Hey everyone, it's time again for a new post!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get my hands on any marker refills today, which means I've got to purchase them online. Since I don't have the materials I'd like to use for my post this evening, and it's not recommended to complete those exercises digitally, I have something different for you tonight. Take a look!

I decided to try using what I've learned about rendering forms to create a simple still-life from my imagination, this was the result. While it's not anything worth hanging in a museum, I think it's alright. I think the apple in the center appears as if it's floating a bit, and the slices on the left seem to be oriented in relation to nothing else in the image, but the apple cut in half on the right is pretty nice. The colors used are pleasant enough, and I did finish it rather quickly, whether that was a good or a bad thing I'm not so sure! I'm happy that I was able to post something tonight, and though I mostly had slightly negative comments to make about this piece, I'm pretty proud I completed it.

Well that's all for this evening, I'll be posting some more digital work like this in the coming days so check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new post!

Here's my third plant study, check it out!

I think this turned out alright. I'm happy with the main drawing, but I feel like my notes are a little lackluster. I feel like the quality suffered a bit too because my markers are running out of ink, gotta see if I can find some refills before I do tomorrow's post. I had a pretty easy time of figuring this plant out because it's almost like the child of the two plants from my last posts. It's got a thick base, much like the flowery part of the corpse flower, and it's got petals like a sunflower!

That's all for tonight, hopefully I'll have some freshly refilled markers by tomorrow, if not I'll have some kind of filler post up here, haha! Check back to see how it goes.

Hey everyone, it's time for a new post!

Tonight's my second plant study, let's see how it turned out.

I think this turned out great! I decided to add a couple more focal points this time around, that way you'd be able to appreciate how neat all of the different parts of it look. While I didn't get too
 much analysis of the forms that make up the plant on paper, I did jot down some cool facts about it. As far as its structure goes, it's really pretty simple. Drawing this way has been really eye opening for me, it's much easier to look at something now and break it down into easily digestible parts. This plant is really just a small thin cylinder (the stem) with an extruded circle cut in half along its middle (the petal-looking portion) and a long cylinder with a rounded cone on top. The detail on top all of that wasn't really too much effort because I'm not relying on it to describe the forms, it's only there to enhance their realism.

Well, that's all for this update. Check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new update!

For the last few nights I've filled a page with a few "wireframe" sketches of plants and trees and tonight I'll be doing a full page study of one of those plants. If you guessed that this will be my next mini theme for the time being then you're right, let's get started!

I thought I'd start with a sunflower this evening, and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. There's only a small fraction of the flower completely rendered so that the underlying form can still be seen, I think my favorite part is probably the fuzz on the stem, it was pretty fun to draw and it looks really neat, the leaf came out looking good too.

I also took some notes about what I observed, and added some bonus sketches of the flower before it blooms, and what it looks like when it starts blooming. I actually had a little bit of trouble figuring out the petals until I looked up images of the flower bud, that really cleared it up for me.They were sort of hard to draw in the beginning because I didn't know where they were actually coming from, haha!

That's all for this post, look forward to more detailed studies in the coming days, don't forget to check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new post!

Here are some more "wireframe" plant sketches.

I think these are okay, I'm not super thrilled about them though, especially not the orchid on the right. Part of the reason I had some problems with that particular flower is because I couldn't find any images of it showing it from multiple angles, so I just kinda had to guess at it's construction. This is why I really wanted to take my own reference photos, unfortunately that didn't get to happen. The daisy in the middle and the sunflower on the left are a bit better, but I'm still struggling a little bit with drawing almost flat surfaces pointing directly at the viewer. Guess I gotta practice a bit more. I think I might reattempt these tomorrow after doing a few more studies to see how they turn out.

Well, that's all for today! Check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for another update!

Here are my "wireframe" plant sketches for tonight.

These turned out pretty big, so I could only fit three on the page, haha! I'm really happy with the way these look, I do have one minor nitpick though. There's one leaf that's sticking straight out on the plant on the right, and it just doesn't look quite right. That's sort of a perspective issue, it's still something I've got to work on though.

That's all for tonight. Check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new update!

Last night I mentioned that I wasn't super happy with the corpse flower and the welwitschia I drew, so tonight I decided to give them another go. Let's see how they turned out!

These turned out much better, I'm really glad I redrew them. I made sure to take a few moments to think about the shapes that make up these plants, instead of simply trying to replicate what I saw in the reference images, and it really paid off! 

That's all for tonight, check back tomorrow for some new sketches!

Hey everyone! It's time for a new post.

I'm finally back on track today, sorry it took me so long, that detour was pretty fun though! This is technically the start of a new macro theme, but since all of these exercises are connected I'll just be starting it now as opposed to waiting until next month.

