Obsession

Obsession: the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, or desire.

Very cliche opening, I know. It describes my feelings exactly about drawing, especially drawing eyes. Lately (as I may have said before), I have not been able to draw as much since college happened. But that doesn't mean that the desire has gone away, just that I don't have time. Well today a bunch of time opened up thanks to a girl called Sandy. I'm sure students everywhere are rejoicing for her wonderful appearance, especially since none of us are responsible for anything super important but ("just") our education. And I should be studying for an exam I have tomorrow, but art!

So, this the lovechild between me and hurricane Sandy. Two eyes drawn with weighted pencils, 4H-8B or thereabouts.

On a semi-unrelated note, this photo was taken on my new iPhone 5! That kind of explains the not so awesome quality (not to say anything bad about Apple but it is a cell phone, not a Nikon).

You'll notice that there's a slight difference in how the eyes look in terms of sharpness. On the second one, I used more of the point of the 8B pencil for the eyelashes and iris detail. Personally, I like the second one more; I paid more attention to the details in that one than I did in the first one, and it's more dynamic (basically not straight on like the first one). Thanks to Sandy, I can be productive art-wise, and maybe cure my artist's block.

Perfume

I did this mini project a while ago and frankly, I'm amazed that didn't post it earlier. For some reason, I have an obsession with drawing glass objects. Maybe it's the reflections and transparency, or maybe it's the fact that you really have to draw what you see. You can easily mess up drawing glass by misrepresenting the fall of the light and the shadows. Maybe I love drawing glass so much since it's a challenge, and I do love a challenge. But anyways, here's the perfume progress.

 For the final one, I know that the background is too light compared to the perfume bottles. I mostly just wanted to focus on the bottles and not so much the background. One day I might do an actual piece of a type of glass.

Yes, I'm Still Here

It has been a month since I posted. That's just a fact. But I must say, college life is amazing! Especially since it's at MIT. The people are nice and welcoming, the classes are just the right difficulty (not hard enough to be frustrating), and the area is just awesome. Having lived in a suburb all my life, I'm getting used to living in the city. It's always nice that there's something going on somewhere and that I'm almost always within walking distance (or a bus ride) from it. Since I am in college and the work is demanding, I haven't been drawing as much, and I do regret it. Drawing is therapeutic for me, and I love coming home and drawing just to relax. Even of what I draw isn't a finished piece of art, just the fact that I'm drawing is relaxing enough. Therefore, I've been a bit stressed since I haven't been drawing that much.

But, good news! I have been drawing and designing a little. We're trying to create an art club at MIT. I must say, we were kind of amazed that there wasn't one already. They have tons of other clubs and activities. Anyways, I volunteered to design our logo. What I design probably won't be our final logo, but it's still good to have an idea of what it would be. Here are the designs I've done so far.

My second favorite. I really liked the font (from dafont). I thought it was very artsy, especially with the little random scribbles.

This one is probably the most graphic-y and the least artsy.

Not my absolute favorite, but I wanted to try a subtractive design. 

The difference between this one and the one before it is that this one has the tertiary colors included as well. The previous one just has primary and secondary colors. But they're both my favorite. 

The rest of the art club members seem to like the first one and the last ones.

I have been doing some drawing as well, mostly with pen and ink. The following piece is just a sketch for future pieces of the same type. I'm trying to do a series of flowers in vases with pen and ink and maybe an accent of color. I'm not exactly sure yet. But here's the sketch.

Pen and ink is great; it's loose and tight at the same time, and it naturally looks refined. When it's just in black and white, it looks unfinished yet finished. I think I've fallen in love.

Minimalist Portraits

Actual drawings! Three cheers for more art! I must say, drawing in a college dorm is quite fun while listening to your Pandora account. I felt like I was getting a little rusty with my artistic-ness so I sat down and just drew for a couple of hours. It was strangely liberating and not so strangely enjoyable. The reason why the last two are a slightly different color is because it's cream paper.

Since I love drawing the features of the face more than the entire head itself, I'm enjoying drawing minimalist portraits. Doing it makes focus on each individual part of the face and its placement on the face. And the one of the portraits is a girl and one is a boy. Guess which one! I tried hard to make them distinct but it was hard once I added the eyelashes. The ear was also fun to draw. It's weird seeing that I've never really fully drawn an ear. Yeah I've drawn it with less details but I never focused on the ear alone.

Poetry

Literature is art too! And I must admit, I'm getting a little lazy making new posts since I'm in college and all. I have been drawing, it's just that my camera's batteries are dead and I haven't felt like going down to the scanner in the computer lab. Therefore, I've decided to share some of my poetry. They are all past works, most of them written for my creative writing class that I did in high school. I try to be funny sometimes in my poetry since I think poetry doesn't just have to be somber, serious, and depressing all the time. It can be lighthearted too. So here's to being artistic in many ways! *toast*

Writer's Block
a penny for your thoughts
a nickel for your dreams
a dime for all ideas that
burst forth like the streams

a quarter for your musings
half dollar for your views
golden dollar coin for
notions of different hues

dollar bill for your whims
five for all your feelings
ten for your sentiments
that work best with dealings

twenty for a great plan
fifty for all your quirks
a hundred for your brain
since mine no longer works

This is one of my most favorite poems that I wrote. I really wanted to start a poem off with a well-known quote and then kind of...run away with it. And besides, who wouldn't want to pay to get rid of writer's block?

Art
My love, my passion starts with a blank
And patiently it waits for my command
To smear it with all the thoughts I drank
And adorn it with marks from my own hand.

Just for my beloved, only the best,
The highest quality money can buy.
In prismatic gems is my love dressed
And with lavish strokes that catch the eye.

But at times it defies my instruction
This rainbow ignites an inner flame.
But its hues unite and lead in seduction,
So I'm weak to oppose this colored frame.

In creative frustration, my feelings I shove
Yet art still remains my passion, my love

Yes, it's about art. Yes, it's a sonnet.

If I Were Your Best Friend
I'd be there for you all the time
Except from 9:00 to 9:30. That's when Modern Family comes on.
I'd encourage you to do well in school
So I could copy off your homework.
I'd go with you to your annoying, second cousin's wedding in Florida
And then probably spend it with the groom's hot nephew.

I'd comfort you when your boyfriend breaks up with you
By hitting him upside the head and asking him what's wrong with him.
Then we'd share earbuds and listen to Kelly Clarkson's break-up songs.
And possibly Taylor Swift too.

I'd listen to your complaints about your parents being unfair,
Help you sneak out,
And then cover for you when they call my house wondering where you are
(I'd probably do a bad job, but I'll try).

We'd go shopping, and we'll try on clothes
That we'll never buy 'cause we don't have any money to speak of.

Then we'd end the day texting each other until we go to sleep,
Forget about our homework,
And then rush to get it done before second period,
'Cause it always has to be done before second period.

But since we're not best friends anymore,
I can only sit here behind you,
And remember all the good times we had,
All the bad times we laughed off,
And that you haven't given back that sweater you borrowed from me last week.

No, this is not in reference to any bad friend or anything like that.

Hoped you enjoyed these poems. There will probably be more to come in the future.