I’ve been a little quiet for a while — sorry about that! I’ve had various things on my mind, distractions, and bouts of “just not in the mood.” Heheh! It happens to the best of us.
I decided to push myself to do some facial studies in pencil yesterday, and ended up spending a little more time on one. I was going for a bit of an angry/extreme look to test out a few things. I was going to go much darker (which is why one side of the face is shaded so much), but ran out of time (I refused to make this turn into a multiple-day project):
I’ve been feeling rather crowded in my small living/workspace, and trying to get more organized so I have not done much with art lately. I was in a bit of a mood today, and decided to sketch a little more “expressive” studies of Thorin, and ended up spending more time on this one than planned. Drawn with blue pencil on drawing paper first, then finishing with F, 2B, and 3B pencils mostly, I believe.
View pencil study here.
So, as the quoted part above mentions… I am feeling so crowded lately. I live in a small apartment, and while it does have a study, there is no storage in that room. My husband uses it for work and writing. Plus it’s way too small for most of my needs. I recently bought a big scanner/printer (desperately needed that), and it currently sits on my sewing cart (while my sewing machine is packed away on a shelf). My art table sits in front of the fireplace, and I’ve always had to move furniture around to work on things. Even my laptop sits on the dining room table. I think the “clutter” was getting to me. Unfortunately, I have lived for far too long with hobbies packed away, so packing them away even more is just not going to happen. The flip side is, I sometimes don’t do them.
I recently acquired a nice rolling cart with drawers in it to put my art supplies. This is very nice, as I now no longer have to go into the study (bothering my husband) and digging through bins that are packed full, looking for what I need. Unfortunately, I’ve had to deal with more furniture in an already tightly packed living space. While I don’t clear off the dining room table unless we need it, I won’t let the living room become my “office” with projects everywhere. That’s something I can’t handle, and I don’t want my hubby dealing with the clutter everywhere.
Regardless, I need to find little ways to work again. I admit, I’ve had a craving to work on small accessories with hand sewing (we will see if I get around to doing that). And I had stopped doing quick little sketches and studies, because I felt like the To Do pile was growing out of control… now I want to pull out an old sketchbook and not only get back to them when I can, but also keep it simple. I’ve been pushing myself harder with my current art, and it’s slowed me down. The great thing about sketches that don’t need to be finished… I don’t have to dig for reference photos for costume details. I’ve probably spent way too much time hunting down photos that show details on character costumes that are difficult to see. Ha!
Anyway, I’m still around, and I’m working on things when I can. 🙂