Since I've worked with lines, planes, ellipses, and three dimensional organic forms, it's time to draw something that involves all of those things - plants!

For the next few days I'll be drawing a "wireframe" of sorts which would be what I'll later be detailing on top of. The focus here is to pay close attention to the underlying forms and stay true to the shapes of the plants I'm drawing, let's see how I did!

I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. I think the only ones that really could use some improvement are the corpse flower in the top right, and the welwitschia below it. That's mostly because I wanted to draw what my eye saw, and I didn't give my brain time to understand. I think I might give those two another go tomorrow to see if I can improve them a bit. I've noticed I have trouble with forms that don't have a lot of thickness, I saw that when I was drawing those arrows awhile back. Now it seems that deficiency has come back to bite me in the ass, haha! I'll probably end up doing some more arrow practice to see if that'll help.

That's all for tonight, check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for another new post!

I mentioned previously that I wanted to take some reference photos this weekend so that I could continue on with the exercises I've been doing, for a myriad of reasons (laziness) that did not happen today. I did whip up another neat little sketch though, so why don't we take a look at that?

I'm really happy with the way this turned out, it's giving me a really cool science-fantasy vibe and I am all about that! The first thing I drew was the large organic building (didn't know it was going to be a building at the time) in the center. Then I decided a little height would be a nice addition to the composition, so I added the little towers throughout. I tried to showcase the curvature of their surfaces of course, and I also tried to orient some of the smaller buildings around the round organic shape in the center. I think it turned out really nicely, and I definitely think this is a cool piece I'd like to work more on digitally sometime in the near future.

That's all for tonight! Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get off my duff and do what I need to do. Keep your fingers crossed for me, haha! Check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new post!

Here's what I've got for you today.

Today I decided to try another landscape, and I'm really glad I did. I wasn't sure at first if I would be able to pull off what I wanted to do, but I think I created something really cool and learned a lot in the process. Since my last few posts were all about roundness, I thought this posted needed something angular, so that's why you'll find some cubes grouped together in the foreground and middle-ground. I wanted them to look a little organic, so they're not aligned perfectly with each other, which was a little tougher than I expected at first. After thinking for a moment about the exercises I did with free perspective though, I knew exactly what I needed to do! 

The other major accomplishment in this piece is that arch in the background, it's actually what I'm most proud of in the image. I originally didn't like what I drew, it was extending from the left of the image and just sort of stretching out off to the right of the page. I decided I needed to ground it, so I changed its direction and anchored it to the right side, but I was left with all of the lines there from when it was coming straight off the page. I added in the black marker that became the foliage in the background and it really completed the image. It was a total Bob Ross "happy accident," haha!

That's all for today, check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for another update!

Here's what I've got for you tonight.

I thought I'd mix it up tonight and post a landscape, so I did! This one was pretty fun, I started by sketching the pillars on either side of the drawing, then I decided to incorporate some round flat rocks below them. I tried to make sure the curvature around the pillars made sense, and I also added the large structure in the background for a little visual interest.

That's all for tonight, check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for another post!

Check out what I've got for you tonight!

I drew this with the thought of wanting to portray a figure reclining in some way, and then I had to take it into some kind of strange direction because that's just how my brain works. I'd definitely like to try and do a finished image based on this sketch, so maybe that'll be something I'll post at a later date. Anyway, on to how this relates to what I've been doing! I tried to really express the contours of the form by wrapping my lines around the arms and legs, making sure that they followed the curvature of the surfaces very closely. I also tried to describe the form of the rock formation the figure is perched on in a similar way. I'm really happy with the way this piece turned out from both a technical and emotional standpoint. I feel like there's a really cool story here I'd like to explore, but that's for another time!

That's all for this post, stop by tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new post!

The next few pieces I'll be uploading will be an interlude of sorts. The task I have ahead of me now is to work from references and do some studies of plants. Though I could find plenty of reference online, I think it would be much more fun to go out and shoot my own. Since I won't have an opportunity to do this until the weekend, I'll be posting a few sketches here instead. They won't directly be related to what I've been doing, but I'm gonna try to point out what differences I see in my work since I've started all of these exercises. Now that I got that out of the way, here's what I've got for you this evening!

This started out as a quick scribble, as most of the things I draw do, and I think it turned into something pretty cool. My goal was to use contour lines, like the ones I've been drawing this month, to really show the curvature of the forms in the image. I feel like I was pretty successful in that. Everything's got a  nice bit of depth too it, which is thanks in no small part to the shading I did with marker, but in a very subtle way those lines curving around the forms really push that idea of this being a three dimensional figure.

