Drawspace: Lesson C02 - Lets talk and draw lines

Hi all,

Welcome to Lesson C02 of the Drawspace art program. This lesson is all about drawing different lines: straight, curved and angle. The lesson is really simple - there are three tasks regarding the line drawing and 16 worksheets to copy.

So let's not waste time and start drawing.

Doing the straight lines was simple enough. The Angle lines were a bit tricky since I've decided to draw them in one hand movement.
Surprisingly, the curved lines were done pretty smooth too. I guess that lessons from the previous two sections starting to pay off.

And these are the worksheets.

Now, when finished doing these sheets, I don't really know what to say about it.
I was drawing lines, forms and figures.
I did some measuring to keep the right proportion.
I tried to stay as accurate as possible.

The only think I might be doing in the future when on to this kind of exercise is to printout sheets with readymade squares, so that the scan would look better for the post.

This is it.

Have a great day,
Dalia.

Drawspace: Lesson C01 - How to draw a self portrait.

Hello all!!

Welcome to Lesson C01 of a Drawspace art program. Today I begin a new section. And so I don't feel bored or something this first lesson deals with a self portrait. No more - no less.

The good part is that there's no need to be absolutely look alike. The idea is to practice skills acquired in the two previous sections. But of course - do the best one can.

But before I start drawing I want to make a list of my newly purchased skills. For that I decided to go over the lessons again: 

1. Seeing in basic shapes.

2. Using a Viewfinder frame.

3. Putting a basic shade.
4. Seeing values.
5. Using a negative space.
6. Symmetrical drawing.
7. ....

So this is the photo and the sketch.

And what can I say, was that interesting!!!
Looking at it now, I understand what a long way I have to go to get closer to being able to draw my own self.
But as it was previously said, the purpose of this lesson was not to do a perfect portrait but to use my new skills.
I know that I didn't do my 100% on this one. I also know that I didn't use all my new skills. What I do know is to see all the mistakes I made here and to point them out.
Everything is wrong here but one thing - the action itself. This is the first time in years that I drew a face. Let alone, my own. I guess it's never easy for anyone, unless you have years and years of experience. Also the psychological part of it - I remember the first time I drew myself I've noticed so many imperfections in my own face (and no, it's not about my millions of freckles :))

Anyway, I have to thank Donna, the author of this lesson (and a Drawspace art program) for this one. It's difficult and challenging, and interesting and, at times, painful.

The end of the lesson challenge is to give yourself a hug for the braveness and the acceptance of a challenge. As I happily did :)

Have a great day,
Dalia

Draspace B11: Shading techniques

Hello,

Welcome to Lesson B11 of a Drawspace art program.

This lesson is all about shading.
As you know, my new habit of learning is to first read the new material through. And, to my surprise, after reading this lesson I've realized that it is a theoretical lesson only. There's no exercise and no challenge in the end of it. But I've decided to do some sketching anyway.
If you go through the text of the lesson, you'll find a sketch of three circles leveled on a different height (F1117). This is what I've drawn. The goal was to practice (circular) hand movement, the pressure level I put on the pencil and the creating of the shading itself.

So these are my circles. I used a simple HB pencil and here's the result.

Obviously, it is not perfect, but who's looking for perfection at the moment?
I find that the decision to do this sketch was the right one. The left circle was the most difficult to draw - it was uncomfortable, the direction changed with every inch of it and the lines were not as curvy as they were supposed to be. The middle circle felt more natural - I dealt pretty easily with the curves and the shading itself. The right one was easily done too, although I thing that the middle circle still looks better.

Tip of the post: When start shading, always finish the area through, without picking up your pencil. That way your shading will look even, since you keep holding your pencil in the same position all the time.

Have a great day,
Dalia

Happy Independence day, Israel!!!

Hi all!!!


Today Israel celebrates it's 65 of Independence!!

Happy birthday, dear country!

How and where to hold a Viewfinder frame.

Hi hi.

If you've read the B09 Drawspace lesson, you'd remember that he author specifically asked to hold the Viewfinder frame still so your chosen perspective doesn't change. I find it really important because when drawing a complicated scene, every inch your drawing space should be filed properly.

So when I was doing the B09 lesson I held my frame in my left arm while drawing with my right one. I found it totally irritating, since, well, it was pretty uncomfortable. And for several days I had this thought in the back of my head for finding the solution. And then It hit me. To put a frame in between my many pencils in my pencil holder. Yes, it's not perfect, and, yeas, it's a bit askew, but it will work for the small objects standing in front of me. I guess it will do for now.

