Wrinkly elephant

Done rather quickly with my charcoal pencils...

Puggle portrait

I'll repost with a few corrections...eventually... But in general rather proud of how it came out.

EDM # 231 and 232

So my most recent purchase (outside of groceries) is a white coat with my name AND my specialty AND cloth buttons. Yay for cloth buttons, although the significance is probably lost on virtually everyone....

Done in my homemade moleskine with half dip pen and half black pigma pen.

And this is my junk "drawer" (its actually a shelf as you can tell which, while not being terribly aesthetically pleasing, is quite functional). To actually read the labels you might have to click on it.

This was also done in my moleskine but in my handy dandy new sepia pigmas. Which I really like!

Weekly Drawing Challenge "Rufus"

So first step into full fledged human portrait. Meet "Rufus" one of the model's over at WetCanvas's weekly drawing thread. Overall, I'm fairly pleased. It definitely could have come out worse. I never got his left eye quite right and the midtones on that side are more difficult to convey than the sharply contrasted other side. But I learned a lot...

Peek a boo EDM #33

So bad (and scared of) with eyes. Trying to work on both of these things. The reference picture really did have the eyes as slightly different shapes but I think I overemphasized the differences.

EDM #92

So no, the scanner isn't wacky, I don't have tinted charcoal paper but wanted to see if I liked the effect by doing a light wash of watercolor and then applying the charcoal. Its a mite bit more successful in person.

An old watercolor revisited

I first did this watercolor about a year ago...and really didn't like it. I added some pen detailing which makes the house a little more appealing. But I got a little heavy-handed and wish I could erase the ink in my trees and clouds.

Homemade "Moleskin"

Found the directions on-line. Made it Canson sketchpaper and some faux suede. All in all, rather fun. I think I'll try another one with watercolor paper at some point.

Happy 4th of July!

Maple twirlies: Weekly drawing challenge

Charcoal pencils on Canson paper. Apparently these are maple seeds; I'm going to assume that in the Deep South these are relatively rare as I don't remember seeing them. Granted, I also don't remember seeing the bright firey red that I'm fairly sure maples turn in the fall. So this would make sense. Regardless, they were fun to draw! I liked the difference between the shiny ball part and the feather like end.

2 Pears - in Ink and Watercolor

Not my best work...and it even looks better in the smaller size. I need to get better at the crosshatching in larger areas with pen and ink.

Notice a theme? (EDM # 229, 202, 158)

I wonder if I've been hungry lately.

First - A summer joy - and yes, these are all real flavors at a local popsicle shop. Yum! (Pardon the shadow). I wish my drips had come out a little more successful (those are the random shadows amidst the popsicle.)
Next, we have my favorite cookie but my least favorite sketch of the three.

Then we have...well can you guess what it is? I like the way it looks but I'm not exactly sure you can tell what it is. It looks rather abstract.

"Popping" tulips

A watercolor I did a little while ago. The two backgrounds where trying to get different elements of the painting to "pop." I won't tell you which is which...

Lounging in the grass

About to take a nap. I have a feeling the limb aren't positioned perfectly. And that the nose doesn't look quite right. But all in all rather satisfied. I'm trying to get over my fear of eyes. I feel like if you don't get the eyes right then you have no hope of creating a believable looking creature.

Another weekly challenge

One of my less successful sketches. It was hard to convey both the shadow and then dirt of the statue. Maybe I should have waited to add the dirt with watercolor pencils or something. Then I could also have added some splotchy green oss!

EDM #227

Overall I'm fairly satisfied with my tote bag. Its the ubiquitous LL Bean bag. I started this with my dip pen but I got so frustrated with it not working (is it because I have the super cheap version but it will just decide to not write!) that I switched to my Microns.

EDM #226

I like the bottom part of my screw but not the top. Something's off...it was done from a couple of different pictures and I apparent didn't synthesize them terribly well. Done in pen and ink with a little watercolor pencil thrown in.

EDM: 209 Easy AND pretty....

A back lit daisy over a loose wash; does that count as a shadow? One of the first watercolors that actually came out as I envisioned it.

EDM #15 Quick tree

Cute little tree. I did this with a dip pen, which I love. Too bad I'm always worried I'm going to dribble over my nice clean paper.

EDM# 185 Meoooowwww...

I'm actually a dog person but since this was the weekly drawing challenge on WetCanvas (plus an EDM!), I figure I'd try it. My favorite part is the ears. If I have time later this week, perhaps I'll try a reference photo with eyes and not just fur...

Something sticky...EDM #225

I like the honey. I don't like the jar lid. Stupid ellipses... Inspired from a photo I found on flickr.

Weekly Drawing Challenge III

Pardon the funny line down the middle. This is in my new "Moleskin" esque notebook made by yours truly. Picture of a lotus from the Wetcanvas weekly drawing. Pen drawing with Pigma Micron 005. I'm pondering investing in some different sizes...

Filled with Hot meats...

A sketch I did a few days ago. Its filled with 'hot meats' (spicy sunflower seeds) so only birdies eat it and no squirrels. Thus far farily effective. Now I just need to be quick enough to sketch the birds at the feeder...

I like it this size

They look much more metallic when they're small than when they are the actual size. That and the fact that the front ball is slightly smooshed are two major flaws I see. In my defense the reference image didn't have the bottom of the ball. This is my second weekly drawing challenge over at WetCanvas.

Flexy-moldy-bendy man

I like my human figure mannequin. These were done quickly. They were done a while ago, however, so they are rather smudged.

A flower

This is about the only true piece of "artwork" I've created with graphite. Hopefully you can tell that its an iris...

Weekly Drawing Challenge

My first attempt at glass. I think my favorite part of the entire drawing is the little spot of light in the cast shadow on the right side of my bottle. This reminded me that I really like working on charcoal. I initially attempted this with graphite and just didn't have the patience to create all the ncessary shading. Much quicker with a few swipes of the charcoal. And then you have smudgy black fingers :)

If you want to see much better portrayals of this bottle and a MUCH more complicated still life, check out http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=562667

I like the shadow

Close up of some unknown flower. I did this painting several months ago based off a picture I found on Flickr (and got the artist's permission to paint it). I don't terribly like the petals and definitely don't like the veins. But I DO like the shadows of the stamens. The more I draw/paint the more I'm understanding the importance of values in making art interesting.

EDM #6 Draw a childhood toy

Very light watercolor wash with pen. As a side note, one of my favorite orders of intern year is ordering a pinwheel or bubbles to a child's bedside to encourage them to take deep breaths. Ah, pediatrics....

Everyday Matters #1

Overall I'm relatively pleased without how the sketch turned out although the foreshortening of the toe was not terribly successful. I have determined its easier to do a full boot and shoe than a flip flop or strappy sandal...

First Digital Artwork

I was pleasantly surprised that I could get a sketch that actually looks sorta sketchy. This was greated on GIMP 2. To get the sketchy look I "jittered" the pencil. I really couldn't get a nice gradation of grays...so I played with opacities of the pencil. Not quite the same but its a start.