That's all for this post, don't forget to check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for another update!

Here's the last of my form exercises!

I wanted to play with combining shapes a little bit more, so I thought it might be fun to make a couple quick little doodles to showcase what I learned. I really feel like this helped me to get comfortable with the material, so that when it comes to creating more complex things, like vehicles and buildings, I already know a bit about what I'm in for.

Well that's all for tonight, check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new post!

Here is today's form intersection exercise.

I'm much happier with these than I was with yesterday's post. I feel like I finally had that "ah-ha!" moment I was looking for. There are a whole lot more forms in this drawing than in any of the others, and I think they're all interacting in really interesting ways. I'll be concluding this series of exercises tomorrow, 'cause I want to try out a couple more things before I move on.

Check back for my next update soon! 

Hey everyone, it's time for another new post!

Here's today's form intersection exercise.

I honestly don't know how I feel about this one, and I think that's not such a great thing. I feel like I'm getting the hang of how the rectangular prisms fit together, but when it comes to how things interact with spheres I seem to struggle. I think I'm gonna try to play around in some three dimensional modeling software to observe how these forms interact with each other, because I really want to understand, not just guess.

Well, that's all for tonight. I know I mentioned I'd be doing only four of these, but I don't really feel to comfortable with moving on from this subject until I understand it better, so you might see a few more of these! Check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time again for a new post!

Here's my latest form intersection exercise!

This one turned out alright, I think my favorite part of the image is the bottom portion. I really worked to interlock those rectangular prisms in a convincing way, and I think I did a good job of that. The rest of it's okay, but I feel like I lost the plot a little bit towards the top, and I think it shows. 

That'll be all for tonight, check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new post!

I realized after reviewing the description for this exercise, that I had actually been going about it the wrong way, whoops! In the last two drawings I first sketched everything out in pencil, which I then inked on top of, and that was apparently a no-no. That means today's update will have been drawn in ink right from the start, let's see how it turned out!

I'm pretty happy with the result, it's not exceptionally beautiful or anything which is okay because I've learned that's really not the point. This is an exercise designed to make me think about how these objects interact with each other, and to create objects that look three dimensional. I think I achieved that here.

That's all for tonight, check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for another post!

Here's the second drawing in my four part mini theme of form intersections!

I think this one turned out pretty nicely, I really like the how most of the shapes are connected. Of course this is just an exercise, but I wanted it to be a bit visually appealing too, and I feel I was successful in that. I think my only stumbling points were in the top and mid left. I really wish the sphere that's conjoined to that cone was connected back to the rectangular prism below it, and almost directly below that there's a circle that's just kind of sitting on top of the cylinder where that rectangular prism is meeting it. I'll admit that I kinda tossed it on top there 'cause I didn't know what to do, haha!

That's all for today, check back tomorrow for something new! 

Hey everyone, it's time for a new post!

Tonight I've got another new mini theme for you, check it out!

Alright, so this mini theme's pretty simple conceptually, but it's a little tedious to execute. The next four posts, and I'm typing the exact number because I'm trying to keep myself from weaseling out of them, will be all about form intersections. Form intersections are as straightforward as they sound, it's just combining three dimensional shapes with each other, and making sure that they intersect at some point. As much as this was a pain to do, it's a really beneficial exercise because it makes you think about how objects interact with each other, and the interaction between forms is integral to communicating the information you're trying to convey to the viewer. If objects don't have the proper relationship in space to each other, or if they don't fit together in a way that makes sense, anyone would be able to see that something would be "off" with that piece of art. While I sort of dread continuing to draw these shapes in this way because of how tiresome it is, I'm happy thanks to the fact that I know this will benefit me in the end.

Check back tomorrow for more!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new post!

Here's the last of my dissection mini theme!

I'm really proud of these here, I think they turned out absolutely fantastic! My favorite exterior is probably the spotted leaf (on the bottom left), and my favorite interior is definitely the honeycomb in the center. I think I'm most proud of that part of the image because it wasn't something that came out perfect right away, there were quite a few attempts made in pencil to get that piece right. These exercises in the last two days showed me something that I already know, I'm pretty good at rendering things, but more importantly it showed me how to apply that skill of rendering to specific forms. I'm excited every time I sit down to work on these tasks because I'm learning something every day about something I love: making art.

That's all for today, check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new post!

Tonight marks the start of yet another mini theme, take a look!

So this mini theme is focused on dissection, I took apart the three dimensional forms I created and gave them an interior to match or contrast their exterior. This was a whole lot of fun, it was a chance to render a bit more than I have in past posts, and I'm always happy to detail things! The forms themselves aren't all that crazy in shape, but I tried to really focus on wrapping what was outside around them, and putting whatever was inside them in correct perspective. I'm really happy with the results.

