Week 24 - Weekly Art Challenge - Faces

This week I continued working with Jane Davenport's Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces,  This week the exercise worked with "latitude and longitude". Davenport treated her simple faces (or Draw Happy faces) as globes with latitude and longitude lines. Using these as guidelines makes it easier to draw faces that are tilted, rather than looking straight on. These are my results, with the "globe" I used as a guideline in the lower right-hand corner.

3/4 view - 4"x 4", Pencil on mixed-media paper.

Tilted up, 3/4 view - 4" x 4" - Pencil on mixed-media paper

Tilted down-3/4 view - 4" x 4" - Pencil on mixed-media paper.

Tilted up - 4" x 4" - Pencil on mixed-media paper.

These has been an eye-opening experience for me. I had never thought of thinking of the faces as a globe and using latitude and longitude lines to determine the placement of the facial features. Even though these are fairly rough sketches, I learned much creating these. The next section of the book starts working on the details of facial features. It's exciting to think I can start getting a fairly realistic looking face without working directly from a photograph.

Keep creating!!

Lynnita

Week 20 - Weekly Art Challenge - Faces

For this Weekly Art Challenge, I worked on the next exercise in  Jane Davenport's Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces. (See previous posts here). Jane described drawing and shading spheres; then explained how the face can be represented by spheres to help create dimension with shading. Working with the "Draw Happy" faces, she added spheres for the cheeks, nose, chin and lips.  These are the two faces I did in this style. 

"Baby face" - 4" x 4" - charcoal and 0.005 black Sakura micron pen on mixed-media paper.

In this sketch, I started with the guidelines and eyes. I added spheres for the nose, lips, chin, and cheeks. After adding the shading, I saw a baby's face, so added just a few tufts of hair.

"Young girl" - 4" x 4", charcoal and 0.005 black Sakura micron pen on mixed-media paper.

Again, I started with the guidelines and eyes, adding spheres for the various facial features. This young girl still needs work, but I think I got the concept Jane was illustrating with using spheres to help add dimension to a face.

I'm enjoying Jane's book and learning more about how to draw faces. However, for me, it's tough to get a good face without a photograph.


Keep creating!
Lynnita

Week 15 - Weekly Art Challenge - Faces

This week for the Weekly Art Challenge, I've been working from Jane Davenport's Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces. I enjoy creating portraits and want to be able to create faces better and use them in mixed-media artwork and also to create portrait paintings. I've done a few faces in past blogs posts (see posts here).

This week I did the exercises for "the Hot Zones" and "Jane-style whimsical proportions."  In the hot zones, Jane explains the distance between eyes, the stack of the nose, mouth and chin, how the lips line up with the eyebrows,  how the ears line with our facial features, and finally, the curve of the cheeks. In whimsical proportions, Jane shows how the proportions can be played with for drama and to look for what we find interesting and aesthetically pleasing.

These are the "whimsical  proportions" I focused on this week, while using the "hot zones" to keep the drawings balanced and proportionally pleasing.

Realistic Proportions, 3"x3", pencil and pen on mixed-media paper

Jane-style Proportions, 3"x3", pencil and pen on mixed-media paper

Fey, Tilted Eyes,, 3"x3", pencil and pen on mixed-media paper

Pixie, Large Wide-Set Eyes, 3"x3", pencil and pen on mixed-media paper

Feline, Large Eyes, Bunched Features, 3"x3", pencil and pen on mixed-media paper

Hollywood, Large Lips, Small Noses, 3"x3", pencil and pen on mixed-media paper

I think I still need some work on the faces, but playing with the proportions and placement of the features is a learning experience. It was interesting to see how varying these elements affects the way the face looks. It also helps me to know that I do not have to have realistic proportions all the time when working with portraits - they just need to be balanced and pleasing. Thanks, Jane!


Keep creating!
Lynnita

Week 7 - Weekly Art Challenge - Faces

Trying to catch up on my weekly art challenge posts. Our grandbaby is home from the hospital, my hand is healing from my hand surgery (my dominate hand, of course!), so I'm trying to get settled into creating again! Although, in the 4 days our grandbaby has been home, we've babysat two days and the other two days, I had to take her or her mother to routine check-ups! I'm not complaining about the babysitting - she is such a joy! She's so quiet, I can almost forget she's here! I'm hoping as our daughter and her boyfriend adjust to being new parents, things will settle down some. However, they may be moving in with us in a month, if they cannot find another apartment! LOL! life is always changing!

