Drifting Embers

Studied Richer diagrams to learn the leg muscles and then attempted to identify leg muscles in a photograph.

Started drawing again after visiting family for about a week. I took my Hamm book with me, although I didn't get much studying done. My father noticed my book sitting on the table. "That looks familiar," he said. He looked at the copyright date and started skimming through it. "My mother had this book." I had no idea my grandmother was interested in art. My father said he never saw her draw any figures. She seemed to be more interested in painting landscapes.

Unfortunately, I had to visit the doctor again for something unrelated to my previous health issues. I squeezed in a question about my heart and liver. He poked at me a bit and listened to my heart. They both seem perfectly normal now. Gluten really was doing some strange things to me.

Studies on leg structure (more Hamm copies) and attempts at constructing torsos.

Played with a couple of my new pencils to sketch at the beach and start learning the arm muscles. All these diagrams keep reminding me of my physiology course in high school. From what I recall, my favourite muscles were the tensor fasciae latae and the sternocleidomastoid, and the sole reason was that they were fun to say. There was also the day we got to go study the cadavers. The muscles looked more like cooked chicken - flat as far as shading goes, fibrous, and difficult to tell apart.

Also painted a picture as a form of stress relief.

Shoulders, arms, and tilting boxes. I bought some Derwent sketching pencils that are softer than the mechanical pencil I usually use. Haven't used them yet. My daughter got a hold of them while I was starting to sketch and tried drawing with them. They got all over her hands and shirt. Haha. Had to put them up for a bit.

I've started reading Andrew Loomis's Figure Drawing for All It's Worth and Richard Schmid's Alla Prima: Everything I Know About Painting. Still studying the Hamm book, played around with Loomis's mannequin idea, and worked with gesture drawings.

My husband was asking how long I anticipated my studies would take. I assume I'll be drawing studies until I die, even after managing professional level.

My goal is to become an excellent artist. I laugh a little at that statement. Given my natural talents and interests as a teenager, I was supposed to be a scientist. I hated art then. Boring stuff. I recall purposely arranging my school schedule one year in a way to be excused from the required art course.

Regardless, I developed this desire many years ago. I have wanted to use a visual medium to tell a story. The story itself has gone through entire rewrites and continues to fluctuate, but there is a certain core to it that has remained constant and is very important to me. I aim to, before I die, complete it in a graphic novel/webcomic form. The driftingembers.com domain is the future site for it.

I have attempted several times to begin the actual production of the comic, but I cannot seem to get through the first chapter before I come to the same conclusion each time: I am not currently satisfied with my skills in both writing and visual art.

Instead of constantly going back to the drawing board and leaving this site empty, I've started this blog to document my practice and to actually populate this space with something. I'm a little surprised at the decision, since I am not the sort to normally do such a thing. I'm socially awkward and don't like being very open in a public environment. 

So, my first image shows one of my first attempts many years ago at drawing anything. I keep it around for laughs.

I'm mostly "self-taught," though I dislike the term. We all learn from others, even if we don't pay for the lessons. A few months ago I was fortunate enough to participate in a workshop over at CGSociety.org taught by Robert Chang. It's called "Becoming a Better Artist." Wonderful experience and well worth the money. I've admired Rob's stuff for years, and he's one of the best teachers I've had. One of the books he suggested was Drawing the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm. It's an excellent book, and it makes me realise how lacking my understanding of anatomy is. I've started studying and copying many of the drawings in it, as well as studying sources elsewhere.

I have a bad habit of sketching too lightly, because I really hate how dark values will smudge and smear onto the facing page when you close your sketchbook. A friend suggested I use a spray fixative to seal it, so once I buy some I have no excuse for poor value ranges. Or I could just do all the sketching digitally...