Flying to Dublin

Today we fly to Dublin hoping that the newest eruption of volcanic ash from Iceland will not delay our flight. Looking forward to discovering more about British painters, Irish artists and a culture that has a rich appreciation for figurative art.

As President Obama and his wife Michelle leave Dublin, we hope to take advantage to the good will of the folks in Dublin as we invade their city for fun and education.

Last check this morning assures us that Iceland's erupting volcano will not affect our travel!

Topanga

Topanga is a sweet dog cared for by Gene and Vickie. This charcoal portrait was done from photo reference using a mid-tone paper. I rendered with black and white charcoal using the paper as a middle value. Great fun and good practice for rendering hair and fur for illustration.
As Don said, "Draw, floss and exercise everyday!"

Model Sheets

Board demo featuring the mouth and ear.

Male features drawn with angular lines.

Female features are softer.

Practice your pull across model sheets from photos or from conceptual faces. It is a great skill building exercise that helps you understand how to draw features and forms from different points of view. Once you master this exercise you can change the point of view below eye level and above eye level. Practice with both genders and increase your understanding of the differences between the skeletal and muscular structures of the face.

Ethnic Faces

Drawing different ethnic faces is a good exercise for learning to draw outside your standard model.  The newspaper is a great source of photos of people from many places on the globe. It is also great for collecting different candid expressions. Keep a file collection of different types to draw from on a daily basis.

A quick sketch from a newspaper ad of a young man's face. Drawing was done as part of a daily exercise in drawing faces to keep my skills up.

Pet Portraits

To raise funds for a group to which I belong, I agreed to offer graphite pet portraits as an auction item. We sold three and I finished the first of the trilogy. It is a fun project and great practice handling animal fur which will help to inform my students when we do fur coats in Fashion Sketching class. I anxiously await my next furry friend.
Manny is a long-hair almost perfectly 50% grey creature which limited the range of greys with which to portray is fur. The challenge was to to offer enough contrast to describe his fur and maintain the feeling he is a grey cat and not black or white. Fun to do and Manny's protector was happy with the results.

When the news of John Paul Stevens retirement came I painted a digital portrait from the posted headshot with the news story. This is a practice portrait to build skills. He has a great face.