Week Nine: New Students, New Ideas

Welcome New Students and Returning Highlands Students!
For those who didn't finish last week, and for new students joining us this Friday, please complete the drawing of the tiger face. Ask Hilda for the picture to draw from. She can help you get started. I'll be helping new students with catching up on basic skills that we learned in the previous 8 weeks, such as lines, shapes, patterns, texture, form, positive and negative space, and perspective.

SLV Sketchers Are Fearless! Draw Your Future!
One of our goals for the next eight weeks is to use drawing as a tool for visualizing your future, solving problems, recording your thoughts, and expressing your ideas. I'll help you to develop your own drawing style and explore new things to draw, such as drawing faces. Be thinking of the things you'd enjoy learning to draw. Let me know your ideas.


Sketchy's Challenge
Ready to draw? This week's challenge is the manga/anime style girl's face. Shown above is a drawing of the girl made by one of my online students. To view her lesson: click here. The sky in the background is called negative space. The form of the girl's hair and face is the positive space. Where the negative and positive space meets makes the edges of her hair and face. Draw the lines that show the edges. These lines are called outlines or contour lines (I'll explain more on Friday). Take time to compare your drawing to the picture to make sure your proportions are correct. Returning students and Hilda can help the new students with this drawing. Remember, for this lesson I'm more concerned with seeing how you draw the outlines and proportions. But you can add the shading too :)

Here's the link to Sketchy's Challenge (Have fun!): Click here

New students can also choose from these lessons for this week's challenge: Click here (Draw the lines and shapes as large as possible on your paper.)

I'll see all of you on Friday!
--Rob

Week Three: Sketchy's Challenge

It was awesome that so many of you took up the challenge to draw the egret! The background space around the egret is called negative space. The space that the egret occupies in your drawing is called positive space. Where the negative space meets the positive space shows you the edges of the bird. This is very helpful when drawing the edges of something. We'll learn more about positive and negative space in our next lessons.

Here's some info about positive and negative space: Click here

Here's the reference picture from Sketchy's Challenge so you can compare your drawing: Click here

And here are your drawings of the egret:


Craig
Overall, you captured the egret's body and curve of its neck. Great job on the facial features and showing the contrast between the shadows and highlights of the body. You've done a good job of getting the angle of the area where the legs meet the body. Check the angles and natural curves in the reference picture. How do they compare to your drawing?


Elvis
Good job of showing the proportions and overall angle of the egret's body. The angle and form of the legs are well drawn. Excellent how you included the gray tones for shadow areas and highlights. I like the way you've shown the delicate edges of the feathers on its shoulders. Compare the curve of the neck in your drawing to the reference picture. is the 's' shape the same? If you have time to do a quick study sketch of only the neck area, I'd like to see it.


Gage
Good job of capturing the overall proportions of the egret. The gray tones you've drawn show the form of its body. The contrast of the dark gray legs compared to the body helps make the bird look more realistic. Your confidence in using bold lines is showing in this drawing! Also the contour lines and angle of the legs look natural.


Jaime
You did a good job of drawing the overall form and proportions of the egret. The form of the beak looks very natural. I like how you added the feathers where the legs attach to the body. Compare your drawing to the reference picture. Does the curve of the neck look the same?


Jared
Overall, you did a good job of drawing the proportions of the egret's body and head. You did a good job of drawing the form of its head and the 's' turn of the neck. I liked how you erased highlights on the body and head. Compare your drawing to the reference picture. Is the length of the neck the same?


Leif
The background, plants in the foreground, and form of the egret make for an excellent composition. You did a great job of drawing the bird's beak, head, and 's' shape of the neck. I like the gray tones and highlights that form its body. Compare your drawing to the reference picture. Does the area where the neck joins to the body look the same? The way you've drawn the legs makes them look natural.


Michael
The control of your lines has improved a lot! Excellent job of drawing the proportions of the egret's head and body. You did a very good job of drawing the beak, eye, and curve of the neck. I like how you took the time to show the shaded tones and highlights of the body.


Ricky
Good job of drawing the overall proportions of the egret. You captured the curve of the 's' curve of the neck and the area where the neck attaches to the body. Compare your drawing to the reference picture. Are there places where the neck could be wider or narrower? Good job showing the contrast of gray tones and highlighted feathers.

It was cool that our two teachers, Hilda and Patty, joined in Sketchy's Challenge, too!


Hilda
I really like how you blended the gray tones in the background, bringing the plants and the egret to the foreground. I really like the subtle contrast of the gray tones of the bird's body with the highlights of the feathers.


Patty
Excellent contour lines that show the form of the egret, especially the head and facial features. I really like the detailed line work used for showing the feathers, eye, and beak. Also like the flowing lines you used to indicate the plant. Patty, I look forward to seeing any details that you've added to the lighthouse drawing you're working on.