Gallery

Friday 10 June 2016

Drawing diary: May


Following up on your enthusiastic response to my Soul-searching, the blogging edition post, I'll be posting the drawings I've made in May today. Yes, especially to annoy you, unsuspecting gamer reader! Okay, not really. It's more an attempt to motivate myself to draw more. After all, in order to be able to post drawings monthly, I'll actually have to draw something. This is a waterproof plan, I'm sure of it!

Drugged drawing

Ho, wait, Rav, aren't you taking the "experimenting with new things" to a whole different level? Nooo, not that kind of drugs, I'm talking about painkillers here. *looks into disappointed face* Well, they're strong painkillers, if that makes it any better.*


So this is the view I had one hour before I zoned out from the combined effort of trying to create lines on a piece of paper and following the extremely complicated gameplay of Conrad playing Pokémon Emerald on an emulator (if you hear something ringing now, that would be your sarcasm detector).

I always sketch first before I start drawing, always. Except today. 'Hey Rav', I told myself, 'you're drugged so your drawing is going to suck anyway. Just go relax on the bed and let's try to make a simple line drawing. If it isn't perfect, who cares, this will be the first time you're going to make a line drawing, so let's see how it goes.'

Well, now I know how it goes. It goes crap. Without concentration (which I was incapable of) it was impossible to make it right in one go and get the perspective right. Mixed feelings. I'm not sure what to do with the drawing: it's not nice enough to frame, but I don't hate it enough to bin it. I could send it to a friend (it has the right size and material), but who would want a card with the legs of two gamers playing Pokémon?

There's one more thing I managed to draw before I passed out. You see, I thought it would be fun to draw cool pokémon that Conrad would run into. Wrong again. Because Conrad was playing an emulator, he skipped through the boring fights where you'd wait for the text to appear, so there wasn't enough time to sketch pokémon! The only one I managed to pull off was Jigglypuff, because it's round and easy. I detest Jigglypuff. Just like its fellow round, pink, fluffy, always disgustingly cute and happy creatures (Wigglytuff, Clefairy, Chansey, I'm talking to YOU). So while there is not technically anything wrong with this drawing (apart from, you know, having no soul), this one will probably end up in the bin. Or maybe I'll burn it. Yes, that sounds better. To be continued.


Draw with Faeb week

Through the world of Twitter, I discovered there was some kind of drawing event going on with the hashtag #drawwithfaebweek. The idea was simple: draw something every day a week long. Of course I failed almost immediately, having to blog besides it as well, but I did end up becoming a big fan of Faebelina (her digital drawings are absolutely amazing) and made some drawings in the process.

One of them was the drawing to the left of Haku from the movie Spirited Away (it's one of my all-time favourite movies; do consider watching it if you haven't yet!). I used this as reference and this as background inspiration. I used a black marker, blue fineliner, watercolour pencils and digital drawing. The end result was very different from what I had in mind beforehand.

I went through a lot of horror while drawing this: my black pen started leaking ink irregularly, a white marker ended up becoming yellowish and look through when dried up (which forced me to fix that digitally) and the paper didn't react to my watercolour pencils the way I hoped (which forced me to do the background lines the way they are to cover this up).

Even though I don't particularly like the result, I did learn a few things when I made this. I might use Haku for some digital painting experiments; I already found an interesting tutorial.


Despite all this drawing misery, I made one thing I'm actually happy with: the drawing of a giggling Ashara above. I used this screenshot as reference, but decided to go with a different facial expression. I went out of my comfort zone with two things: 1) by using watercolour paint; 2) by choosing a face as subject. I experienced some moments of terror when the paper absorbed the watercolour paint way faster than I'd have hoped, but I guess those imperfections are something of the charm of the medium. I'm thinking about making a small series of this and draw other aliens with different expressions in this manner.

Somehow, I feel even more insecure about my drawing abilities than before I started this whole "draw more to get better" adventure. Then again, I've been consciously picking new methods and subjects to experiment with, constantly challenging myself, so I guess naturally not everything you try is an instant hit.


*If you need to know, I suffer from a severe case of dysmenorrhea, causing me to take medication for a week during each occurrence and spending at least one day in bed, only being able to lie on my back and study the ceiling while I try not to pass out from the pain.

Is Rav being even more of a slowpoke with answering your comments than usual? Don't despair, I'm on holiday and pre-scheduled this post in a hardcore attempt to keep my posting schedule. (For science!) I'm looking forward to your comments already and promise to reply to them all when I'm back! (Wait, what did I just say? /faint)

20 comments :

  1. I do have to say, your drawing ability makes me rather jealous. :P
    Fantastic stuff! Although you said you aren't happy with it, Haku is still absolutely phenomenal.

    Very much looking forward to seeing other pictures you create in the future! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jealousy inducing effect not intended, but really cool to hear your encouraging words. Thanks! I'll definitely post more pictures in the future.

      Delete
  2. Love those drawings. I specially like the dragon one. :)

    The drawing of Ashara is pretty good too. The only imperfections I can see is in some of the blue areas but even then I probably wouldn't notice it unless you pointed it out.

    Looking forward to more drawings. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The funny thing is, those blue areas look fine in reality. Somehow they didn't quite get caught well in the photograph. Probably revenge of the digital gods for me being too lazy to properly scan it instead. Oh well.

      It's the orange that worried me, because it didn't blend in one unified colour. As soon as I found out, I tried to apply it so it would dry up following where you'd expect natural facial features, but some parts aren't quite perfect, for instance the cheeks. It's typically something that happens when you're just drawing out of the blue; you always need to get used to the tools and how they react to the paper (and with each type of paper it's different, depending on how whatever you're trying to apply gets absorbed).

