Sketchbook 12 and 13: Cat

     Daily college sketchbook. Sketchbook 12 and 13: Cats. Charcoal. There are a lot of cats on campus. Someone feeds them every morning.
     #12 was a quick sketch that I completed at my dorm. I tried to show some line in the fur by erasing along the contours, but I think it just made it look weird, or maybe its the the drawing general.
     #13 is a simple outline, but I like it. I didn't have a lot of time to draw before the cat moved- and it did before I finished-, so i kept it simple and focused on capturing the different curves.

Sketchbook 11: Tree

     Daily college sketchbook. Sketchbook 11: ficus tree. Charcoal. Another ficus tree. This time i put more effort into shading. Again it ended up being focused too close.

Sketchbook 10: Koi

      Daily college sketchbook. Sketchbook 10: Koi. Charcoal. This was a bit difficult to draw since the koi was always moving amidst many more koi. I quickly sketched its basic shape then every time i saw a koi in the same position, I sketched in the details. So it's not really one fish; it's like a mash up of a few. I kept the background really simple; just a smooth black with lighter shades near the edges. I think it works well- there's a lot of contrast with the fish against the water. I shaded the tail a bit darker to put more of the emphasis on the head and main body of the fish.
     I was also experimenting with how charcoal works. If you apply a lot of pressure, it leaves a mark that cant be completely erased. This is true for lighter marks, but more pressure leaves a considerably darker mark. I used this to create the spot on the koi's forehead. It gave a feel that the spot was a part of the fish rather than a shade of charcoal applied on top. I don't know, it doesn't really make sense and the picture doesn't show it too well, but it was fun to try.

Sketchbook 9: Paper Crane

      Daily college sketchbook. Sketchbook 9: Paper Crane. Charcoal. Well, it's a paper crane. I know there's pretty much an infinite amount of things to draw, but I find it difficult to find something I want to draw. When I look around my dorm, I think "Soap bottle... boring, Cereal box... boring, lamp... boring, boring, boring, ARG boring...". To get around all the boringness I decided to create things to draw. Originally I made an origami water balloon, origami box, and a couple of cranes, then strung them together to make a hot air balloon with one crane in the basket and one above the balloon. I didn't draw that because it was sloppy and the wind kept moving it. A single crane seemed good enough. Later I drew a homework assignment with the hot air balloon. I didn't take any pics of my homework assignments before I turned them in so I'll have to post them much later when I get them back.

Sketchbook 8: Base of a Tree

     Daily college sketchbook. Sketchbook 8: Base of a tree with roots. Charcoal. I tried drawing a little differently this time. Instead of using a charcoal pencil to create outlines, I used the side of a charcoal stick to render this sketch. It's not as realistic as I usually draw, but I kinda like it. I'm having problems with proportioning, I didn't intend for it to be so close up; I wanted to get more of the roots in.

Sketchbook 7: Sleeping Ducks

     Daily college sketchbook. Sketchbook 7: Sleeping Ducks. Charcoal. I was at the Japanese Garden looking for something to draw and saw these ducks resting under the shade of a tree near the pond. I rarely see them there so I took the opportunity to sketch them. They remained still for the most part which was nice, however the duck in the front rotated its head around like the one in the back before I could finish sketching. I didn't put much effort into the grass and the mound lining the pond- trying to cut back on time.