Jack o'Lantern: creating from skratch

Do you know these "advisers" who just love advising but never follow their own advice? I bet you do. And did it ever happen to you that you said "I would/could/should do this and that" but never actually did? I bet it did!!!

And I will lie to you if I say that I am any different!!!

But this Halloween I've decided to change some things and follow my own advice.

In one of my previous posts I've written about Character development and since it's a Halloween season I decided to create some Halloween illustration (although it’s a bit late for that).
I've written down some keywords - my associations with Halloween - on little notes, folded them and tuck them in a small plastic bag. And then I started pulling some of them out.
The problem was that all the notes I pulled out were too abstract for my inexperienced taste: there were things like “rough” and “speed” and something else, things like that. So I've decided that since it was the first time I did something like that I was allowed to cheat a bit. I looked at my list and chose three words: "pumpkin", "hat" and "fire" and combined it all together.

Pretty easy, I'd say.

So after some work this sketch was made




followed by this unfinished illustration.

I promise that as soon as it's finished - I will show it to you.

In the meantime – have a great Halloween!!!!

The power of Kewords: Developing a character piece by piece

I must admit - I don't remember whether I've read about it or have I thought about it myself. Either way there is another, really cool method of developing a character/theme.

You take an empty paper sheet, divide it in to small pieces and on each piece you write a keyword related to the specific theme you are working on.

Say you're working on a Halloween illustration, and you need to develop an image. So you write every single word associated with Halloween: Jack’o'lantern, ghoul, bat, Frankenstein etc. You mix all these pieces of paper and then you randomly choose two or three pieces, like Jack’o'Lantern + Frankenstein + bat.
And you work from there.

Have you ever tried this method and had it work for you?

Happy Halloween and lots of candies :)

How to draw Pumpkin leaves

Since Halloween is near I set myself on drawing pumpkins as my daily sketching routine. Well, pumpkins I can draw, what I needed this time is to draw its leaves and flowers and then make an illustration of it.

To do so I used many many online references using both web and stock snapshots and illustrations.

There are several goals in these sketches actually: besides doing it well, I wish to sketch faster and lighter, but I guess, these only come with experience. So: patience.... I guess I'll have to develop this one too...

So these are the sketches and I hope soon the illustrations will come. Like I've already mentioned in previous ports, for now it’s all about the simple outline sketch, not a full drawing.

After a few days of sketching I think I figured out the structure of this leaf: Its a big trapeze connected with a small triangle. And sometimes, if the leaf is really big - it's 2 trapezes and a triangle. But as I was sketching I've noticed that this formula works only for the spread flattened leaf. When it’s rotated, or flipped or viewed from any other perspective, it is another structure. And I guess it will be unique to each leaf.

And yes, I have noticed that there were some grape leaves on the way :)

Have a great day :)

Exploring the form - graduation Hat and Scroll

One of my drawing goals is to learn how to trace a form, even the simplest one, how to capture a basic line of an object. No shadows, no sub-lines - just a contour.

To do that I usually search for a desired object online or around me. If it is an online image, I usually look for several of them to explore how they look from different angles. If its something that is in the house, well, I just turn it around or turn around it.

One of the latest images I've been working with is a graduation Hat and Scroll. The idea came from Zazzle, where I and other sellers where reminded that its a graduation period and its time to preapare some graduation products. So my goal was to find an easy way to draw it. I wanted to draw as many as possible without making it beautiful but by making it simple and quick.

This is the result.


So to draw a Graduation Hat you need to

Setting and achieving goals: what have been done?

I've started this blog almost two years ago with a personal resolution to improve my drawing skills and to develop myself as an illustrator.
I said that this blog would be a  "self report of this development" .

In my other post I've committed to do at least 10 sketches per day .

Well, I've succeeded in some of my commitments:
I draw every day. I have know idea if I'm getting any better, but I draw.
And each time I do way more then 10 sketches at a time.
I develop my portfolio. I am slowly enlarging my stock gallery .

Bu I do not report my progress, and I should.
I do not look for other learning methods - and I should.
I do not do the 5,10,15 p/m sketch, which is bad.

I commit here once again to do these on a regular basis and report about it in this blog.

Wish me luck.

Copying art to master a subject

We all know that in order to learn and to develope skill one must copy others work/creations.
It doesn't really matter who do you copy from - it can be drawing from nature, from an art piece or a sculpture and it also can be from anothers render or illustration.

I've always had this will to be original and to develop my own thing. But on the way to originality I forgot that there's still some technique to be leart and style to be found. And that takes time and practice.
So today I've finally decided to let go of the "copying" guilt and start copying from others in order to learn. I realised that I've had it with online tutorials - and I must start analysing to become a better artist/illustrator.
So from now on I will try to display boths sketches and illustrations as a part ofmy training.

What do you think? Do you do that too?

Have a joyfull day!