"I'll be back. And in greater numbers!" - from a friend

I wasn't here for a while. My reasons: visiting home, exam weeks, no time to draw(?). Eat it!
Today I was at work and since i finished off a presentation for tuesday and my flash homework for monday this weekend, I felt it was time for some pleasure drawing (with learning effect of course)! Plus - the shop was freaking deserted today, so I had time to procrastinate - in a good way. Males was the subject - a male fashion magazine the inspiration. You can't find real masculine models in fashion magazines, but boys will be men soon, so i take what i get... (do NOT dare to raise an eyebrow!)
I already analysed my results, I know what I have to work on and I will. :)
Next time i will upload some illustrations for a change, because that is what i'll be doing the next two weeks. Thanks for reading and looking at my pictures, comments are welcome.

for rosi :)

p.s. some of the drawings are made real quick. i wanted to catch expressions and characteristics.
p.p.s. I like ears :)
p.p.p.s. I promptly react on grammatical corrections!

“I'd rather go by bus.” - Prince Charles

I made a little bus trip today, accidentally. It was very nice, I like drawing strangers in a bus. 1. because i have to draw quick, 2. it looks chicken scratched automatically...
Problem is - I don't have the guts to draw them from the front, so I mostly have profiles or their backs, but it doesn't matter. It helps my hand to slack and I get used to make quick sketches. It's still hard to really catch expressions or characteristics, but that's why I'm doing it. I already become better and I wanna make more bus rides now :p

does someone look familiar on this one?

I swear - his arms were reaaaaaally that short....

"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home." - Twyla Tharp

Holidays arrived. A whole week without any obligations - nearly! So more time to work, actually.
Even though I was freaking lazy today, I managed to do something drawy (made that one up...)
White polychromos on black paper to have a look what is possible in this style. Here's hoping for a productive week.
I'm tired, so I'll just upload and shut up.

"One must always draw, draw with the eyes, when one cannot draw with a pencil." - Balthus

Fabrics, hair, proper faces, posture etc. can all be found at work in knitwear catalogues :p
Had some time, to draw today and study knitted fabrics and especially hair. I used to draw hair either as a helmet or as spaghetti, hanging from the head. Now that I practice more, hair becomes one of my favorite things to do. It's soooo pretty (stupid girlish smile)! Will search a hairdresser's magazine and go deeper into hairstudys.
Don't know what I've learnt today - maybe that the brain works better, when you eat during work... I have some issues preparing food for work, so I don't die of starvation during the day. Have to work on that as well.
Oh, I also studied noses today - only looking at them, but working in a shop is like going to a great nose exhibition :p Unfortunately, I can't ask the customers to stay a bit longer, because I wanna draw their noses... But I'll stay tuned on the nose front - it's a gold mine for character design.

"A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open." - Frank Zappa

Treehouse in pastel was the assignment today in drawing class.
Pastel - another sort of color that is not my friend.
Nevertheless - it will be my friend, when I'm done with it!
This is definately not my best work, but it still is work I have done today, so suitable for uploading!
Have fun with my first attempts to become a children's book illustrator... or not! :)
BTW - This lovely corny quote came from my drawing teacher today. Thanks Willemien!

"You know, if one paints someone's portrait, one should not know him if possible." - Otto Dix

Self-portaying is TORTURE!!! I need to get to know my face for one of my assignments, so I can draw it... So, what do you do? Mirror on the desk and start... I can tell you - seeing yourself everyday in the mirror - brushing teeth, doing make-up, getting dressed or whatever people do in front of a mirror - does not help knowing your face! Being gentle while drawing yourself does not help your drawing! It's horror! I came to notice, that my face is totally medium with everything. Nothing that sticks out to make it recognizable! Aargh!
Here my try outs - I don't want to give it another name...
Oh yeah - I look grumpy because, smiling bright during the time i capture my face on the paper, did hurt after a while - so now I look grumpy...

"Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week." - Spanish Proverb

Scanning in a drawing you worked on for a couple of hours really is no pleasure. My learning effect today: Look at the drawing before you go into detail so you'll see, that the head is not in proportion, forehead too long, eyes not the same size, mouth too small, too much hair and so on. Still - I like my old lady, although I think, no one will recognise her, because i totally messed up her original face proportions. My new technique: just chicken scratch all the shadows and it looks more vivid - at least I think so, compared to my old attempts with classic shading.
Tomorrow is a school day! Only drawing for assignmenst, not for diversion or to practice! Really!

