Figure Drawing 5-25-10

Not too many good figure drawings from tonight's session. Here is one with PanPastel.

Bonsai Bench

This is a bonsai bench I built for alongside the house. It measures 4x10. The decking is air-dried white oak that I got for free which I ripped down to 3" widths and spaced 3/4" of an inch. I dug out the sod and picked up 1 ton of washed gravel. This isn't a final display area but instead a place to allow my trees to develop. I hope that this area receives enough direct light. I measured between 5 and 6 hours of morning to early afternoon light. I may have to move some of the sun-hungry trees depending on how they do. I'm still undecided where to place a couple large Amurs which aren't in this area yet.

Heart Implant

This is a followup to Friday's post. This illustration depicts the implant being released and shows a coronal section through the left and right atrium.

Patent Foramen Ovale

Here is a product illustration I just completed. It's a delivery system for an implant in the heart. This implant is basically a spring loaded patch which seals a hole (Patent Foramen Ovale) between the right and left atrium. Each square of the patch sandwhiches the hole from both sides. The implant folds up inside the delivery system as it is being passed through an artery and into the heart and released when in place.

Figure Drawing 4-27-10

Here are a few quick figure drawings from tonight. The two "softer" ones are Pan Pastel and the other is charcoal pencil.

Graphite Figure Drawing

I just completed this today. It is graphite and white chalk on an off-white Hahnemühle Ingres Antique Paper. 16"x8"

Figure Drawing 4-13-10

Here are my figure drawings from tonight.

Figure Drawing 4-6-10

Here are a couple quick figure drawings from tonight's figure drawing session.

Spot Illustrations

Here are some spot illustrations I've been working on this week.

Tim Burton Barberry

I couldn't resist drawing up a virtual for this barberry (yesterday's post). Maybe it has a future looking like a tree out of a Tim Burton film.

Another Barberry

I dug up another barberry today. This one might be a challenge to figure out a future for. It looks like it will be a multi-stem or clump. I usually don't care for that look because it looks too busy in my mind. We'll see. I left a lot on to work with down the road. No need to decide on any design at this time. I hope this one survives as all kinds of feeder roots were passing in and out and intertwined with some old landscape fabric and hopefully I didn't do too much damage trying to separate the mess.

2 Amurs chopped back

This past weekend I did some major chops to two of my amur maples (Acer ginnala). They stood about 5 feet tall with about a 2.5" trunk width. I purchased them as nursery shrubs this passed fall. I will allow the stumps to die back to see at what point to refine them to heal over better. I think they have the potential to have nice trunk taper and movement. I will allow them to grow freely this year to see what new growth will bring and then pick new trunk leaders from there. These are just two virtuals of my goal right now but the trees will be the ones that will guide me to what direction they want to go. Right now I'm just trying to grow a pleasing trunk.

3rd Floor Studio "floor"

I've made some progress on the studio floor I made, installed. This is after the 4th coat of varathane. I will probably do 5 or 6. It is ash which I milled to 3 widths. The sheen is satin but I'll probably rub out the final finish and wax it. I don't want an overly shiny floor. I'm not sure if I'll ever be up to installing a hardwood floor let alone making/milling it from scratch again!

Barberry Revisited

I continue to explore different options with the barberry before I do anything else major. Here are two more "virtuals."

Barberry Bonsai

I had a chance today to dig up a barberry in the front landscape which I saw bonsai potential in. I hacked a lot off it but there isn't much low on the trunk to work with so I will chop the trunks near the white lines (oops, didn't post the pic with white lines)to regrow trunks and branching. Anyway, I would chop near where the drawing begins on the trunks. My quick virtual of how I intend it to look should give you an idea of the direction I'd like to take with it. I love the heavily textured thick bark and wide base. Unfortunately it will probably take a long time to realize the tree's full potential.

My Wife, Monica

I just drew this today or should I say finished this today. I started it yesterday. Charcoal on Strathmore hot press, 14x17.

Another Hand

Here's another hand. I'm still working on a bunch of these. I enjoy orthopedics. I get to draw layers of tissue, muscle, bone, and implants and it involves some illustrative techniques to convey these layers that aren't seen by everyday people plus there is some problem solving involved which adds to the excitement even for simple drawings such as this. Today is my birthday so hopefully I get a chance to do some drawing on paper during the day for fun!

