Finally Caught Up, Just In Time For A Hard One

So, the past few days I've been blogging about the 30 Day Drawing Challenge, looking at other people's works, beleaguering myself with the choices for each day's challenge (oh, such problems I have!). One of my fellow participants, artist Megan Mars, hasn't been posting to the same group I have, but has just been posting it to her Fan Page. When she posted her most recent entry, it occurred to me that I hadn't actually checked to see if we were using the same list. As it turns out, we weren't. So since I believe I used her list for my very first post (and it shares the first few challenges in common), I suppose I should post the list that I am actually going from myself.

I was a couple days behind, but I think I've caught up. Yesterday, I managed to finish and post Day 8, Favorite Animated Character. I have loved Looney Tunes' Wile E. Coyote since long before I ever moved to the Southwestern Desert. Having built almost my entire preconceived knowledge base of the desert on watching Wile E. and Road Runner, I have to say, living here now, I got it pretty much correct.

Day 9 was "Favorite TV Show", which is another thing that changes every few years. Some runners-up included "Supernatural", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and "The X-Files", but as far as the TV show that I currently can't wait to see in my Tevo lineup each week, I had to go with the BBC/SyFy Channel series, "Merlin". It's a true escape from real life, present day, and, well, historical or literary accuracy. I think it's really sweet.

Plus, I got to pretty much make up the sword from thin air--Excalibur hasn't really made much of an appearance on the show yet. This drawing was all in graphite except for his blue eyes, which were colored pencil.

Day 10 was "Favorite Candy" and that was pretty easy. According to my Dad, my first word wasn't "Mama" or "Daddy", but "emmanem".

I only drew one, 'cos I'm on a diet. But the red ones are the best.

Today is Day 11, and the challenge is "Turning point in your life." I've had quite a few turning points, so that will require some thought. I guess you will just have to wait and find out.

More 30 Day Drawing Challenge!

I'm a few days behind in the 30 Day Drawing Challenge, but not as far behind as I am at this blog! I told myself I was going to get back to it, and by gosh, I am!

So when we last spoke, I was on Day 4's challenge on Day 5. I did finish Day 5's challenge that evening, just didn't blog about it. Day 5 was "Best Friend", and I used a photograph of my honey as the model, as my actual husband was all scruffy-faced and Don-King-haired on his day off all day.

This is one of the few shots I have of my husband smiling. Not that he doesn't smile, he just doesn't do so on purpose for the camera. Cute puppy, Troy, appears courtesy of our daughter's boyfriend.

Day 6 was "Favorite Book", and I had a good amount of trouble thinking of one for this, too. I'm not exactly a bookworm, but not exactly illiterate; I was just having trouble with the superlative nature of the word "Favorite" again. Then, I thought, what book do I use, go back to and enjoy the most?

Yeah, I know, I'm a word nerd. Plus, sheesh! Two days in a row of pencil and shading! Seriously, ENOUGH, for a minute, anyway.

Day 7's Challenge was "Favorite Movie", and I won't bore you with how difficult a choice that was, but, again, I went with my heart, and not what I thought would make me look good or whatever, and picked the movie that still seems as good today as it did when I saw it on some fuzzy Baltimore station on a little Black & White TV.

I went back and watched some clips of "Yellow Submarine" on YouTube, to get an idea of some of the shapes and colors, and it was just as much fun to watch! I was dorkily quoting dialog the whole day, which, out of context, makes even less sense than in context.

I'm all caught up(ish) to yesterday's challenge, "Favorite Cartoon Character", which I'm putting the finishing touches on. I decided that, although color is bold and fun and all, shading is really what I'm better at. Plus, I thought it'd be fun to create a shaded cartoon character from a flat, outlined image. As soon as I finish that, I'll only be a day behind (which, as I mentioned, is better than I've been doing at blogging).

So, is anyone else out there doing this challenge? What other challenges are out there that people are participating in? I had found a fellow artist doing a 28 Days of Faces challenge for the month of February, which looked like a lot of fun, and, had I seen it first, I probably would have picked that one instead. I love creating faces!

Feel free to leave a comment and tell me all about your mid-winter creative endeavors!

