Tarsier

I was inspired to do this drawing after coming across pictures of tarsiers on the internet. Is that what that little fluffy, big eyed furball in Madagascar is? A tarsier?!!

And because it's nearly xmas, I thought a christmas hat and fairy lights were in order.

Quick sketch

Here's a quick sketch I did of a mouse.

Oil Painting Classes

Omg, I am loving my oil painting classes. I'm attending a beginner's oil painting class run by Ellen Michel. Anyone can sign up any time as every one works at their own pace.

The first lesson was painting on a canvas the different tones, using just black and white paint, and painting horizontal stripes, going from white all the way to black. It was difficult painting the different tones, as it might have been too light, or too dark. But I got there in the end, and it only took me 2.5hrs (which was how long the class ran for). But it was fun!! And it was the first time I had ever used oil paints.

Last week's class I had to do a painting of rembrant, only using black paint. To make it more difficult, we had to paint the picture upside down. I was nervous, as I have never really painted before, let alone have the reference painting upside down. The lesson was not to see the face, but only the shapes, the different tones, highlights, shadows and paint that, instead of what your brain automatically assumes is there. And to make the different tones, all I had to do was use my fingers or a rag to rub off the paint to make it greyish or white. Amazing. It was like an eraser.

So I painted this face upside down. Towards the end, I got to turn the painting over and refine it a bit, but because class was nearly up, I didn't get to finish it and the right side of the face looks quite retarded, but overall I'm very happy with my second attempt at oil painting. I think the left side of the face looks pretty good :).

I'm excited about tomorrow's lesson. This time we'll be using white paint on this painting.

 

So this was pretty much how I was painting for the majority of the class. The reference picture was upside down and I had to try and paint the shapes I saw. Ie. Triangles for his nose, under his eyes, the slight traingle on his chin etc.

 

And this is the painting the right way up. Obviously there are quite a few flaws in this painting (I can't even look at the right side of his face without cringing), but for my second class at oil painting, I'm pretty proud of myself.

Drawings

Here's some sketches I did a few months ago from this fashion illustration book I had bought years ago from Italy. It's called "Il Figurino di Moda' by Istituta di Moda Burgo. It's written in both English and Italian. It shows you how to draw eyes, noses, mouths, hair etc.

 

These were examples from the book that I replicated.

 

 

 

And these were drawings of faces I did using model's faces from the internet as reference.

Fashion Illustration classes

I attended Angie Rehe's beginning fashion illustration course early this year. She's so full of life and very funny individual. It was a good mix of people attending the class. There were teachers, students, people working in various industries not related to fashion etc.

I like trying out different forms of art and thought I'd give fashion illustration a go. I don't think it's my forte but it was fun.

 

Doll Workshops

Here are some of the drawings I did after doing Adriana's Doll Dreams and Mermaid Workshops. They were done last year I think.

I think they turned out very cute :)

4 x 6 Doll Dreams Swap

I joined this online art class more than a month ago. The address is www.dolldreams.ning.com. It's run by the lovely Adriana Almanza and her style of drawing is very unique. I first noticed her through SuziBlu - who also runs online whimsical mixed media art classes. Adriana's drawing is very doll-like and she teachers those who sign up, how to draw just like her! She is an amazing teacher and you get a lot of bang for your buck. She is continuously posting video tutorials - more than the course stated.

I joined a 4 x 6 doll swap hosted by Mary. There are 10 particapants. How it works is we all send our 10 dolls to Mary, who then puts together 10 lots of dolls, each lot having a different artist. So I'll get back one picture from each participant. How great is that! Can't wait to see what everyone'd drawn. Sign ups were about 1 months ago, but I only started it two days ago, and finished yesterday (it needed to be postmarked by today - talk about last minute. Seems to be the story of my life). With uni, my photoshoots etc, I just wasn't able to practice drawing or get 10 dolls drawn up for this swap any time earlier.

Do I like the dolls I drew? I have never used copics markers before, and obviously wasn't able to practice using them, until I drew my dollies. OMG. It is a lot harder than it looks. Ady makes it look so easy but damn, I could see lines everywhere, the colours weren't blended like I assumed they miraculously would. But not bad for a first attempt. So these 11 dolls (I made an extra one for Mary) are my first ever attempts at using copic.

So here they are:

My favourite ones are #8, #9, #10

These are the backs of the drawings. I've included little inspirational quotes just to fill up space. Lol.