I finally had time to draw again.

[femmedem]

Work's been crazy busy for the past month or so, but this weekend I put my emails on vacation mode and carved out some time to draw.

In the evenings, I'd been watching demos by a wonderful portrait artist, Dan Thompson. I just took his very affordable virtual class on Domestika, but he's got a few free demos on Youtube. I've learned a lot from him.

[Walleye]

1. Excellent. I can't draw myself is why I became a photographer. You really captured the expression

[femmedem]

2. Thank you!

I draw because I don't think I could ever learn the technical skills to be a good photographer!

[Ferrets are Cool]

22. You stole my line.

Actually, I can...I'm just too ADD to do so.

[Diamond_Dog]

3. That is excellent, femmedem!

Getting faces right is next to impossible for me. Your portrait is gorgeous!

[femmedem]

5. Thank you, Diamond Dog!

Portraits are tough because we're so attuned to human faces that even a slight error can make someone look monstrous. But I've come to love drawing portraits for that reason.

Here's one of Dan Thompson's videos. He begins by showing landmarks to look for on the face by drawing on his own face, which looks weird but is helpful. The demo starts about twenty minutes in.

[Diamond_Dog]

7. TY! Bookmarked for later on.

[femmedem]

32. I hadn't watched most of this one yet when I posted it.

About an hour and seventeen minutes in, he changes the camera angle and loses the distortion that was making the drawing of his face look too long and thin. If you don't want to watch the whole video, or you get bored early on, I recommend going to that point and watching him finish the drawing. It made me want to go back into my drawing, darken the darks, and pay more attention to my mark-making.

[Ocelot II]

4. Excellent!

Is this from a live person or a photo? Either way, it's very good. I've never tried a for-real, serious portrait; people scare me (artistically and personally). It's so hard to get the eyes right. You've done a fine job here.

[femmedem]

6. Thanks, Ocelot. It's a self-portrait drawn from a mirror.

I've posted a few attempts at self-portraits here over the years because I'm always available to model and I work for cheap. But I finally, finally got a real likeness with this one.

[erronis]

9. I feel I can read your "character" in that wonderful portrait. Charcoal?

There's a look of wistfulness and understanding. Reminds me of my mother and one of my sisters. Very nice.

[femmedem]

15. Oh, how sweet that it reminds you of your family members!

It's just pencil, but I often pushed it into the paper with a blending tool (a stump.) That might be why it's looking like charcoal.

I didn't use a wide range of pencils, either--I mostly used fairly hard pencils, an F, and H. I think I used a B or 2B in a few places, but nothing terribly soft, so I don't have any real dark darks.

[iluvtennis]

24. Wow, self portrait from mirror reflection. You're very talented. n/t

[femmedem]

31. Thank you!

I love learning by doing self-portraits because I can really study the forms without making a model uncomfortable. Plus I don't have to worry about whether my drawing flattered the model!

[bif]

8. Beautiful!

As I mentioned on IG!

[femmedem]

20. Thanks, Bif!

I hadn't been on IG for a while but it was a treat to see your recent work this afternoon. You've been on a roll!

[bif]

37. Thanks! I'm trying!

[Pepsidog]

10. Very talented. Share more when you can.

[femmedem]

27. Thanks! I think my work schedule will ease up a bit by September.

Last edited Sun Jul 24, 2022, 07:31 PM - Edit history (2)

I'm hoping I'll be able to spend at least a few fall weekends outside painting.

[AllaN01Bear]

11. used to did . havent touched a pencil in years .

good for thee.

[femmedem]

16. I went decades without drawing or painting, then picked it up again a few years ago.

Not too late for you to draw again.

[Tree Lady]

12. Really beautiful

Great talent!

[femmedem]

17. Thank you, Tree Lady!

I think it's more of a skill than talent, though, because I made a lot of less-than-impressive drawings before I started to figure out what I was doing.

[Tree Lady]

21. I am one of those that enjoys art

But can barely scribble, we all have our talents.

[Higherarky]

34. Practice practice practice

right?

👍

[frogmarch]

13. Wow!

Exquisite!

[femmedem]

18. Thanks, Frog March.

I'm glad you like it!

[TFRD]

14. Well Done!

[femmedem]

19. Thank you! It was so satisfying to work on this. n/t

[lucca18]

23. Wow! Beautiful! 😍❤️

[femmedem]

28. Thank you so much!

For me, the reward isn't so much in the final drawing but in learning and in getting in the habit of observing closely--something that helps me appreciate the world around me.

