Currently Browsing: The Drawing Life 204 articles
What’s on RozInterim/Patreon in April?
April 2023 is all about “studies” on my Patreon site: RozInterim. I’ll demonstrate how I work with a pen sketch that’s way off base, and work it up into an opaque watercolor study, while making corrections to shapes, angles, proportions—all those things you need to constantly be thinking of as you work. Besides this demo […]
A Colorful Portrait: I Love Lavender!
Here’s a portrait from 2021 that I haven’t posted. I can’t remember what the blog topic I wanted to address with it was. I look at it now and totally fall in love with the hair and the beard again. I love how it seems to be moving up and around of its own accord. […]
Why Keep Sketching the Same Subject?
A friend of mine once said he couldn’t understand how I could draw the same subject over and over. I do that a lot. Most notably daily drawings for 4 and a half years of my dog Dottie. But my life is full of drawing the same subject over and over. Life drawing models I […]
Synchronicity on the Page
Sometimes I sketch something and write something unrelated in my journal—simply because it’s the same day, and there is some negative space to fill. Stickers get stuck down, when they are available. (Sometimes this “pre-collage” gets drawn over! But not on this day.) Somehow things usually end up going together. I think that synchronicity the […]
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 […]