Studio blog of Julie Galante – painting ridiculous things in Scotland
This was done with two pencils taped together, a black charcoal and a red conte, plus a bit of white pastel. The idea was to produce some unexpected lines and expressiveness. Not my favorite portrait drawing of the week, but it was an interesting exercise nonetheless.
Today I noodled around with some ink blot faces. This was really fun, and I want to come back to this exercise next week when I have more time. I’m really getting a lot out of this online course I am taking from Gillian Lee Smith. If you’re looking to challenge and improve your drawing … Read more
Another expressive portrait for you today, in charcoal and white pastel. I might come back and work on this one some more, but I’ll let it sit for a day or two, first.
I love owls. I can’t believe it’s never occurred to me to draw one before. OK, so it’s not that unbelievable – I rarely draw animals. Now I’m thinking owls might need to become a regular subject, because they are so much fun to look at. Again the idea with this drawing was to stay … Read more
Today’s exercise was to draw an expressive bee. How did I do? I had to stop after 15 minutes or so, because I was too tempted to start adding more details and making it look more like the photograph, rather than leaving it loose and expressive. Maybe I should have pushed myself to keep going … Read more
Today was some quick figure drawing using this website. It’s a fantastic resource for drawing practice, showing you new photographs of posed models at timed intervals. Not quite as good as a life drawing class, but a decent substitute. I enjoyed the shorter poses more than the longer ones. I found myself getting too fidgety … Read more
This was an exercise in figure proportions. I am usually very impatient when I create art, so it was good for me to slow down and take some time to make sure I was getting the proportions more or less correct. I love having assignments to do. I am already behind in my online class … Read more
Today I did an exercise for Gillian‘s course which involved using oiled charcoal, a new medium for me. I love being told to try something new. When it’s my first time working in a certain way, there’s less pressure to be good at it. It’s freeing, and helps me just get to work. So the idea … Read more
Today the focus was on expressive portraits. The idea was to keep everything loose and expressive, and not worry about likeness. I think I could have done better on the loose and expressive fronts, as my lines tightened up too much on the longer sketches. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll give it another go.
Today I started an expressive drawing class. The first exercises were about loosening up and making marks. We were to draw an object from several angles, so I chose a little wooden figure model I have in my studio, as it was the most organically-shaped thing I had on hand. The idea was to work … Read more