Friday, 26 July 2013

Friday: Faces!

I've never really been good with faces. Although I have slowly been improving my body drawing skills, when it comes to the face I always let myself down. I can never get the face to look realistic enough, whether I'm going for the cartoon or natural look. So that is why I have dedicated a day to just faces, here are my first four face sketches…



I've been working from the book Making Faces, it's an amazing book. It has lots of step-by-step guides on how to draw many different emotions. I only chose four and they were happy, angry, dread and dumbfounded. I'll be moving onto four different emotions next week, let me know which ones you'd like me to have a go at!

Tomorrow I should be sketching a storyboard, but I'll be in London for the day. So I'll be posting it on Sunday, see ya when I get back!

Thursday: Super Sci-Fi!

Ok, so I think yesterday was a fluke! I was amazed at how well I drew Disney, then you at today and its like what happened? After the success of yesterday's sketches I think I may have been a bit over confident going into today's task. So after drawing the first sketch and seeing, that it didn't really resemble Chris Hemsworth, I moved onto the next one. But by then nothing was really going right so I kinda gave up. Although now I know I should have stuck with it and given it another go.



I apologise for how disgustingly horrible Thor and Loki look. So tomorrow I'm just going to take a deep breathe and move on…

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Wednesday: Its Disney Day!

Its day three and the day that I've been looking forward to  the most. I am  a massive Disney freak so I have been dyeing to draw something of Disney! Sadly I didn't have that much time so I only managed to do four sketches. I've decided to start with characters from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, because this is my first week of continuous drawing and that film is what started it all. I was quite surprised at how well I was able to draw these famous Disney characters, I thought they'd barely be recognisable. I think I'm finally starting to improve my drawing and it's exciting!



The book I used for these sketches is A Disney Sketchbook, it's a beautiful book, so it's a must buy for any Disney fan.

Tomorrow I'll be moving on to the world of sci-fi, so I'll see you then!

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Countdown: The Seventh Doctor

The Seventh Doctor was an inquisitive explorer, revelling in adventure and investigations into the unknown. He might trick you into thinking he was a buffoon, playing the fool or muddling his words - but these traits belied a sharp intelligence and a shrewd judge of character…

The Seventh Doctor was a complete contrast to the bombastic Sixth Doctor. He could be quiet and sweet and loved introducing people to new experiences, helping them find wonder in the slightest detail. "Nothing's just rubbish" he once told his companion, Mel, "If you have an inquiring mind!" Before landing the TARDIS he once crossed his fingers and declared, "I intend to explore!" like a schoolboy enthusing about a trip he couldn't wait to embark on… Such exuberance was typical of the Seventh Doctor's spirit of adventure. He would arrive in the middle of an apparently dangerous situation, declare, "I don't like the look of this!" before promptly into the unknown, simply to find out what was going on.

There was a melancholy side to this Doctor as well. When Mel declared she was leaving, he was reluctant to accept the fact at first, before coming round to her departure and finally saying, "Think about me when you're living your life one day after another, all in a neat pattern. Think about the homeless traveller and his old police box, with his days like crazy paving…"

His next companion was the teenage tearaway, Ace. The two became good friends and developed a great understanding of each other. The Time Lord knew when she was trying to get one over on him - "Ace, give me some of that Nitro-9 that you're not carrying!" - and she was aware she could gently tease him about his eccentricities. "You're just an ageing hippy, Professor," she once joked.

But a darker side to the Seventh Doctor emerged during his travels with Ace. He lured both the Daleks and the Cybermen into deadly traps, and plans he had set in motion centuries before came to a head in his dealings with the ancient evil Fenric. And it wasn't just his enemies who wound up as pawns in his games. He would often keep important details from his companion and some of his attempts to help her face and accept her past, although well-intentioned, put poor old Ace through the wringer. On one occasion he took her back to a house that held bad memories for her, but the 'confront-your-fears' exercise took a dangerous turn when it turned out the place was now housing a mad man, a Neanderthal, murderous husks and an alien bent on destroying humanity. Luckily, the Doctor was able to scupper its plans!

The Seventh Doctor finished up traveling alone and his end swift and brutal, shot down as he stepped out of the TARDIS in San Francisco in 1999. The ensuing regeneration brought to a close the days of a Doctor who played games with the universe, but never tired of its wonder: "There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, where the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream," he memorably mused. "People made of smoke, and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace, we've got work to do!"


Taken from the BBC.

Tuesday: Failing to be Top Dog

So its day two and it's my first proper go at animals. I decided to start with dogs, because they are one of the more simple animals to draw. Sadly I don't have any pets so I based these sketches on images from books and the internet. I don't think I've done too bad for my first go. I mean I've messed up certain bit of each sketch (don't even mention the poodle!) like paws and giving one dog too much junk in it's trunk! They aren't too disastrous, so I am pleased.