This week, I still haven't gotten back to my painting. I did do another drawing from Jane Davenport's book: Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces. I had started the first couple of exercises before all the excitement with a new baby (see posts here).  The next exercise is called "Grand Scale". Instead of the small, simple "Draw Happy" faces, this exercise scaled the drawing to a full page. She goes into more detail of placement of facial features and shape of the face. This is my result:

Face, 7" x 10", pencil and 0.005 black Sakura pen on mixed-media paper.

I like the facial features, although the eyes are too large and too close together. The hair and neck need some work, but those weren't the focus of this exercise. I do pretty well doing portraits from a photograph (I've actually done commissions in oils, acrylics, and colored pencil),  but to draw a portrait without a photo to look at is such a challenge for me. I'm hoping Jane's book (and I also bought her video recently) will help me to overcome these difficulties.

I hope for Week 8 to be able to finally start painting in my art journal for the Documented Life Project 2015 (DLP) with Art to the 5th Academy, that I originally set out to do for my weekly art challenge this year! I'll see what this week holds!


Keep creating!
Lynnita

Face Sketching continued

I am continuing to work on faces using Jane Davenport's new book "Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces" (see last week's post here) to improve my portraiture skills.

After drawing simple, little "Draw Happy" faces for the first exercise, Davenport moves to adding guidelines to help place features on the face with confidence. The eyes are about halfway between the hairline and the chin, while the bottom of the nose is about halfway between the eyes and the chin, with  the mouth about halfway between the nose and chin. The ears sit between the eyes and nose.  All sketches are approximately 3" x 3" and use a pencil, 0.005 black Sakura micron pen, and a white Uni-Ball Signo gel pen.

Simple face with guidelines showing placement
 of the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. 

Davenport calls this Divide and Conquer! She says although there is a huge amount of variety in every face, the guides will work on any face shape and by sticking to these basic placements, the face will look balanced no matter what face shape is drawn. The exercise was to create a series of different shapes and draw simple faces onto them using these guidelines. (I did not completely erase all of my guidelines.) 

Circle base for the face.

Oval base for the face.

Square base for the face.

Rectangle base for the face.

Heart shape for the face.

These guidelines are a huge help with creating a face that looks realistic, although they are still simple faces. I only added a bit of shading to create depth. I added simple hairdo's - I wasn't concerned if they looked real - since I was mainly concerned with creating a symmetrical, somewhat, realistic face. The next few exercises start going into more details for creating a larger face - where getting facial features placed right will matter more.

I have a hard time creating a face that looks real from my imagination (that is not drawn by using a photo or looking at someone), but I'm already feeling more comfortable from just these first two simple exercises.  I think I'll soon be ready to add faces to mixed-media work and art journaling. 

Keep creating!

Lynnita

Face Sketching

I recently picked up a new book by Jane Davenport called "Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces: A Mixed-Media Portrait Workshop."  I had to skim the entire book the day it arrived. She draws such beautiful, whimsical faces.

Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces by Jane Davenport 

Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces back

When I took my first art classes several years ago, my instructor talked my into trying portraits, kicking and screaming the whole way! But I found out that I really enjoy creating portraits. Since then, I have done portraits in oil and colored pencil, and for commissions. I did these working from photos. I find it harder to draw a face without something to look at and have been wanting to get better at drawing faces for some time now. So when I saw her book online, I just had to pre-order it and it arrived a couple days later!

I stayed up until the middle of the night dong several faces for her first exercise called "Drawing Happy". These are little, simple "Draw Happy" faces that she gives about 10 step-by-step instructions to complete. Following these instructions I made about a dozen "Draw Happy" faces, approximately 2" x 2" in pencil, 0.005 black Sakura micron pen, and white Uni-Ball Signo gel pen unless stated otherwise.

Face #1 

Face #2 - Also used 0.005 red and sepia Prismacolor pens.

Face #3

Face #4

Face #5

Face #6 - Also used 0.005 red Prismacolor pen

Face #7

Face *8

Face #9 

Face #10

Face #11

Face #12

As you can see, my faces improved the more I drew. I like the last 3 the best. I can see the point of Davenport's exercise - the more you draw, the better you become! With drawing small faces, I could draw several in a fairly short period of time. These aren't meant to be detailed, realistic faces - just small, simplistic representations.