[KarenS]

25. this is wonderful!

and a self portrait even better

I am envious of your talent.

[femmedem]

29. Thank you, Karen S.

The great thing about self-portraits is that you don't have to be self-conscious about closely examining yourself, whereas it would feel a little awkward to--for example--stare up a professional model's nostrils.

[Joinfortmill]

26. Love it

[femmedem]

30. Thank you! n/t

[Higherarky]

33. You are so beautiful

to me

[femmedem]

35. Ear worm!

Thank you--and you have a great username.

[Higherarky]

36. TY & YW

Have a nice night, beautiful spirit.
💖

[lunatica]

38. I recognize that it's a self portrait

The drawing looks like the paintings you’ve done. Same subject, which has always been compelling in all of them.

Technically it’s excellent because you’ve caught a great deal of variation with the modeling within the shadow areas and still managed to keep the portrait soft. It works in both the face and neck as well as in the hair. You are a lovely woman.

You’re doing a great job with your painting and drawing. In this drawing, in spite of all the shading the impression I get is of a white drawing. You use the white of the paper very well. The drawing looks clean and pure. It almost seems like the subject has a lit up aura.

[femmedem]

39. Thank you, Lunatica!

Your compliments always mean so much because they're so specific.

I hope that you--and your art--are doing well.

[lunatica]

40. Unfortunately I haven't done much art

but in my life’s experience it means I’m doing art in a subconscious way. I have been thinking about it a lot which means I’m looking at the world around me and imagining how I would draw or paint it. Dry artistic times are as useful to me as active artistic times are. So I don’t worry about it anymore.

[GPV]

41. Wow!

[femmedem]

42. Thanks, GPV!

[MLAA]

44. Exquisite.

I love the eyes and mouth. I get the sense you have something to say, you are just thinking ‘should I really tell them what I’m thinking’ or maybe ‘not again!’. The best art makes me think I know what the subject is thinking.

[femmedem]

45. Thank you so much!

I've had such a busy year that I haven't carved out time to draw for months. But I'm spending the rest of the afternoon drawing! (As I type this, I've just finished toning some paper and am waiting for it to dry.)

[MLAA]

46. Funny timing. I was thinking last night I hadn't seen anything you had done in a long time.

So I went to the Art forum and scrolled back to see if I had missed anything. I was delighted to find your self portrait. 🙂. I paint dogs and cats but just haven’t been motivated for months. Then had out patient foot surgery (no big deal) but the recovery is much longer than anticipated. No walking at all for 7 weeks, just started walking with a boot and a walker (auto correct kept capitalizing walker, and I assure you I would rather not walk than walk with Walker haha). Anyway so glad you are back to your art.

[femmedem]

47. No walking for seven weeks! Ouch! I don't know how I'd manage that.

I imagine that painting dogs and cats is tricky--especially cats--since so much of the form is hidden under hair. I'll find out soon--I'm going to draw or paint a cat portrait next month as a Christmas gift for a relative who recently lost her cat.

I really enjoyed drawing yesterday, although the lack of practice showed. I had watched a video of the artist Charlie Pickard making this drawing: https://www.instagram.com/p/CkOXLdjMiFi/?hl=en I found it fascinating because for the longest time he avoided using any lines. He just made smudgy shadow shapes that didn't look like they were going to amount to anything. Then I watched another video of his and was so taken by the lighting on his face that I froze the video and started a portrait of him.

Here's some more of his work: https://charliepickardart.com/drawings I was blown away when I saw them.

[MLAA]

48. Thank you for the link. His work is amazing. His portraits will inspire me to try again to do one.

Can’t wait to see your cat portrait. By the time I’m done painting a friends cat or dog I get so attached I don’t want to part with the painting, but I always do 🙂

I think this is one of my better efforts, a friend’s cat.

[img][/img]

This one is a small one that I was able to do quickly . It didn’t take ages like many of my paintings do.

[img][/img]

This is from a sweet pic of a cat I saw on the internet and I just put him in this setting.

[img][/img]

[femmedem]

49. These are all beautiful! I especially love the top one.

You really captured that cat's personality, plus the colors are gorgeous. I doubt mine will come out that well, but I'll share it with you anyway.