BTW, those of you who love quality movies, probably remember a movie called "The Draftsman contract" by Peter Greenaway and the image of a Draftsman sitting on a green loan with an easel, paints, brushes and a huge viewfinder frame.


Have a great day,
Dalia

Drawspace: Lesson B10 - How to draw a Horse head

Hi all,

This is a B10 lesson of a Drawspace art program.
Today's subject is a Horse. When I opened this lesson the first thing thst came into my mind was "How come a horse appears in the Beginners level lesson". I've never drawn a horse before but I've heard that they are pretty difficult to. I remember reading the Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone and there was a character saying that if one can draw horses - one can draw anything. So, with my hand shaking and head dizzying, I started reading the lesson.

For some reason I was not at my best the day I worked on these sketches so I tried to concentrate as hard as I could. The level of concentration was so high I could hear my blood pumping through my veins. Every little noise that came from outside was a distraction at this point, which made it harder to concentrate.

I took a break and then I read the lesson again. I started drawing and it went pretty smoothly. It was really easy to follow Donna's sketches so the result was ok. I think.

The end-of-the-lesson challenge was to draw another horse from a different sketch. The actוal challenge was to understand what was the horse shaped from, draw it and then, of course, shade it. While doing it I redrew the horse's snout three times - there was a distance mistake before the head and the nose - I put them too far away one from another. But it came out just fine, maybe a bit out of proportion. But in general, I'm pretty happy.

So there it is, my two very first horse heads.

I will be drawing horses againg in the fitire and I'm sure there will be anothr ehorses related lesson. At least I hope there will be.

I hope you found this lesson useful.

Have a great day,
Dalia

How to make a Pessah Mazza bread with Illustrator

Hi all!!!

It's time for a tutorial.

When I was making my latest Pessah card there was a lot of doubts about what to put on it.
I didn't really want to put a traditional Pessah elements but I did wanted to create something associated with spring in general, not Pessah specifically. The reason for this was that at that time I couldn't to illustrate the Matza bread at all.
I did look for a tutorial of how to make a Matza, but found nothing. What I did find was lots and lots of cute vector Matza images that got me curious again and led to this How to make a Matza bred of my own.

So here it goes. Notice that in this tutorial I will be using loads of short-keys only, since using them makes the work much more efficient.

Let's begin!

 1. Open a new document (Cltr + N) and set it to 300mm*300mm.

2. Choose a Rectangular tool (M) an create a large rectangle (Shift + drag) which will make a base for the Matza.
3. Close this layer and create a new one (Cltr + L).

4. Choose a Line tool (\) and draw a Horizontal line (Shift + Drag) in the upper part of the Matza square. Use Selection tool (V), copy it down (Alt + Drag) and Duplicate (Cltr + D).
5. Choose all (Cltr + A). Go to Alight menu and choose a Horizontal Alight to Center.
6. Group lines (right click + Group). Open the Square layer again. Choose all objects (Cltr+ A) and Alight to the center of the Art board.

7. Ungroup the lines (right click + Ungroup) and close the Square layer again.
8. Choose all lines and go to Stroke menu. If not open press Cltr + F10.
9. Check the Dashed line and change Dashes and Details until you're happy with the result.
10. With the lines still chosen, go to Effect menu and choose Distort&Transform. Go to Roughen and change Size (absolute) and Detail (corner) - do until satisfied.

11. Open and choose the Matza bread layer, go to effect menu, Distort &Transform again and Roughen it a bit - Size (absolute) and Detail (corner).

12. Choose a Matza square (V) and copy (Cltr + C) and paste in front of the existing one (Cltr + F). Choose (V) end enlarge it a bit (Shift + Alt + drag). Move backwards (Cltr + I).
13. Go to Swatches menu and choose a dark brown for the back Matza square and all the edges and lines.

14. The Matza itself will be a light yellowish gradient - feel free to choose the shades. Do a corner to corner gradient.

This is it. It's a Matza!

Tips of the post:

1. Always give a name to your layer.this way, when you have more than 2 layers it will be easier to navigate your way through the layer list without wasting your time.
2. When creating an effect (or anything else) always check the Preview box. This way you could see the effect before it's applied.
3. When Alighting, always see what the Alight is related to - an Art board or the Object.
4. Teach yourself as many Shortkeys as possible. It will make your work way more efficient.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
If you have any question - don't hesitate to post it here.


Have a great day,
Dalia

Fools Day!!!

Happy fools day, everyone!!!
Sorry, fooled you, no illustration today!

Enjoy yourself,
Dalia