Weekly Drawing Thread April 22 - 29

[michaeleric]

Weekly Drawing Thread April 22-29

Welcome to the weekly drawing thread! Each week a new thread with a reference and suggestions for that reference will be posted for anyone to draw and post their results throughout the week. You may follow the weekly suggestion which is a loose guideline to try or draw and experiment on your own around this week’s subject and post your results.

Some people look on it as a challenge… but that's the great thing about these 'challenges' - they aren't against any other artists...the challenges is to you to do YOUR best against yourself! So it doesn't matter what other people do, as long as you do your best!! Better still – if you do it consistently, so that no matter what is thrown at you, you attempt it...that's the real challenge!

The goal of this thread is open-ended. This means you decide what it is you want out of the weekly challenge. Do you want to do a sketch or do you want to become more proficient at drawing, or do you wish to break into other dry mediums or even mix the mediums? It is entirely up to you as the artist. You know your own strengths and weaknesses and you can find them in each reference we are faced with. Practice is where it’s at, just think of this thread as your personal motivator.

Any level of drawing is encouraged to join in!!!

Different mediums are fine as long as we post preliminary drawings, sketches, and "under-drawing" of the painting, so the discussion on the thread stays relevant...and be sure to post the final painting for comparison of your drawing. Good drawing skills are crucial to the final product of a painting and we would need to see how you got there!

We accept submissions for reference photos. Feel free to PM reference photos or links to Lady Carol, arnoud3272, SparrowHawk7, Luicre, ArtsyBren or michaeleric. We recommend images out of the image library that you would like to see here or upload your own photos...but be sure to keep in mind of photo quality and choice of reference. We put all submissions in order of their arrival in our PM Inboxes. If you have questions regarding this, feel free to PM one of us.

It is always a good idea to study the works of great artists and one of the best way of studying them is to try and copy their work. Here are the works of several of my favourite works. I have a superb book on French drawings but unfortunately it is in Cape Town and I am in Johannesburg! :(

The first work is a self-portrait by Gustave Courbet. It is quite a moody piece with lovely contrasts between light and shadow.

The praying hands are by Albrecht Duerer. I have not seen anyone do such graceful and at the same time powerful hands the way he did with these.

The next two are by Leonardo. The dragon and lion is an excellent study in the use of sanguine or red chalk. It is best to use a coloured paper for this. The portrait of the girl is a great example of using a few strokes of a pencil (in this case, silverpoint) yet capturing the essence of the model.

I’m sure we all recognise this detail from a Modigliani painting. I included it to show how one can use very simplified forms and yet still express emotion.

The following piece is by Rembrandt. This is my favourite drawing by him (more of a brush drawing). It is less detailed than usual yet still conveys a powerful but peaceful presence.

I’ve ended off with three pieces by Egon Schiele. His drawings fascinate me in that they can be extremely bold and almost vulgar yet also, as in these, beautifully delicate. The girl was cropped otherwise a butt icon would have to have been used, but I could not resist showing how one can render hair in a broader way without getting involved in the details of the hair strands. Schiele was heavily criticized for his erotic art and one day used a model that was admittedly rather young. He spent some time in prison for that and the next two pieces are self-portraits of him as prisoner.

These are all very different styles from different eras but one thing that they have in common is to keep your medium loose and flowing. Not easy, because it requires a certain amount of self-confidence, but certainly worth the effort.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/23-Apr-2012/138414-Courbet.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/23-Apr-2012/138414-Duerer.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/23-Apr-2012/138414-Leonardo_2.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/23-Apr-2012/138414-Leonardo.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/23-Apr-2012/138414-Modigliani.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/23-Apr-2012/138414-Rembrandt.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/23-Apr-2012/138414-Schiele.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/23-Apr-2012/138414-Schiele_2.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/23-Apr-2012/138414-Schiele_3.jpg

[Gerri Mc]

This thread doesn't appear to have a sticky!!

Wonderful refs, Michael! Love the Duerer.:clap:

[luicre]

OMG, Michael what a great choice of refs!!! I think I am going to try the Rembrandt, N° 6.....such a beautiful drawing-sketch


Saludos

Luicre

[WaterBaby]

I hope to get one done this week, great choices.

[michaeleric]

Gerri, that is a beautiful piece. It can be inspirational but also intimidating. I often think of doing a series on hands and then an image of this piece pops into my head and I think "nah" :lol: .

