I haven't updated in a while, and for that I apologize. I'm getting ready for college so I haven't had much time to draw. I will be working on that bull commission for my mom today so you will most likely see the finished product sometime this week (it actually must be finished this week since I'm leaving for college next week. But don't worry, I'll still update from college).
Last night and this morning, I did a few portrait sketches; I haven't done those in a while. And here they are.
The one on the right was just from my imagination and the one on the left is a picture we took in Hawaii. They aren't the best sketches in the world but they satisfied my itching to draw.
After hours of drawing, measuring, editing, and waiting, I have a video of a drawing!! *fanfare* It took longer to edit the video and make it viewable on the internet than actually drawing the picture. I wanted to draw something relatively familiar to me and easy to do. Thus, the portrait of Alicia Keys. She's one of my favorite singers and I admire her for her awesome piano/singing skills and for her general awesomeness. In case you don't notice, the music that's accompanying the art is what she has sung in the past. They are, in order, "Harlem's Nocturne", "As I Am [intro]", "Like You'll Never See Me Again", and "Superwoman". Not only do you get hear her awesome songs, you get to have a little taste of my iPod playlist. I'm sure more songs will follow.
A photo of the finished drawing is below the video. I drew her portrait with sketching pencils (4H-4B) and graphite sticks (HB-8B). The pencils were mostly for the initial line work and shading while the sticks were used for darker shades and better blending. I used 18"x24" Strathmore Drawing paper but I only used about 17.5"x20.25" (yes I measured for the correct proportions).
In the video, you see the paper with a fine layer of graphite to start even though it's not the "true" beginning. I'm pretty sure you didn't want to see me measuring and drawing reference lines and sharpening the graphite sticks to get the graphite to rub on the paper. That would be boring.
In retrospect, the video's not the best quality, sorry. And I might have to fix the picture a little bit more.
I have finally finished the bear painting for my mom. One more painting (of a bull) to go! I might go back later and do more finishing touches; for art is never truly finished, it's only paused for a while (I think a famous artist said this, but I'm just paraphrasing). And I'm sorry for the lack of posts during the week, sometimes I just get lazy.
Yes, those are currency symbols in the background. The bear is a financial symbol you know. And very sorry for the bad lighting. My camera is in no way professional and my studio lacks good lighting.
Today, I've included some pictures of my material set-up and my "studio" space, and I use the term studio very lightly. It mostly consists of my art desk in a messy corner of my room, and if I have to paint on a large canvas, like these commissions, I go upstairs to our little storage/attic space. It's also quite messy and a little cramped. But I have no problem making room for myself and my iPod.
The space I use to work on large canvased works
My collection of paints etc.
My beautiful palette. Really, it's just a plastic party tray I got from Iparty.
A clean art desk is a rare thing indeed.
I was thinking about posting a video one day of a complete piece of art. I'm not sure what I would do but stay tuned for said video!
