Golden particles, shining and shimmering, glow golden in the sun. A dry, hot breeze teases the sand, sweeping it into graceful and poised mounds that rise high into the sky. The sand stretches on and on, as if on a slow march to some unforeseen destination.
At some point as a child, I remember picturing this never-ending world of sand dunes. Feeling as if summer would never end, this desert landscape was all I could compare to the season’s drag through time.
Funnily enough, summer now seems to go by in the blink of an eye, and my leftover plans pushed to another far off day.
One of the plans I had for this summer was to work more in my sketchbook. Making time to sketch is something that I often struggle to do. On my breaks especially, I tend to focus on my bigger projects and neglect the sketchbook practice that can make me a better artist. While this still was the case this summer, I did work in my sketchbook more than usual and have a few highlights from this summer to share!
Still Life
Still life was one of the most practiced skills I worked on this summer. These are two of my favorite sketches from the summer. The water bottle represented a very difficult challenge for me; not only was I working with a reflective surface, but I also was drawing water within the object. While the drawing could be fleshed out a little bit more, I do think that I captured the essence and proportions pretty well. It was super refreshing to try something new!
As for the pear, this was definitely a comfort sketch for myself. I really like drawing pears in my still-lifes. I think it is something with the asymmetrical quality of the fruit, or perhaps just the mere fact that pears are so tasty! Regardless of my opinions on pears, I had a lot of fun with this sketch. While I think I went a little too dark on the value scale, my textures came out much better than some of my past attempts.
Character Design
While still-life is certainly engaging, character design is where I have the most fun! I did a lot of expression studies, figure drawings, and character designs, but these were my favorites. With the first, I challenged myself to utilize the proportions and structures I learned in my Drawing I class last Spring. As for the shading, I attempted a more blocky appearance. This sketch was definitely one of my more unique drawings, but I ended up being very happy with what I achieved.
As for my elven archer, she was a study in movement and line of action. I put a strong focus on the pose of my character, and ended up with a very graceful heroine. While I am happy with the progress I made, I do think there is lot of room for improvement. The figure’s appendages are not the most anatomically correct. Furthermore, I did not anticipate the right composition, which resulted in the figure being cut off by the end of the page.
My boy in stripes was just a fun exercise. Like my first girl, I attempted a more sketchy and blocky shading style. Unlike my other sketches, I tried to focus on the musculature of his figure. I do think I could do a lot better with this, but I think it was a good first shot.
Off to the Next Adventure!
While regularly working on my sketchbook is still a skill I struggle with, I am happy I got to work so much with it this summer. I have a lot of room to grow and improve as an artist, and I can’t wait to work on my skills this next semester!
That being said, I can’t wait to see everyone back at Marywood this week! There’s so much to do, so much to learn — and I, for one, cannot wait to see and share what my fellow students are up to! Happy Fall! Let’s make this semester a great one!