LATELY I've been dragging my feet, or I should say head & hands, when it comes to completing a post. It's the research, writing, scanning and resizing that sinks me, not the subject itself, which I love. It's concerning too because several of my proposed sequels might end up like Harlan Ellison's The Last Dangerous Visions, something promised and never delivered. One of them is the "The Twilight Zone Fantasy Five Foot Shelf" series, which I've completed only the first two segments with eight more to go (sheesh!). Also stalled out are, "The Art of the Early American Frontier Part Two," and "Easel by the Decade." With "Easel" I hope to showcase nine more decades worth of specific cover art (sheesh again!).
Since I'm already behind on my self-imposed schedule, I decided to do something that would be quicker and easier to launch, which is highlighting my recent foray into art classes at the Curtis Center, a local non-profit art gallery, with a bonus picture at the end that will hopefully make you laugh (or groan, as it may be).
I took these classes in the hopes of reviving my drawing skills, but I'm also hoping it will lead to some actual painting on my part, something I don't have much experience in. While the classes did help bolster my confidence somewhat, I am still quite a ways away from where I want to be. One thing I did find out was that my hand/eye coordination isn't what it once was, and having to wear reading glasses to draw is a drag.
Basic drawing was the medium in the first class, then figure drawing, then basic drawing again followed by abstract drawing, and finally, colored pencils. All of the instructors were professional artists or teachers.
The first class was simply called Drawing for the Beginner and Intermediate, and it was taught by Rick Brogan. We all began by doing some basic exercises. This tree trunk was one of them and it came out pretty good I think.
After that we drew actual objects (an oil filter wrench in my case) which required using your pencil as a measuring stick. Not an easy thing to master, but I found myself using the technique in every class after this.
I drew this from a photo, but I failed to get the length of each brush correct. As I said, measuring with a pencil is harder than it seems.
I think everyone in class shuddered when they were told they had to draw a hand. I almost threw up. Rick Brogan lent me some assistance on this one, and let me tell you I was glad for the helping hand (no pun intended).
Our next assignment was faces. This is my attempt to draw tennis star Roger Federer, the last of the classy, non-grunting players.
This piece was done in charcoal pencil and is supposed to be, ha ha, Willie Nelson. I think the mouth and the chin turned out pretty good though.
This portrait of Dwayne Johnson was also done in charcoal pencil, but it didn't come out exactly like the reference photo. For the most part I'm happy with it, especially when you consider the short amount of time we were given to draw each subject.
Wouldn't you know it, everyone was told to do a self-portrait by way of a mirror. This sorta looks like me except I'm older and way more handsome.
Figure Drawing came next, and it was taught by Michael Dowling. I struggled in this class, not only from feeling rushed because of the time limits set on each pose, but also from trying to get the proportions right, not to mention trying to figure out (no pun intended) what type of line-work to use: heavy, light, tight, loose or just sketchy. I ended up trying a little bit of everything.
This was done with a charcoal pencil. Much to my delight, this fellow's hair-bun actually helped to balance the drawing.
Here's another pose done in charcoal. My scanner was not able to capture the full image.
This pencil sketch was also too large for my scanner. And, no, this is not the hair-bun dude from above. This was a very tall and quite supple female model, who I found difficult to draw because of her extreme length. This, I think, is the best sketch I did of her.
My next drawing class was taught by Christa MacFarlane. It covered the basics mostly, but we did manage to use a variety of applicators: pencils, pastel-pencils and also ink-pens. My wife actually loved this class and would be willing to take it again. This pastel was my final piece from that class.
Ink is my least favorite medium because it's so damn unforgiving. I almost didn't include this dandelion because of that fact.
I decided to sign up for Abstract Drawing, a four hour crash-course workshop taught by Christian Dore, to see if I could step out of my realism box. What I found out is that while I can, I sure as hell shouldn't!
This, with the exception of the bird's head, is a total disaster. We were supposed to insert abstract shapes into the bird's main body, and all I could think of to draw was more damn circles.
The last class I took was Colored Pencils. It was taught by Behnaz Amadian. When I was younger I did plenty of colored pencil drawings so I thought there was little room for improvement, but Behnaz taught me how to blend colors like no one else's business. This drawing was the result of just that first session alone.
This butterfly turned out okay, just don't ask me to turn it into a tattoo.
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Birds are some of my favorite things to draw. Even if you make proportional mistakes, like I did with the wings on this Western Tanager, they still come out looking regal.
This I believe, is my jewel in the crown from all of the classes I attended (at the top is the reference photo, and below it is my drawing). It was torturous having to bear down so ridiculously hard with the colored pencils, but in the end it was worth it. I'm particularly pleased with the way the shadows turned out and the slightly larger reflections of the light source, even though the lime's light reflection is set too low. The colors of the lime and the pear came out different than the photo, but that spoke more to the limitations of my pencil set than any conscious decision on my part. For a larger version click on the image below*.
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SO NOW that I'm officially dragging graphite across paper again, I thought I would dig out a couple of my old drawings and try to redraw them to an improved degree. One was a grouping of faces that I made when I was a teenager, drawn on tracing paper. Only now the faces are too small and much too light for me to redraw at that size even using tracing paper. I will have to go bigger and free hand the whole thing, which I'm looking forward to doing actually.
The faces were going to be characters in a fantasy story that I was trying to write, which pathetically lasted about ten pages (yes I write, but I'm not a writer!). As I said I drew them initially on tracing paper so I could keep improving upon them, but the original trace seems to hold up best so that's what I'm going to show here for a laugh.
BUT WAIT, DON'T ENLARGE THAT BELOW IMAGE JUST YET!
I even went so far as to name each character: Rodney, Brewer, Harvo, Rich, Marna, Zardoz, Ercles, Zeke, Myrilla, Doctor Pardot, Captain Farot, and finally, Princess Rosalura, Prince Corund, Queen Myrrha and King Corsus.
I like those choices, but then one day while watching a TV commercial during the national news, one that was promoting yet another new medical drug, I was inspired to rename all of the characters.
And I do mean inspired, ha ha!
Okay, now you may enlarge the image.
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[© June, 2023, Jeffersen]