I'm looking forward to continuing to do the exercises in Davenport's book. She goes into more details in drawing faces that look more realistic, yet whimsical and she uses a variety of media - including pencil, pens, colored pencils, pastels, acrylics, watercolors, inks, etc. to accomplish the various drawings. Fun, fun, fun!! I also want to use these in my art journaling.  I used one of Jane Davenport's face stencils in my December project as a design team member for Blue Twig Studio. I hope to be able to draw my own whimsical faces, in addition to using the stencils, for various mixed-media, quilting, or drawing projects in the future.


Keep creating!
Lynnita

Week 52 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

The last week of the 365 Days of Art Challenge by Blue Twig Studio!! I made it through the year and was able to complete almost every week's sketch challenge. I made my goal of finishing the studies from J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's DragonArt Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon.  (See past posts here.)

back cover of DragonArt Evolution: How to Draw Everything
Dragon by J. Neon Dragon Peffer

DragonArt Evolution:How to Draw Everything Dragon
cover by J. Neon Dragon Peffer

I finished the last two exercises in the book this week for my sketches. The first one is a Mesoamerican Dragon, which is a feathered serpent with a long body that can twist and cling to various objects. The serpent is as comfortable airborne, as it is looping its coils over branches of a tree. They enjoy accents of elaborate jewelry, tassels and gold decorations.

Mesoamerican Dragon, 10" x 7", 0.005 black Sakura micron pen and pencil on mixed-media paper.

I enjoyed drawing this one.  Scales separating the top and bottom of the serpent were useful since there are no limbs to help keep the front from the back when drawing the dragon's body twists and movements in space.  It was challenging to get the values in pencil, but I'm very happy with the result.

The second one is a Dragon Rider flying on a dragon. Not all dragons will allow humans on their backs. The few that do often form close bonds with their two-legged companions. The dragon rider team has many uses, such as an elite aerial force, a cab service, racing, delivering mail, and just for fun. The dragon rider may have a uniform that matches his fellow riders, or one that coordinates specifically with his dragon.

Dragon Rider, 7" x 10", 0.005 black Sakura micron pen and pencil on mixed-media paper.

This study was a challenge, as Peffer gave good directions for drawing the main dragon, but just two comments for adding the rider - 1) pencil in a simplified rider, and 2) add details and costume. I wasn't expecting this after all the step-by-step details in the rest of the book. I have done portraits in the past, but not full figures. I have found with portraits that the facial features become much more difficult the smaller the portrait is. This dragon rider was no exception. I drew the face several times before deciding I had the proportions as good as I was going to get them.

I have enjoyed this weekly sketch challenge immensely! I learned much this year, especially relating to drawing dragons. I feel I have improved my ability to sketch, to achieve proper values in respect to lighting, and to make time for art every week. More importantly, I had fun!!  Thank you Deb for the challenge!



Happy New Year to all!


Keep creating!
Lynnita

Week 51 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

The year is almost over!! It's week 51of the 365 Day of Art Challenge weekly Sketch Challenge issued by Deb Prewitt of Blue Twig Studio! Trying to sketch during the holidays has been a real challenge for me.  I had started my sketch early, but didn't get to finish it until after Christmas. So I'm late again this week with posting!

I have been working through J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's DragonArt Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon for most of this year (see previous posts). I have almost completed all of her exercises for drawing dragons that are in the book. 

This week I completed her Feathered Dragon exercise. Peffer states that not all dragons are leather and scales - fur and feathers can also be a part of their design. A dragon can be fully feathered, partially feathered, or simply have feathered wings - each resulting in a different type of dragon. The feathers can be patterned and colored like a bird, or have their own unique design.

Feathered Dragon, 7" x 10", Sakura black 0.005 micron pen, Prismacolor 0.005 micron
colored pens, Prismacolor colored pencils and pencil on mixed-media paper.

This feathered dragon reminds me more of a phoenix, as it is not only breathing fire, but has fire coming off both the top and bottom of its partially feathered wings. I like dragon, but I'm not as happy with the setting. I liked how the dragon looked by itself (with the flames) before adding the background. The dragon looked funny on a white background, since I chose to color it in, so I added the background quickly and didn't take the time to blend the colors properly. Another lesson learned - don't rush things!!!  

One more week to go!! I have two more exercises in the book to complete. Not sure if I can do both in one week to finish the book by the end of the year! However,  I'm very happy to have gotten through as much of the book as I have and it's only been possible by taking up the weekly sketch challenge! It helped push me, where I might not have pushed myself otherwise. Thanks, Deb!

