Day 8: Library (and first day with pencil!)

Finally cracked out the pencil (no eraser yet though).  I was kind of frustrated with the line quality though.  At first I thought it was the way I was holding my sketchbook, then I realized that the source of my dissatisfaction may have been because I was  holding my pencil like how I'd write with it, when I could be more expressive holding it on its side.  The last 3 images are a result of doing that.

Anyway, the library trip gave me a good opportunity to go to the children's section and watch and draw little kids in the play area, to try to get a better sense of their balance and anatomy.  (Nobody minded- not being male and creepy-looking has its advantages.)

Homework: States of Action

Here are 3 different actions I decided to study:  Leaping ballerina, leaping skateboarder, and wrestling takedown.  I studied YouTube for the first two, though I made up a couple poses that were left out of the beginning and end.  The wrestling one was adapted from "the Human Figure in Motion" book.

Day 7: Free day (Bus Stop and Library)

I went to the bus stop, and found out it's a good place to draw professional-looking business people, as I was there around the 4-6 time.  I used the brush pen for all of this, trying to make more dynamic and stylized drawing.  It later started to get too rainy, so I finished up drawing people at the Metropolitan library.

Warmup.

This was fun.  I enjoyed "pushing it " a little.

 

I enjoyed these too.

The guy on the lower left is the first I attempted to stylize more.  I was trying to capture his mannerisms.

Lots of messenger bags.  Apparently briefcases are "out".

 

Guy sitting in library. 

Librarian

Day 6: Columbus State, North Market, and class

So we went down to Columbus State Community College to draw students hanging out at the first day of the semester.  I had to leave early though, so I made up for the lost time by providing some drawings done at North Market.

The head drawing below was a professor walking by, wondering what I was doing.  He jokingly asked me to draw him, so I asked him to stand there for a couple minutes.  He actually obliged!

Woman at her laptop in North Market:

People sitting at North market, except the girl below left was drawn in class.

More students at class.

Cup o' Joe cafe sketch

OK, now this is an OFFICIAL cafe sketch, haha!
So, because this was the last day using the ballpoint pen, I decided to do a tighter rendering.  I now wish I hadn't spent so much time getting some of the proportions right, so that I would've been able to get a little more done in the "quantity" department...

I'm considering dropping some value into this in Photoshop, in order to better separate the foreground from the background... but only if you think it needs it.

BalletMet Dance Rehearsal

Last class, we went to the BalletMet to sit in on a dance rehearsal, the class being "modern dance".  It seemed to combine a lot of the moves of ballet, but with a lot more contrast between "graceful" and "aggressive".  The music was kind of modern and dissonant, very interesting.

Anyway, this was definitely tricky, but I'm fairly happy with some of the results.  Most of this was reliant upon memory of pose and knowledge of anatomy.  After all, when the pose disappears in half a second, how else are you supposed to draw?  

I wan't the only one to find this hard.  Most of us in the class are more comfortable with the "look, draw, look, draw, look, draw" approach as opposed to the "look, draaaaaaaaaaaaaaw" one.

Day 3: Grant Hospital

Grant Hospital's a great place to draw people!  I found a couple good spots to do it.  One is outside the emergency room entrance, where all the patients (as well as nurses) go to smoke.  This means I get a chance to draw wheelchairs, crutches, casts, and those long polls that carry fluid that people wheel around with themselves!  The other's the cafeteria.

There are also a good amount of fun characters to draw, such as spirited old people, those who look like they're maybe there from drug rehab or something, and the oddballs you don't always get to see when confined to campus.  (I hope it doesn't seem like I'm insensitively exploiting those in the hospital, I wish them all the best in their recoveries...)

Finally, I would like to note that I spent some extra time there, which accounts for the fact that I got more done this time than other classes.  So please don't set this as the par for me, at least not yet!  0_o

Yeah, this guy's eyes are weird, I was trying to exaggerate and it failed.  I enjoyed drawing the woman.  She reminded me of a large bird sitting on a nest or something because she couldn't fly.

Those 2 guys at the bottom were really funny, especially the guy with the cock-eyed glasses.  He kept looking around all dazed like a mad scientist after an explosion or something.  I hope I succeeded in making just his glasses askew, not his entire face.

Onto the cafeteria!

Darn!  I forgot to draw that guy's feet.  I think they were behind a chair or something and I moved on before coming back...

Anyway, the woman in the upper left was hard to draw, as she was always laughing!  I hope I captured her "laugh potential".

I actually did the basketball player completely from my head, after looking at someone similar to him walk by in the cafeteria.  I'm pretty proud of that, I didn't think I'd be able to make convincing pose/gesture.   I hope that's a sign I'm getting better...

The guy on the right was fun, since he hardly moved.

And the doctor guy on the bottom really did have that weird expression.  He was chewing his food and turning his eyes up to watch TV without actually raising his head.  I'm afraid I made him look like a weird child though, since I tried to make his cheeks "chewing"

These were fun!  I hope go after more spontaneity and elegance like this.

Back outside the waiting room with the smokers.  All 3 of the people were interesting.  I didn't really have time to draw the pregnant woman though.  I saw her stand for a couple seconds then get into a car at the pull-around.  I think my lack of good reference shows in her...

The guy in the upper left looked somehow old, despite his youth and brilliant red hair.  I made up a back-story for him that he was in rehab from heroin.  The guy on the bottom was fun, his stiff gown especially.

Nurse texting during a smoke break.  Probably my worst one, especially where the face is concerned.  If I mess up a facial proportion, I try to correct it with more line, which ends up making it worse usually...

Trip to North Market

2nd sketch day!

We went to North Market to draw.  This was a great place for it, because I could get some neat views from above and have some fun with foreshortening.  It was also an illustrator's heaven because so many people were busy doing things, like cutting meat and making lasagna.  I especially liked bringing some background into these.

First day!

Hi, this is a new blog I'm keeping for Cafe Sketch.  These sketches were all done from life around the CCAD quad on Wednesday, Sept. 1st.  Most of the first ones were done in ballpoint pen, and later a couple in felt tip, with the last being brush pen.

I decided to put them all up, but may take some of the weaker ones down later if I find out I'm 100% not allowed to put all of them up.  I'm just used to kind of "dumping"  a lot at once...  just easier for me I guess.