Currently Browsing: The Drawing Life 200 articles
Judging Your Own Art
It always surprises me which of my art pieces people seem to like the most. But I don’t believe we should be led by this—just interested in the perception. Obviously when you work commercially a client explains what they want. You then either execute that or have convincing reasons for how they really want […]
In Context—Sketching Through Pain
Be sure to note the date—it’s last April! I’m doing just fine today and keeping up with all my physical therapy maintenance exercises. This is a couple sketches of Nic Sampson, an actor on “The Brokenwood Mysteries.” Click on this link to read my recent review of the series. (Hint, I’m a fan.) I […]
Yet Another Wizard
Yes another wizard; this is one of my favorites. I’ve been having tons of fun painting wizards in-between the demands of downsizing. Tired of sorting papers to put into storage? Go sketch a wizard. At the end of this post you can also see the full-page spread where this portrait was sketched. And on […]
More Hair—a Selfie
I’m wrapping up the current hair series with a selfie. My braided hair of course. I don’t do selfies often. I have to stand in the bathroom and juggle pens and palettes. I was frustrated late one night because my foot was in a cast and my vision was particularly frustrating. But there is […]
Snow Pile By Any Means Necessary
The weather is turning warm again, getting back into the 20s (Fahrenheit). I’ve been able to sketch a couple snow piles this winter, but I think it wasn’t until almost the end of December that I got one! Before the weather gets too warm and we want to think only of other things, I thought […]
Testing the Twone Sketchbook with Kraft Cardstock Covers
Do I actively seek out the most obscure commercially bound books containing non-art paper to test? No, it simply seems like that sometimes. I grew up with a small weekly allowance paid after the completion of standard house and family chores. That allowance had to stretch from candy to art materials. Let’s just say I […]
Stubble—I Can’t Help Myself
I just have to maintain a daily diet of sketching stubble. It can be with the Tombow Fudenosuke pen like this sketch, or the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen or the Squeezy brush pens from Pentel, or ANY PEN. I just think stubble is fun to sketch. I suspect it is the 15 years I spent […]
Another Potential Journaling Hiccup: The Perfect Time and Place
Blog readers and students often write to me about their hopes and deferred dreams for their journaling and their art life. They live with the hope that if they can “just get through to retirement,” or “Just get through this current crisis [fill in the blank as to what that is]” that the clouds will […]
The Journal as Workbook
Below is a video which explains my view of the journal, and how I use my journal in my daily practice. Students in my “Drawing Practice: Drawing Live Subjects in Public” class asked me to share it publicly when I shut down my on-line teaching platform at the end of last year. They wanted to […]
Journal Practice Hiccups?
I always tell people any day is a great day to start a journal practice. Start. But I know that many people think it important to have a milestone day like the first of the year for a starting point. If it gets them to start then I’m all for that. As a new […]