Today’s sketch is an Alaskan Glacier. The actual photo has these brilliant aqua blue colors against the white snow. But it also has this very carved and complex blocks of shading throughout, which makes a sketch very challenging. Also a good test on perspective and how to give the impression of distance without using any real clear reference point in the sketch. Hoping you get the sense of sheer size of the glacial wall.
Bit off more than I could chew this time. With another hour or two I can probably get this paint tube more complete, but given the self-imposed daily sketch limitations, I chose to concentrate on the ends, which had the most interest.
This is a large tube of oil paint (ultramarine blue for the curious), which looks like it’s been through a torture chamber. I’ve cursed this tube many times because the top often gets stuck and I have to use pliers to grip the lid to turn it off. You painters out there know exactly what I’m talking about! This causes the body of the tube to twist into some pretty cool ropy shapes. Because the tube material is similar to a toothpaste tube, it’ doesn’t show shadows as easily as fabric. I didn’t think about this before starting this sketch. It’s like painting twisted metal fabric, or something like that. I tried to imagine what the shading should look like b/c it was very hard to see on the live object itself, and once I did that, I made some progress.
Ironically, this composition would definitely be easier in oil.
Inspiration for today’s sketch is El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Another reference photo from a very memorable trip a few years ago. I actually did a sketch at the site en plein air while we had a picnic and watched the climbers work their way up the wall, so small I can’t even find them on the reference photo. Amazing feats of strength. Look out Festivus, here they come!
Even as a quick sketch – took about 90 minutes – I learned some interesting techniques that I was too inexperienced to consider when I first attempted this drawing. First, the simple long sketch lines naturally help define the contour and direction of the granite face, which means this is one of the rare occasions that you don’t have to worry too much about “hiding” a mass of disorganized sketch lines. Secondly, the challenge of value transitions from the light side to the shaded side is not as straight forward as it looks. The reference photo throws you off b/c it’s not accurate, but I didn’t figure that out until I had a black and white cookie on the paper instead of a iconic rock mountain. In other words, the shadow side has more variations than what it appears to have in the photo. But most importantly, the random cracks and crevices that aren’t in the shade can easily be worked too dark, which makes them jump to the front of the sketch, so I had to use a lesser value by about 2-3 scales to ensure those areas stayed tucked into the rock face instead of looking like they were dark bumps popping onto the surface.
This is one of those projects that I could stay glued to for hours. The complexity of the rock face is a fun challenge, and would be a fantastic drawing on a much larger scale (this sketch is on 9″x12″). I’ve also come to realize that compositions like this are probably much more interesting with graphite instead of paint.
Please excuse the hasty sketch today. This is the non-lily pad part of Giverny. The whole place is amazing, despite the crowds, and it’s easy to overlook this reflective pond bathed in green bamboo, green underbrush, and green boats – trust me, its a lot. The pond reflections of the bamboo are more detailed than the actual real bamboo b/c the angle of reflection reveals a larger swath. Needless to say I ignored that reality in this quick sketch. Hope the spirit of the place conveys despite the roughness.
Today’s sketch inspired by my wife and our anniversary trip to the French countryside in the romantic Loire Valley region. The light was very strong from the right side of the sketch, so the shadows were very pronounced, as was the coming storm, which never materialized by the way. The rose bushes in the foreground are testers – not part of the actual reference photo, but rather a suggestion from my wife in hopes of adding some bright color to the soon-to-be painted version. Never sketched a rose bush before, but I think it’s a great addition to the sketch.
Didn’t have the time on Friday night to sketch for long, nor post, so it’s a day late. So this is the not-so-great result. That said, it’s still practice, albeit under the influence of a couple of cocktails and being very sleepy. The real merit of this sketch is that it was done one handed b/c this is my actual left hand as the model. Might come back to this one some day soon to see how it can be improved. Its ugly, but it was fun to do.
Always fun to try and sketch something white using black graphite. This white magnolia flower is from my backyard last summer. The bees were having a field day. I decided to add them into the sketch last minute and I’m glad they did. I just wanted to see how hard it would be to include a few bees, but they ended up adding improved depth to the sketch. After sketching this flower I’ve decided to add it to my painting lineup, probably using a painting knife to add cool texture.
The darker shading was done using a 2B with light pressure. Everything else is an HB.
Today’s sketch is one of my dogs, Boom, curled into his comfy dream ball position. Always amazes me that a 60 pound dog can curl up like this. This is a 20 minute sketch done from the couch. I had to go fast because despite how soundly he sleeps, mind you he’s deaf, he has a creepy sixth sense that tells him when he’s being stared at. Invariably, when I try to draw him, he always moves before I have enough on he paper to improvise. Tonight, however, he waited long enough for me to get the outline down, after which he only moved his head a few times.
Boom is all black, so the use of hair direction and basic values was important to make this work. I’m happy with it as a quick sketch b/c it really captures the essence of Boom curled in a ball. I tried this a year ago and it didn’t go well, which reminded me that it can be rewarding to go back to an old subject and see if it’s easier the second time around.
The outline was done with an HB pencil; everything else was 2B.
The use of “SAD” for Sketch-A-Day is, well, sad. Therefore, renaming this quest for 30 days of consecutive drawings to “Daily Sketch”.
Had more time today to tackle a slightly complicated sketch. Still not worrying about completing a final composition, working quickly, and focusing on the skills development that daily discipline can bring.
The storm clouds is another painting subject for later this year. It’s going to be a great exercise in the impact of value scales. I’ve included a reference photo this time so you can see how much further this has to go, but despite the incompleteness, the gist is already apparent. I spent about 90 minutes on this today, which is a little disheartening b/c it doesn’t look like much was done, but a lot happened in that time. Used all my pencils – HB, 2B, 4B, and 8B. Also used blending sticks and the gummy eraser to get some cloud effects.
While I didn’t get this sketch to the point of realism, I feel confident that I can get it there eventually. I love sketching b/c it can move so fast, but it can be unforgiving in a piece like this as the incessant shading and value blending can do a number on the paper and smooth it out too much to allow for fixing mistakes.
Apologies for the poor photo quality. Sketch time was short today. This is a future painting project, so wanted to use SAD as a way to start gauging the composition. There is a very light reflection in the water, but nowhere near the time commit today to do anything more than a squiggly outline of the carousel in the water.
Art Bern 