Luicre, I think that drawing would be a good choice for charcoal or pastel - just my personal prejudice. Try not to replicate it too closely - you'll lose the looseness of it. Rather use it as an inspiration to create your own spontaneous drawing.

[michaeleric]

I hope to get one done this week, great choices.
Looking forward to it, Kas.

[luicre]

Gerri, that is a beautiful piece. It can be inspirational but also intimidating. I often think of doing a series on hands and then an image of this piece pops into my head and I think "nah" :lol: .

Luicre, I think that drawing would be a good choice for charcoal or pastel - just my personal prejudice. Try not to replicate it too closely - you'll lose the looseness of it. Rather use it as an inspiration to create your own spontaneous drawing.


Thank you, Michael. I was thinkiong about that. You are right!!! I will try my best...at loosen up...but It`s Rembrandt .....will try...

Luicre

[Gerri Mc]

Gerri, that is a beautiful piece. It can be inspirational but also intimidating. I often think of doing a series on hands and then an image of this piece pops into my head and I think "nah" :lol: .



:thumbsup: I hear ya!:lol:

[Bill Linn]

Great selection of reference material! Hope it makes a lot of folks grab paper and pencil. (It did me.) Anyway, here's the easy one done on cheap paper with a hard charcoal pencil. Hope to get time for another one, may get started today. (The lawn can wait!)

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/24-Apr-2012/91502-CropIMG_20120424_113602.jpg

[michaeleric]

Bill, I love your motto - the lawn can wait :thumbsup: :lol: .

You have kept your style nice and loose and brought in some drama with your contrasts. I like the way you have made Rembrandt's drawing your own.

[Bill Linn]

Thanks Michael,

Gotta get this one uploaded (Third try..guess I've forgotten how!) then MOW the lawn.

Charcoal again, size 8x10 ..

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/25-Apr-2012/91502-cropIMG_20120425_103212.jpg

[michaeleric]

A very expressive drawing, Bill. What you have done very well is get volume to his hair. There is often the danger when one draws dark areas like that to make them look flat. If I could make one suggestion - there is a light area just below his beard. It kinda makes his head look like it is floating above his shoulders. Perhaps darken it a bit to match the shadow of his neck. Don't worry, the lawn ain't going nowhere!!

[Bill Linn]

Michael, thanks for the feedback. It really helps to have an extra set of eyes....and the feedback. I got rid of that line below the chin and beard-line and did some more blending, adjusting the lips, nose and eyes slightly.

(I did get the lawn mostly mowed in between sessions of editing.) :)

As a note of interest, I aquired a Motorola Xoom that I'm using to photograph the drawings in mono. It seems to do a good job with graphite and charcoal. This picture has been cropped, otherwise, it is straight from the camera.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/25-Apr-2012/91502-cropIMG_20120425_193911.jpg

[michaeleric]

Ah, his head looks a lot more anchored to his neck now :thumbsup: .

If you have found a digital camera that can reproduce graphite and charcoal you have found a goldmine :clap: . I have yet to master the art of photographing drawings :(

[twistedmedium]

I also went for the Courbet, all I had was a pen and ink at work during lunch:

http://i.imgur.com/nWHIvl.jpg

[gakinme]

Thank you, Michael, for these references. I got to do some quick sketching.

Koh I Noor 8B woodless pencil
Daler Rowney Simply sketchbook 5.5 x 8 inch

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/26-Apr-2012/86669-wdtapr2012a.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/26-Apr-2012/86669-wdtapr2012b.jpg

[Bill Linn]

Here's another quick one... General graphite pencil on 11X14" charcoal paper. (Again, using teh XOOM tablet camera to capture, send it to my laptop and use gimp to crop off the drawing board. No digital touch-up.)

I would love to do the hands and remember that Jolanta (from a few years back) used to do some beautiful hands. Anyone recall her works?

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/26-Apr-2012/91502-cropIMG_20120426_192952.jpg

[kate_5555]

I think I'll attempt 4 & 6. I am travelling for work at the moment, but hope to have some time on Sunday. What a great & challenging choice of work! I've never tried to reproduce other artists work and especially in an other medium! Many thanks Michael.

