Thursday, August 9, 2012

Doodle 009 - Out in real life

One exercise I have been told to do over and over and over again by teachers and professional artists is to always carry a notebook and draw anywhere.

I have said this before, and it bears repeating, I am actually shy. When forced to interact I put up a very friendly confident persona, but when I am allowed to retreat I melt into a nervous puddle feeling my heart race like a bunny's who has been chased around an open field by a falcon.

This can hamper the whole: "Get out there and draw people!" because well... I sorta feel a bit creepy at times LOL, just think about it, a strange woman is sitting several tables away from you at a restaurant during lunch, there you are, minding your own business, enjoying your meal and she seems to be paying you way too much attention. At first you just think you have a funny feeling, like you are being watched, then, suddenly you look up, and there she is, like the deer caught on the headlights, she hurriedly looks away and nonchalantly scribbles something on a teensy tiny notebook.

Creeeeepeeeeer LOL. Most people don't seem to mind or notice, but I still feel a bit uncomfortable about it... sooo if you ever happen to find yourself in this situation, well, take it as a compliment, maybe your posture is interesting, maybe you are just interesting yourself in some way and we (because there are a bunch of us out there who draw like this), just had to sketch you real fast, or maybe we are looking at the funny looking tree behind you, hey we are weird people.

To illustrate how tiny the notebook I carry around in my everyday purse is I took a photo or my larger plain moleskine (most of my drawings so far have been done in one of this, it is smaller than a normal piece of paper, but not by much), the purple notebook is just a bit larger than an iPhone, I placed my mechanical pencil next to it for scale.



See? Rather small.

And now for today's doodles:

First a couple of "field doodles" (done on the purple notebook above). It is hard to draw people, they, like we all do, move and fidget a lot, so I have to be very quick and sometimes all I get is a basic idea, but that's what it is about.

Excited toddler at lunch, drawing from life. Mechanical pencil on plain notebook. Aprox 1-2 mins.

Girl eating lunch, drawing from life. Mechanical pencil on plain moleskine notebook. Aprox 3 mins.

Then an at-home doodle

"Oh, hai!", drawing from photo reference and stylized. Graphite and mechanical pencil on plain moleskine notebook.

And finally an Adventure Time Fiona doodle. I actually drafted this earlier in the week, but I had forgotten to upload it. Bonus! 

Fiona fan art, drawing from memory. Graphite and mechanical pencil on plain moleskine notebook.

8 comments:

Brooke said...

I really love your drawing style! I considered majoring in art in college, but I ended up going the theatre route instead since I never had any art lessons. I never could have drawn as fast as you did to capture those kids at lunch!

Lauren said...

i love that you do adventure time stuff:) its one of my favs:) keep up the good work ;)

Rhissanna said...

Cute! Yes, I can see you're going to get some odd looks, specially in public. Hubby is my go-to model, when he's playing video games. Of course this means I have a heap of drawings of him from the same side, in the same position...

I really like your life drawings. You have a lovely sense of movement.

Mrsblocko said...

Your chameleon looks just like Pascal from tangled! :D

Nomi said...

Setting your Fiona as my wallpaper. You're basically wonderful.

Susanna said...

Beautiful doodles! I love the sense of motion in your subjects.

I too am way too shy to sketch people. I usually opt for lamps, chairs, or my own feet. But if the payoff were something like you've done... I should just screw up my courage and go for it!

Drawing Saudade said...

Brooke: Thanks! I took some theater classes during college myself, like costume design for an example. I loved them, I am also a big fan of set design and theater in general.
I didn't really take formal art lessons until it was time to apply for art school and had to work on the entrance exam (things are done differently in Spain), so I say, if you feel like drawing, just go for it! At first it might look bad, but practice and perseverance make all the difference.

Lauren: Thanks! Adventure Time is one of my favorites too. Just waiting to see what happens between Finn and Flame Princess.

Rhissanna: Oh! I draw my husband a lot too, he is very hyper and moves around a lot though so it is a challenge lol.

Mrsblocko: I thought the same thing as I drew. Incidentally Tangled is one of my very favorite Disney movies.

Nomi: Aw shucks, I am happy you liked it :)

Susanna King: Thanks! And no lamp, base or inanimate object is safe from my stalking at home either. It is a good way to start and experiment with shapes. You should try some drawing outside, it is a bit scary when you start, but once you get into the groove it gets much better.

Nats said...

Love the Fiona doodle. And I've totally been there with the kid trying to climb on the table during lunch :)