 That's my first stab at animals done for this week, I'll be moving onto cats next week. And I cant wait for tomorrow because it's Disney day!

Please don't forget to follow, comment and let me know where I'm going right or wrong, or any hints and tips you may have.

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Countdown: The Sixth Doctor

Sorry you're getting a double dose again this month, I really need to get back to posting these properly!


The Sixth Doctor was a firework of a Time Lord. Loud. Explosive. Impossible to ignore. He had a wildly unstable start and many might claim he never really settled down…

The Doctor's fourth regeneration had been difficult enough but his fifth bordered on catastrophic. This 'new' Doctor was freakishly unpredictable, immediately demonstrating a gigantic ego and a bruising disregard for the feelings of his companion, Peri. Such manifestations of a bumpy regeneration were one thing, but his new persona span completely out of control when he accused her of being evil and even attacked her!

When the Sixth Doctor's mental make-up began to stabilise it became clear that some of those early traits were part of who he was, and not simply a brief by-product of the regeneration. He did, however, reject violence, declaring, "I have an inbuilt resistance to any form of violence, except in self-defence." Peri slowly began to trust her old friend again and soon the familiar routine of careering around the cosmos, saving planets and rescuing the oppressed - with the occasional bit of fishing thrown in - was re-established.

But the Sixth Doctor remained pompous and often rude, frequently impatient and about as subtle as his flamboyant clothing. Yet he retained a degree of 'Doctorish' charm. He possessed a keen sense of humour and when he thought Peri had died his utter despair was obvious. Perhaps the Sixth Doctor's over-the-top egocentricity was part of an act to mask his feelings…

He was brave and always fought for justice, even when the odds against him seemed overwhelming. He battled a brutal regime on the planet Varos, the powerful but evil Borad on Karfel - not to mention Daleks, Davros, Cybermen and Sontarans!

The Sixth Doctor's tenure began and finished on board the TARDIS. The Rani - one of his own whom he had tangled with in the 19th century England - used advanced technology to bring down his time machine, forcing it to land on the alien world of Lakertya. When she entered the TARDIS she found the Time Lord was unconscious and therefore instructed her lackey to carry him to her laboratory. But before he could be moved, the Doctor began to regenerate. And then, as the Brigadier once put it, it was a case of, "Here we go again…"


Taken from the BBC.

Monday, 22 July 2013

Monday: Getting Straight Back into Things

Hey everyone, its great to be back! Now I still haven't been able to find a life drawing class, so the sketches you're about to see are of random models I managed to find on Google. I'll apologise now for how disgustingly crappy they look. Although I was surprised how I was still able to draw the human body kinda accurately, I mean I haven't properly sat down and drawn someone in a while so it was great how much I was able to remember. The only annoying things are the ways I can mess up an ok drawing, like really small arms and hands or forgetting one of the most important rules when drawing a person, never start with the head!




So that's my first day of drawing done, tomorrow I'll be moving onto animals. I'm going to concentrate on one type of animal every week, I think I'll start with dogs!

Thanks for sticking with me and please don't forget to follow, comment and let me know where I'm going right or wrong, or any hints and tips you may have.

See y'all tomorrow!

Monday, 15 July 2013

Brace Yourselves!

Hi everyone! I'm back... well almost. I've handed in all my work at uni and now I'm free to do anything I want. And what is that I hear you ask, well draw of course. But not yet, I'm taking a week off to shake off the stresses of uni. So starting on Monday 22nd July I will aim to have at least four sketches done every day and each day will have a theme:

Monday
So at the start of the week I will be uploading my life drawing sketches. I'm currently looking for a life drawing class in my area, but failing that I should be able to find a website that has shots of models.

Tuesday
Next I will be studying animals. I felt that at uni that we didn't spend long enough on animals, plus I want to be equally good at drawing animals as well as people.

Wednesday
This will be known as Walt Disney Day. I will be drawing anything and everything Disney related!

Thursday
I would love to draw more Sci-Fi stuff because I'm a massive geek. Plus it'll add more strings to my bow for when I go for a job in the animation world.

Friday
Friday will be full of faces. For a while I'll be working from a book just on faces and then once I've improved I will move onto real people.

Saturday
I will be spending all of this day drawing storyboards. After having been set the homework task of drawing the storyboard of any movie, I've been dyeing to have another go at it. Also my lecturer said I excelled at this so that encouraged me to dedicate a whole day to this.

Sunday
This will be my day off because after six days of continuous drawing, I think my hand will need a rest.


Besides all of this at the start of each month I will try to fill a little sketchbook in a week and in the last two weeks of each month I will be completing Franki's challenge.


I can't wait to start this and see how good I get at drawing, so I'll see you next Monday!