Out of Paper (Warm Ups Vol. 1.8)

Last night I used up the last page in the 30 page sketchpad I've been using for my warm up exercises. Granted I had used the first four pages months and months ago (Interestingly, the first page is full of doodles I made with my left hand, since my right arm was in a cast). I've filled up only three, maybe four sketchbooks since taking a high school drawing class nearly two decades ago. It feels good to get through this one in roughly 25 days or so (not counting the first four pages). I'm going to need to make a trip to the art store. Anyone have a favorite type or brand of sketch pad/book?

Draw like you mean it!

01.27 Day 22 - Goat study? from Complete Guide to Drawing

01.28 Day 23 - Anatomy study from Complete Guide to Drawing

01.29 Day 24 - Anatomy study from Dynamic Anatomy

Kindly Critiques (Warm Ups Vol. 1.7)

I've received my 15 minutes of fame. Again. But this is the first time fame was awarded on account of my pencil. In all actuality, I think it's more my recent new found commitment to using the pencil everyday than any actual display of skill or talent. Regardless, it's always nice to be recognized and the boys (Adam Greenfield and Kevin Cullen) over at MakingComics.com were extremely generous with their evaluations. Go take a listen to their podcast(s). Very interesting and exciting stuff.

Podcast Trivia: I also happened to be the "mystery" poster who Patrick mentioned called the much anticipated upcoming Mooc a McMooc in one of my comments. Ninja podcast coverage! :)

Keep the pencil on the paper!
 

01.24 Day 19 - Freestyle Friday! Drew this with no reference using my Wacom Intuos and sketchbook Pro.

01.25 Day 20 - The Twenty! Anatomy study from Complete Guide to Drawing

01.26 Day 21 - Landscape study from Complete Guide to Drawing

Chronic Copy Cat-itus (Warm Ups Vol. 1.6)

I think there is a substantial quality difference between my drawings when I use a reference image and when I draw completely from imagination. This is not shocking to me. Veteran artists often advise beginning artists to use reference images. In fact (I believe) even established artists often refer to reference material to pump up the realism in their work. As I move through my daily exercises, I plan to try and use references (mostly from my collection of books on drawing) for every study, except on Fridays. Friday drawings will be completely from imagination and memory. Hopefully over time there will be some notable improvement when I pull things straight out of the lump of gray matter.

Draw like you mean it!

01.21 Day 16

01.22 Day 17 - Anatomy study from Drawing Dynamic Hands

01.23 Day 18 - Anatomy study from Complete Guide to Drawing

Lead to Ash (Warm Ups Vol. 1.5)

Recently Mark Luetke posted an article on makingcomics.com titled Get Started Already. It's a sweet (and super fast) read. In it he describes a phenomenon where your art turns from gold to ash (paraphrased). Essentially he's saying you might produce art that makes you proud at first, but as you continue to gain skill, you'll recognize ways the old art could have been better that you hadn't seen before. Well, I'm experiencing my art transforming from lead (I don't consider it gold yet) to ash, literally overnight. I'll draw my daily warm-up and sketch, and usually I'm fairly satisfied at what I've produced - until the next day. Typically I pull open my sketch pad and look at the previous day's work and say, "Wow... that's really bad." I don't think this is quite the same thing that Mark is referring to, but I'm just going to keep at it and trust that eventually it'll be like he says.

01.18 Day 13 

01.19 Day 14 - Anatomy study from Drawing Dynamic Hands

01.20 Day 15 - Clothing study from Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery

Double Digits! (Warm Ups Vol. 1.4)

I did it. I broke into the double digits of days of consecutive drawing. Time to celebrate. Please hold.

Woo woo.

Ok. Celebrating complete. Although I haven't missed a day of drawing, I managed to also have my first blog schedule slip, since this post should have come yesterday, not today (That didn't take long did it?). Not too big a deal, since very few people (if any) follow the blog. The real goal here is to keep drawing. The blog is secondary. I was already planning to shift my post schedule to the day after a 3 day chunk anyway, to make things a little more convenient. Mission accomplished!

Keep the pencil on the Paper!

01.15 Day 10 - A shoddy version of Brutus from The Bean

01.16 Day 11 - Anatomy study from Drawing Dynamic Hands

01.17 Day 12 - Anatomy study from Drawing Dynamic Hands

Tactics

“The way into an impenetrable fortress of people is usually through a very small trap door.” - Patrick Yurick, CEO MakingComics.com

A very cool speed paint with a really good song

Mr. Sulu, Engage Mind

Muscle control is certainly a factor but the real benefit of warm-up drawing exercises is the way they engage your mind. - Devin Larson, Warm-Up Exercises!, MakingComics.com

This proved very true for me last night.

Number Nine (Warm Ups Vol. 1.3)

Today is day nine of putting in a minimum of 30 mins of drawing warm ups. To be honest, I wasn't really in the mood for pencil work tonight. Actually I wasn't in the mood for anything, so I made myself draw anyway. It was either that or stare at the paint on the wall which has been dry for probably a decade. Doing the warm ups actually improved my mood by the time I was finished. How's that for beneficial side effects. Patrick Yurick suggested a new activity for honing one's mastery over time management, but I think I'm going to let that one be for a while. I'm not ready for it.

01.12 Day 7 - Anatomy Study from Complete Guide to Drawing

01.13 Day 8

01.14 Day 9

It's Never Too Late...

The Good Picture - These are all so good, but I especially love "Breakfast for Dinner".

Steady As She Goes (Warm Ups Vol. 1.2)

I've decided to post my warm up sketches every three days. I know life will get in the way and there will be an occasional delay or missed day of drawing, but that's ok. I will just keep moving forward and make adjustments as necessary. If nothing else, trying to keep a schedule will hopefully create a good habit which will come in handy if I ever get to the point where I start publishing a web comic (which is the ultimate goal here :)) So here's my second batch of warm ups and accompanying sketches. And if you aren't doing warm ups daily.. go read this article now!

01.09 Day 4 - Sketched a TMNT toy I got for Christmas this year

01.10 Day 5

01.10 Day 5 - sketched a lighthouse from Drawing Boats & Ships

01.11 Day 6 - Birds from Drawing Boats & Ships

01.11 Day 6 - sketched a whaleship from Drawing Boats & Ships

So True

"Drawing the same things in the same way will get you nowhere." - Devin Larson (read more about it)

Is It Me Or Is It Getting Warm In Here? (Warm Ups Vol. 1.1)

2014 says it's time to dust this blog off and start posting more. making comics (that's a link.. not sure why the css isn't working for it) recently transformed into a new beast and the new team is producing great content. Very inspiring stuff. One of the articles recommended warming up with simple drawing exercises before attempting to create your "real" art. It's so simple yet brilliant. No need to stare at a blank page and think what can I possibly draw that will be worth posting? You just ease into it. I've adopted a little twist of my own. I plan to leave a spot in the middle of my warm up pages for a little sketch, once I've warmed up for roughly 30 mins. It's as if the warm up lines whispser to me, "Look, your warm ups are fun to look at, so who cares if the middle sketch sucks." I've found power in Devon's wisdom. Just to be pedantic, the little guy on day one was drawn before I read the article. I just grabbed that sheet when I started my experimentation in warming up. (I wonder if I should also do a cool down and stretch after each "workout" :P)

01.06 Day 1, part 1

01.06 Day 1, part 2

 01.07 Day 2

01.08 Day 3