Tomorrow will be a new day and with that a new post, don't forget to check back then!

Hey everyone, it's time for another update!

Here are the last of my curved form exercises.

Only the one on the left is transparent, but I felt like going in a bit of a different direction after I drew that one because I felt like I had a little epiphany. I tried to pay special attention to the diameter of the ellipsis this time around. After drawing all of them in that first form on the left and noticing how round it looked thanks to how round those ellipsis were I tried to apply the same thing to the four other forms I drew. I think I was pretty successful because they all look a lot more three dimensional than the forms I drew at the beginning. The shading is something I'm still working on, and it's kind of an added extra I'm experimenting with while also working on these forms, but I'm reasonably happy with it.

Well that's all for today, check back tomorrow for something new! 

Hey everyone, it's time for another update!

Last night I mentioned that I thought it'd be cool to do a version of my past two posts that was transparent, well here it is!

They turned out pretty cool looking, and they also really made me think about how the ellipsis describe the overall shape of the forms. I don't know that I nailed the light and shadow, but that's something that I'm not too worried about right now, I just kinda threw it in there to try it - and to see if I could make it work. That's the great thing about practicing, if something doesn't work (and you don't throw it away), then you really can learn from it!

I'm gonna try my hand at another one of these tomorrow, so check back then to see how it turns out!

Hey everyone, it's time for another update!

Here's my latest study!

I'm really happy with these. I think it's really easy to imagine these objects taking up space in three dimensions, and that's what this is all about! I think I'm gonna do a couple more of these though, because I think it would be neat to showcase these forms in a transparent state, that way those surface curves can be seen all the way around!

Well that's all for tonight, check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new update!

Today marks the start of a new mini theme, take a look!

So these may resemble hands of ginger, but they're not, at least not intentionally that is! This exercise was something I did to test my ability to render a convincing three dimensional curved shape. The contour lines on the forms serve to describe the curvature of those forms, and I think they do so pretty nicely because I feel like these drawings were really successful! I added the white highlight to make the shapes pop out a little bit more and I'm really happy with the results.

That's all for tonight, check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for another update!

Here's my ribbon exercise for today.

Alright, so I don't know if it was thanks to the addition of the marker alone, but I think this is the best of the bunch! I tried to really push the sense of depth a bit by making one end of the ribbons a bit smaller, or making one bend appear to be farther away, and I think it worked. I also happened to get a set of five neutral grey Copic markers recently and needed a good excuse to test them out, and I think that helped a bit too!

Well that's all for tonight, check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for another update!

Here's my ribbon exercise for today.

I think these look a lot better, I feel like I managed to capture more natural movement this time around. Everything else (aside from my post yesterday) felt a little stiff looking to me. I'm not sure if I'll be doing a couple more of these or moving on to something new, but I really want to feel like I've got this down pat before I move on to a different topic.

Tomorrow might be more of the same, or something new! Check back to find out what it'll be!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new post!

Here are the ribbons I drew today, I think they're looking pretty good!

I tried to loosen up a bit more and draw more quickly, I think this lead to the lines feeling a lot more fluid, which is definitely good when drawing something like a ribbon! I still think there's something about them that feels a little flat, so I guess I'll just have to keep working at it.

That's all for tonight, check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new update!

I've got some more ribbons here today, let's see how they turned out!

I think these look a bit better than yesterday's, there's a little more life in them, they don't look so flat. I'll admit that they're not quite as lively as I'd like them to be, but I think that just shows I've got a little more work to do here.

That's all for tonight, check back tomorrow for something new!

Hey everyone, it's time for a new month - and that means a new theme!

I'm still working on the basics, but these are fundamental skills that I'll continue to build upon to get me where I want to be. The mini theme for the next few days will revolve around contour lines (no Kardashians will be harmed in the making of these exercises), lots of swoops and swooshes! Let's get down to it.

So what I've done here, aside from remind myself that ribbon dancing is a thing that exists, is to duplicate a curved line I drew as accurately as possible. Once that second curved line was drawn near the first, I connected those lines with an arrowhead at one end, and a nifty little notched edge at the other. After that was said and done I decided to get a little creative and some white to the top edge of the ribbons, that was mostly because I decided to buy a grey sketchpad, and also because I found this really cool white marker.

As far as the result of this exercise goes, I think these look alright. The lines are still a little static, and they don't curve as much as I'd like them to, so that's definitely something I'll be working on.

Well, that's all for tonight, check back tomorrow for something new!