Sketchbook Project 1 and Done

Posted on November 22, 2021 by SusanG

I completed my sketchbook project a few days ago. It started out I was going to participate in Inktober and then it became Drawtober, and then it just became the Sketchbook Project when I decided to fill the sketchbook with a drawing everyday and not to stop at the end of the month.

Wow. What a great project. I am really glad I did it. I had a lot of fun with it, amazingly.

I have a large pastel painting of an octopus planned so I got some practice with this guy

It wasn’t what I expected at all, and that’s without having any setup, guidance or ground rules beyond that I had to draw in the sketchbook every day. I could draw other things too, but they didn’t count towards my daily sketchbook drawing. It had to be in the sketchbook. Even with those few parameters I must admit, at first, I was a little daunted. I wasn’t sure I would be disciplined enough to do it. After all, I was the only person I was accountable to for doing it. After a while, that wasn’t an issue at all.

The hardest part of the whole project was deciding what to draw each day. This was the case from the very beginning. It got a little easier when I started using my book on frogs and the book of Australian birds. But there was still the challenge of deciding which one to draw. When I started thinking of things that might be fun to draw and finding reference photos, that helped. I would find two or three great references to work from, or even two or three different creatures to draw and that would give me a couple of days that I didn’t have to figure out what to draw.

The next biggest challenge was time. I wasn’t starting my drawings in the morning and working on them all day. I was usually starting after dinner, and sometimes even later. They were one of the last things I did for my day. At first, because of what I was drawing, and the fact that I was sitting on my couch while I was drawing, they didn’t take too long. Most took less than and hour. At some point I decided to clean off my art table and adjust it back to an angle and start using that. I think that’s when the draw times crept up from an hour to an hour and a half and even two hours. And I didn’t mind it. I wasn’t rushing through to get it done by a particular time. It took as long as it took. The point was to do the drawing to a reasonable likeness in a relatively short amount of time.

A stag beetle. The underside is really interesting, it’s on my list to draw.

Relatively short is, well, relative. Many of my drawing in the past that have had lots of detail and thorough shading have taken me several hours over several days. So, a couple of hours is relatively short. But I’ve read about people that can do something like I did for this project in a matter of minutes. I hope to get to that point. And this project is a step towards that.

Which brings me to, what did I get out of it? And would I do it again? I’ll answer the last question first. Absolutely. I would do it again. In fact, I’ve started Sketchbook Project 2 which I’ll tell you about in a moment. As to what I got out of it. That might be harder to answer, but I’ll try.

First off, plain, and simple, I got practice and discipline. I got to refresh my drawing skills. While I have created a few pieces in the last couple of years, I have not created near as much art as I have at times in years past. And even then, some of that was not as consistent. Drawing practice is not the same as creating something 3D in the computer. It requires a somewhat different skill and way of seeing things. So, it was good to really exercise those muscles.

Looks like something I’d find in the cantina in Star Wars

I also got a renewed appreciation for my own ability. Just before I started the project, I was looking through some old sketchbooks and was surprised at some of what I found that I had done. All pleasant surprises. It was not like I was looking at all of it and cringing. Rather I was looking at it somewhat surprised that it was my work. And yet it was. There it was in my sketchbook with my signature or initials. I just didn’t remember creating some of it. I had stepped away from drawing on a regular basis for so long that I had forgotten what I could do. I think sometimes we can get lost from the art in us and then we forget what we can do until we are reminded. This project was that reminder for me. And not because the pieces that I have created in the last couple of years weren’t good, more because, once I had working a plan, I was creating good pieces in a short amount of time, every day. It showed or reminded me that I can do that.

