Line Drawing

This semester I took an adult basic drawing class where each week for ten weeks a different drawing concept was covered. It was a lot of material. Since we only spent basically three hours on each topic I wanted to do more so I’m revisiting each lesson and blogging about it so that my understanding grows as well as hopefully someone reading this will get something out of it.

The first week was all about line drawing. I really like line drawing because all you are worried with is the object – no light source, shadows or anything. Our assignment was shells. We picked out two shells to draw. One drawing was a larger study while the other was more an actual size of the shell.

The large study was the first drawing I did. I found it very hard to draw a shell as there is all this detail that with just lines was making my brain freak out. The second study I felt much more confident with. I think because it was supposed to be the actual size of the shell that it was easier for me to get the portions right.

It’s amazing looking at this drawing just two months later and already see how I would do it differently.

This week I am revisiting this lesson from class and plan on doing a couple of studies.

Drawing Basics

Doodling

I love to doodle. It’s fun and lately it’s been good practice. I used to just doodle during meetings all over my notes. Surprisingly I found it a way to focus and wasn’t a distraction. It wasn’t a sign of boredom although there have been many meetings that I have been bored to tears.

About two years ago, I decided to take my drawing “to the next level.” I have been learning more about techniques and structure. There’s a part of me that says get things done as fast as you can while the other side says to take my time and do it right. This has always been my problem with drawing. I see what I want to draw and then I would try to draw it failing miserably. I just wrote it off as I just didn’t have any talent for drawing.

It just didn’t matter how bad I thought I was, I still wanted to try to get better. So I took a community drawing class and began my journey of drawing “for real.”

My sketchbooks are full of doodles. Through the years I can see improvement which makes me really excited. So I know practicing even if sometimes it may just be doodles are helping me become a better artist.

How to make more time for doodling

I keep a small sketchbook at work. My desk is very small, so I keep it close to my computer which in turn makes it convenient to pick up a pencil and make a few marks which waiting for things during the day. If you have a desk job, you probably have a fair amount of down time or when I complete a task I like to take a short break – hence I doodle.

When I’m at home, I usually doodle while watching TV or listening to music. I like to doodle to warm up so to speak before I try to draw something I’m working on.

I seem to doodle the same creatures, flowers, designs over and over again. It’s good practice although sometimes I feel frustrated with myself that I keep drawing the same stuff. It’s amazing how the brain works as I can tell you a flower I drew last year was way harder than the same flower this year. It’s like my brain now has a blueprint on a basic flower and it just does it automatically. A year ago I would remember thinking about the drawing process with each line. Now some marks just seem to be on auto-pilot.

So yeah, doodling. It might seem like I am doing nothing of importance but really it has become an important practice.

Uncategorized

Welcome!

Welcome!

Glad you stopped by.

You have found the home to Magenta Sketches – a web comic featuring just your average geeky American family. This web comic has been years in the making. Years ago I had an idea for a web comic around a husband and wife. I’m sad to say that I never did anything with that idea.

Fast forward twelve years and one kid later, my idea has expanded to be about a family. In our family we love to laugh together and at each other. We look for the humor in practically everything, so there should be plenty of material.

I’m still fairly new to drawing and have only recently seen real improvements. So bear with me as hopefully as this comic matures, so does the art work.

 

From time to time, I will blog about my drawing practice where I give a glimpse into how I am growing as an artist. My hope is that it will serve as inspiration for anyone who has ever wanted to draw to just go for it.

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