Artsy Fartsy

alldatndensum wrote:

I can't draw a believable stick man to save my life.  But, occasionally I can pick an ol' guitar or bass.  Here is the fan song that sabidoo & I did for the Tim Ridley Show that is featured on XM Radio.  I am playing all the guitars (including leads) and bass.  Also, I am doing all vocals.  All drums, sound effects, and chicken shakers were played by sabidoo:

That is good stuff!  Now I'm hungry...

Thanks Messiaen77. While it may be a bit tedious and time consuming, the hardest part is if an "eye" is torn/damaged - that's when you HAVE to get it right. You can be arbitrary with some missing "lip" or "nose", but the eyes give the person away. Get the eye(s) wrong and you change what the person even looks like.

Ok , I didn't create this (my 16 year old son did).  He told me he wanted a desk and I said "Hey, you are a third year shop student, make your own desk).  So I bought him the stuff and he made it.  He made the chair too.  

That looks beautiful - and solid, too, which is what counts.

That looks wonderful Staybrite.

Very nice!

Wow that looks great!  Tell him nicely done!

That is excellent ! He didn't just build a basic desk - he took time to design it and did a heckuva job at that ! Very nice indeed.

Well, this isn't exactly the kind of thing we do around here, but here's something I came up with.  I'm still tinkering with it a bit because there's something I'm just not satisfied with yet.

Christine

I'll throw some "Blasts from the Pasts" in here...
 
I did this freehand portrait of Paul Stanley in 10th grade... I had a bit of learning to do when it came to shading.
 

I drew this for a friend in my senior year, since he and his gal told me they were planning on getting married right out of high school and having kids (which they DID, and they're STILL married !)
 

I have SLOWLY begun working through a book used in high school art classes called "You Can Draw In 30 Days".  It is going to take me more than 30 days, however, as I am not doing a lesson every day.  Shoot, I didn't do anything after the first lesson for nearly 2 weeks!  LOL 

Right now, I have finished the first 3 lessons and will be posting some of the exercises on Facebook and here as well.  So far, there's nothing to really brag about, but it is interesting using some shading techniques to see something I've drawn begin to come to life.

That's very cool Chris. My grandma (dad's mom) was a serious, career artist in oil paints. She's the one who trained me at a very young age. I told you that to tell you this: It was a crack up, cuz nothing I did earned her praise - she would always find something that should've been done different. Which, when you're a little kid, you're just looking for "praise" for your creations, not criticism.
However, that criticism is what made my works better as I got older. I could hear her voice in my head while drawing: "More shading ! Remember what I taught you about 'value' ! "
haha

I need to learn what all those terms mean!  LOL  I also need to find what I want to try to paint first.  I am thinking of trying to paint a picture of my church.  I'd like to capture it in photo from the hillside above the church and then paint that.

Here's my first artistic sketch I did from the book where I am learning to draw.  I call it "Tennis Balls".

Nice ! Just like my grandma would say "more shading !" haha.

My teacher made me draw this when I was in 9th grade - I didn't understand why at the time, but as I grew in my art studies, it began to get more clear.
(I used a 6B and made the gradation down to a 6H)





Here's a cool guide for pencil grades. You use each pencil based on the parts of the picture are lighter or darker.




All "value" or "shading" does is give WEIGHT to your picture. A light picture doesn't look like it has any weight to it, where a sharply contrasted light to dark picture makes something look like it has mass.

This DLR was done in 10th grade - One of the cool methods I learned when shading this was the "fingertip" method. Lay down the amount of dark shading you want in a given area, then smear it around with your fingertip. You can also use a Q-Tip for smearing. Or if you're really into your art, go to the art store and buy what's called a "Smudge Stick". (I prefer my pinky finger though- works just as good)

These are cartoons I drew from real-life "inspired" customers in pharmacy over the last 25 years.

I had a bunch more, but ended up giving them away over the years... (some got confiscated and destroyed when a manager found them hanging on the back door of our pharmacy bathroom - haha!)







...


.....




.....



.....



......


.......




....

You could've gone into editorial cartooning.

^ haha really.

The picture of me on the phone saying "pharmacy is such a rewarding career" actually didn't have that typing on top. Originally it had 2 cut out sections where a long piece of cardboard fit thru it - below it said "..days until vacation" - and everyday I would slide the piece of cardboard the had numbers on it, so that I could do a countdown.
A manager thought that it was not good for the morale of others so I had to change it. He didn't like the new one, so I just took it down so I wouldn't come to work one day and find out he threw it out.

Yes, I worked for a bunch of jerks in the past

This was just one of the exercises in the drawing lessons I am doing at home.  The book I am using is called "You Can Draw In 30 Days".  It's just a bunch of silly circles to practice some 3d drawing and shading.

The last lesson I did suggested finding a box in the house and drawing it.  Here is the original box:

And here is my recreation.  I did learn that, at least for a while, I need to use a ruler or some other straight edge when I do boxes or cubes.

Here is another lesson from the book I am using.  It was a lesson on drawing more complex boxes & 3-D cubes.  The bonus challenge at the end was to draw a choice of several things.  I chose the treasure chest.  I added a couple of things like the coins in the sand and a sea shell. 

I need to work on proportions.  My lid, if you study the drawing closely, is definitely too small to cover the box.  Most folks won't notice that, but I did after I saw it online.

I'm glad you drew the box with the designs and not me... I hate having to draw monotonous things - pictures where you have to draw the same thing over and over like patterns... I'm SO impatient.

Your work's lookin great man !

Not bad for a beginner is what I think!  I am just 5 lessons in.  I think I will improve with each technique I learn from this book.  After this one, I will see what else I can find to help improve my drawing and also my painting.  It is my goal to be able to draw/paint realistic scenery either from a photo or my invention.  I would like to learn to do portraits, too, but I know that is realistically a LONG way off.