Partial Laying Lion

Today was my day to draw in public for this section of my drawing class. I went to the Como Zoo. One thing I learned is that a big cat, who is sleeping, is just as likely to move, including completely out of view, as a house cat.  I learned this lesson from a cougar, a snow leopard, and a male and female lion.

Here is the start of a male lion. Even though I did not get a chance to finish it, it does read as "lion" to me and the outer contour of the mane is about the right amount of mass.

Contour Drawing

For my on-line class, we've been spending the last several days doing contour drawing and blind contour drawing and thinking about both positive and negative space. Some people were posting homework drawings of faces and other things with contour lines that make the drawing look more 3D. This is a skill that I would like to work on, since there are not hard edges when you do this. I did my official homework earlier today. Tonight, I did some unofficial homework and did some contour drawings of a sleeping cat. I played with contour lines within the drawing of the cat to get the 3D stuff going. After that, I tried something more simple, since I need to walk before I try to run.  

Behold, here is part of a cat's leg and paw.

Flower In My Garden 1

The first iris bloomed in my yard yesterday. Tonight, I came home from work, did a quick drawing, and painted it with watercolor. I also did my homework for class and posted about it in the class forum.  I'm passing on documenting it here, since I'm tired and going to bed!

Today's Realization

A new set of lessons dropped for my class today. For the next several days, we are doing contour drawing and some blind contour drawing. One thing that was discussed in today's lessons materials was negative space. My big realization for today was that thinking about negative space isn't just reserved for the object and the background of the object. You can also look for negative space shapes within an object. Until today's lesson, this never occurred to me.

Focusing on negative space helped me do a better job.  It helped with the size and placement of the various leaves. This is a drawing of a young tomato plant that I started from seed and which is currently growing in the basement.

This is a really excellent class. I highly recommend either checking out the instructor's blog or taking a class from her.

30 Day Brush Pen Challenge - Recap 3

The 30-day brush pen challenge is toast. At the time, I stopped it I had already started my next recap posting, so I figured that I might as well post it.

It took a number of attempts to get the height versus the width correct. I still want to make both my ellipsis and an object taller than reality. The teapot is a little kittywampus and I'm not pleased with the hatching, but I am pleased with the height and width.

Drawing 8 - teapot

This next one was a quick one. It's a bit wonky and out of proportion, but there are 3 entirely, separate objects in one sketch!  What craziness!

Drawing 9 - tea-related grouping

Gesture Drawing

Class is proceeding along at a fast clip. The commitment is to do 30 minutes of homework drawing each and every day. There are a couple of longer homework segments that will come later. New course content drops twice per week.

The last three days have focused on gesture drawing, which is new to me. It's also a challenge. When I started taking painting classes, I realized that some people's brains think more in shapes. I had never really thought about it and this came as a surprise to me. My brain does not work this way, plus I tend to go for the details in life. This does not mean I won't ever figure out gesture drawing. It just means it's going to take time. I plan to keep plugging away at it as part of warming up. New course content drops tomorrow, so homework will focus on new things.

All of this is pushing me outside of my comfort zone. If left to my own devices, I'd keep plugging away at gesture drawing, but class is moving on and so will I. At the same time that I am feeling uncomfortable, I also have a lot of trust in the course.

Today was the first time, I worked on sketching in public. I went to my local food cooperative and sat at a table near the entrance. This is the sketch that I liked the best. I felt very self-conscious and this is one of the few where I was able to put the feeling aside. It's a toddler sitting in the top of a grocery cart.

Oh heck, I might as well also show one of the full pages. It's challenging to see a whole and not go to contours.

Today's Understanding

Thoughts From This Morning:
The 30-day brush pen challenge is on hold or it might just be over. It's going to be more than enough to keep up with my on-line class. I'm not sure how much time I will have to post about it. At a minimum, I plan to write quick summaries of what I'm learning. It helps me cement it into my head.

After watching yesterday's material, I really did not get gesture drawing. I forged ahead and did yesterday's homework, anyway. I, along with many others, mostly emphasized contours, rather than gestures. This morning there was a Gesture Drawing Momentum Memo from the instructor with some additional ideas and thoughts about gesture drawing. I'm still not sure that I get it, but the memo was helpful.

After reading the memo and thinking a bit, today's understanding (completely in Robin language) of how to begin to think about gesture drawing is to look for or think about the main support beam or tipping point of an object. This supports the outer frame or shell.  Next, think about the outer shell as though it's draped in a a cloth. It's okay to see or draw shapes, but don't get into the details.

Again, this is a recap of one part of the instructor's materials in Robin language.

Homework And Thoughts From This Evening:
Here are a couple today's gesture drawings. The one in ink is from the lunchroom at work today. This was a person hold a phone and scratching her head. The others are from tonight's juggling club. I figured that these are movements that I am familiar with and many of the movements get repeated.

This is very different drawing than contour drawing. I'm drawn (yes, the pun was intentional) to the one in the lower right hand corner. The arms and head show juggling movement to me. I did not try to include the props being juggled.

I wish I would have make darker marks with my pencil!