Keep creating!

Lynnita

  

Week 50 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

I missed the last couple of weeks of the 365 Days of Art Weekly Sketch Challenge by Blue Twig Studio.  My husband and I went to Ohio for the past couple weeks, where we both grew up. We were surprising my mother for her 80th birthday. Our daughter who is 7 months pregnant with her first child also went with us and a surprise baby shower was given for her just prior to Mom's surprise birthday party. Both were very surprised and Dad was so pleased with himself for keeping Mom in the dark.  It was a real whirlwind and I never got any time for sketching. By the time the days were over, I just wanted to go to bed. I thought I'd sketch on the plane, but that didn't work out either.

The trip also made me late with this week's sketch. After returning home, I needed a day to recoup and then we've been babysitting our grandchildren the last 2 days. Our 7 month old grandson has gone from learning to crawl to zooming everywhere and getting into everything!! Lol! He's adorable to watch, but how does he find the dog's water bowl and the doggy door first thing?! Then the almost 3-yr old was having meltdowns both days. Finally got him to take a nap today! Whew!! Thank goodness the older 2 children are old enough to entertain themselves and are a piece of cake to watch!  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

So even though I got this week's sketch done, it's taken me until today to photograph it and get it posted!!  If you've been following my blog this year, you know I'm trying to finish all the exercises in J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's book: DragonArt Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon by the end of the year. I've been working out of it most of the year and learning much about drawing dragons. I'm excited to finish the last couple dragon studies.

This week I worked on a sea dragon, which can take many forms. They can be huge leviathans that are too large to fly or crawl onto land. They can be sinuous serpents, like the giant sea serpents that crush unfortunate ships that skim the surfaces of the oceans, or they can be more fish than reptile. "Underwater" is a broad term. It could refer to a dragon that lives in the depths of the ocean, or one that dwells in tropical reefs, or even in the icy waters of the Arctic. These will all effect what adaptations the sea dragons have and how they appear.

My sea dragon lives on a tropical reef, and has similarities to some reef fish, with a fancy tail, and sheer wings that he uses to propel himself through the water.

Sea Dragon, 7" x 10", pencil, Prismacolor 0.005 green and blue pens, Sakura 0.005 black micron pen on mixed-media paper.

I like the spines on the back of the head and top of the spine that are similar to a lionfish, but yet he has crests on either side of his head and under his arms. The wings and fancy tail have markings like a butterfly. He has a bright, colorfully striped body like many reef fish. I added a few seaweeds and bubbles to help the illusion that he is hovering in the water.

I'm pleased with my drawing this week. I wasn't sure I could get all the shading correct with pencils and the black pen, but I think it turned out well. It was difficult to make the wings look transparent. This might have been easier to show if I had used colored-pencils. I hope you enjoy my sea dragon.


Keep creating!
Lynnita.

Week 47 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

I'm running really late this week with posting my sketch for Deb Prewitt of Blue Twig Studio's 365 Days of Art weekly sketch Challenge. With Thanksgiving, running my pregnant daughter to 2 appointments this week that took 1/2 day each, and babysitting the grandchildren, I'm not sure when I have time to sleep anymore!! Lol!

Week 47 - the year is almost over! Thanks, Deb, for the challenge - it's been fun participating.. I'm learning so much about drawing dragons and sketching in general. Definitely, glad I've been trying to complete this each week. I'm trying hard to finish J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's book: Dragonart Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon. If I can do one of the exercises every week, I will finish the book by the end of the year! Whoo-hoo!!

This week, I drew the adult fairy dragons. I drew a fairy dragon hatchling a couple weeks ago (see blog posted Oct 31, 2014 for Week 43).  Dragons come in all shapes and sizes, just like people, but the delicate fairy (Fae) dragons can land on a twig without disturbing it. They have thin, delicate legs and wings, with large eyes. Their heads appear much smaller and lighter than dragons that are more stout and heavily muscled. Their long tails help them balance. Fae dragons have additional spines for their wing membranes, which can mimic patterns of insects or small birds, to span.

Adult fairy dragons. 7" x 10". Black 0.005 micron Sakura pen, brown 0.005 micron Prismacolor pen, and pencil. I
apologize for the photo - I  tried hard to not get a shadow across the bottom of the drawing, but managed to in
several photos. This one was the best. (hint, dear hubby, I need a new camera and Christmas is approaching! Lol!)