      The Ashara drawing looks better in reality and the Haku one slightly worse - it's really astonishing what the digital additions I made do for it. Nevertheless, I generally like the challenge of getting it right on paper. There's something appealing to the "get it right in one go or deal with it" attitude required for analogue drawings. That and it's soothing to just work with your hands compared to having to spend time and energy on the know-how of the right buttons in a digital editing program. Still, it's obviously worth pursuing to some extent.

      Thank you for your encouragement and kind words. They really inspire me to draw more!

      Delete
  3. Oh I love your drawings :D. My favorite is the Haku, and the background fits very well. I also like your first drawing, I cannot believe that you made that when you where drugged. I have to be in a very good drawing mood and than I cannot make something that nice :). But as a postcard might be a little bit weird :P.

    On the other hand Haku postcards I won't mind :).

    More pictures every month YEAH!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Marinka! :D It's so funny to me everyone likes the Haku drawing that much, because I criticize myself for it. Everything you could think of failed when I was drawing it, so I had to adapt and adapt and it turned out way different than I was aiming for initially. Perhaps that's why I have such mixed feelings; it wasn't a very fun experience to draw that way!

      I'll keep the Haku postcard 'subtle hint' in mind, but no promises. I do still love Spirited Away so much, so I'd love to make more drawings based on that world in the future. Not easy to draw, though, so I'd really have to sit down and take the time for it. :)

      Delete
  4. I LOVE the drawing of Haku! One of my all time favorite movies as well, and I think he turned out gorgeous<3 I love that you're going out of your comfort zone to try new methods, you'll just keep getting better and better!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww, thank you, girl! I do hope you're right and I'll get better, even though it can be downright scary to work on things you have no clue if they will turn out right. So far the score is 50-50.

      Of course I had a feeling you'd like Spirited Away, what with your blog button and all (I love those soot sprites so much!!). ^^ I have to ask, did you draw and design that button yourself? Because it is amazing! I kind of wanted to draw them, too, but I didn't want to make an Ashlee rip-off!

      Delete
  5. WOW RAV!!!! I am impressed....... Yes, the dragon is nice (I LOVEEEE Dragons),, Haku didn't really do it for me. But "the view I had one hour before I zoned out" totally rocked me. It's Picasso, it's Van Gogh... THAT one shows your talent!!! I absolutely LOVE it! Never sketch anymore, let your heart do the drawing. Damn you're good!!!

    Rae

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whoa, Rae, that's too much praise! *blushes* But it's really cool to hear you like the first drawing so much. Thank you! I really wasn't sure about how I felt about it, but now I'm glad I included it anyway.

      I won't promise never to sketch anymore :P but perhaps I will try this more often and see how it turns out. It may even be tough to get the same effect when I'm not drugged. We'll see. :D

      Delete
    2. Many great pieces of art (and music, which is art too ofc) are made drugged ;)

      Delete
    3. Haha; nevertheless, I plan not to make a habit of it. :P

      Delete
  6. My pet tank came over while I was reading this post and wanted to know what was up with all the pretty drawings.

    I think the "drugged drawing" has a certain something to it, though I can't quite pinpoint what it is. I think part of it is the way the slightly crazy lines on the bedding come together.

    I also like the Ashara face, though I have to admit I wouldn't have been able to tell that she's supposed to be giggling! To me it looks like she's trying really hard to focus on something in her mind instead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please thank the pet tank from me for his kind words. :)

      Just using one pen for a drawing has the strange effect that things that are normally in the background may pop out, simply because I didn't have the option to draw them with smaller lines or with a lighter shade, as I would have done otherwise to make the drawing more realistic. Maybe that's why the 'crazy lines of the bedding' stand out like they do for you.

      And then there's the thing with how to convey depth when you only have those lines. I must admit that I get feel a bit ill if I stare at the drawing too long myself, which is in fact how I felt when I drew it, but... ^^

      To me Ashara radiates happiness on that picture, but I'm the first to admit that I have a long road to go still when it comes to drawing faces (and people in general). Which is why I tried to draw her in the first place. At this point I'm already happy her facial features don't look weird. I'll just have to practice a bit more!

      Delete
  7. Yay for drawing!! So great that you are pushing yourself out of your comfort zone AND sharing it here on the internet! (I'm trying to do the same!) I actually really like that first line drawing - it's quite gestural and feel like it captures the moment in time even if it isn't perfect or what you were going for. And I love the Haku drawing! Also, high fives for Jigglypuff/pink, puffy Pokemon hatred.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I read your June plans post (a bit late, since I was on holiday) and I'm already looking forward to your future art posts! I'm sure I can learn from them, especially when it comes to using markers.

      Thank you so much for your feedback, it means a lot. In fact, all the comments people have posted here make me think about these drawings (and thus, drawing in general) a different way, so it's super inspirational. I'm already looking forward to putting together the next drawing posts. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this up and really make progress.

      And yay, FINALLY someone who understands my Jigglypuff hate. :D

      Delete
  8. Awww, Jigglypuff. Don't burn it...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I keep having fantasies about poking a hole in jigglypuff and it flying through the air like a deflating balloon. Not sure if that's better than burning. :/

      Delete
    2. At least it went out in a funny cartoon fashion :P

      Delete
  9. It seems to me that in my drawing journey I need to go far.

    Please check my drawing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGyeTwWMGq8

    ReplyDelete

You can insert links, images and videos to your comment using these tricks.