Negative Space
Drawing the negative space around an object helps develop your vision and eye. In addition, there are details to observe about your subject and a whole set of elements of the area around your subject.
Try looking at the sky around the trees or buildings. What do you see? Have you ever noticed this before?
Woman’s Face
I am starting the lessons and sketches in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. I have the cooresponding workbook on order.
This book goes well beyond drawing skills. It shows how building your drawing skills bleeds over into many other areas of your life.
The three baseline sketches are a person from memory, your hand, and a self-portrait. Those to come the next two days.
The Mouse
Today, a simple sketch of my desktop mouse. I tried it a couple of times to see if I could improve on it. Funny how when you focus and observe, there are so many items around that you can sketch. I’m not even close to being done with everything on my desk. So don’t use the excuse that you have nothing to sketch.
Until tomorrow.
Star Wars
I am working on using my pen and thumb to measure perspective. Use your pen or thumb to help sketch a 3-dimensional image onto a 2-dimensional media. Holding your arm against your body, you can see down your pen or thumb to gauge how key landmarks line up together—another skill to learn on my sketching journey.
The simplicity of one pen on a sheet of paper has been great. No decisions or angst over pens, colors, paper vs. sketchbooks; pull out my pen and pad and draw.
College Bound
Today’s drawing was a bit of a final. I use all the ideas, skills, and techniques I have learned over the past thirty videos to sketch a complex scene. Not perfect, but I’m improving and enjoying the process.
Focus on the process, not the outcome, is vital for any skill like drawing. I am enjoying the process, and that builds on the craft. I am always happier when I focus on process over outcome. It stops me from comparing myself unnecessarily with others.
As I continue this Art 365 project, I will move into the drills and learnings from Betty Edwards’ book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.
It is a journey!
Squares
Another way to trick your left brain to stop telling you, you can’t create art is to draw in squares. Today’s exercise broke sketching down into bite-size chunks. I drew twelve drawings. Even though they are small, I practiced observing, looking for contours, and determining what could fit in the box. Finally, I went through twelve drawings.
And the exciting part is that they look good when they are all on one page. Another tip to break down sketching.
Thanks to the Sketchbook Skool art class.