Drawing 007: Friday fox

Final doodle for the work week. I will try and do something way more detailed and in color during the weekend. I have to get used to the watercolors again. This sketch was done using pen and from imagination only.

Foxy, pen on sketchpad. Aprox time: 10 mins

Drawing(s) 006: Errr... yeah

Working on deadlines and projects isn't leaving me much time to draw, so it is all about sketches.
Today all I could come up with were loose sketches of whatever I could think of on pieces of paper using a ball point pen.
The cat is Ebi... as Ebi... and I guess a motorcycle racer? Yeah... hehehe
The human is just made out of whatever lines came out of the pen at the moment.

Random portrait, pen on loose paper. Aprox time: 10 mins.

Ebi, pen on loose paper. Aprox time: 5 mins.

Racer Ebi, pen on loose paper. Aprox time: 4 mins

005: The cold snap

One of the funny things about Florida... it gets cold. After over a decade here I know I will need a coat, but that doesn't stop Floridians from being surprised by the low temps every single year. They will wait for the spring as if the month and a half of cool temps were a divine punishment.
Sure, there are some Floridians who just love the cold, but they are the minority around me. I blame the sunshine; after a while one gets addicted to the glow, the warm slow bake and the whole wintery cold rain can quickly turn anybody into a whiny withdrawn sunshine junkie.

Watching people rush from buildings into their cars feeling perplexed that it is winter never gets old... very quick and rough sketch made out of composites from people I observed in the street and from memory.

Blue pencil on sketch pad. Aprox time: 4 mins

Drawing(s) 004: Doodles

Not much time to draw today outside of work, just a quick sketch of a random outfit, what can I say, I always enjoyed costume design. And also a doodle based on a falcon I very briefly saw today on the drive back to the office at lunch. I just had about 5 seconds to see it perched atop that stop sign, but the one thing I did say about it was that it was the fluffiest falcon ever.

Yup, I make odd observations, it heard me and I am sure it didn't appreciate being called fluffy, but... it was... oh, so very, very fluffy.

Charcoal pencil on sketchpad, aprox time: 10 mins

Charcoal pencil on sketchpad. Aprox time: 5 mins.

Drawing 003/3.2: Twofer

I actually did draw more than this today, but they were work-related drawings so I won't count them.
The first one I just made up without a model, hence why the proportions of the face might be a bit off.
The second one I guess I could call it an exercise on costume design.
My right hand keeps dragging a lot over the paper, hence the smudges on the right side of both drawings.
I will try to extend my drawing time, but it gets rather frustrating after a while and my thumb, palm and forearm start to cramp up a bit when I try to add finer details.
I just noticed both doodles have their eyes closed, I guess because I was rather tired by the time I sat down to draw and I really wanted to get some rest hehe. Eyes take a while to get right, so that was my way to lazily finish the job faster.

Pencil on sketchpad, aprox time: 15-20 mins.

Gesture drawing, pencil and ink on sketchpad, aprox time: 10 mins.

Drawing 002: Lap Cat

This is a quick sketch of Legolas, one of our three cats. He is the oldest, yet the smallest one.
I had just enough time to draw him for about 30 minutes before he decided he was tired of acting like a lap cat.
Side note: Drawing a cat that is sitting in your lap and that enjoys eating mechanical pencils might not be the brightest idea. I nearly lost a pencil today. He has bizarre habits...

Legolas, quick gesture drawing on sketchpad. Pencil and some ink.

Drawing 001: The first afternoon nap of the year

The only living subject in the house that I could find at the moment that was still for more than 5 minutes.
His chin was tucked into his shirt and he had drifted into a lazy afternoon nap while watching TV.

Unedited, loose gesture drawing with mechanic pencil on sketchpad. Aprox time: 15 mins.

And so it starts. 365 days, 365 drawings.

The reason behind it all: to regain enough control on my drawing hand to draw and paint something decent again by year's end. Call it a rehabilitation exercise, a fight against the ever present and dooming creative block, or just a need to work through my own lack of confidence after many years of neglecting something I truly love.


With just a mechanical pencil and my sketchpads to begin with I will draw one thing each day and try to make it as elaborate as time and my arm/hands allows.
Sometimes I will scan in the pieces, others I might just be able to post cellphone photos, but I promise to never skip a day (unless under extreme duress)


How and why I can't draw anymore for extended periods of time, I really don't like to talk about, maybe I will delve into it as I struggle with my own creative demons, but for now:

Happy new year, and welcome.