DK's Sketchbook #3 - 15 Min. Exercises

[Davkin]

I started this sketchbook in March with a specific purpose. I love vintage cars, especially hot rods and customs. Cars are difficult subject to draw and so to get plenty of practice in I decided to start daily 15 min. sketches. The idea was to sketch at least one car from a photo every day in 15 minutes. That only lasted a couple weeks but I'm starting it back up again, however now I'm opening it up to any subject, just trying to make sure I get at least some sketching in every day. The sketchbook is just a Strathmore 400 Series, (green cover) spiral bound 5.5" X 8.5". The pencil is a #5 Twist-Erase mechanical.

Here are a few of the car sketches from March;


From a small hot rod calendar.



From a magazine cover.



Another calendar photo.

David

[Davkin]

A few more;



Another calendar photo



Calendar photo



This one is from a book called "Throttle" which is a compendium of magazine issues published in 1940 of a magazine with the same name. Hot rodding history is one of my favorite subjects.

David

[Davkin]

A few more, all three of these came from the same book;







David

[Anne-Marie]

Originally Posted by Davkin

I started this sketchbook in March with a specific purpose. . . I decided to start daily 15 min. sketches. . . .I'm opening it up to any subject, just trying to make sure I get at least some sketching in every day.

I love the idea of gently encouraging yourself with 15 minute sketches. The cars are lovely and indeed evocative of a time gone by.

[Davkin]

And finally, the sketch I did today to restart the sketchbook and open it up to more subjects. This is from a photo I took at a place called "Lake Solitude". The lake is really more like a large pond really and it's in the middle of a ski resort, (Solitude ski resort of course.) yet it's a two mile hike to get to it.



David

[DrDebby]

Nice cars! And in only 15 minutes? That's amazing. Love the lake picture too.

[Davkin]

Thanks. Another thing I meant to mention is that 15 min. sketches are a great way to warm up for a longer drawing session. I used the Lake Solitude sketch to warm up for the violin drawing I posted in my "#4 Anything Goes sketchbook". It's kinda like stretching before lifting weights or going for a long run.

David

[eyepaint]

Great idea for practicing this topic / subject

[Aiylah]

Great sketches for 15 minutes! I like how you use them to "warm up". Sometimes when I start drawing it feels like my hand is stiff and I can't handle the pencils properly.. maybe I should try your technique too!

[Davkin]

No, I didn't abandon my daily 15 min. sketch goal already. In fact if you count the sketches I did in my #1 sketchbook I'm doing more than one a day, but even when I do something in my other books I want to try to do something in this one as well.



This is from a photo I took last fall at Wheeler Farm. This poor old Dodge was sitting out back rotting away. It looks solid and mostly complete though, so I hope they save it before too long.



This is from the cover of an old model railroad magazine, the photo was of a real train though, not a model.



I decided to try something way out of my element on this one. This is based on Leonardo's study of soldier heads for the Battle of Anghiari. It's somewhat recognizable. I really got the ear wrong, and the eyes didn't go to well....or the nose.... Still, considering how few attempts I've ever made, (virtually none) at drawing the human head I'm pleasantly suprised it looks as good as it does. I didn't take the whole 15 min. on this one. At about minute 12 I realized if I did any more I'd only make it worse!

David

[DrDebby]

Good sketches. The human form is hard. You've done well for a short sketch on something you don't normally do.

[Anne-Marie]

It's true, the portrait is fantastic! It looks like a "real person" with everything where it belongs. I still have the little kid thing of putting eyes up on the forhead, lol.

[robertsloan2]

These are great! My favorite is Lake Solitude, it's glorious, but you did a good job copying Leonardo errors notwithstanding. They may only have changed the likeness more than anything else. The cars are incredible. I have major problems doing vehicles and getting their proportions right, you love them and do them so well!

[Davkin]

Thanks for the comments Anne and Robert. Robert, I believe learning to draw anything is all about practice, practice, practice. That's the primary reason I started this sketchbook in the first place, to get better at drawing cars since they are a primary interest of mine. Of course it helps if you are very interested in the subject, then practice isn't so tedious.

Speaking of cars, here's a couple more;



I did this one last Thursday. It's a '31 Ford (don't let the grille fool ya, it's not a '32) 5 Window coupe hot rod from a small calendar.



Oops! I missed a day. This one was done Saturday. This is an oval racer called a "Midget". They were smaller cars with smaller engines but still raced by adults often on the same tracks as the big cars, (back then called "Roadsters"). This is from the 1941 "Throttle" magazine book.



Skipped another day. I did this one today. Also from the Throttle book. This is a land speed racer called a "Streamliner" Basically the "Anything Goes" classification. The bodywork on this one is most likely all hand formed. After WWII streamliners were often built from surplus external fuel tanks that fighter planes used to extend their range while protecting bombing runs on Germany. Cars built from those fuel tanks earned the name "Belly Tanker". The body of the belly tankers were very similar in shape to the body on this streamliner, though I think the belly tankers were smaller.

David

[DrDebby]

Cool cars. Love that you include history with your sketches.