The Key Element

Faces(colored pencil, pencil)

Planes(ballpoint pen)

When I had practiced to draw the different parts of a face, I decided to sketch some complete faces. I drew some from pictures and then started to draw from my imagination. This turned out to be quite difficult, because it was hard for me to draw the "empty space" between these awesome body parts I had studied before. I managed to give my faces some shape, but I was hesitating and feeling a bit lost all the time. I realized that now I had found the key element of learning to draw the human face. This "empty space" between all the "important" parts is what connects it all together. Of course it is difficult to draw the parts that you usually don't even notice, but all the different planes on a face makes it recognizable as much as eyes or noses.

I had to take a step backwards and learn to draw the planes on a face. I drew them on pictures I found on magazines until I started to find some repetitive patterns. After that I started to sketch some faces, but now I did't think about the noses and lips or eyes and ears so much. I didn't want them to distract me. I made some mistakes, but I think I made some progress too.

I still need a lot of practice, but it's fine with me. Actually I'm really happy about it. I don't remember when I have been this excited about drawing. Maybe when I was four years old.

A Sick Looking Chick

A Chick(watercolor, black, non-permanent ballpoint pen, feathers, white ink, pencil)

I wanted to draw something for Easter. I chose a green ballpoint pen and when I added some watercolor I realized the pen was not permanent. The green color spread and it didn't look very nice. I tried to fix it with white ink, but it didn't help very much. The background was made earlier at the same time as the next page with a frog on it(The Frog Prince, posted 29.1.2015).

If I could start this page again from scratch, I wouldn't use a green pen because it makes the chick look a bit sick. Obviously I wouldn't use a non-permanent pen either. I would like to use happier and brighter colors. Maybe next Easter.

The Whole Spread(watercolor, black, non-permanent ballpoint pen, feathers, white ink, pencil)

Important Things to Learn

Dried out Tulips in a Lazy Vase(ballpoint pen)

It has been a while since I've drawn something with a ballpoint pen. Perhaps the watercolors have taken all my attention. I love watercolors and usually I'm the most inspired while using them, but I think it's important to use different techniques. When I keep changing my way of working I have to stay alert and challenge myself all the time.

This time I happened to have some dried out tulips on a vase. I had been too lazy to throw them out and actually I kind of like the way tulips look when they get old. Originally, I was meant to paint a colorful picture of the fresh tulips, but this sketch was a good variation for me.

I still need to practice my thinking while drawing. With this one I didn't bother to draw all the reflections on the vase and now it doesn't look very convincing. It's almost impossible for me to draw something and leave it unfinished so that I could continue working later. I'd rather finish a work quickly than let it wait for me to get my inspiration back. That's actually a big problem for me, because when working tired and uninspired, I usually do something stupid. Like get lazy and leave something out. I think I'm going to add this thing to my list of Important Things to Learn(That I just made up). Point one: Don't force it, it's ok to continue later.

Can You Here the Music?

The Uke Player (watercolor, ballpoint pen)

Here's the other page  of my ukulele themed spread. I drew the uke being played and it was difficult because the player's fingers were moving all the time. It was fun though. The watercolored background is my favorite part of this sketch although it was quite boring without the drawing. The background took me for about one minute to do and the sketch for about 15 minutes, so this was a nice quick project. I hope that together the two different techniques give the watcher a feeling of music being played.

Uke 'Em!

The Ukulele (ballpoint pen)

Here's the reason I haven't been drawing much lately. It's our new ukulele. I have never played an instrument before, but now I got enchanted by this cute little thing. After one week my fingers feel numb, but it didn't stop me from drawing a quick sketch of the uke. I used a ballpoint pen for this one and because I was a bit lazy, the proportions are not quite right. The technique also prevented me from doing a lot of changes afterwards. The background was made earlier with watercolors and it brings something extra to the sketch, I think. Still, this one is definitely not the best of my sketches.

Not Quite the Sister I Know

Something Familiar ( ballpoint pen, pencil)

My sister asked me if I could draw a picture of her. Well, apparently I can't! There's something right about the bigger sketch, but still something very wrong. First I drew a quick, 15 minute sketch of her with a ballpoint pen, but the proportions looked funny. Then I took a pen and used a bit longer to draw another sketch. I guess I have to do few more, because she looks way better in the original photo.

