Sketchbook

1. Portrait

People point out her eyes when they see this sketch, but I think the lips and nose are the better part of the drawing.

This detailed rolling line demarkates the light from shadow on her neck and clavicles. It's the first step to complete shading.

The side of her face here is not very good; it's too indistinct. Just a gray mass. But I like the few wispy hairs that escaped her cap.

2. Madison Square Park

I thought this base turned out well. I find it easy to draw architectural details. But these are weird shapes since they turn back in octagonical perspective.

The leaves are also cool. Scribbles work surprisingly well. You can make out two different kinds of plants.

And I like how the sketch fades off to the left. This is the railing around the fountain at Madison Square Park.

3. Fashion model

I really love this sketch. I did it fast and forced myself to stop so I didn't mess it up by overworking it. I like the fashiony model look. I just think the lines and curves work together great to make this active, idealized female image.

You can see the support lines, like the spine, that chart the direction of the shapes.

I overworked the breast a bit there, while there's not much to the other one since it flattens out because her arm is up. And the clavicles turned into this weird V thing like a collar. But I think I like that.

This hand is just a W but somehow it looks really good. You can imagine the fingers and thumb easily. I also like the tilt of the hips.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I enjoy drawing the back-of-knee curves. The drawing holds up despite there being no left leg ... !

4. Figure in shadow

This is one of my favorite body parts to draw - the shape of the thigh into calf - the bottom knee. (I point it out on other sketches here as well.) I think it's really nice here. Calves tend to be more dramatically thick and then narrow than you would guess.

This hand is awful. You can't judge the perspective, so it just looks like she has a short arm.

The main point of this drawing exercise for me was to show strong contrast between light and shadow. The model was very pale, but you still see a big difference on her torso, chest, and right leg, where the drawing shades are best.

5. Fountain

The actual size of this sketch is not much larger than the image on the left. (Most of the others on these pages are huge.) I was amazed and happy with how this turned out, with just a few minutes of a twist of a brush pen.

The water works because even though there was a consistent flow on the real fountain, by only drawing in some of it, it looks more natural here. Notice the drips are not connected, and there is a lot of splashback up from each level.

I only drew in the left side of the shapes, since those were in shadow. Keeping a lot of spaces by not connecting every line perfectly keeps the drawing really fresh and gives the water its motion.

6. Male from front

This model was in better shape than anyone I've drawn. Or seen. He must have 1% body fat. The girls in the class were happy. The guys were intimidated.

Nevertheless, most guys are shy and choose poses in which they can cover their genitals. Here, it's kind of hard to see how his hand is resting on the stool. (By contrast, we saw one model who was bold - to say the least - and he was eager to strike many embarrassing poses.)

I like how his foot curves around the stool here, as well as drawing the perspective of the stool itself.

7. Male from back

This sketching style looks for the middle lines between shadow and light. It's often where the shadow is darkest, on the dark side of the line it often gets lighter due to reflected light.

This model was not self-conscious at all; the chair he's sitting on was in the center of the room, so the other half of the class saw him from the front.

It was hard to draw this cloth (shirt) because he kept moving it slightly.

I think this foot is a pretty good shape. Feet often need to be drawn in weird positions.

8. Female from side

This girl was very attractive, which surprisingly often makes someone harder to draw. There are fewer imperfections to depend on and all of your lines have to be as perfect as hers. I like how her lips, nose, and profile turned out above. Her hair was pinned up in a strange way.

This drawing is my best example of the style our professor emphasized in my art class this summer. Using as many reference points as possible, you can measure every aspect of the body against every other, and place perfect lines. By constantly refining the sketch tighter and erasing extraneous lines, you end up with very nice shapes (see above) and an excellent representation, since the proportions are dead on.

My impatience rebels against this method.

I like this hand. It looks very relaxed and natural here.

9. Female twisting

There are good negative shapes here - the shapes formed in the background around the figure. I'm very happy with this sketch in general since it was very fast but still in good proportion.

I think this foot is in good perspective, but it's hard to see since I just barely sketched it. I don't like the hand; if I worked on the sketch more I'd have to rethink it.

It was hard getting this twist right. Basically the whole body is contorted. I just drew it very fast to capture the motion and flowing lines.

10. Group of friends

Marc is the easiest of my friends to draw, and his hair is fun here. I messed up Brian's chin, but it still looks like him even with sunglasses.

Marc's hand looks good here, and I think the folds of Brian's shirt work. Everyone's pelvises are at slightly different heights. Pelvises is not a word one has to spell often.

Ji has no hands.