Pencil Lines

Recently got back from a trip/vacation to Victoria, BC over the weekend. =) It was soooo much fun, and I did get a chance to sketch a couple things, so I’m here to share them.

First I’ll show you a page of sketches I did just before we left.

I got my episodes of Star Trek: TNG back, so I was on another kick. I think I drew these after finishing off season 3. I’ve been trying to get into the habit of inking my sketches once I’m done drawing them, to get better at inking and also to stop being so afraid of ruining things. My favourite on this page is that sketch of the random balding commander and his crazy side. =D Soooo much fun to draw crazy cartoony people!

While in Victoria we went to a bunch of bookstores and in one of them I found a book I didn’t know I’ve been looking for for years: An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists. I remember when I was first getting serious into drawing horses and dogs and I’d search Google for reference images and come up with these anatomical plates and drawings that were so beautiful and detailed, but at the time were so small in resolution and hard to find. I remember I printed these out whenever I found them and used them constantly as reference material until they were so badly crumpled and ripped as to be unrecognizable. I had no idea these were enclosed in an actual book that I could actually buy!

But then I found this book, and they were all there, and so many different positions and views as well. It as so perfect, I had to pick it up. I spent the rest of the night pouring over it, admiring the technical mastery of the images, and amusing myself with the differences in anatomy between dogs and horses and humans and all manner of different things.

If you do any animal drawing (particularly horses or dogs), and you see this book, pick it up. I guarantee, you will not be disappointed, and it will become a staple of your artistic resources.

Anyway, so I drew a couple sketches (only a couple, because I suck like that. ):

Just some blue pencil sketches of deer, a horse, a horse skull, and a tired/bored looking creature at the top. The main thing I wanted to show off was that deer, though. Here it is closer:

I also changed the hue and darkened it up a bit so you could see the details. After staring at the skeletons and anatomical drawings of the deer in that book for so long, I had to draw one. It was so much fun! I love skinny animals where you an see the bones sticking out and stuff, agh! Also, I’m sure this is the best drawing of a deer I’ve ever done. Compare it to my old favourite and you can see how much I’ve improved in their anatomy, just by staring at the drawings in that book. =)

I still need to work on deer heads (it’s difficult as hell to draw a deer head and not have it look like a dog), but I’m really glad with my progress, and I love this little sketch. Just tooting my own horn here, move along…

The next one was a quick horse sketch, in which at least I notice that the anatomy has gotten better looking at that book than my other drawings, but others might not notice:

Again, it’s still very noticeably in my style, but the anatomy is much better compared to my old attempts at this position. Now I just need to get off my butt and draw things that actually mean something, and draw them often, and actually finish them, and then I’ll be golden!

While walking around the markets in Victoria I saw a lot of artists. I got my portrait/caricature done by this awesome guy, John D. Beveridge (and it was absolutely excellent!); there were dozens of other portrait artists holding booths at various markets and squares; there were numerous local craftsman ranging anywhere between jewelry, native art, glass blowing, metal working, toy making, and painting; and there was even this girl who looked like my age or younger, who had a table set up at the local Artist’s Market. She was just sitting there drawing marker pictures of centaurs and unicorns, and then ripping up each page as she finished it and placing them in a basket in front of her for sale. I kept thinking “What the hell? Why can’t I do this?”

It’s something to think about, anyway. I just need to get off my butt and do something about it.

Right, back to doing “back from vacation” chores. Turrah!

I’m hoping this entry doesn’t make me sound like a pompous witch who is full of herself, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Please take any arrogant sounding remarks with a grain of salt; I don’t mean it, I’m just trying to communicate some rather abstract thoughts.

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Right. So I’m drawing this picture, and I’m having trouble coming up with an aspect of it. Want to help me out?

So, it’s this naked chick with a mohawk. She’s carrying a pole. There is something (or “things”) hanging from it. What are they?

When I originally started sketching her I had this vague idea of an angel with some kind of weapon, like a pike or a halberd or something. But as she progressed she changed into something much more neutral. Now she’s this lady with a mohawk, which I really like the idea of. Mohawks are usually associated with very strong stereotypes of alternative, or punk rocker types, which have their own sets of personalities and behaviours and characteristics attached to them. But here, you can’t see her studded leather wrist bands, her crazy ripped denim and fishnet arm socks. I like the idea of going to the basics, behind the stereotype, to show you that it means nothing. Just because she cut her hair a certain way, she is inundated with these stereotypes, and I wanted to convey the idea that she can, and is, anything. I really liked the calm, neutral overtones from her pose, like she really is an angelic being, but defying her own labels.

