Sketches · Urban Sketches

Dancing Santas

The day after Christmas, my family and I went to NYC to watch the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. The Rockettes are great and all, but I was completely mesmerized by the dancing Santas. I loved how hefty yet agile they were with their little boots and round bellies.

While we were watching, I whipped out my Galaxy Note 5 and did some quick gestures during their dance number with the Action Memo app + my stylus. (We were allowed to use our phones in the theater as long as there wasn’t flash.)

They’re pretty crude, but it was enough to flesh out later when I returned to WA. I pulled out my phone again to look at those gestures and with some quick photo reference of the clothing, I was able to make the final sketch with watercolor. The poses with the red arrows are the ones I used for that sketch.

I continue to be amazed by the Note 5. I love that I can take visual notes/gestures and use those to further explore an idea or use later for a character without feeling obligated to make it look true-to-life. I’m learning that it’s more important to capture what you want of the pose, whatever you find appealing to you, as opposed to being 100% accurate. It took me so long to understand this concept of extrapolation from the Schoolism gesture drawing class I took awhile back, but it’s finally starting to click.

Inktober · Sketches

Inktober 2016: Day 31

#Inktober2016 Day 31: Happy Halloween! It’s the last day of Inktober and just wanted to say, “Thanks!” for following along. A couple things I learned this time ‘round:

1. Before Copic markers, I wasn’t a fan of markers. I used Prismacolors which ran out too quickly and didn’t blend well. For the longest time, I avoided Copics because they were so pricey. (Daniel Smith Art Supplies has the best prices at $5.88/ea.) Now I understand that sometimes the pricepoint is worth it. They blend incredibly well, have a very flexible brush nib side, and are refillable. A refill ($8/ea) lasts about 8-10 markers worth which makes up for the upfront costs of buying the markers. They were a serious game changer for me and helped me experiment more with color in a quick and loose way.

2. Having an Inktober buddy makes Inktober VERY achievable. My co-worker and I brought our sketchbooks to lunch and spent our lunch break every day drawing. Like having a workout buddy, it encourages accountability. Also, being forced to draw during a fixed time puts me under the gun to quickly come up with a subject and finish within that hour. It stops me from overthinking and over rendering a drawing, plus, it frees up my time after work!

It’s all about getting your drawings done, not perfect, with a medium that is pretty unforgiving. It forces you to make mistakes and be OK with them. It’s also about helping you establish good habits in your art making. My favorite part is seeing everyone do it! 😀 It’s really neat to see how people interpret Inktober and what they choose to draw.

Again, thanks for following and sharing your own drawings! Looking forward to what everyone draws next!