3-6-5 Explore and Challenge Oneself

[Sweetintoxikation]

Day 5

I had planning to write today but wasn't feeling the character's voices for any of the things I needed to write. So.... I did a dumb. I'm wearing my bigger arm brace but decided to play with my colored charcoal pencils. They're smudgey and soft. But it means I can make marks with very little pressure.

So I did the above playing with smudgey blending. I wanted more yellow but the green over took it.

Honestly, if I get good with forms I might fall more in love with charcoal pencils as a medium. I love the texture and feel on the sketch pages. 8D

[Sweetintoxikation]

Phoenix Stardancer -- I don't think your dragon is derpy! I love the snout you have going and the under-neck scaling is lovely!! <3

[Phoenix Stardancer]

Thanks Toxi. I guess I just wanted it to be perfect and I have to keep in mind nothing will be perfect.

So today I included a flower to remind me nothing is perfect not even in nature

[Sweetintoxikation]

Your pony mirror/portrait is great!! As is your Tulip.

I still can't use my right hand well and it's impacting my typing skills now. Yay getting older and carpal tunnel. q.q

So today I dabbled in swatching one of my sets of color pencils and testing their blending ability with a basic color theory stripe. I'll show it and my previous swatches/sets in my next post.

[Sweetintoxikation]

Day 6

Previous Color Charts/Tests




In ALL of the above charts (unless I was swatching the full pencil set) the wheels/strips are only done using R/Y/B pencils from the sets. So basically completed with 3 color pencils to see how they blend/explore saturation of a color to achieve my goal color and to see how easy/well I can blend the pencils.

If I was to tier list these..

3rd is the Faber Castell Watercolor Pencils -- they are very scratchy and not heavily pigmented. I still need to test these with water as that was their purpose. BUT I'm not holding much hope on them being 'great' for pigments.

2nd is the newer set; Hippie Crafter. This set is huge and has some beautiful mixes in their yellows and blues for me. I love that. And while a softer 'core' pencil they aren't as soft as Prismacolors. SO stand up to more 'punishment' better. I'm excited that they blend with little effort (most especially because of my wrist issues right now).

1st, no surprise, is the Prismacolor soft core premier. I bought a few colors and then one small basic set. I actually love these for coloring but man.... the soft core means they get used FAST. But I see why they are so popular.

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So not drawing practice but I'm also learning color theory for many many reasons. I do count this toward my creativity count. Though I'm only counting the Hippie Crafter Pencil swatches for today.

[Sweetintoxikation]

Day 7

My wrist is doing a little better. So I decided to sketch and play with more charcoal. (this is quickly becoming a favorite medium/texture for me. Even though its messy as heck)

The first is a few more skulls. TO be honest -- referenced from memory of the skull tutorials. My proportions and positions are all higgledy piggledy. But I was just testing myself. Still, it looks like a bit of progress to me!

[Sweetintoxikation]

Day 8

My wrist is feeling BUNCHES better after some rest. But still taking it easy. So today.... I tried sketching a lion. I don't think I did a great job. BUT it's better than I've done in teh past! SO... progress!





I also tried playing with more charcoals... because I'm falling for them. And did a (heavily referenced!) MLP:FiM head shot. I used a front view of a Twilight Sparkle snapshot for this. Did not trace; but it's also not my wholely own. So I'm just lettin' ya'll know.

[Phoenix Stardancer]

I had the urge to draw today. I was just too tired the past couple of days, but I made an attempt today


 

[Sweetintoxikation]

Day 9

Keepin' it light because I've heard you gotta dabble.

All I can say... noses are HARD. Well to be fair I find faces in general difficult to draw. XD

[Sweetintoxikation]

Day 10

I went in a different direction today. Decided to try another tutorial but this one in PS. I think... video tutorials MIGHT work better for me in the long run... BUT I had fun trying!





For those interested...I found this tutorial on Pinterest; I'm not sure who the OG poster/artist is but I followed their format. I just think knowing which brushes might have been better. >.> I tried 4 brush types and this... was the only one I felt decent XD

[Mr. Pooka]

I have a vast collection of tutorials that I use all the time, (-8 ...often when I want a Sphinx effect I go for a tutorial to get what I want to come across. ...especially easy to follow ones! Occasionally I come across something like this one...





(-8 I was reminded of this one from Pooka's ancient Tick Comics!

[Sweetintoxikation]

I haven't given up this goal. I just re-injured my wrist and I've had to be fully braced up all week. u.u

I think it's just flared carpal tunnel but it's terrible trying to hold pencils for writing, let alone light sketching. If I could type I'd be stretching my writing muscles but that too is painful. So I will pick this up as soon as I can flex my wrist again.

[Mr. Pooka]

I hope you feel better soon Toxi! I used to have to wear braces all the time which was no fun... but I'm happily carpal tunnel and arthritis free these days!

I'm also trying to squeeze a few hours of extra time for the art project I mentioned earlier... I'm hoping I can get it done by Yule, (-8 (I also hope it's cool enough to show off, (-8)

[Sweetintoxikation]

Day 11

I might regret this in the morning but my wrist was feeling mostly better (tendons are a bit stiff and needed a slow stretch). But... I also wanted to test these new leads for a graphite 2.0 mm pencil I got. And... they're gonna be good for sketches. SUPER easy to LIGHTLY sketch with minimal tension on my wrist.

And I was feelin' Christmassy because I wanna be putting up my tree (*insert foot stamping in impatience*) But husbando will not allow it until AFTER the US Thanksgiving. SO... I have to wait to Friday. RIP ME.

ANYWAYS... I sketched a Christmassy Gnome.. XD I loves hims.

[Mr. Pooka]

Every time I see christmasy gnomes I think of the ones you made Toxi, (-8

...and I think we'll be doing our tree and decorations on the same day, so it'll be extra festive!

(and of course I always love to see your art skills!)