And finally, the best thing I got out of it was fun. I had a lot of fun with the creatures I chose to draw. There are a couple that I didn’t get to that I still want to do. Besides birds and frogs, as a challenge to myself I chose some things that I would not have thought I would draw. As example, I don’t like bugs, and yet I saw a really cool spider and decided to draw it. And the Stag Beetle was cool to look at, so it needed to be drawn. I also found, in looking for creatures to draw, that nature, has a sense of humor, and is great inspiration for sci-fi characters, as well as human characters. There is a turtle that reminds me of something out of the cantina scene in Star Wars. That was fun. The screaming Cassowary was amazing to draw. And the Kookaburra made me think of a person I know.

Preview of the next Sketchbook Project

For the very last drawing I was going to draw another frog, but I was struggling with it and decided that since I only had a short amount of time to work on it, I would start over and do something else. I chose to do a preview of the next sketchbook project. So, I did a sketch of a guy making an interesting face.

And that’s the next sketchbook project. I have this great book of facial expressions that I bought for reference several years ago. I decided that I will fill a sketchbook with daily drawings or sketches of various facial expressions from the book. I’ll go into a little more detail and reasoning behind the project in another post because I have some history with drawing faces and there is more to tell. I just wanted to share a little heads-up as to what I had moved on to after finishing the Sketchbook Project 1.

I’m sharing a few more pictures from the sketchbook project for your enjoyment. I’m still working on how and where I want to present all of the pictures, in chronological order but I hope to have that ready soon. I’ve been working on several other things as you might have noted from the Snowball article. Those continue and I’ll have an update on some of that soon as well so stay tuned to this blog for lots more projects and updates.

And a Platypus
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Snowball Down a Hill

Posted on November 16, 2021 by SusanG

It’s not a very big snowball and not a very big hill, the general effect is still the same. Once things get rolling, they start to build. That’s how things have been working out for me for the last month or so. And that means changes, general stuff happening, and the need for some clean up and refining. And yes, a fair amount of that involves art of some form or another.

Frog

Probably the biggest happening, change, etc. is that I finally, after more than, I don’t know how many years, have put up a webpage for the root domain for the blog. Yes. Gnasus.com now has a webpage. Seriously, check it out. The animation at the top of the page is the one I have been meaning to create for quite a long time. I finally learned how to do it which meant that it was time to get a webpage up. Warning, though it works on all formats, it is not yet adapted, or adaptable for mobile, it’s really big. I still need to figure out how to make it dynamic enough to compensate for the different formats. I figure that a webpage, that is a little bit big is still better than no webpage.

I have continued to work on the sketchbook project. I am just a day from completing it. It is my plan to post all the drawings, I just haven’t decided how to go about it, and where to post them. I’ll include another one or two here for your enjoyment. It’s been a fun project and I will be writing another post about it once I’ve completed it.

Lizard

A friend visited my Zazzle store, and even bought some cards. Which is always a cool and exciting thing. That happened to remind me that I want to go in and clean things up some. I have a few cards I am going to unpublish. I may remake the art or make something similar and repost them, but there are a couple of designs I think I am going to retire. I still expect to be adding new card designs. As soon as I get them created.

Provided my snowball keeps rolling, in addition to the cleaning of the Zazzle store, I will also be making some changes to the blog site in the next couple of weeks. And, in the event that snowball really gets moving, I’ll be making some updates to a couple of my other websites. Or perhaps, getting a new card ready. There are so many things I am working on right now, either in my head, digitally, or on paper, and they are all progressing, as opposed to stagnating, so who knows what I’ll be working on, and posting about next.

Hello.
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October Done

Posted on November 7, 2021 by SusanG

October is over and we are into November. If I were sticking with the Inktober/Drawtober thing I’d be done and showing you all the results. As you know, I decided to go further. I’m filling the sketchbook. Though, there was one page that got unintentionally left blank and I wasn’t inclined to go back and fill it in. It would mess up the continuity. With 50 pages to fill, I am still working on my sketchbook project. I’ll share a few more pictures from it in this post.

drawing of a mushroom
Not from the sketchbook, just a fun drawing in Fresco

It has been conference season again. I discussed this last year around this time. This year there has been some over-lapping that I don’t recall from last year. The Zbrush Summit ran into Adobe Max, and that ran into Spark Animation Festival. There might have been others, those are just some I have an interest in.

