Charcoal/Graphite/Ink
While in Yosemite, we took an overnight backpacking trip up into Little Yosemite Valley. Half-Dome wasn’t open yet, since it was still snowed in. That was fabulous, as it felt that we had the whole valley to ourselves. Though we didn’t make it up to the top of Half-Dome, we did hike up to the snow line. While there, I sat and enjoyed the view, taking the opportunity to sketch Half-Dome from the north side.
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It seems like every National Park has an “Inspiration Point” somewhere along the trails. And from that point you can see an iconic view.
Yosemite was no different and the view was truly stunning, overlooking Yosemite Valley itself. It was a wonderful place to stop on the way into the valley, enjoy a short hike up to the point itself, and enjoy lunch before capturing the view in a charcoal sketch.
You can see El Cap on the left, Half-Dome in the middle, and Bridal Falls toward the bottom right. What a fabulous experience!
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This flower caught my attention during a day hike and I thought that it would be a great addition to the series of geometric ink drawings. It’s a little bit different, but at least it broke the tree theme.
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Following the Tree of Life drawing, it only seemed to make sense to build a series of geometric nature drawings. While it might be a bit obvious, the first thing that came to mind was an evergreen tree inside a triangle. However, it was still a lot of fun to draw and I’m looking forward to future projects.
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One day while perusing online sketchbooks for inspiration, I found it in a series of “Tree of Life” drawings. I’ve always found myself drawing trees, so this was a natural fit. Years ago, I started drawing these moons with the rays around them. Combining these, with the circle of the moon inside the tree and then the frame was a lot of fun.
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Checking in on friends on facebook, I ran across this picture of Emily. Thought it was fun and decided to draw it. Emily, hope you enjoy! 😀
And here are a couple of in-progress pictures:
First, the sketch in pencil, to help me get proportions correct before laying down ink.
The drawing in-progress – Still have to draw the pizza toppings (mostly different pepper slices) and add some depth to her hair.
Mom asked for a portrait of her new favorite child, her dog Trixie (a puptrait?) While my sister and I have been replaced -le sigh- at least Trixie is cute. Here’s the process from draft to finished sketch.
I started with pencil in order to work out proportions and general placement – especially with all of the strands of hair, trying to make sure ahem every hair is in it’s place.
Then I pulled out my drawing pens and began to go over the sketch, adding more detail as I went.
While most of the lines are done with an 05 Micron, I also used an 08 for really solid areas like eyes and nose and the 03 for finer details such faint shadows.
Getting closer! Just a few more details, now.
And the final step is to go back and erase the sketch guide-lines so that only the ink remains.
Add a signature, write a note to accompany it, and then carefully pack it and send it on for Mom and Gary to enjoy!
My focus while in art school was figurative work, which built on a few years of working as a portrait artist. Here are a few blasts from the past:
The superhero was drawn with chalk on black paper in 2011. Entering it into the 2012 National Arts Program netted me a Best of Show award.
A friend posted this picture as her facebook profile image. I thought it would be great fun to recreate with some charcoal in 2010.
Another facebook profile image, Bethany has really bright blue eyes, and she happened to be wearing a matching dress. Charcoal and pastel in 2010.
My wife modeled while I explored a new take on an old concept. This triptych was painted on canvas with acrylic in 2010.