These were difficult to sketch and get the proportions correct. As you can see, the top flying dragon's body is too short for its head, while the bottom Fae dragon has too long a body and hind feet that are enormous! Sometimes it's hard to see how I'm doing with the proportions until I take a photograph and put it on my computer. With this sketch, I had already inked the dragons, so could not change them. Overall, I'm pleased with my work and know where I need to continue to improve.

Hope you had a good week of sketching!

Keep creating!!
Lynnita

Week 45 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

Only 7 more weeks in the year!! Where did the year go?? Mine has been going to watching grandchildren, drawing, painting, Zentangling, mixed-media, quilting, dyeing fabric, attending quilt shows and taking quilt classes, as well as, teaching quilting and art classes. A busy year, but full of fun, experimenting and learning!

I was able to get another sketch done for Blue Twig Studio's 365 Days of Art weekly sketch challenge. If you've been following me, you know that I've been doing the exercises/studies in J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's Dragonart Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon. I'm hoping to complete the book by the end of the year!

Last week, I finished the last of the dragon hatchling exercises with a Frost dragon hatchling. Peffer doesn't have a Frost dragon adult exercise, but I decided this week to sketch the one she showed next to the baby Frost dragon.

Frost Dragon adult. 8" x 7". Prismacolor pencils, Sakura 0.005 micron pen, and pencil.  

The photo looked good when I cropped and straightened the photo. Not sure what happened to the color when uploading it from my tablet. The dragon is actually white and shades of grey for the body with blue and blue/gray wings. I'm not sure why the computer decided to interpret some of the color as shades of green. 

The Frost Dragon is a fierce, proud dragon that guards the cold climates of the Arctic. Their sturdy, muscular build helps them stay warm in the frigid, icy climate.

I'm pleased with my Frost dragon, especially with not having a step-by-step study to aid in drawing the dragon.  From some of the other dragon studies in the book, I like how Peffer has joined the wing at the shoulder on the Frost dragon. I've had difficulty with some of the other dragons in getting the wing, shoulder, and front limbs to correct. Some of the ones I've done appear to have two sets of front limbs or a shoulder growing out of the back of the neck. But that is one reason I've been working through Peffer's book - to learn to draw dragons better!

See you next week with another adult dragon. I think the next exercise is adult fairy dragons.

Keep creating!!
Lynnita

Week 44 of the 365 Days of Art Challenge

The year is almost over! I can't believe it's November already! But, I have been enjoying doing Blue Twig Studio's weekly sketch challenge of her 365 Days of Art Challenge. For most of the year, I've been working through J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's Dragonart Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon, as I love dragons and have been wanting to improve my skills at drawing dragons of any size, shape, or type. (see previous post here.)  I still have several full-size dragons exercises to complete. I hope to finish them by the end of the year.

This week I completed the last dragon hatchling exercise: a Frost Dragon Hatchling.

Frost Dragon Hatchling. 5" x 4" pencil on mixed-media paper.

Frost Dragon hatchlings are born fully scaled and much heavier than typical dragons. These sorts of adaptations help it stay warm in icy climates. Though the hatchling is small now, someday he/she will grow into a mighty dragon who guards the arctic poles. He/she has large oversized eyes, crests, and wings that he/she will have to grow into.

This hatchling was a bit harder than the other hatchling exercises. He has interesting plates running under his neck, chest, and belly that will grow into a crest once an adult. Getting the wings to look oversized was a challenge, but I think I got the effect of them, as he appears to be tripping over them in the sketch and he is laying on the back wing! lol!

An adult Frost Dragon is not in the exercises of the book, but I would like to draw one. They should appear well muscled, strong, and fierce to live in the hostile icy environment of the Arctic.  You'll have to come back in the next few weeks and see if I was able to get an adult Frost Dragon drawn.


Keep creating!!!
Lynnita

Week 43 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

It's been a very busy week. Between doctor's appointments for my pregnant daughter, watching grandkids, and working on 2 quilt challenges, I didn't have much time for drawing this week. But I did finish one drawing for Deb Prewitt's 365 Days of Art Weekly Sketch Challenge.

I was able to get one more dragon hatchling drawn this week from J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's book: Dragonart Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon that I've been working from this year. (See previous posts here.)

I've been working through the dragon hatchling exercises (see week 41's post). This week I only got one hatchling completed. Here is my Fairy Dragon hatchling.