I didn’t spend much time with the Zbrush Summit this year. I watched some of the first day of presentations and then got caught up in doing chores. I haven’t been using the software as much lately so learning about all the new features and techniques isn’t relevant for me right now. I do keep the software updated and I keep thinking I will get in and get comfortable with it. I’m just not there yet.

pencil drawing of a quokka face
Quokka!

Adobe Max along with the Spark Animation Festival are the two events I was most excited about this year. I thought last year’s Adobe Max was great. I really enjoyed it and got a lot of inspiration out of it. That was equally true this year. This year, instead of just hanging out at the main stage presentations I tried some of the breakout sessions. There were a couple that were super helpful and interesting. Learning about all the different ways you can draw in Illustrator was very helpful. Seeing animation in Fresco was great. It was what finally prompted me to learn how to create a small animation that I have been wanting and needing to make for some years now, though using Illustrator and Photoshop instead of Fresco.

As with last year, I am so very glad that Adobe Max was all online this year. It gave me a chance to attend again, something I would not have been able to do had it all been in person. And I would have missed out on a lot of great information and inspiration. At the point they return to a pay to attend, in person or live Max, I will likely make an effort to attend, I found it that valuable. Yes, even enough to pay to attend. I just need to find out when it is going to be, early enough in the year to put in for time off from the day job.

colored pencil drawing of a frog
Frog

Spark Animation Festival is over, or just about, I struggled to make the time to watch some of the great animations and different presentations. Unlike Adobe Max, where the videos are still available for registered participants after the event, with Spark Animation Festival, access to the videos ends at the end of the festival. Fortunately, though I didn’t manage to watch all the Legends & Landmarks presentations, I was able to watch all of both animation tickets I ordered.

The tickets are groups of animations that fit into particular categories. The tickets I ordered were Mothers of a Medium and Messages of Change. Both were good selections last year, and again this year. Two of my favorite animations were ‘End of the Line’ from Denmark and ‘Mr. & Mrs. Mantis’ from South Africa.

pencil drawing of a screaming cassowary
Cassowary

I really liked the look of ‘Mr. & Mrs. Mantis’, it was very artistic and polished and really had the old detective, noir feel down, even, or maybe because of the limited color pallet. ‘End of the Line’ was probably the shortest animation I saw. It was all of 44 seconds and it was great. It depicts a single use plastic cup factory, and you watch a cup being made. At the end you find it is an exhibit in a museum. As it zooms out you seen a sign saying something to the effect of ‘single use plastic cup factory’ followed by on screen text that says, “Obsolete ideas belong in a museum”. I thought this was the best animation. I loved the way it was done, its succinctness, and its message.  

With that, I will get back to making art to share with the world, working on that animation I’ve been needing to create, as well as, the website it will live on, and I mustn’t forget my daily drawing for the sketchbook. Cheers!

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October Sketchbook Project

Posted on October 30, 2021 by SusanG

For several years I have seen posts for Inktober on Twitter. And each of those years I have thought that that would be cool to do, one year, sometime. This year as October approached, I decided I would participate in Inktober. I was all set to do this, I had pictures for ideas laid out, and chose a sketchbook that was empty to use just for this.  I did my first ink drawing for day one and then, I saw something indicating there was some sort of controversy about Inktober and instead people are doing Drawtober.

I don’t know if there is a formal format for Drawtober. It appears that for Inktober there is a list of prompts for the topic for each day. So, if you are doing Inktober you are supposed to follow that format or plan. As I understand it. I’m not 100% certain because, I haven’t bothered to actually look any of this up. And, again, I’m not sure about Drawtober, either.

