take a seat and relax

Occasionally I'll receive questions about the various techniques I use in adding color to my drawings. With this in mind I thought I'd try something a little different and give a "virtual" demonstration of one of my favorite tools --markers--based off an actual demo from one of my classes last week.

As I tell my students, there are many ways to approach rendering with markers. What I'm presenting here is the way I normally work...but there are many other ways to do it. It's all about experimentation.

:::::one:::::
I begin by "outlining" the area in which I'm intend to add color. I'm careful to come in about a 1/4" from the boundaries of the drawing with this outline in order to prevent the marker from bleeding outside the lines. This boundary also forms a wall of sorts that prevents the wash of color I'm to apply next from going too far.

:::::two:::::

Next, I begin filling in the background color. In order to disguise my strokes (think crayola) I work in a "swirly" motion. You may also note that I've left areas at the top of the chair's arms and back white. It is very important to choose a direction of light and leave areas like this free of ink in order to convey highlights.
:::::three:::::

Rather than keeping the chair a solid color (boring!), I add a stripe pattern using a slightly another color marker. I'm careful to follow the contours of the chair in order to make it appear as though it is covered in a patterned fabric.

:::::four:::::

As I tell students, one could stop here. The chair is "colored in" after all. But, only when you add shadows and highlights does the magic start to happen. Paying attention to my imaginary light source, I begin to add shadow to areas of the chair with a light gray marker (in this case, Warm Grey #2).

:::::five:::::

To increase the drama, I go back with a darker grey (Warm Gray #5) to add more shadow to the areas underneath the armrests and around the seat cushions.

:::::six:::::

The marker creates a smooth surface. In order to add some texture and further emphasize shadows, I add an additional layer of dark colored pencil to the shadows. In many instances, it pays to do this in a color other than black...like dark brown or a color that contrasts, and thus subdues, the original background color.

:::::seven:::::

At this point I'm almost done, but add a little more emphasis to the highlighted areas with a white colored pencil. If you have a white pen, this can also help to add sparkle to areas of your drawing. This works especially well when conveying hard interior surfaces like polished concrete or aluminum.

:::::eight:::::

To make this a more finished rendering, I would need to cast shadows onto the floor and other surroundings...but that's another day...

When it comes to markers, I prefer Chartpak AD markers. They last a long time and blend very, very well. With this blending, comes some bleeding, but that can be avoided with practice and the right paper.
For this exercise I was working on a copy of a drawing from Michael Doyle's Color Drawing. I highly recommend this book as a source of inspiration.

Could you get past my need for a manicure to find this helpful? If so, please leave a comment! This way I'll know whether to try this sort of thing again.

the money sketch

We returned from our VERY fun trip late last night. I'll provide more details later, but in the meantime here's the "money shot"...or should I say "money sketch"...

It was SO satisfying to see all my students sketching away (even if they HAD too) and I loved the way they framed my view of Fallingwater. Made this sketch more about the moment and a little less generic.

what not to do

I'd like to think that all my in-class demonstrations are fabulous. Ha! Sadly, this is not the case, not by a long shot. Many days I have a difficult time talking and walking, let alone talking and "demonstrating"! As a result, I churn out paintings like this...of students with jaundice.

happy saturday

Hope your weekend is off to a lovely start!

day dreaming

Much of the curriculum in my classes this semester involves stories: telling stories, reading stories, listening to stories, discovering the stories embedded in the places we live, the objects around us, the people we know. As a kick-off to the first studio project, in which students are to create a wearable artifact derived from a fairy tale, we watched a movie based on one of Shakespeare's great stories.

got my boots tied tight

I haven't been able to get this song out of my head the last two days. For this reason it seems almost apropos that the first drawing exercise we assigned our design visualization class was feet. Only, unlike Billy Madison, few of the students were wearing boots...instead, lots and lots of flip flops.I've completed this same exercise a few times before with other classes and with better results. I think I was trying to draw too fast today. Maybe I need to remind myself that this isn't the Olympics and there is no gold medal for fastest drawer. Regardless...I think its pretty neat to see all these feet in one place.

wacky, thwacky, matching action game

On my drawing class' first visit to Elsewhere, each student was given 5 sticky notes and asked to place them on items in the museum that they would like to draw. (I know placing a sticky note on an item in a museum sounds strange, but let me remind you that Elsewhere is no ordinary museum.) It was interesting seeing what items appealed to different individuals. Some chose things that reminded them of their childhood, while others picked what appeared to be "easy-to-draw" props. Among the items I gravitated to was this game. The photos and tagline were so cheesy I just couldn't resist. Plus, it makes me nostalgic for the Saturday mornings of my childhood: spent in front of the tv watching cartoons and wishing for games like this.

the fast and the furious

I'm trying something a little new here. A quick sketch and an even quicker stab at rendering using the computer. I gave myself 15 minutes to add color. I could use about 6 hours...but what fun would that be?

perceiving and communicating

The drawing class I am teaching this semester is titled Perception and Communication. It is named this way as it is vital that designers not only be able to dream up wonderful ideas, but also be able to communicate them on paper. Right now my students are in the middle of a project where they are documenting several buildings on campus. They must develop perspectives filled with entourage...people, cars, plants, furniture, trash recepticles...you name it. Today, we spent part of the class period drawing one another in 60-second and 30-second poses in an effort to develop quick, effective methods of drawing the "scale figures" that will fill our spaces.

I touched up the first group digitally with the Wacom Tablet Edgar got me for Christmas. I've only started trying to work with it this week and it's taking a little getting used to...

lead pencil in lead pencil and sharpie

My drawing class checked out the Lead Pencil Studio Exhibit at the Weatherspoon Art Museum a few days ago. I'm inspired by the ways in which the Studio has blurred the lines between architecture and art. Definitely makes me think...


Speaking of inspiration, wish me luck. Tomorrow night I begin a project I'm SO excited about. With the help of several UNCG students, I will be directing a design course for teenage mothers through the YWCA of Greensboro. The first thing we will be talking about is the power of illustrated journaling. I find my sketchbook to be one of my best allies and hope these young women will too.

speaking of messes

Last time I drew a sink full of dirty dishes I was thinking about how it would be to live like a celebrity...Britney Spears in particular...and never have to do the dishes. Today, however, I am relieved to be me and not Britney! I'll take doing the dishes any day over the chaos that surrounds her. In fact, I consider myself lucky!

what a mess!

Inspired by this post from Ivo Kircheis, the first drawing assignment I gave my students this semester was to seek out the "biggest mess" they could find and draw it! For me, my purse is a really big mess...though, unfortunately, I didn't manage to focus on the inside the way I should have to reveal the true chaos.

Here's the sketch with the addition of marker.