Graphic Something - Part 2

Wow. It took me way longer to fill in the walls than I anticipated. Nevertheless, the maze is done!




It's hard to tell from these pictures, but I filled in the walls with a messy scratching technique to retain the hand-drawn look of the maze. If you click in the image below, you might be able to see this more clearly.


Next up, I've got to scan this baby before I start drawing.

Graphic Something - Part 1

I started a new project this afternoon that will pull together a bunch of things I've been working on lately. It will incorporate my love of mazes, some writing, some pen and ink sketches in a similar theme to these, and will (hopefully) result in me being able to scratch my graphic story goal off my list.

This was the initial inspiration:


Boring, but necessary - Step 2: Drawing the grid.


Step 3: Plotting the gaps in the maze and drawing (actually, erasing) the correct path in the maze.


Step 4: Filling in the walls and dead ends.


The maze completed in pencil:



I know it doesn't look like there's much of a difference between the two photos above, but the second photo is actually of the maze after I re-drew every line in black pen. Definitely a time consuming process. (I'm not sure exactly how much time I put into this step, but I did hear Katy Perry's 'California Girls' 3 times on the radio as I worked, which, even for a terribly annoying 'summer hit' seems like a lot).


Now, all I need to do is fill in the walls, draw nine tiny pen and ink drawings, and write the lines of my poem 'Nan' throughout the path ways of the maze. Piece of cake :) Hopefully, I'll have Part II up tomorrow.

Number 62!

A small project, but another goal done! I think the pictures look pretty decent considering our tight budget for the frames.


Work has been just crazy. I know that's not at all an interesting or good excuse for not posting more, but that's all I've got. I do have some other things in the works though. A few contest deadlines are giving me just the kick I need to get out of the brainstorming stage and in to the finished work stage. Soon. Soon. Soon.

Still Here!

It's been quite a blogging drought, but I'm rallying tonight to post an update on some of the things I've been working on. Of my lack of May posts, all I can say is that work has been pretty intense lately and I haven't had the kind of energy I usually have for creative work (except when it comes to life drawing classes, but more on that below). Plus, the weather has been so incredible that I've been having trouble choosing indoor work over beaches/ice cream/patios/bbqs on the weekends. Considering we only get a few months of this weather, you can't really blame a girl for trying to get at least a little bit of a tan.

Despite job craziness and ridiculous amounts of sunshine, I've managed to cross a few more items of my goals list. Recently completed items include:

62. Enlarge and frame a group of photos - Photos printed, framed, and ready to be hung. Now, if only we hadn't let our friends borrow our hammer... (I promise to post some pictures once they're up)

92. Make Robin's Moroccan lamb soup - Completed this Sunday as the main course of a Moroccan-themed meal. The soup turned out really well, although I probably could have been a bit more generous with the spices. Lamb, tomatoes, chick peas, onions, a magical combination of spices. (Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of this one so you'll just have to trust me that it looked and tasted fabulous).

79. Work on anatomy-themed drawings - I went to another open life drawing session last Sunday. This one featured a single pose, so it was a good chance to work on my slower, more detailed pen work. The last drawing of the three is actually the first one I completed. Then, with half an hour left in the class, I moved around to draw the pose from different angles.




The model really was that skinny by the way (although my shadowing of her ribs might be a little dark).

I think I'm going to make the open drawing sessions a regular thing for the next couple of weeks. Even on week nights when I'm totally exhausted, I find the drawing sessions incredibly relaxing and almost meditative. I'm trying to stay on track with the list too. There are a few items involving outdoor activities that I've been saving for exactly the type of summer days we've been having lately in the city.

Life Drawing

I went to an open life drawing session at the Toronto School or Art tonight. It's been more than a year since I've practiced drawing in this type of format and I'm so glad I decided to go. This session featured a variety of quick poses and it gave me a good chance to practice my loose drawing techniques again.

I started off with pencil and then switched to pen for the second half. (Sorry for the seriously awful photos, by the way. I'm in desperate need of some natural light.)





Also, I've decided to count this drawing session as Number 9 - Start a new art course. I intended to take a longer screen printing course this spring, but for budgetary reasons I decided to hold off. The open life drawing sessions are only $10 bucks a session - a perfect artistic compromise.

Do these look like fingerprints?

So, long story short... I lost my sister's camera battery charger, so when she went on an 8 day road trip across the U.S. I kinda had to lend her mine... making it very difficult to photograph things such as my latest projects.

However, while my sister was busy driving through roughly 18 states, I did manage to work on a few things. One new project involved carving out a fingerprint stamp to use as the base of my mysterious 'fingerprint' poem (which just happens to goal #1). I suppose it's not all that mysterious.

I'm still on the fence as to whether the image looks close enough to a fingerprint. I think I might need to make the top part a little rougher around the edges.




I also finished my February book. My plan for my March book is to read 'The Grapes of Wrath' and knock off two goals at once. This, by the way, is not cheating. I am on my March book after all... desperate times...

Sketches III

More sketches!

I know... this is getting sort of lame. But I really am working primarily on sketching right now and, theoretically, this should lead to some more concrete work.

Below is a series of sketches based on some classic family photos. I'm thinking about possible images that might go with my poem 'Nan' and I`m looking for a combination of images that might work.





Part of the reason I've been doing so much sketching is that I'm trying to loosen up my drawing style a bit. I want to have the ability to move a little bit more into caricature, but it's hart to let go of the desire to be precise. Most of the time my quick drawings are pure horror, but every once in a while something works out. Needless to say, my reign of terror over the rain forest continues. I really do need to get some newsprint.

On a totally different note, I tackled what will likely be the most muscle-wrenching of all my goals today: Number 83 - Spin Class! I was lucky enough to find an experienced spin class buddy to guide me through my first class (thanks Jordanna!). There was sweat. There was yelling. And I'm pretty sure there will be some sore quads in the morning. It was a lot of fun though and another goal down.