Maybe I’m thinking way too much about it, haha. But anyway, I need the pole to be something other than just a pole. Not a weapon, though. I came up with a couple ideas; one, a lantern of some sort, but I’m not sure if that conveys enough meaning. The other was maybe having some sort of semi-precious stones hanging from the ends of the poles; stones too are given arbitrary meanings and characteristics, but they too are very neutral and can be meaningful or meaningless, depending on how you use them. But now I can’t decide on the stones I want to use, so I’m all conflicted there…

Any other ideas out there? Anything would be helpful, even if it’s silly. =) I would like to work on this more, but right now I’m stumped!

On Saturday I found myself sitting with my sweetie playing video games. More precisely, I was watching him play Final Fantasy XII, which I had bought two years ago but couldn’t get past the strangeness of the battle system so I never got too far with it. He, being a programmer, absolutely loves it, and I’m enjoying finally seeing the story play out!

It got me excited about the characters again. When I started my first attempt at the game I was really drawn towards Penelo’s character. I don’t know, there’s just something about her sincerity that really appeals to me. Her design is pretty neat too. Anyway, I was surprised to see myself pulling out my sketchbook and drawing her, since I really haven’t been drawing lately.

So I spent the rest of the evening drawing her, pulling up reference images on Erl (my laptop, what a godsend!), with sweetie occasionally glancing over and commenting on its progress.

Anyway, before I ramble anymore here’s the picture.

Okay, here’s the rest of the rambling.

It brought back a lot of wonderful memories and feelings of what it used to feel like to draw. A mixture of elation, frustration and productive focus, as well as being able to share it’s inception with someone else. My best friend used to come over when we were in highschool and play Final Fantasy games and I would sit behind her, watch, and draw. I was at my most prolific in those years, and I really enjoyed it, and doing so on Saturday really made me feel in that zone again. That’s something I haven’t felt for a long time.

I took a lot of notice of how I did things this time, because I’ve been having so much trouble with drawing that when it becomes easy I really want to remember why so I might be able to do it again, or more often. I started with a really rough and scribbly sketch of a pose, then I fleshed out the anatomy a teensy bit, then I started sketching in the shapes of the costume. It was when that was worked out that I went in and started cleaning it up, erasing the scribbles and fine tuning the lines and adding details to make it look cleaner. But of course some things, like her face and her hands, I had to erase and re-draw at least a dozen times before I could come up with something I liked. Ah well! Practice practice practice…

But I think what really made it so easy this time was simply that this wasn’t coming from my own head. Whenever I sit down to draw I freeze up, because nothing’s there. Then when I force myself to draw, even random things, it turns out looking like crap because I don’t know what I’m doing. There’s no planning, no forethought, because I simply don’t have any ideas.

But with this picture, all the ideas were taken care of for me. I just had to redraw it. Granted, redraw it in my own pose and from some really annoying references, but the main thing is that I didn’t have to sit there and make up anything. And it made it so much easier, having all that pressure taken off of me. I knew what I was going to draw, and someone had already done all the hard work for me. I was just doing the fun stuff, the drawing.

This amuses me, since a lot of what people find is the most satisfying and fun part of drawing is the creating, the throwing random thoughts and ideas onto the paper and creating something new and exciting that was nowhere else but your own brain up until then. I used to have that too, but it’s gone now, and forcing it doesn’t make it any better. For now, I’m glad that I can at least draw, even if I can’t create.

I’m sure the creativity will return with practice. Everyone says that it’s a muscle that just needs to be flexed. For now, maybe I’ll work more from reference, or do more character drawings from movies or games and see what comes of it. Well, it’s an idea anyway… maybe I should just have my sweetie over for more gaming. I bet that’s the secret!

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EDIT: Right, forgot about this:

I threw some quick colours on there to make the costume stand out a little more. I got the majority of my references from the website Creative Uncut and their Video Game Art Galleries which is an awesome resource for anyone who’s studying game or concept design, or who simply likes games and the art that makes them. There’s a lot of great stuff there.