Saturday, March 04, 2006

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Charles Bargue Drawing Course

About a year ago I stumbled onto an article about the Charles Bargue Drawing Course, a kind of do-it-yourself "Atelier" course. Since my ultimate goal is to be the best artist I can be, and since I am not going to France to join a real atelier any time soon, I immediately shelled out $95.00 for the book. Considering the tuition at a real atelier school, this seemed to me a bargain. The book arrived, and of course I was delighted. Beautiful drawings, wonderful paintings - and the fear that I could never draw that well.

The upside: no model fees, no time limits, no annoying classmates. The downside: no critiques, no interactive advice. And perhaps the biggest downside of all, no one to push me to get it done. It has proven all to easy to plop down on the couch instead and watch an all day marathon of "Miami Ink." I also tend to agonize over my drawings. It has to be perfect. It has to match the example exactly. Well, who cares? That is the point of practice, isn't it? To work to be better each time, to put in the work and hopefully get some results.

My martial arts instructor tells us quite often that the secret to attaining a black belt is one thing: sweat. There are no mystical techniques or shadowy secrets. I think the same thing is true of drawing. Sure, there are people who are naturally talented, but for most of us it is one thing: sweat. My fear of not being able to draw well is the same fear I face in martial arts. Spinning sole kick? No! I can't! But you keep working, and working, and one day - seemingly out of nowhere - you can. Keep working, keep sweating, keep believing. And never forget the reason you are doing it, for the love of the game.




New Sketchbook Pages



New pages from my sketchbook. I really like the little teapot sketch - it is tiny, about 1"x1". I've gotten into the habit of drawing a few pages each night before I go to bed. The only bad part is I lose track of time, I look up and it's 1 AM.

Friday, February 03, 2006

Friday, January 27, 2006

Illustration Friday - Glamour


Sketchbook scratchings of two models and a hairdresser. I hate the way the neck came out on the model on the right, should have done the shadows in watercolor and not ink. I like the way the color came out though.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Illustration Friday - Cats


"Psycho Cat" - an etching I did for printmaking class waaay back in college.

I had an little cat named Hazel, but we called her Psycho Cat because she was nuts. She was a house cat by her choice, because when she came in you couldn't get her out. She had claws and knew how to use them. I remember one time I was out on the lawn giving the dog a bath with Psycho Cat calmly observing. I looked at her, I looked at the tub of water - and let's just say my curiosity outweighed my judgement. I don't remember much after she touched the water, but when it was all over there was lots of blood and it wasn't hers.

I guess the etching was my attempt to psyco-analyse Psycho-Cat, my impression of what her personality was.

Friday, January 06, 2006


Practicing figure drawing. From the book "The Human Machine" by George Bridgeman. There are no drawing groups or figure drawing classes in the area where I live, so for me drawing from books is pretty much the only option.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Illustration Friday - Flavor



For Illustration Friday -- topic "flavor". This is actually a drawing from an old sketchbook, but one of my favorites.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

New Year - New Blog

Hello, thought I would start a blog this year. Everybody has one - why not me too?

I am a freelance graphic designer/illustrator/artist living and working in central South Dakota. I also study a martial art called Kyuki-Do, I am a confirmed bibliophile, amateur birdwatcher, and a part-time cattle rancher. In other words, I have more hobbies than I have time to actually do them. Mainly I would like to use this space to post my sketches, since it's easier to update a blog a couple times a week than my web page a couple times a week. And since it's easier, maybe I will actually do it once and a while.

Anyway, here is the first sketch. Practicing drawing faces.