Let's hear it for cigarettes

[venta]

So... this year I'm supposed to be acquiring approximately one new skill per month.

February has been the month for drawing. Ably aided and abetted by bateleur (in his secret art-teacher alter-ego) I have been propelled through basic exercises, and made to draw (variously) tankards, trains, beach huts and a little old granny digging the garden.

Drawing is, it turns out, very hard. And takes a very long time. And I can only do it if I have Bateleur leaning over my shoulder saying "No! Don't put that line there!" However, I've learned quite a lot about what sort of pictures I might like to - and be able to - draw, if only I can manage to be sufficiently patient and practise. And about how to go about executing them.

The stated goal for drawing was "produce a recognisable drawing which I need not be ashamed to display in public!"

Bateleur's final task for me was to draw a cover for an album. As I headed off to bed one evening I had a nice idea for a cover, but wasn't really sure what album to tie it to.

Leaving my bedroom the following morning, the shelf at eye-height contained the obvious album for my idea. And, in my defence, the existing cover-art for the CD is pretty awful.)



(Disclaimers for pedants: yes, the faces are based on a real photo of the band but the only decent photo of them we could find online was about ten years later, and with a different drummer.)

Many, many thanks to Bateleur for his time, patience, advice and ability to know where lines ought to go. And to lathany for yummy pasta, general hospitality and letting me borrow Bateleur :)

March is now underway, in both senses.

Comments

[taimatsu]

Yay! I like it very much :)

[al-fruitbat.livejournal.com]

Drawing only starts out feeling hard.

If you do it enough, eventually you can't stop drawing - you feel a compulsion to draw.

(There is no wrong way to draw things - that's one of the most important lessons to learn)

[mrlloyd.livejournal.com]

'tis good

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! Popes!

Thanks for letting me pretend to be a teacher, it was fun!

[lathany.livejournal.com]

I think that looks great - I've been wanting to see the finished article ever since that lesson!

[venta.livejournal.com]

I was surprised to find that the hardest part is actually starting. Not the getting paper and pencil and sitting down, but making the first few lines.

I guess my theory of writing (everything from CVs to stories) holds for drawing - once you've got something, however bad, it's easy to edit it and make it better. But getting something is the hard part.

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

That looks great! I particularly like the face on the left; you've managed to convey all the features and a slightly wistful expression with only a few marks.
(I can't draw anything except Mr. Men, so I'm probably not the best to comment!)

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhh yes, that is definitely the hardest part.

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

[applause]

Embarrassingly, that's probably better than anything I produced for my Art A-level. [grin]

[ebee.livejournal.com]

Would it be weird if i said i can deeply see you in this picture? its totally your style..even though I never kne what that was..