This is the hardest part of the long and bitter winter season: the time when the temperature fluctuates wildly between extremes on a daily basis. Mid-March and the body (and mind) is primed for some thawing, but we still get the yo-yoing of subzero nights (-35 in the outlying valleys) and tantalizing teases of upper teens during bright, sunny days. This cartoon was belted out amidst a massive, multi-day work session on another project, when ideas usually flow as a result of prolonged focus. It's like "taking a break" and letting off some creative steam on the side.
Got just a wee bit carried away with this one. Actually resorted to several sessions of chipping away at shading it all in, so the cumulative effect makes for quite a dense, rich range of value. Of course the original line art version with all the contour + texture stands on its own.
I needed to break away for some specific studies on hand positioning... always nice to challenge yourself with something new and different. I am always reminded of da Vinci's exhaustive studies, thanks to my drawing instructor in college. Knitting - on the other hand - was something new that I had no idea how to do, or draw for that matter. Now as for reading books - got that one down. In fact - next weekend I'll put up a special process post dealing with just that topic.
No doubt the extravagant shading was influenced by the current focus in class on value and the accompanying exercises on rendering forms with smooth gradations so as to create the illusion of volume. Not only have I been re-connecting the dots and coming full circle with teaching posts and this blog but also dovetailing both with what happens on the drawing board at home in the studio.
Here's a sampling of the Xerox face/subtractive charcoal assignment for this semester's Beginning Drawing class... and the "werebeaver" demo done in honor of the full moon.
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