Teddy Bears and Cher

Spartan Warrior

This week was hard to pick out a sketch that I wanted to post and talk about. Coming to the conclusion that their wasn't anything, I was hoping today's sketch would change that. I decided I wanted to do a gladiator, or Spartan warrior. To come up with the look I wanted, I found  and used several photo references.  This drawing took me longer than I wanted. Sometimes while sketching, I just don't feel right about the form and I have to walk away for several minutes to clear my mind of the direction it wanted to go. Coming back to it with a fresh sense allows me to see it differently and in many cases I can get on track again. Although I'm not 100% convinced of the result, I am comfortable enough to post it as this week's contribution.

A year of Sketching!!!

One year ago today I dedicated myself to waking up one hour before work to draw in my sketch book. This was quite a feat for me because I was giving up an extra hour of sleep in order to reintroduce myself and sharpen my skills in drawing. Anybody who knows me knows how I love to sleep, so this really was going to be a challenge.

I actually started getting back into drawing in 2008 when I realized something had been missing in my life (The reason for this revelation is a bit lengthy to explain here, but I will say that my job displacement where I work had a lot to do with this). There is no way to explain the way I felt the moment I put pencil to paper and realized I was sketching once again. It was as if for the first time I truly knew that drawing was a part of me. The sketch I did that day was really nothing at all. People would be perplexed as to why the barely recognizable sketch would make me so happy, but it wasn't the end result of the sketch that I was happy about, it was the act of doing the sketch itself that made me happy, I would almost say euphoric.  I dedicated myself to sketching every morning while on break for about 20 minutes. I was consistently drawing on my breaks for the first year and a half, but in January 2010 I started to wane. By September of that same year, I was barely doing any kind of sketching and drawing. I could come up with several excuses for this, but for whatever reason it was a blip, and one that I really do not want to repeat.

There is explanation as to why it was last August that I made the commitment to sketching for at least one hour each morning. Again, it would take up more time and space, and I don't think it is necessary to explain it here right now. So with that, I would like to say Happy Anniversary to me, and to celebrate this achievement, here is my first two pieces I did back a year ago. The top sketch was done on August 15th and the bottom one was done the next morning on August 16th 2011.

A Quick Sketch of Someone Very Close to my Heart

I may be at risk for posting this sketch of my wife. Caricatures can be tricky at times as you are exaggerating on ones features, and maybe the features being exaggerated on are not the ones that the person being caricatured likes to have exposed. I love my wife's facial features. She looks as beautiful today as she did when I first met her. So if it does not meet her approval, I will apologise for my less than perfect attempt to caricature the one that still holds my heart prisoner after all these years.

Muscle Bound

Here we are in August already. This month marks my first full year back into sketching daily. Next week I'll post the first couple of drawings I did last year when I decided that I would commit one hour each morning to this endeavour.

In the meantime here is another study sketch of a grotesquely huge body builder.