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February 28, 2014

Day 104: video research

I was feeling frustrated, dejected and defeated by my art project tonight. I couldn't think of anything to draw. All I wanted to do was sit and read "Fellowship of the Ring," which I was enjoying a hell of a lot more now as an adult then I did 15+ years ago when I read them growing up. I was feeling tired and groggy after a warm, relaxing bath. And I just thought screw drawing. I want to watch OTHER people draw.

So that's what I did.

I spent a LOT of time watching youtube drawing tutorials, focusing on my current living local artist Claudia Nice. She does pencil, pen & ink, and watercolor drawings and paintings which are just so realistic and lifelike. I also found a fabulous video by a guy named Will Terrell. His video was humorous and had quite insightful tips from improving your drawing. Things I learned from all these videos I poured over:
#1 Use a blending stump in pencil work (What the hell was a blending stump used for? Well, I saw what I could use that for today)
#2 Draw with bold strokes TOWARD yourself. Here I've always flicked the pen AWAY from myself. Go figure that my lines were always broken or overlapped.
#3 Sketch very VERY lightly. As in, can just barely see it on the page My pencil "sketches" were basic drawings that ALWAYS have shown through the page and the later drawing.
#4 Don't be afraid to shade dark. Otherwise you don't get curve or depth.
#5 Ink lines are more interesting if they have variation. Both artists talked about this. Either in breaking up the line or with different line thicknesses. 
#6 This one I knew already but forget it. Use a papertowel or something over your paper so you don't smear your shit to hell.
#7 Turn the page you dummy! Don't just draw with it all facing one way or you can miss crucial pieces of information and the capacity to use your hand the best way. Plus you could smear.
#8 Drawing well takes countless hours of practice, both in the methods and in truly observing your subject

And here is the Will Terrell video if you want to get a kick out of a dude's tutorial video. He did a nice job.


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