Digital Adjustments

Hello! I worked on the drawing that I blogged about the other night. The first photo is the one from last night.

In the second photo, I worked on the eyebrows and mouth a little bit.

The third photo is the final version of the sketch, adjusted digitally to what I think looks good. As is my pattern, the eyes were moved closer together, and the nose and mouth moved up. I also adjusted the position and angle of the eyebrows.

"Eraser Collection" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/100 sec, ISO800
“Eraser Collection” Cedar Park, 2017

Now that it is clearer which adjustments I always seem to make on the computer, maybe I can create the original sketch with those adjustments in mind, and draw the eyes closer together, not put the nose and mouth so low, and also pay more attention to the eyebrows.

We’ll see! It’s like teaching an old dog new tricks I guess. Woof! 🐶

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.

またね~

Erasers

"Eraser Collection" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/100 sec, ISO800
“Eraser Collection” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight’s photo is of the erasers I am currently using as I practice sketching. I have found that I spend a lot of time erasing and re-drawing lines in order to get them closer to what I like. It’s actually really fun to erase and re-draw. I think it’s the instant feedback which is satisfying to me.

I’ve been using the computer and digital cameras for many years now so it is refreshing to use pencil and paper once again. I find myself really getting into how the pencil lead angle gives either a sharp line or dull line, and how different amounts of pressure leave behind grooves on the paper that an eraser cannot remove. It’s fascinating to me to observe all these mundane things. Is it strange that I find it kind of fun too?

The erasers that I use are the plastic-type. To erase large areas, I like the Sakura Arch Foam eraser because it picks up the marks so well. Today Mariko gave me a Pentel Ain Black eraser, and I just used it for a moment but it was fantastic. And then there’s the old Pentel Hi-Polymer which is pretty good, but not as good as the Arch Foam.

I also use the Tombow Mono Zero 2.3 mm eraser to get into tight spots. It’s so convenient to use to clean up thick, jagged lines and also to remove guidelines that are close to the elements I don’t want to erase.

And lastly, I just found a battery-powered eraser that my kids used to use. I’ve only used it to erase parts of the irises to create highlights, like in the photo above. It excels at that task. 😀

So, today’s sketch shows some progress. I sketched it without looking at a reference photo so I am pretty happy with how it turned out. It’s funny, but while sketching I find myself falling back into the style of drawing faces that I am so used to (and have drawn my entire life), but that I dislike. It’s a constant battle to resist that style and technique. It’s not frustrating, however, but just interesting. Like I can step outside my body and observe myself struggling to not get into the same ruts.

Looking at the photo, I want to redo the eyebrows. They are too delicate and timid… not really striking or strong. I mean, they are okay but are kind of boring. Since the kind of drawings I want to do aren’t realistic, but more leaning towards manga style, I should loosen up!

Also, I didn’t spend any time on the mouth except a very basic outline. I guess I haven’t really practiced how to shade them, nor how to shade or depict the nose. But I think that will come in time. Right now I just want to work on proportions and shapes, and not on shading. I spent too much time on the eye details I think.

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 day. Onwards and upwards!

またね~

Yakisoba and Face Study

"Yakisoba Dinner" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
“Yakisoba Dinner” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight Mariko made a huge portion of yakisoba for the family. Our younger son (13) eats a lot these days, but he’s still so skinny. I think he had maybe 4 servings!

We have a really awesome electric hotplate, which has a number of different pans, including a yakiniku grill. It also has a water pan underneath so that things don’t get too messy. But tonight (and two nights ago) we just used the flat pan. It’s so nice to be able to cook right at the table! 😀

After dinner I sketched a bit while we watched the Dodger game. I wasn’t too happy with the previous night’s drawing. It looks really weird and the proportions and spacing are unnatural looking:

"Ugh" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
“Ugh” Cedar Park, 2017

The arrows indicate where things should move… but even after I did that digitally, it still looked wrong. Very stiff. So… I decided to look at the sketches of my favorite digital artist Ilya Kuvshinov to see how it should be done.

"Better" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/100 sec, ISO3200
“Better” Cedar Park, 2017

I used one of his drawings as a reference to figure out the proportions and spacing, and I think I learned a lot. What is surprising to me is that I would have never drawn the face shape like Ilya does. So this is a real eye-opener! It’s so interesting to see where the curves of the cheek change direction. I need to take note of that. The shape I have been using in my sketches looks like a boring almond. But the face that I copied has a much more interesting shape, doesn’t it?

I also used a ruler to keep things level and centered, and also used a circle stencil to draw the irises. I think it makes a huge difference… especially the circles.

Tomorrow I would like to continue with this sketch and later try to replicate it without looking at a reference drawing and see if I can remember the proportions and face shape.

I’m really enjoying sketching, especially faces. It’s so fun! There’s a lot to take note of and remember when I look at drawings that I like. It’s difficult but really interesting and challenging to see the spatial relationships between different elements.

And learning new things makes me feel pretty good. I’m not sure why that is exactly, but I want to keep doing it.

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.

おやすみ

More Editing

"Watercolor Tree" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO200
“Watercolor Tree” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight I did a little bit of editing on these sketches, just like I did a couple nights ago. I am sensing a pattern here… I tend to draw faces too long (my opinion) which means I should take care to pay more attention to that when I am doing my sketches. Of course, I can edit them in Photoshop, but it’s better to get it right when I put it on paper. Sort of like it’s better to get things right in-camera rather than relying on fixing things in post.

Anyways, here are the before and after versions of the sketches.

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!

おやすみなさい

Digital Edit

I scan all of my sketches that I’ve done this past month into my photo library for backup, and while importing this latest image, I decided to do a little editing in Photoshop and see if I could figure out why this portrait (the top image) is a little “off”.

I cut and pasted the nose and mouth, then moved them up a little bit, and I think it made a huge difference! Next, I reduced the width of her left eye a little, and then also changed the chin a touch. It was only a few pixel adjustment here and there but I think it changed the image a lot. Take a look at the before and after:

One last thing I’d like to change is where the neck is positioned. But that will have to wait until tomorrow.

I’m really stoked at the possibilities of using scanned images in Photoshop. So, start off pencil and paper, then bring into Photoshop or Krita for the digital adjustments. I think it might a good workflow for me.

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 wonderful Thursday!

おやすみ