Day 10 drawing

What prompted me to decide to try one of these activities? I liked the idea that for every day I would do a drawing, or some might call it a sketch. I liked the idea of a short period of time that I had to be disciplined and draw every day. I felt this would be a good way to exercise my drawing skills. And hopefully, get back into the habit of drawing. For me that is important because when I finish a bigger, or more involved piece, like the Leaf I did recently, I tend to get stuck trying to decide what to work on next and then I don’t do anything. So, to keep me drawing and making art, I am doing my version of Drawtober. For every day this month I have been doing a small drawing of something.

Things started out a little rough and tentative. I didn’t know what to draw. I started with ink because at first, I was doing Inktober. I quickly switched to pencil, my preferred medium when I decided I would do Drawtober. I started out trying to create drawings of things from memory or imagination. A couple of things came out reasonably good. A couple of things didn’t. And then one night I decided I wanted to draw a Puffin but, since I didn’t have a good memory of the details, I pulled up a reference photo. As you might expect, it made a big difference.

Day 13 drawing – the revolutionary Puffin

And even though I had set aside some reference pictures for ideas of things to draw it wasn’t until then that it really occurred to me that I didn’t have to do just sketchy work, or sort of wonky work, or even just stuff from my imagination for this. I could use references and make nicer, and more accurate pieces, even if they were quick and small. The sketchbook I’m using is 5.5 inches by 8.5 inches. Which for me is small. My favorite size sketchbook is 9 inches by 9 inches.  

Once I latched onto the idea of using reference photos, I started looking for more things to draw from. I found a couple of photos in my collection that I felt comfortable using for this project. And then I had to go digging for more pictures. A key to what I draw for this is that I want it to be not too involved or complicated. I want to be able to finish it in one evening, and preferrable within about an hour. So far, I only have one, maybe two that might have taken a little longer than an hour.

I have a couple of books that have turned out to be great reference for this project. One is on frogs. I purchased it a few years ago for something I was going to do, but I don’t remember what that was. The other is a book gifted to me decades ago by my friend in Australia. It is a book on the birds of Australia. As a result, I’ve been drawing a lot of frogs and birds. I’ve gotten better at both. And I’ve gotten better at proportion and placement of details on both. Which seems to be translating to other species. I’ve done a few of the birds and frogs in color. The color can be fun as well as challenging. I’m using colored pencil and while I do get close most of the time, and even good results most of the time, some things I don’t get quite right. It is great practice regardless.

I have included a few of the drawings for your enjoyment.

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The Leaf

Posted on October 5, 2021 by SusanG

Every so often I come across something that strikes me and compels me to create a piece of art from it. It might be a scene, or a picture, or just an idea that I then go looking for reference photos so I can make it. Such was the case with the Leaf.

I took the reference picture last fall. I was out on my balcony, watering plants, when this one leaf on my avocado tree caught my attention. It struck me because of its shape and color, and in the particular sunlight, its veins. So, I took a picture with my phone. I could digress about how cool it is to have such a high-powered digital camera in my pocket, but I’ll leave it at that. It is quite convenient.  

Not long after taking the photo, I started my first attempt at creating the art piece that I was hoping to make from the Leaf photo. I got a little off track with it and went more down the path of creating a realistic setting. Which was irrelevant to what I wanted to create. It had nothing to do with what I saw that made me want to create that piece of art.

Since, it didn’t work out as I had intended in pastel, I made a few attempts in digital. One of which is passable even in its incompleteness. Still not satisfied, I put it aside. But it wouldn’t leave me be. It kept nagging me to create it, to have it tell the story I saw. So, I tried again.

A few weeks ago, I finished a new pastel painting of the Leaf, and now it tells, much better, the story I saw. What I saw, and see, in the Leaf is a lung. Environmentalists with tell you that the Amazon Rainforest are the lungs of the planet. And I understand that on a global scale. But, particularly because of the shape, and the veins, this Leaf made it very apparent that the leaves of the trees, and plants, are the lungs of the planet. How can they not be when the structure of both look so similar. I would still like to create the Leaf digitally, but for now, with the pastel painting created, it has allowed me some time to rest. And figure out how best to tell its story in digital.

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