All posts by christopher

Gestures, by necessity

Figure drawing right after work: my head and hands were all about programming. I thought I’d try drawing exclusively with my left hand, since it seems to break me out of the abstract, know-it-all mode. It felt right–pun not intended. As for the drawings…

Figure drawing with water soluble graphite

I hadn’t planned to go to this figure drawing session after work, so I on my way there I stopped by the Blue Rooster in Los Feliz. I saw these on the counter and wanted to try sketching with them.

It was interesting, and I’ll definitely use it again, maybe with a larger brush, though. I started by loading the brush directly from the stick, but found I could get more consitently dark wash if I rubbed the graphite on paper first, and used it as a palette.

“Tools” drawing game

I wanted to draw something last night, and had no ideas. I thought, what if I had a limited set of tools, what could I build? With a shovel, a saw, and some tubing, apparently I can build a Hobbit home. No guarantees that it’s up to code.

I’ll try this again with another player, so that I’m not giving myself tools for something I want to draw (who would give me tubing?). I think this might be a good one to play with my dad.

P.S. I watched some Fullmetal Alchemist recently (and for the first time), so a little transmutation circle seemed appropriate.

P.P.S. Maybe it should be called the MacGyver drawing game. That would help players remember to take it to the limit.

watercolor + silhouettes

I did a little watercolor sketch at The Huntington a couple days ago. I should have noted the name of this plant: spiraling spikes bud into leaves and the top flowers. Right outta the Forest of Corruption.

And just now I thought I’d try my hand at developing character silhouettes, a la Kendra Melton. She did 100; for me 5 was a challenge, and already my designs are a little repetitive. The silhouette really helps show which elements are helpful, original, or just getting in the way. I’ll do 100 sometime, maybe with some reference for inspiration.

The laziest drawing is my favorite, the fourth one.