Eyes are Difficult

"Pens & Brushes vs. Kitty" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/75 sec, ISO3200
“Pens & Brushes vs. Kitty” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

This evening I practiced a bit of digital sketching using our Wacom tablet and a free software program called Krita. I have also been using Photoshop to draw, but Krita is more fun for a beginner like me. It’s lightweight, responsive, and the stock drawing tools are really nice! I just started and it’s difficult to create anything that looks decent yet, but it’s still fun.

On paper, I practiced drawing eyes from different angles. I am getting better, I think, but it still takes a lot of erasing to get something that I am happy with. And then if I like one eye, then the other eye has to match. Then add in the proper position of the eyebrows, nose, and mouth and so much can go wrong! 🐷

"Eye Practice" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/75 sec, ISO3200
“Eye Practice” Cedar Park, 2017

Anyways, I enjoy sketching, and I know that even bad drawings are helping to improve my technique. Just gotta keep at it!

The photo at the top of this post is of a little kitty figurine that Mariko and Bay bought for me in Japan. The tail can actually fit over the lip of a glass, but it also stands up nicely.

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 Tuesday.

またね~

Old Notes

"Art History Notes" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
“College Notes” Cedar Park, 2017″Art History Notes” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

So I was going through some old sketchbooks and found a couple that I used during college. Some pages have notes from lectures, others have sketches for painting ideas, and there are a few that combine sketches with notes. I did this a lot in my art history classes, where it made complete sense to do so. Plus it was fun, good practice, and kept me awake! 😆 Speaking of school, I’ve always said that I never want to go back to school, but you know, it might be fun to take some classes again. I really hate doing homework and studying, but the lectures were for the most part interesting.

Also, going through my old notes, I came across some words that were written in the color ink that I really like. It’s a bit of a mystery why I wrote only a couple words using it, but just seeing these was enough to get me to order a few ink samples, including a similar color.

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

These days I write every night in a notebook about what happened during the day (just short lists) and I think I might change the ink color every month or so. Gotta keep things fun, right?

I hope you had a nice Monday (as nice as a Monday could be, at least)!

またね~

JFC Nite and a Watercolor Sketch

"JFC" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
“JFC” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight we enjoyed one of our favorite meals: karaage. Koa loves it and requested this dinner since he hasn’t had a chance to get in his JFC (Japanese Fried Chicken) fix while Mariko was away in Japan. Needless to say, it was delicious!

Today I applied some color to a sketch that I did a couple weeks ago. It’s an alleyway at the Kasbah of the Udayas in Rabat, Morocco. I used a reference photo that I took when we were there last month. It’s a simple scene, and the blue is pretty intense, but if you’ve ever seen it in person, you will agree that the color is amazing. The more I look at this painting, the more the blue wall looks like the sea.

"Kasbah Watercolor" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
“Kasbah Watercolor” Cedar Park, 2017

I’m enjoying sketching and watercolors a lot. Plus my fountain pen interest has settled into a nice groove. Meaning, I am enjoying using my LAMY Safari to write in a daily journal every night, and my Pilot Kakuno is used for general purpose writing, and captioning my watercolors too!

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!

またね~

Practicing Faces

"Face" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/70 sec, ISO3200
“Face” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。

Today I drew a couple faces, based off of some artwork from one of my favorite digital artists, Ilya Kuvshinov. I love the style of his faces, so I used one of his drawings as a reference and tried to draw the eyes, then the rest of the face and hair. It took a lot of drawing and erasing, but I finally drew something that I thought wasn’t too bad.

From the pencil sketch, I traced a couple copies, then inked the top one using a Micron pen and applied watercolor. The other one I just used my Uni-Ball AIR pen. There are a few things I am not happy with, but overall, it’s not a bad first effort.

I am going to try to draw on my own, using some of the techniques I learned from this drawing. We’ll see how it goes! The more I draw, the more I realize I have a long way to go.

"Practice" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/50 sec, ISO3200
“Practice” Cedar Park, 2017

I hope you had a nice day!

またね~

Return of Good Food

"Poke Donburi" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
“Poke Donburi” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。Did you have a good Friday?

With the return of Mariko and Bay, Koa and I will end our “Bachelor summer”, which means we also are ending our Bachelor diets, which are not healthy at all… We’ve been craving the good food that Mariko provides for us, and tonight we enjoyed a simple but delicious poke donburi (rice bowl). 🐟🍚 It was such a treat!

I’m looking forward to miso soup too, especially because Mariko said she brought back some really good miso. I can’t wait. And karaage, and tofu, and vegetables, etc. etc. etc.

And even the ice cream got a nice upgrade when they came back from Japan. Cookie toppings in the shape of pandas! 🐼🍪🍨

"Ice Cream Treat" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1000
“Ice Cream Treat” Cedar Park, 2017

Have a great weekend!

またね~