Colored pencils - November 2014

"Missed opportunities"

2014

Mixed media: Colored pencils, pen, acrylics and liquid ink on paper.

Untitled (weekend sketching)

Weekend sketching. Note to self: Don't drink and draw.

Melinda - Done

I guess I rarely finish my pictures. I just abandon them. I'm done with this one - but one day when I'm really bored, I might go back and correct the crazy blues (allthough they are a little less crazy in RL...).

Melinda - WIP III

Sometimes the best way to spend Saturday night is by the easel, enjoying a cider or two or three and some music. Still working on Melinda. I'm struggling here.

Pen Drawing - MS «Midthordland»

 (Click image for larger pic)

 
I've been working on this drawing for the last few days. It's just a small drawing done with pen (Copic multiliner 0.03). The ship is MS «Midthordland», built in 1947.  My reference picture was a photo from the 50s. The problem with old photos is that they are really blurry  when you get up close, and it's difficult - impossible - to see all the details. I have to use a lot of  additional photos for cross-reference... and then I end up just guessing and making up the last details.

Sometimes I don't want to publish the details, because it looks really rough and inexact up close. But when you see it with this small coin, you might understand how tiny it really is. :-)

 

A few of the reference photos:

Melinda II - WIP II

I keep working on Melinda. Hahaha. Such a tragedy. She's very blue at the moment... I started out with a red background, and her dress was red and green. I had to layer tons of paint over to cover it. She looks so mean!

Melinda II - WIP

Detail - Work in progress - Melinda

Long time, no blogging. But I've been working on this painting lately. It's a new version of my old drawing "Melinda". Been messing a lot! Well... At least I'm trying.

"Starstruck" - completed!

I'm done messing with this one... Just playing with paints (she looks like a horse...). Now I'll be moving on. (Sorry about some shine in the images.)

"Starstruck"

Starstruck - WIP II

"Starstruck" - Work in progress #2

Haven't been painting the last few days, but made some progress this evening. At my age, this may be the best way to spend Saturday nights.

First Painting - WIP

I'm choosing to call this my first painting. It's the first time I've gotten a bit closer to painting something half decent. I still have a lot to learn - and I really messed up her skin. But I will finish this one, and then move on to the next one... I'm learning. :-)

Beauty in nature - Just for fun

This one was made just for fun. I just wanted to test my Derwent Coloursoft pencils, and do some burnishing with colored pencils. I loved this technique, but I did several mistakes while testing. It's really visible where the skin meets the sky on her chest. And the tree is way too thick! Haha... well, as I said - it was just for fun. I will draw more with colored pencils from now. I just regret buying a small set of only 24 colors. I always want more, more, more...

Bryggen, Bergen... Done!

(Click image for larger picture) 

 

Cheeses! Thought I'd never get this one done. It's just 29x15 cm, but it took... like... forever. I could probably go on drawing details, but I was so tired of it all. I don't think I could draw one single line more...

"Bryggen, Bergen" - Copics Multiliner 0.03 and 0.1 on Daler-Rowney drawing paper.
 

Why is painting so hard!

Why, why, why? Why is painting so hard? A few times every year, I decide to paint a picture. I'm always confident it will turn out awesome, but it turns out crappy every time! It's just so diffcult! How do they do it? It looks so easy, but I just can't get a grip on it... It's so annoying!! Argh! I think my new year's resolution should be learning how to paint. At least ONE half decent picture during my lifetime. Going back to gnaw on my brushes in frustration now...

Making progress... Bryggen, Bergen WIP II

Continuing this crazy project of mine. What was I thinking? I was supposed to put christmas back in it's boxes today, but instead I spent all day hatching and cross hatching. The building to the left turned out too dark, but that can't be fixed. One of the disadvantages of drawing with the unforgiving pen.

Second pic is a closeup of the cross hatching. This technique is when you add shadows and texture by drawing intersecting parallel lines. I do this a lot when drawing with pen. It's funny to see how rough the bicycles look on the close-up. Makes me want to fix them, but they will look better this way. They are just to small to be too detailed.

Bryggen, Bergen - WIP

Happy New Year! I'm starting the new year with some practice in drawing buildings... I believe that I've never drew a building in my life - not that I recall. So this is meant to be Bryggen, Bergen, Norway. I'm never smart, and that's probably why I'm doing this in pen – not pencil. Outlining first, then shadowing with crosshatching.