[ai2ai]

Interesting work from everyone. I thought I'd try pastel on this one.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/27-Apr-2012/315161-reclining1.jpg

[michaeleric]

I also went for the Courbet, all I had was a pen and ink at work during lunch:

http://i.imgur.com/nWHIvl.jpg
What a lot of fun - thank you.

[michaeleric]

Hi Sandra :wave: Wonderful to see you again :thumbsup: . You have been busy! I love the way you did the hair on Schiele's girl.

Good one again, Bill. I don't remember Jolanta - before my time but I checked out a few of her threads. Pretty interesting work. Hands are a wonderful challenge, particularly hands with parted fingers - getting them right is really tricky.

I always look forward to your contributions, Ai. I figured some of these would suit your free style quite well. Thank you.

[gakinme]

Thank you, Michael. It's good to see references that doesn't demand so much of me.

[twistedmedium]

Thanks for the kind words and I really look forward to becoming a friend around here! I grabbed a 2B pencil and did a quick study of the dragon from Leonardo:

http://i.imgur.com/j1zWxl.jpg

[michaeleric]

That's true, Sandra. But remember that the original references for the artists where challenging for them and they managed to tease out the important parts and left out the rest (I guess we could exclude Duerer's piece from this observation). That is what makes them so great.

Stick around Dominic, it's quite rewarding being here. Checked out your deviant art site. Seems as though you enjoy East Asian art. Absolutely love it myself. Sandra has done some beautiful landscapes. I was hoping someone would do the Dragon. Would not be out of place in a Chinese landscape :thumbsup:

[twistedmedium]

My interests are in illustration, abstract-ish works, and Chinese Brush Painting/Japanese Sumi-e. I do some custom toy work as well. There is a definite Asian influence in all of my art, I have a background in tea as well as the culture of China and Japan. (I love the woodblock masters like Hiroshige and Houksai) Thanks for checking out my page, it is mostly just my quick sketches and easily scanned smaller pieces, I still need to perfect photographing the larger pieces.

It is definitely rewarding and I love to play and step out of my comfort zones with exercises like these. Thanks again and I will definitely keep at it and hang around!

[fivespices]

Lots of good works here,

These reference are so interesting and I need at least to try one. Since I only have a chinese brush and some ink at hand, I use the paper towel in the rest room. I never thought of drawing on paper towel with ink is so much fun. I should do this more often.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/29-Apr-2012/60973-brush1.jpg

Happy drawing everyone.

kim

[gakinme]

twistedmedium, you have a very good looking dragon there.

Kim, now that's really an innovation - drawing on paper towel. Very nice.

Michael, I hear you. I'm not sure how to plonk these creatures in a Chinese landscape. I would have liked the dragon to be airborne but the lion underneath is grounded. Perhaps I'll try again later.

For now, just a Chinese brush and ink, hard and soft pastel concoction on gray paper 11x14 inch.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/29-Apr-2012/86669-wdtapr2012c.jpg

Kim, are you from China or Korea? Want to give the dragon a try too? I'm originally from Hong Kong.

twistedmedium, I'd love to see you plonk your dragon in some background too. I like Hokusai too.

[lovin art]

Beautiful works Here...

Hey Kim ,So Nice to Look at your work for a change,:D this is pretty cool , You have a beautiful loose feel to this ... Fab Stuff :music:

Sandra , lOVELY drawing ...:D

MiChael from out of Africa ..:D . I think you have some great choices here ...Those Praying Hands ...I often do that ~ need all the help I can get !!:o :D




Lots of good works here,

These reference are so interesting and I need at least to try one. Since I only have a chinese brush and some ink at hand, I use the paper towel in the rest room. I never thought of drawing on paper towel with ink is so much fun. I should do this more often.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/29-Apr-2012/60973-brush1.jpg

Happy drawing everyone.

kim

[michaeleric]

Gosh Kim, those are beautiful strokes with your brush. The paper towel gives a very interesting and supportive texture to the mood of the piece. I hope you are able to preserve such a delicate substrate.

Oh wonderful, Sandra, you were listening :D . I have always loved your charcoal and brush work. Perhaps, instead of the lion you could have had a fleeing mandarin, running among the poplar trees :evil: :lol:

Hey Sandra from down under :wave: . Not so easy to draw if your hands are praying :evil: . Thanks for the visit.

