Drawing from imagination has its perks and limitations.

Don't make it hard on yourself. Work smarter not harder as they say. An ongoing Work In Progress.

Even if something is drawn from imagination at times it  needs elements to ground it to reality. Like if one draws hands or feet without proper anatomy or structure even if it is an alien. Hands, Face and feet are things that a non-artist can pick up that something is off or not anatomically correct and can immediately tell that something is not quite right. 

I was fiddling with the character's hands for like 15 minutes or more before I just stopped and took reference photos of my own hands. And bam! Tada!  Less than 3 minutes that part of
the sketch was done!

Usually I'll take more than one just to explore my options. 

With #1 I liked what the fingers had a natural relaxed expression and with #2 and #3 I can see the sides of the hands better. 

When you struggle with a specific part of a drawing it just best to stop what you are doing take a break and go take or find a reference photo of your subject to help better your understanding of what you want to draw.

Reference is not a crutch to a good drawing, but it can be if you let it.

Another topic for another time is do not be a slave to your reference and copy it to a T. Makes your drawing stiff and totally looks like you just used reference. 

I brought the images into photoshop.
Used the [L] lasso tool hit
[V] for the move tool to drop
the reference directly onto my drawing without cross referencing multiple tabs

 I have 3 cameras. 

A Sony DSC-H300 the one on the left

Panasonic Lumix FZ100 on the right. I like how this one has a screen that tilts like a camcorder. 

and another Panasonic cybershot in a drawer somewhere.  

Nothing fancy is needed. You can even use a phone or a tablet device. 

Cameras are so cheap now in days. That Sony camera was only $85.

A table top easel I got a long time ago. It is usually somewhere on my desk. 

I used this to shoot my reference.

With this drawing I haven't decided if I want to commit to this angle or the other one. With the hands and the head I need to take a reference photo .

That rounded scribble on the right is supposed to be this giant cat monster. 

Happy Easter Y'all!
:]
 

Happy first day of Spring. 

Yay for longer warm days.

Not my favorite time of year. I stay indoors a lot. Although I like indoor plants with
 not much pollen on them.
 It's extremely difficult to tell if you have allergies or have a bad cold until you are extremely sick.
I hope to feel better to post something better later this week.

Best Regards
&
Happy Spring Drawing
-K
 

The other week someone asked what exactly do I do on Saturdays and I shrugged, "Portrait painting."
He replied, "That is way over my head." Pun totally intended.
I look forward to it along with the quick gesture drawings.
Sometimes I have awesome portrait  drawings and other times the painting looks terrible but it is fun and fascinating to draw and paint portraits. Improvement and progress is slow at times but looking back at my first one three years ago improvement has been made. :]

Not in any particular order but these span from January and February.

The light plays tricks on light hazel eyes.

At times it can look blue, green, brown or another color.

When this happens I have to ask the model what color their eyes are. 

It is interesting to walk around the room when this happens because 

almost everyone has a different eye color in each painting.

Instead the answer this time was different.

She has heterochromia. Where the eyes are 

two different colors. She had one hazel and blue eye.

I always save the eyes for last so I didn't have a chance to paint it.

Least I have a reference photo.

Same model some weeks later but different make up and hairstyle.
G is always a pleasure to draw because she changes her appearance.

Art teachers constantly remind you to Sqiuint! Squint! Squint!

Squint your eyes so you can truly see! 

See the different value changes and planes in your subject.

I just got new glasses this past week so I could actually see.

When I did this painting I literally could not see the model's eyes. 

For awhile I could see better with my contacts than with my glasses.

 With all my focus and concentration the details were all a blur.

When I took the reference photo I was able to see the detail she

put in her eyeshadow and eyeliner makeup design. 

At times with the figure drawing group I get annoyed 

when they constantly  hire models that are young pretty girls.

When this pattern happens I boycott the group for a bit.

I like to draw and analyze different kinds of people!

Recently we have been getting fantastic models. 

I literally have the same drawing from another week in this exact same pose...

With another person. There are different drawing groups on different days headed by

different people. 

Last week's surprise and fun challenge. 

This is the same person from the top of the page.  

For once I got to the Drawing group on time.

Usually I'm 30-60 minutes late on average.

When I arrived one of the artists was in a hurry to leave because

she didn't want to draw the veil.

It was fun but self inflicting torture to draw the veil and portrait in less

than 3 hours or so.

You wouldn't believe how much reveiling puns 

Alex and I unveiled and came up with. 

It was fantastic. She and I were on a roll.

I meant to post this weekend but got distracted with a video game. >___>


This past weekend I actually didn't go to the Portrait group. I was beat and exhausted this past week. For these kind of drawings/paintings I need to be in the zone to focus or it just comes out bad and its frustrating to just push paint around on a crappy painting.

Anyways I am not too good with plugging in and figuring out wire connections. After a month of trying to figure out how to plug my gamecube to my tv I finally did it. I wanted to re-play Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. It is one of my favorite games. This would be my third time playing the game to completion.


Wish Nintendo would port this game and give it HD treatment with online multiplayer capabilities.








The Soundtrack to this game is awesome. It has a unique rustic sound to it. I forgot what instruments were used but it's pretty cool. Wouldn't jam out to this all the time though.

FF Crystal Chronicles OST
Monster's Dance ~Rondo~
Magic is Evcrything
Today Arrives, Becoming Tomorrow 
Shudder, Monster