Back to Work...Well, Sort of

This weekend was full of Little League Baseball games, cleaning up the yard, rain (not a good combination), and a little bit of drawing. I took my sketchpad to the ball field (Usually when it's my own kid's game, my husband is the coach and I'm official scorekeeper. This Saturday, my kid was pool-playing for another team because they were short.) and started in on this idea I had after being inspired by some other people's work. My husband accused me of making this little creature to resemble someone from Little League, but if I did, it was subconsciously influenced only.

He was only about half-way finished by the time that game was over, and a brief jaunt to Taco Cabana later, I was back at our home field acting as Field Monitor (exactly as interesting as it sounds). After finally getting to consume my Taco Cabana burrito, I was sitting on the bleachers at a girls' softball game, finishing him up. Despite the home team's designated Chihuahua's best attempt to pose as my model, I finished him all up and put the book away to avoid any damage or criticism.

Yesterday morning, I scanned him in and got him all digitally gussied up. I switched up his colors, started with some color in his main body, then thought better of it and just left his main body white. Overall, I really like the way it turned out!

I guess it's time for me to get back to all of my other work, now. I have quite the list of responsibilities I've got to take care of today.

"Mister Softee" is now available for sale as a 6" x 8" archival print here.

Corset of Arms

What if chicks had ruled the world back in feudal days? Now I know some would say that we would never have adopted the corset as women's wear in the first place, but I beg to differ. Women like being beautiful, no matter how much torture it is...

This pencil work measures approximately 3.5" x 5.5", which is the proper size to use as a master for a Gocco print. I have had a Gocco set for several years now, have gotten it out of the box, read the instructions, just have never pulled the trigger and ever tried to do anything with it. I will probably go to Kinko's and get a photocopy made of it, as I am not sure what might happen to my original if I use that to create my master. I have never done screenprinting of any kind, so this would be a whole new step for me...

Technique for Chiaroscuro: Pastel, Pencil, Vine Charcoal

Today's medium you never heard of is more of a technique made up of several media that you have heard of, combined in a different way. The drawing at the right shows the broad range of light to dark that can be acheived with this technique, and the subtle and smooth transitions make it an ideal method for rendering the human figure.

While it appears that this drawing was made on a piece of tan paper, the paper was actually white to start with. The first step for this technique is to prepare your surface by rubbing the entire page with a thick piece of vine charcoal. It has to be vine charcoal, not compressed charcoal, as you just want enough coverage to protect the tooth of the paper (the rough surface of the paper that absorbs the pigment or pencil). This step will leave the paper a sort of uneven light gray. Next, get out your soft pastels and pick out two or three (or more) colors that range all over the color wheel. This particular drawing used a teal green, sienna, sky blue and yellow ocre. One color at a time, rub the side of the pastel across the whole sheet, not worrying too much about evenness--that'll come later. As you mix, you should be able to see your neutral background forming, and you can adjust it by adding more of one color than another to get it the way you want. Once you are satisfied with the tone, overlay with another layer of vine charcoal. This second layer of charcoal should even out the tone of the page somewhat, but if you would still like it smoother, take a wad of soft tissue (like Kleenex) and gently rub the surface in a circular pattern until the tones are even and smooth.

From this prepared surface, you will create all of the lights, darks and midtones using three tools: graphite pencil (6B to 9B, very soft), a kneaded rubber eraser, and a wad of tissue. The pencil is used to create any tones darker than the paper tone, using crosshatching or other techniques to achieve the darkness you desire. The kneaded rubber eraser is used to gently lift out the pastel colors to create the highlight areas, and you are able to lift out as much as you please, from a little lighter to all the way back to white. The wad of tissue acts as sort of another type of eraser, but this one helps blend unwanted lights or darks back to the background midtone.

Overall, the technique is very versatile, fairly forgiving, and gives extremely satisfying results. Try it for yourself sometime!

The above images were created by me, Julie D'Arcy, and are for sale in my Etsy shop!

Day 3 -- "Gertrude"

Today's picture is Gertrude. She's one of those big-haired waitresses in some diner just off of the interstate. Between the Blue Plates and the endless cups of coffee, her mind wanders off to a place where she can roam the seas, free from bad tips and old men pinching her fanny.
She is the first in a series of pencil drawings of seemingly ordinary people who live extraordinary lives, even if it's only in their own minds.
My next drawing in the series is going to be Sid the construction worker. What an imagination he has!

Gertrude is available as a 5" x 7" print in my Etsy shop here:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8005708