[fivespices]

Sandra (gakinne): Thank you for your comments. Since I am not at home and these references are so interesting, so just use whatever available. I have Chinese origin living in Seneca, South Carolina; a beutiful small town with lots of trees, lakes and mountains. Your lion is so alive, great job! I think I will pass the lion (it is a tall order for me).

Sandra (from the land of OZ): You are so sweet (always)! Drawing on the hand towel is like "point of no return" stage. Do not know about brush strokes but it sure teach me to think first before the brush touch the paper.

michaeleric: Thanks for your comments. I am happy you did not think that I am not seriously about your reference pictures. These paper will turn yellow at no time. I appreciate your approval.

Since I have so much fun, I try another one. It does not have the likeness but it is all practice.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/29-Apr-2012/60973-brush2.jpg

[michaeleric]

Kim, this is really special. The way you have done the hair is every bit as exciting as the original. Well done!!!!!!

[gakinme]

Kim, another lovely paper towel piece! Hope some company will get the idea and produce masterpieces from your studio on paper towels! :lol:

Michael, here you go.

I didn't want to use rice paper because I know if I like it enough, I want to frame it and starching rice paper takes time. So I make do with a gray paper for now. Not ideal for fog making.

Female model is from devianart's mjranum's model poses.

Chinese brush and ink
14x17 inch

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/29-Apr-2012/86669-dragon02.jpg

[fivespices]

Thanks Michaeleric; You are so kind.

Sandra; Love your dragon with the girl. What the dragon going to do with her ??? I love KingKong movies. Will the dragon act like KingKong. You sure make me fill in the blank... I also like your rocks and the pines and they look like Chinese painting. Wow, You are doing great job. How is the great paper you used interact with the ink?

Kim

[gakinme]

Kim, thanks for comments. I don't like this gray paper at all for wet media. I can't use paint on it. I'm hesitant to use watercolor paper because when I paint, I make a lot of mistakes and I do many sheets for practice on one pose and if I do that, it will costs me a lot to practice if I pull a 140 lb Arches paper every time. I've used a variety of 90-130 lb watercolor paper but the black sumi ink just pools whenever I use a Chinese brush. It's a pain. That's why I'm more and more into mixed media. Ink work first and then put dry media on top. The gray paper could take at least the Chinese ink without warping and that's why I use it for practice when it's more straight ink and no wash.

Posted some monkey practices here (http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16446182&postcount=413) on rice paper. If you do Chinese painting, Kim, post some of your studies at that thread too. It's very lonely over there by myself.

[twistedmedium]

Sandra, I do a lot of ink/brush painting/Sumi-e and I buy large packs of unsized rice paper very inexpensively, it isn't the same as the really high-end stuff but for practice and working out new ideas it is perfect and if a piece comes out great it is still totally capable of being starched/framed. I'm not familiar with the rules here on links so I won't post any unless it is OK, but if you hunt around on some of the more well-known sites you will find these packs. Before I found this I used to buy "newsprint" pads (also very cheap) for practice, it has the slightly darker/grey tone of the paper you used above.

[fivespices]

Sandra;

I visited your link. Those paintings are so much fun, they made me smile. But the link don't tell me which forum I should go to, and also do not let me post a reply. I haven't do Chinese brush for a long time and need to find some rice paper for practice, or will a new print do the job? What is the name of that gray paper you used for practice.

Kim

[michaeleric]

Well, that is one lucky Dragon, Sandra :evil: . His smile is full of anticipation :wink2: :lol: . Wonderful :thumbsup: .

[gakinme]

Thank you, Michael. I had a lot of fun doing that piece.

Kim, twistedmedium, let's talk at the watermedia thread here.

Post Your Chinese Brush / Sumi-e Paintings here. (http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=395394)

[kate_5555]

finally got around to do some drawing, unfortunately i m sick and drawing from bed. this is my first human drawing - had to do 3 takes to get to this ... who knew faces are so much rounder ...and eyes so far apart. i always felt that beautiful people have long face and eyes close

[michaeleric]

Kate, beauty can show itself in many forms. This is really good for your first human. What do you normally draw? You have not stated whether you want C&C but since this is in a Drawing Thread I make the assumption that you're open to it. Just check her mouth again. With this perspective our left side is much shorter than the right side. Her philtrum on our left should be a bit higher as well. But a lovely sketch.