Fairy Dragon Hatchling, 5" x 4", pencil on mixed-media paper. 

Fairy Dragons are the smallest of the dragons. They start out tinier that one might imagine (I think of a tiny hummingbird baby).  The baby Fae dragon will mimic an adult in miniature. Its wings may not be fully functional or as brightly colored yet. It is more plain, lacking the elaborate patterns and bright colors of adults. While most of the Fae baby is small and round, the loppy, oversized crests behind the ear are bigger (relatively), helping to give the age of the dragon. The spines of the wings connect with gentle U shapes forming the membrane stretched between them, instead of being sharp and dangerous like an adults.

I enjoyed drawing this tiny dragon, with her big eyes and floppy crests and wings. I would've liked to add color to this hatchling, but didn't have time before posting this week (especially since the week is almost over! Lol!). She seems like a delicate little dragon, and I feel I captured that aspect. I hope you enjoyed my sketch this week.


Keep creating!!

Week 42 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

This week has just flown by!! My daughter's birthday was Friday.  I took her shopping Saturday - got her first sets of maternity clothing and a Boppy body pillow for pregnancy. She was thrilled. Got some good buys and great discounts! Since it was her first pregnancy, she also got a goodie bag. Couldn't believe it contains 4 gift cards worth almost $200 !! And they are for items she'll actually need!! Made that shopping trip definitely worthwhile!

Sunday, we held a family birthday party for her at the neighborhood park. Had a good time. Our 2 1/2 yr old grandson went with Papa and Daddy to play on the playground. When it was time to call them for "cake" (a chocolate peanut butter pie at the birthday girl's request), he brought a 14 yr old girl with him!! She introduced herself and stayed for the birthday celebration! Can you believe it!!! 2 1/2 yrs old and already picking up girls!!! Oh my! He's starting early!!!

Anyway, I didn't get much time for sketching this week. So I'm showing a couple dragon sketches that I did a while back.

Momma Dragon Taking a Nap. 4" x 5". Pencil on mixed-media paper. 

Getting into Mischief, . 5" x 3". Pencil on mixed-media paper.

Now that I've been going through all the dragon studies, I can see things I would change if I drew these particular dragons again. I really like their expressions and that the baby dragons seem to be plotting mischief while Momma is sleeping.

I enjoyed drawing these. Unfortunately, I didn't write down my reference material. I would love to give credit where credit is due. Normally, I write this information down. Must've been a spacey that day! Lol!

I had originally drawn these dragons to use in a quilt. I had planned to have the mother dragon looking over the shoulder of a young girl at the sewing machine, teaching her to quilt, while one baby peered over the table and the other pulled on the spool of thread. It has never materialized into anything more than a very rough sketch. Maybe someday....


Keep creating!

Week 41 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

I enjoyed sketching this week - Week 41 -  for Blue Twig Studio's 365 Days of Art weekly sketch challenge. I'm continuing to work through J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's book, DragonArt Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon. This week I started the section on dragon hatchlings! I enjoy seeing how different artists depict baby dragons. Therefore, I'm thrilled to be learning how to draw them myself.

I was able to finish two of the dragon hatchlings this week. Just like a baby, they have large heads in comparison to their body size, a shorter spine, and large eyes. They also have stubby limbs, tail, and wings, soft and round body types with baby fat, and unsharpened horns. I'm pleased with my little hatchlings.

Western Dragon Hatchling, 4" x 4". Pencil and
0.005 black Sakura micron pen on mixed-media paper. 

Western dragon hatchlings often walk on four limbs and have a pair of bat-like wings. They usually don't have a full set of horns on their heads, but these will grow with time. They generally can't breathe fire at this tender age and are little, mischievous terrors. I think the little guy came out cute, but I had to fix a couple things that I didn't notice until I uploaded my photo onto the computer. I had drawn the tail crest growing from the side of the tail, instead of the spine- oops!  The wing seemed to be attached to the back of the neck, instead of the shoulder. This area still doesn't quite look correct to me, but I'm happy enough with it. I struggled with the open mouth as well.

Eastern or Lung Dragon Hatchling. 5" x 4". Pencil and
0.005 black Sakura micron pen on mixed-media paper.

The Eastern or Lung dragons have elongated bodies, so the baby has a body that's much longer than a Western dragon, but not quilt as long in proportion to its head as an adult. I really like her face and the up-turned back foot. I think these give her a cute pose. Peffer's directions are detailed with good instructions.  I do change some things in the exercises, but not all the time. I figure I have time enough to create original work once I'm done working through all the studies from Peffer's book.

