Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Ginger is a Dreamer

New sketch from Sketch Sunday on Inspirimint.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

A Close Encounter at the Edge of the Woods [colored]



A quick coloring job for "A Close Encounter..."

Enjoy! =)

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Sketch Sunday 2

I finally got my scanner, so no photo substitutes this week. :)

We visited my parents' house over the weekend and they have this wood burner in the living room. (It's so efficient that they don't need gas heating during winter.) The above is a 10-minute sketch using ink and no pencil.

Completely unsatisfied with the first sketch, I then did a 20-minute sketch of the same thing using the same parameters and a different pen. I think it came out better mostly because I was better acquainted with the details from the first pass.

Another ink sketch using a new fountain pen (no pencils). Thin, curly hair is fun but difficult to draw.

"Yours" as in "Hi, I'm Yours." Drawn using Lascaux Sketch at 2draw.net. Again, the curls were fun but difficult to get to look right.

The pen is my favorite medium for sketching, but I know there are many aspects of drawing that I still need practice with. In an effort to improve my weaker areas (like coloring), I will try to identify these areas and explore them in upcoming Sunday Sketches.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Sketch Sunday 1

A Close Encounter at the Edge of the Woods by spyra

Since this blog is used as a way to inspire artists, it's only appropriate to post some of my own work.

A Close Encounter at the Edge of the Woods was inspired by snowfall around the new year. In this drawing, a feisty young girl is caught off-guard by her encounter with a larger stranger, who, having the unfortunate fate of being a snowman, cannot retaliate. Aside from the facial expressions, I really enjoyed patiently etching out the patterned tree bark, probably subconsciously inspired by the beautiful forestscapes of Stephanie Pui-Mun Law.

Two Faces by spyra

After a period of not drawing, I find that sketching faces is the easiest way for me to ease back into the habit. Just two generic characters here, although the cap on the chap is inspired by the snowman's hat in the previous pic.

Random Poses by spyra

For me, drawing poses is a little harder than faces and takes a bit more effort. I usually don't use references for my drawings, so being able to imagine everything and execute it so that it looks natural is always a challenge. Here, I was just trying a variety of different things so I can get used to imagining the human body again. I felt like everything here is pretty incoherent, but I am hoping to get better with practice!

Have you ever taken time off from a hobby then decided you wanted to get back into it? What kinds of hobbies do you have? If you like to draw, what kinds of things did you start with?

If you have any sketches you did this week and would like to share, I would love to see them in the comments section.