like this guy.)  :0D

238th post...random guy again...

(09-21-2011. My pen is getting softer. It's harder to do small stuff... but a big old face?  Yup. It can still do that.)  :-D

237th post... back to the coffee shop...

(09-20-2011. A sammich eater. A junk leaver. Two steps away from the tub to put her dishes in and what does she do?  Leaves all her stuff on the table. Hm.)

236th post... duuuuuude.....

(09-19-2011.  No, Really.  It's a dude. Aaaaand. I'm not too happy with it. Oh, there are certain aspects of it I like.  Certain lines. But that's fleeting. Overall...yeah. No.  Ah well, that's what this whole experiment is for, right? Not too many full body apparitions in the pages of my many sketchbooks. I could blame it on the fact that I was tired, on the pen being the skinny little one, and drawing larger loses dynamics, or the fact that it's a new moon [is it?] but in the end it all comes down to me. I'll do better. Or worse. Tomorrow.  But at least I'll have fun.)  ;-)

235th post...faces...

(09-18-2011. I find it amusing that like anything that needs to get warmed up, you can follow the progression of sketches from first, tighter, more hesitant sketch to last, looser sketch. I may have thought about it before, but it came home to me this time... When I first sketch a live person, I am a lot more hesitant, because I'm trying to make it LIKE them, and therefore the strokes are tighter, sketchy, and I just know they're going to turn or move... When I finally give that up, the strokes relax, and the whole thing is more pleasing to my eye.)

gah.

(09-17-2011. Sometimes you just have one of those days when it doesn't seem to fall in place.  This was one of them.  On the other hand... when it DOES, it makes it that much sweeter.) ;-)

233rd post. MOOOOM! I'm TELLING!!!

(09-16-2011...No scribbly shadows, but some thicker sides of the pen as it starts to lose that delicious sharp tip... I really need to get that new pen one of my friends was telling me about...)

232nd post... more about the body...

(09-15-2011. Yeah, the face wasn't quite what I was going for.  I was trying to keep it small to add in the body. Possibly needed a skinnier pen nib? Who knows. I'm pretty pleased with the body proportions, though.  :-D)

231st post... on the train...

(09-14-2011.  YAY!!!  ON the TRAIN!!!... all the sketching really pulled it together. This was sketched while we were in motion...and the guy was asleep...until the train got too crowded. Meh. The point being the lines were strong and even if there were some whoopsies they weren't huge train induced whoopsies.  Only pretty small train induced whoopsies.)  *once in a while you need these confidence boosters even if you screw up again, you know that you are capable ;-)

230th post...challenge...emotion.

(09-13-2011. What a funny challenge.  Get it? Funny? Like funny as in she's laugh.... Never mind.  *sigh*)

:-)

229th post...from underneath...

(09-12-2011... that's what happens when you're short and they're tall. One of my favorites, I think. The lines seemed to just appear for me.)

228th post...nothing human....

(09-11-2011... I have a new brush-pen that I bought yesterday. Sort of an impulse-purchase as it was right across the aisle from the frames. I took it, along with my trusty older sketching pen to the coffee shop. No people were in evidence, so I watched the world go by outside. And started getting fascinated by the bolts in the ironwork holding up the train tracks. That turned into an exercise in perspective. And then the little guy in the bottom wandered into the picture. So he had to stay. I'd have to say this one was fun. A welcome break from a person for the day. P.S. I liked the varying thickness of this new pen....)  :-D

hat...

(09-10-2011...and shadows...)

226th post...not too bad for a mover.....

(09-09-2011. I was back at my favorite spot for a chicken wrap...I REALLY need to go shopping... and was sketching this lady who was knitting. She was doing a beanie hat with bear ears attached. Very cute. But her head kept bopping around and her hands kept moving.  I didn't have the heart to go up and tell her to stop for me...)  ;-D

225th post...waiting for my turkey....

(09-08-2011. The turkey WAS good, by the way... and this guy was soo deep into his conversation that he was being very cooperative with holding still....)

another righty...

(09-07-2011. I had such fun doing a sketch right handed....with surprise results... that I decided to sketch another one right handed.  A bit more detail this time. I believe that holding the pen halfway up the barrel loosely kind of evens out the right vs. left fight.)

223rd post... Challenge...Righty.

(09-06-2011. This weeks Challenge from AWBA was to use your non-dominant hand to make something. So...this was drawn with my right hand. Not too bad considering the fact that I am SO not ambidextrous.)

222nd post...dapper...

(09-05-2011.  Always one with a stiff collar. I cut out a lot of head here. Just wanted to focus on the features for some reason. And today I added in a bit of hilight into his eye. Why? Why not?)  ;-D

221st post... a bit of a blow....

(09-04-2011. So any and all barrettes went MIA. But that's okay.  She had her Daddy to hold her and her stuffed animal.  And that makes it ALL better.)

Over the past few weeks I've done better when I've had the fatter pen and held it about halfway up the barrel and held it, loosely. Along with NOT concentrating on making everything perfect.... it seems to work well....

220th post...uh.

(09-03-2011... not good, not bad, not exciting.  Sometimes we have days like this.  Maybe I was too busy thinking about how my neighborhood is staying the same...meaning it's eclectic...yet it's changing...meaning the old mix of people have added in a newer mix of hipsters.  I was watching a bunch who have set up house in my old coffee shop, which looks like it's becoming the new "in" place to be. Who'd have known I was about seven years ahead of the curve.)

219th post...pain wrinkles....

(09-02-2011...pain is never a good thing... but it DOES make for a more interesting drawing. Don't worry, no humans were harmed in the making of this sketch. Luckily I have an excellent actor for a friend who is nice enough to help me out...) :-D

218th post...Donna...

(09-01-2011...Meet Donna. Donna is cool. Donna is never sad.  That I know of. Donna loves life. I've known Donna since I went to sunday school with her kids. There are many things I like about this, and some that I don't. I noticed that I've [in a few, anyway] started defining the tip of the nose a bit more. Is more less? Is less more? We shall see how this develops. I DO like her dark brown hair. I haven't made hair that dark [noting it in drawing] for a long time. I think I like it. Yes. I like it.)

:)