It really helped uploading the picture to my computer to see the proportions, so I think I'll try to do this more often in the future to see if I need to do anything else to drawings or paintings, before saying "I'm done!"  I do this with my quilts, so not sure why I don't with my art work! Lol!

Next week will see more dragon hatchlings! Thanks for visiting!


Keep creating!

Week 40 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

I had to work hard to finish my weekly sketch for Deb Prewitt's ( Blue Twig Studio) 365 Days of Art Challenge.  I had the sketch done in plenty of time, but decided to color it. That took me longer than it did to draw the sketch! Whew! But I'm very happy with this week's sketch.

I continued with the next exercise in J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's book: DragonArt Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon. (see last week's post).  Last week I drew various types of lung dragon heads. This week, I drew a full-size lung dragon. Lung Dragons are benevolent, wise Oriental or Eastern dragons. They are a favorable sign to anyone lucky enough to see one. The lung dragon is a long, serpentine dragon with the eagle-like talons and the horns of a deer. They are able to soar through the heavens without the use of wings - definitely magical in nature!

This is my full-size lung dragon.

Full-size Lung Dragon. 7" x 10" with 0.005 and 0.03 black Sakura
micron pens and Derwent watercolor pencils on mixed-media paper. 

I am extremely pleased with this week's sketch. I've drawn many medieval or Western dragons before, but this was my first attempt at a Lung or Eastern dragon (full-size).  I decided to color him after getting the pencil drawing sketched in. There are so many details that I thought I might get lost in laying in the values in pencil or charcoal. It took me awhile to get the color in, but I think this is the best dragon sketch I've done so far. I feel I have the proportions correct (or at least close enough). I love the colors of the clouds in the background going from light and airy to dark and stormy.   I feel like I captured the cloth trailing from the jeweled pin on his chest. I found the folds a challenge, especially in the printed areas.

I hope you like my lung dragon.   Next week I move on to baby dragons! I'm excited about this exercise. Peffer gives studies of several types of baby dragons, so I may take 2 or 3 weeks to do all of them.

Thank you for taking time to look at my sketches. Keep creating!

Week 39 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

Wow! The 39th week of the 365 Days of Art Challenge. The year is 3/4's over! How has the year been going by so fast?? I've been accomplishing one thing that I didn't accomplish last year! I've been sketching weekly!! This has been a great challenge for helping me do the drawing I've been wanting to do, especially doing the exercises in J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's book, Dragonart Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon. I still have several exercises yet to do, but I'm getting them done due to this weekly sketch challenge and posting it! For me, posting the weekly sketch is almost more of a challenge than doing the sketch. That means I have to let the world see what I'm working on. That can be scary! Thanks for the push, Deb!

I moved on from the medieval dragons to Lung Dragons (see previous posts here).  From Peffer's description, lung dragons are Oriental or Eastern dragons - they are more sinuous then medieval dragons and are also more benevolent and wiser. These first few exercises are dragon heads from the front, side and 3/4 views. I added black ink to the sketches this week to try something a bit new. This was also scary, as ink is not erasable if I made any mistakes!

Ancient Lung Dragon head, front view. 3" x 6", 0.005 black Sakura

micron pen and pencil on mixed-media paper.  Peffer said the front view 

is the hardest, as everything has to be symmetrical. My symmetry may not

be perfect, but I think the front view and side views are the easiest to create. 

Bearded Lung Dragon head. side view. 4" x 5". 0.005 Sakura micron pen and

pencil on mixed-media paper. The side view is probably the easiest view to draw,

as you don't have to make two eyes look the same, get the foreshortening of the

nose correct, make the mouth, nose, ears, and horns symmetrical, etc. I'm not sure

which view I enjoy more - the front or side view. I like both.  

     Lung Dragon Head, 3/4 view. 4" x 3".  0.005 Sakura micron pen and pencil on mixed-media
     paper. I find the 3/4 view the hardest to sketch. Getting the nose and eye correct is difficult,
     whether drawing dragons, animals, or people. I find it a challenge to get the perspective correct. 

I'm very happy with my dragon heads this week, especially the front and side views. The 3/4 view is my challenge - I have not found any book or had a teacher really explain capturing this view in such a way that makes it easier for me to sketch. I will keep on practicing!!

Next week, I move on to a full lung dragon.

Keep creating!