Figures 3-2-10

Here are a couple figures from tonight's session. I didn't get too many that I was happy with but as long as I treat each session as a learning process and have fun getting out to draw, then it's considered successful in my mind.

3rd Floor Studio Progess

I don't have any pics to share but I made some progress on the studio. This past weekend I sanded the hardwood floor and the weekend before I tiled and grouted the bathroom floor. I had some drawing projects in mind during the weekends but those were put on hold. Oh well, at least I now have renewed energy for the 3rd floor and feel good about the progress. Tiling went without much of a hitch. I had already done our kitchen floor, kitchen back-splash, back porch, and second floor bathroom and shower. The one thing I was nervous about was cutting tiles outside on my wet saw in freezing temps. I brought out 5 gallons of hot water and cut them fast enough that the water didn't freeze. My hands got cold though. The sanding of the floor was the first time for that venture. It was a full two day tedious task so I ended up having to rent the beast of a sander for two days. It was actually really heavy lugging that thing in and out of my truck and up and down all those stairs. When the finish goes on is when I'll see any and all mistakes so I'll probably take some raking light and inspect the floor prior to see what kind of touch-up sanding needs to be done.

Our Vanity

I built this awhile ago along with gutting and redoing the bathroom but it wasn't until today that I decided to take some shots of the vanity completed. Honduran Mahogany and Aspen with linseed oil, shellac, and wax as finish. Hand-sawn, hand-chiseled, and hand planed surfaces, dovetails, and mortise and tenons. I enjoy hand tools over power. I own some power tools to get by but the joy of working with wood in a quiet environment is unbeaten when compared to power tools. I'm still in the learning phase of this self-taught hobby but it is fun trying to master techniques from hundreds of years ago. I'm itching to get back in the shop to finish some other projects but all my interests take a lot of energy out of me as I really need to focus on one thing at a time.

Breaking the Back Pain Cycle

I posted my initial sketch for this drawing Thursday and I just now finished the rendered version. I was hoping to work traditionally but with a lot of edits, it was best that I drew this digitally. I started off fully rendering the two figures on the right and then pushed them more and more transparent to make the main figure stand out. The client's product colors are very high chroma. I had to incorporate the reds and oranges somehow into the illustration and try to still retain my own color harmony. The concept is breaking the back pain cycle. The designer will work with the text. I basically dropped that in there for the time being.

Fun with Figure Drawing

I had a blast tonight at figure drawing. The model had some great poses plus I tried out some new medium for the first time. 18"x24" PanPastel charcoal stuff applied with foam covered palette knives on Strathmore 400 paper. 20 and 30 minute poses.

Couple more orthopedics

Here are a couple more illustrations I worked on today from the same series I posted Friday. The one with the exposure and dissection of the Carpometacarpal joint will probably need revising and additions but the design surgeon wanted a visual starting point.

Orthopedic Illustrations

Here are 2 of 10 orthopedic illustrations I'm currently working on.

Figure Studies

Two 10 minute figure studies from last night in sepia pencil.

Exercise/Stretching Illustrations Revisited

On January 22nd I posted 2 of about 32 illustrations I was finishing up. Well, I've been busy since then doing some changes and additions which the client requested. These two demonstrate taking a pulse. They requested that I add in the Radial artery and the Carotid artery. I wanted to keep it simple but effective to get the point across and not to take away from the illustration. I'm pretty pleased.

Open Figure Drawing

Last night I went to an open figure drawing session at a local art store. Well, not quite local since it's about 35 minutes away. Anyway, it was fun. There were about 8 people there drawing. The model asked if she can wear black thigh highs to stay "warm". I found them distracting. Poses were 1 minute, 5, 10, 15. 1 minutes poses can be fun since they become dynamic as you record what you see very quickly. I'd like to be more efficient in recording more information in the longer poses. I found it odd to see everyone sitting at flat tables drawing. To me, the paper is being viewed at a distorted angle. I found a large easel in the corner and dragged it over. Working like this allows me to back up from the drawing and to use my arm more freely to draw.

AVERY

My daughter, Avery - 14"x17" Charcoal on Strathmore 500 hot press paper. I drew this last night. Somebody PLEASE teach me how to photograph drawings and paintings!