Showing posts with label sketchbook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sketchbook. Show all posts

Wednesday, 11 April 2018

Drawing process for Doodle Eye Challenge - 'dog'


Week 2 of the Eye challenge and I'm enjoying every moment. It's been a while since I drew with any degree of realism - I'm finding the practice good. My drawings are not photo-realistic as there's a softness about them and the eye's fade out to a hint of feathers, skin or fur. Will I be following on from this challenge to include this style in my art? Possibly, I have a few ideas.

My process of drawing - a light pencil sketch...


followed by base colours...


dark grey shadows and build-up of colours...


dark blue to deepen shadows, overlay more colour...



and then adding black pencil to indicate darkest areas. Occasionally I'll add white gel pen (only thing I find that works well over the waxiness of coloured pencil layers) as in the previous 'horse' eyelashes. 




So now I'm wondering if I can translate this process into watercolour...one for the to-do list.


Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit

All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

Thursday, 11 January 2018

Picking up pigment pens...


It's been October since I last drew regularly. Bar making a little art book in Dec I haven't felt the inclination to draw. Feel I should be drawing but just didn't or couldn't. Guess that block hasn't yet gone.

Had got myself a new Passion Planner which I liked using throughout last year, for art, writing and blogging. Finally got it opened and scribbled in it. A few false starts but now seem to be planning drawing and researching. That Andrew Loomis book I got for my Nov birthday has been opened. Great book. It was first published in 1943 and many of the illustrations seem quite vintage but it breaks down each main part of the body, male and female, giving useful tips on figure drawing


The first drawing in my sketchbook was out of my head, not looking up any visual references. When I do this the features tend to be ill-placed and too large - the eyes in particular. After drawing some exercises from the Loomis book the image has improved a little.



Loomis suggests first drawing a sphere, flattening the sides and then adding lower points for the nose, mouth and chin. Drawing and re-drawing makes the method more second-nature.


The drawing I like most using his technique I drew in pencil. I become aware of the features in relation to each other and the hair 'fits' better. The drawing is unfinished but I like it how it is. This is an imaginary person drawn using the tips in the book. 


I've written about other drawing aids available online, to buy and to download. I'll list the relevant blogs below.

ISBN: 9780857680983 'Figure Drawing for all it's Worth' by Andrew Loomis




Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit
All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

Monday, 18 September 2017

Sketchbook images


Working in my sketchbook, doing a few drawings per day, catching up on time lost during block...


Love making soft watercolour images, sometimes use pan watercolour, sometimes water soluble pencils or crayons.


But there's a part of me that likes more dramatic images using black ink brushpen on top of colour on top of textured paper. Using white acrylic markers I build up texture and allow to dry before working on the treated surface.


Have been doing a lot of figurative work, sometimes from life and sometimes from visual research. 


Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit


All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.


Wednesday, 6 September 2017

Thirty Drawings Pt 2


Part 2 - the remainder of 30 drawings from a 1978 Summer Project challenge I reset myself. 

10 drawings - Wherever you are (3 remaining to complete)
  • How you spend your time 
  • How you use your time 
Because I play online Solitaire I wanted to include the element of chance. I wrote a series of words on pieces of paper and then drew out the following...Themes: Future, Comic. Colours: Blues, Earths, Skies. Tools: Glue, Tracing Paper (Vellum). Paper: Bristol Boars, Embossed Card. Materials: Ink Stamps, Alcohol Inks, Acrylics.


I embossed a piece of Bristol Board to attach as the final box and liked how the watered down acrylics tinted the surface and the depressions. 
Vellum was cut to fit the first box leaving the shape of the rocket man's head free. White ink pad was used on the edge of a curved piece of thick card and printed on top of the vellum to indicate movement.
The storyline could follow a number of different routes and for that reason I left the page unlettered.

  • What you come across that triggers the imagination 
  • What you pick up/find that you can use at a later date 
Picked some ivy vines from the garden and found some butcher's cord from a parcel. Made 'brushes' with them and used Letraset alcohol inks. Doodles were made with a Pentel brushpen used over the top of the colours.




4 drawings, each one done on the day, about the day - Summer events/controversies (completed in pt 1)

16 drawings - Cities, Landscapes, Seascapes (10 to complete)
  • 4 distant views 
Line drawings of Cavehill from various angles and from inside the cave. Cavehill is most famous for looking like a sleeping giant from the Antrim Road below.



  • 4 unusual views (2 to complete)
Two more drawings of my street through the vintage coloured glass that's in the hall door. The red is a postal van driving past. Different panes gave different degrees of distortion. Would like to draw more distorted views - perhaps carry some portable glass panes to photograph through. 

2 more street views through vintage glass

  • 4 imaginary views of the same thing 
I chose the 4 Cavehill views to base the imaginary drawings on. I thought of the past and of the future and of also of myth. 



And a notebook/sketchbook, some part of which will form the basis of a future project (ongoing)


water soluble wax crayons - Cavehill views

white acrylic base, water soluble coloured pencils,
coloured pencils on top and black Pentel brushpen

black ink line drawings - 
Tollymore and Gortin Glens

5 drawings I chose from the 30 completed:






I liked using other paper/card on the comic page - without completing the 'chance' element I wouldn't have previously considered this. 
Drawing through vintage tinted glass was strangely chaotic but I'd like to have a few portable pieces of glass to work on other scenes. 
Using simple black ink on white paper was refreshing after many contrived drawings. 

I'm glad I completed the challenge - it helped kickstart the end of a block that was worrying me. Some of the pieces I didn't like at all but others I did were the result of my having to look differently at my life and surroundings.



Thirty Drawings Pt 1 




Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit


All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.