Random Sketches

Practice, practice, practice.

Actors, Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee from Let Me In, a mediocre remake of the original, Let the Right One In. But, this one is set in 1980s Los Alamos, NM, which was kinda cool. ;)

I've never been much of a portraitist, likenesses are so difficult, maybe that's why I prefer drawing animals? But I've kind of given myself the assignment of drawing more kids lately… so here are a couple from the big screen. It's experimenting too - pencil sketch vs. pen and ink (I like the sketch better - sometimes the line of pen & ink is just too harsh for me - something to work on). Although usually kids tend to look OLDER in drawings, I somehow made Kodi look younger - I think I shortened his nose a bit. LOL. Ah well, now maybe I'll try some more styled versions.

Live Model Drawing Session

My local CPSA district chapter (219) had our monthly meeting this past Saturday and we had a special treat! The meeting theme was portraits and one of our members brought in a live model so we could all sit and draw together. It's been a long time since I've worked from a live model - I love my photo references, but it was fun. I really enjoyed the pure drawing time. I wish I had spent some time doing quick gestural sketches, but since we were focusing on portrait, and the model wasn't moving or trying different poses, it didn't really make sense to do them.

So, here's our lovely model, her name was Nafshiyah:


I started with a warm-up sketch in graphite:



And then I decided to try my colored pencils… which is a little tough given that colored pencil doesn't really erase - it's more of commitment:


This is a little test I threw together in photoshop - an overlay of my second drawing and my reference photo. Looks pretty good! I impressed myself!! But I can see I've made the eyes too large, plus low and to the right (set back on face) - which led to a displaced ear (also too low and set back), but it appears to be approximately the right size. Which is funny because one of the members walking through the session commented that she thought it might be too small. ;)

Illustration Friday: BABY

Sweet Emily. I did this portrait last year for a couple of friends of mine. Until this, I hadn't even attempted a realistic portrait since college. I was fairly confident I would be successful, but I wasn't sure. I just remember working on it, thinking how nice it was to just draw - and really getting into it. I'm lucky enough to get a few jobs here and there that are like this and I am so thankful.

Oh, and here's to my 100th post! I am such a slacker, I should have reached this milestone years ago. ;)