Laa-Laa and Tinky Winky

Last weekend I was visiting at my parents' house and couldn't resist this view. There really was two Teletubbies sitting on a pink chair in the living room. Everything else looked brown so these two cuties were a refreshing and a bit surprising sight. There are always grandchildren visiting my parents, so I guess toys just have to be ready for action at all times.

The situation was also interesting, because I was in a hurry and my aunt was looking closely over my shoulder the whole time. She also commented my work while I was doing it. Luckily the feedback was positive so I didn't feel crushed. Drawing and painting can be scary enough without anybody watching. There's something I have to remember as a teacher.

I drew this sketch with a ballpoint pen, so there might be some oddities with the proportions. I knew from the start that I wanted to use colors with this work because of the bright Teletubbies, and couldn't wait to get to the coloring part.
I've noticed that I love watercolors. Actually, I think I have to go paint something now...

Interior Design at It's Best (ballpoint pen, watercolor)

A Room with a View

A Room with a View (ballpoint pen)

For a long time I've been meaning to draw the view from my office. I think it looks interesting because of all the roofs you can see at a glance. I made this quick sketch with a ballpoint pen and decided to color it later with watercolors. Just wanted to show it before coloring. Who knows how long it will take.

Midnight Sketching

Sleepy Bananas (ballpoint pen)

Last Sunday I had an inspiration in the middle of making evening snack. I noticed that our fruits looked especially interesting. We had accidentally bought too many bananas and they were creating interesting shapes and shades. I knew I had to act quickly before somebody eats my inspiring fruits. I used a ballpoint pen because I wanted to work fast. With a pencil it always takes me longer to get anything finished. This work was meant to be a quick sketch and although I was tempted to continue working,  I had to go to bed and have some sleep. Maybe it was a good thing.

Personal Pear Shoppers

Pears (ballpoint pen, black fine liner, watercolor)

One day I had some photography lessons and my students were supposed to create ideas for their photo shoots. However some of them felt a bit hungry and tired. They also saw me working with my sketchbook and wanted to do something with watercolor. I think that it's very important to photography students to practice their drawing and especially their seeing skills, so I gave them 10 euros and sent them to a local store to buy some fruits for us to draw and paint. As a price for their brisk shopping I told that they could also buy some cookies to get their energy levels up and lift their spirit.

When they came back they had bought ONE pear and lots of cookies, so it was very easy to pick the subject. We started to draw a pear. My first pear was too thin, so I made the other one wider. There wasn't much to draw because the pear was so colorful it was almost impossible to see any shades on it. But there sure was a lot to color. The pear was very spotted and splattering the color with a brush worked well in this case. I think that the smaller pear has more interesting colors on it although I don't know why I had to add some black fine liner to it afterwards. I think that was a big mistake. The wider pear looks better without the black lining. Finally, I added some yellow and red watercolor to the background and let it run different ways. This work was fun to make, it made me want to paint more!

Counting Sheep

Last Friday I was feeling creative and came up with an idea for an assignment. I cut out some pictures of interesting looking people from magazines and my students got to pick one. Then they had to glue this picture to their sketchbook and draw the dreams of the person. They were allowed to use other pictures and such as a model but that was optional. Because I thought that it would only be fair I let them choose a picture for me and they chose a picture of a SHEEP! A sheep.

Yes, well I got a bit excited with this one. But what better could you do on a Friday night?

Dream Big (pencil, watercolor)

A Horsedog in a Buss with Socks

Photographer's Socks (ballpoint pen)

A Horsedog (ballpoint pen)

I was sitting on a bus and had planned to draw something. We were on our way to Helsinki with our photography students and planning to visit The Finnish Museum of Photography’s #snapshot exhibition. Luckily there was a guy on the bus sitting on the next seat and he decided to lift his legs up so I had something to draw. His socks and legs and especially all the folds on them looked interesting to me. I've noticed that now that I'm thinking about drawing much more than before I see everything as a potential model for a sketch. I'm staring people too long and bringing old, half-eaten vegetables home...

I had also given my students an assignment regarding the museum. They had to choose one of the works there and take inspiration from it. The idea was to draw something related to that picture or to draw the work as it was. For my inspiration I chose Theron Humphrey's photos of his dog and decided to draw one where his dog has a horse mask on. I wanted to see if I can draw it so that it looks right but I wanted to combine the picture of a dog with my own simple background. I made this sketch with a ballpoint pen and it was actually really enjoyable technique. Easier than fine liner, because you can create more shades by pushing the pen harder, but almost as rewarding. The fact that I was drawing in a bus made it even more interesting.