Chili and Two Sketches

"Chili and Egg over Rice" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/60 sec, ISO500
“Chili and Egg over Rice” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Well, the weekend is coming to a close, but I had a nice one. Today I sold a lens that we don’t use and recouped a nice bit of money. Besides the extra cash, it’s a good feeling to clear a bit of clutter. Last week I sold a bunch of books, and while I didn’t get much money for those, it was nice to clean up the bookshelves here.

After selling the lens, I made a huge pot of chili. The photo above is an example of our preferred way of eating it. It’s chili, over rice, with a fried egg on top. I also added Serrano peppers because I like it spicy. I wonder if other Asian families have rice with non-Asian foods. I’m guessing yes. We actually call this dish “chili-gohan”, because gohan in Japanese means rice (or more generally food or meal). I actually bought hot dogs and buns for chili-dogs, but Bay said he would rather have chili-gohan, so that’s what we ended up having. 😀

This weekend I also did a few sketches, two of which are below. The first is a quick one (maybe 30 minutes) to see how quickly I could do a decent sketch with minimal guidelines. I just drew a circle and centerline, then a couple horizontal lines freehand before filling in the rest. I think the eyes are a little uneven, the nose and mouth are a tad small, but I am still pleased with it.

"2017.10.07 Evening Sketch" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
“2017.10.07 Evening Sketch” Cedar Park, 2017

The second sketch is from an angle, and I spent about an hour on it mainly working on the eye shape, angle, and size. Then the outline of the profile, nose, and mouth. Lastly, I outlined the hair, but I’m not so happy with that part. All the short hairstyles I draw look pretty goofy. It kind of looks like a helmet you might see in Star Wars. I realize that hair is something I need to work on in the future, but now is not the time so I just left it as is. Also, the eyebrow on the right side of the sketch is perhaps too high and thin. Despite these criticisms, I am happy with it, and the experience I gained drawing the eyes will certainly help my sketches in the future. 

"2017.10.08 Sketch" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
“2017.10.08 Sketch” Cedar Park, 2017

To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.

I hope you had a nice Sunday!

おやすみ

Saturday Shower

"Baby Shower" Austin, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec, ISO200
“Baby Shower” Austin, 2017

My nephew and his wife had a baby shower today in the park. It was a nice luncheon with a wonderful autumn theme. Good times! I remember when we had Bay’s baby shower, which seems like so long ago… Time marches on, doesn’t it?

"Pumpkin Gifts" Austin, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/200 sec, ISO200
“Pumpkin Gifts” Austin, 2017

Sandwich and a Sketch

"Laptop Heat" Austin, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/105 sec, ISO200
“Laptop Heat” Austin, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going? We made it through the week! 👏

Today’s photo is of my wrapped up sandwich. I don’t like to eat cold sandwiches, so I took it out from the office fridge and leaned it up against my laptop, where the fan blows hot air. In a few minutes (and one turn over) the sandwich is at a nice temperature. It kind of reminds me of cooking food on a car’s engine… but a lot less extreme.

This evening I worked on another portrait, but this time a 3/4 view. I was looking at a reference drawing from an amazing artist, Asia Ladowska, to work on the hair and the pose. I have a lot of trouble getting the eyes to match up, so after I got it close on paper, I took the sketch into Photoshop and adjusted the size and positioning of both eyes. The result is below, and you can see the original sketch at the bottom of this post.

"Adjusted Reference" Cedar Park, 2017
“Adjusted Reference” Cedar Park, 2017

I blogged a bit before about the “mannequin” look that my sketches often take, and you can see that in the original drawing below. With the adjustments in Photoshop, the portrait above is much more “manga” style, which I really like. It’s still not where I want it to be, but it’s progress.

I try to keep the phrase, “A line drawn is never wasted” in my mind, especially when the results are not going the way I would like them to.

"Original Reference" Cedar Park, 2017
“Original Reference” Cedar Park, 2017

To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.

I hope you had a nice Friday!

おやすみ

Salmon and a Sketch

"Salmon Dinner" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/20 sec, ISO800
“Salmon Dinner” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

It seems I have a recurring theme going on my blog: a food photo and a sketch photo. 😀

I think the salmon dinner photo is self-explanatory. Yummy of course, and healthy too. Or maybe all that butter it was cooked in isn’t the healthiest, but it was sure tasty!

And tonight’s sketch is something new in that I tried a little bit of shading. It was fun, and I think I’ll do some more. Maybe less line-work and more shading? And I need to figure out hair. 😜

"2017.10.04 Sketch" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/60 sec, ISO640
“2017.10.04 Sketch” Cedar Park, 2017

To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.

I hope you had a great day!

またね~