"FOCUS!!!" - everyone

Today, my focus is on my school assignments. This wonderful mountain panorama was scribbled while thinking about 'stadsproblematiek' and how to illustrate/communicate with the people in my city. My main point is to call attention to the small and pretty things, we do not notice because we are too busy. Example: heart-shaped bird poo on the street or stuff that makes people smile in generally. So how to catch the attention of people who are rushing around and not looking properly? Illustrative? I have a lot of ideas, but they all still have flaws. THINK!!!
Next assignment: building a space invaders game in flash! This is cool nerd stuff but I realized - I really need a flashbook to learn, what I am doing. I do not only want to copy code like a sheep... that would be too easy! Already have a nice idea for the layout :p
It's not much time left to do all this assignments, including theory, drawing class and drawing class review, so I have to hurry. Private drawing might come off badly in the next few weeks, but I'll do what I can.
I am also proud to announce that today, I had my 500th click on this blog! Thanks to everyone so far and special thanks to my friend sebbo (and his special friend aggre) at http://braingoo.de (<-- CLICK IT!!!) who did their best today to put my blog online on their lovely page, too! yaaay - I'm spreading! :*

"Great is OK, but amazing would be GREAT." - Bender

New attempts of characterisation - this time with people I know! I promise - it will become better, friends - forgive me if you can't find yourselfs in the drawings :p
Still inspirationless with some school assignments! Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!

i love my polychromos

I'm sorry XD I have to practice, though!

"Observe Everything. Communicate Well. Draw, Draw, Draw." - Frank Thomas

A drawing I made today at work. There wasn't a lot of time to really work it out and now I'm too tired. Fabrics is my new challenge. Knitwear is hard to draw, still thinking of solutions to make it easy, I wanna experiment more and not only draw what I see - or draw more what I see? I'll figure it out! Getting better with faces and wrinkles - I like that :) Hair is still hard to do - I wanna learn that next. I actually wanna learn everything next, and I have to stop myself a bit, otherwise I want too much and start being frustrated because it's not working out. One step after another will do the trick.
And: draw, draw draw!

"The artist uses the talent he has, wishing he had more talent. The talent uses the artist it has, wishing it had more artist." - Robert Brault

Aquarell again! This time in drawing class with an actual human we had to paint. It was nice and a good practice, showing me, that I'm not totally lost in aquarell. I actually got in the mood to paint more living creatures :p My next project (next to my school assignments of course) will be a proper self portrait... I hate drawing or painting myself, so this is going to be adventurous!
Hope I have some time to draw tomorrow at work, maybe I start with fabrics and patterns.

I really enjoy drawing or painting everyday. First I thought it's gonna be hard, but now it's just pure fun to see an improvement plus I don't have the feeling of wasting my time anymore.
Feels good!

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." - Theodore Roosevelt

Had a day off today, again. Coloring with aqaurell still costs me a lot of nerves - it never comes out like I want it to be... I attempted with the old man drawing, because he has such beautiful, old spotted skin. Trying to paint it like I see it wasn't successful. I used aquarell color, ecoline ink, black ink and in the end aquarell color pencils. Found out that i like working with those pencils, because they are easier to handle. Luckily and finally, I made my scanner work with my macbook - it took some time, but it comes in handy. Printed out the scanned drawing what takes off a lot of pressure, because I'm not afraid anymore to color something and mess up the original drawing. I guess that's how the professionals do it^^ - Now I'm also smart :p
At work I was able to doodle a bit for my drawing class assignment. (Yes - I finally have an idea.) I drew it all out of my head and I'm kind of proud that it's identifiable... It's only a part of a bigger project that I will explain later.
Now I only need a proper concept for illustration class and some drafts for monday and everything will be fine in my head again...!
Comments, critics and laudations are very welcome :)

p.s. I still suck in drawing fabrics! Gonna be the next project to learn that^^

original scan

outline drawing with fineliner

first try ...

seconds try - aquarelle without water

a bit more careful...

aquarelle colorpencils - better but still not satisfying

the incredible HULK - freaking out in the end


doodles for drawing class assignment - all out of head

no quote today

it's really hard to do this drawing - patience and light is fading away, so i'll go on tomorrow.
think it's a good start! will color it in aquarell, also.
gonna watch a movie now.
stay tuned :)