Brief Update

On a bittersweet note, I had to say goodbye to my awesome drawing teacher Mike today. He got a great job offer up in San Francisco and will be moving the family up there very soon! I have been so lucky to be able to absorb his insight and enthusiasm these last couple months.

Sorry I haven't been posting very often lately. Work has been busy, which I guess is good! I'm really enjoying it and am finding that some of the very things that were frustrating at first are now working out in suprisingly good directions!! More on that later...

Cuddly sketches

 

Here are a couple of recent sketches, they're the same kind of stuff I usually fill my sketchbook with... pencil drawings of weird characters on a nebulous background.

However it was neat to make these recent ones and see how everything I've been learning has influenced my approach. I'm finding my thought process to be very different, much more intentional in the choices I make, and consciously aware of all the various aspects of the drawing that need attention - the action of a pose, the twists and direction of body parts, the subtle variations in a shape's silhouette, lost and found edges and contrasts, and the intersection of points (no tangents!).

There's a much greater sense of understanding, of knowing what to do and why, and what needs to be improved and why. It's great!! It's also more fun this way because my brain is more engaged, not just sitting idly by while my eyes and hands have all the fun.

I'm encouraged too because this particular pencil drawing style had started to get really rigid in my previous sketches, but now it's starting to be redeemed, infused with new life in the figures and the lines themselves!