Swampcat

Tags

Adobe Photoshop, animals, art, Coraline, creatures, drawing, fantasy, pictures, sketch

Girl in Red

Tags

Adobe Photoshop, drawing, fashion illustration, pictures, sketch

A thousand words of apology

Tags

drawing, pencil, portraits, sketch, sketchbook

With profiles, it’s difficult to capture the soul of the sitter. The main reason being that the eyes are the “windows” of the soul – and profiles just don’t show enough of them O_O However, even if I were to try a three-quarter view, my attempt to portray mood through fact would probably still be limited by my current obsession with trying to draw what I see. But I’m determined to get it right…one day ^_^ After all, as Ansel Adams put it:

There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.

Edit: Regarding the title: I’m sorry about not posting for so long, so here’s a picture to show that I’m not dead yet :)

Edit #2: I wrote this post in-between classes. Hence the rambling. I wanted to make a coyly vague observation about the sitter (who has one of the straightest noses I’ve ever seen – What? No, of course I’m not jealous *totallie* ) but ended up writing about myself instead. Narcissism acting up and all that. (I’m blogging. It happens.)

Making a spectacle of myself

Tags

drawing, friends, observations, pencil, pictures, portraits, sketch, sketchbook

I usually find it difficult to draw people who wear glasses. This is because (i) drawing straight lines make me dizzy, and (ii) the glasses usually obscure the eyes, especially when it comes to profiles.

My cheat code? Most of the time, I’ll just wheedle them into taking the glasses off. No glasses = no problem. This method somewhat backfired for me when I drew this portrait. Most profile sketches usually take only half an hour. This sketch took me twice as long. (I’m still not sure why…and I’ll spare you the excuses.)

Despite spending an hour of sketching, erasing, and re-sketching…everyone pointed out that the sketch looked nothing like her. Desperate, I added the glasses. Bingo. Instant recognition.

Oh, well. At least it draws attention to her lovely high cheekbones. (Which was what I wanted to capture anyway ;)

Perhaps my cheat code could do with a little modification…

(1) Confiscate glasses

(2) Sketch profile

(3) Return confiscated glasses

(4) Sketch glasses in (with a little discreet re-angling to ensure that they don’t obscure anything important. Blithely ignore the “draw what you see” mantra.)

(5) Show off. Post on blog (with permission) ^_~

I Believe in Hybrid Vigor

Tags

drawing, friends, pencil, pictures, portraits, sketch, sketchbook

I sketched a friend’s portrait while she was engaged in a serious discussion. Hence her solemn expression ^_^

She happens to be a Chinese-Nyonya mix, like yours truly. When we first met, we hit it off immediately, joking about how everyone expects Nyonyas to be good cooks ;P She’s actually the first Chinese-Nyonya I’ve come across. We’re a rare breed, I guess. *preensaffectedly* ^_~

The Transformative Effect of A Haircut

Tags

art, comparisons, drawing, friends, pencil, pictures, portraits, sketch, sketchbook

My Muse Mnemosyne

Tags

art, drawing, friends, inspiration, pencil, pictures, portraits, sketch, sketchbook

I did this sketch of a friend’s profile at youth camp two months ago. She very graciously gave me permission to post it up. My indulgence in reminiscence lasted long enough for me to upload this sketch…so now I’m just looking forward to the next youth camp ^_^

A/N: I realized that the post title + sketch = confusion. (I didn’t know what Mnemosyne was either before this month ;P) So I’ll just kill the fun by saying it straight out: Mnemosyne is the Greek goddess of memory and mother of the muses. I don’t have a human muse right now, so I’m just relying on my hamster-wheel of a brain -_- *mymemory*

About blogging…

Tags

Adobe Photoshop, art, blog, drawing, me, observations, pictures, sketch, sketchbook

This is my 10th post. Since I like round numbers, I decided that this post should be extra special. So I drew something in my square sketchbook to celebrate (the coloring was done using Adobe Photoshop). Enjoy ^_^