It’s been a little while since I’ve drawn anything. I wanted to, but I was trying to get some things taken care of (such as working on my website and writing some blog entries), some “real life” things, and I’ve just been feeling too distracted.
I’ve also been putting a lot of pressure on myself, and with my health these last several years (shaky hands, eyes that get tired too quickly, fibro etc), I only have so much time I can work before I end up potentially ruining my project by pushing myself to continue. So time is precious to me — how to pick just one thing, when my mind has so many ideas?
There were so many rattling around in my head, I couldn’t pick anything. Honestly, it was like having messed up vision as corny as it sounds. Too many images and ideas led to foggy details, clumsy confused hands, and the inability to even get started. To put it clearly, I simply was not in the mood and knew better than to try.
I decided Sunday, while my husband was out recording a podcast and I was catching up on a few loads of laundry and tidying up the kitchen, to force myself to sit down at the drawing table. I sketched a quick study of Thorin, making him a bit dark and broody, and then I decided to turn it into a bit of an inking practice. I went a bit dark and even heavy handed with the inking itself. No timid “well, maybe a little texture lines here… hmmm… yeah, let’s see if I can hide that” techniques. It was “glob it on, go go go!” and I was determined to get not only the drawing done and online before my husband got home, but all the chores that were in-progress as well. Ha!
So here is the sketch I scanned before I inked it. This was drawn in blue pencil first, then I scanned in color, adjusted the contrast a bit and turned it into B&W to be more easily seen:
And here is the final inked version posted on deviantART:
View finished drawing here.
The information also included on the dA page:
I’ve been busy with other things for the past couple of months and haven’t drawn one bit. My husband was out for the day recording a podcast and I decided to do a bit of a quick drawing for fun and to get back into it (it’s always so hard for me when I get out of regular practice, no matter how badly I want to draw something — plus, I’ve had so much on my mind, it’s difficult to focus or pick just one thing). I wanted to do something a little dark, and decided to ink it as well.
Drawn on Strathmore drawing paper (the image would fit on an 8.5 x 11 sheet), sketched first in blue pencil, then inked with a Winsor & Newton series 7 brush (#2) using Higgins Black Magic Ink. Extra shading and details added lightly with black pencil.
While there are aspects I wish I’d done a little differently, it was still in many ways a successful little experiment. I do like how the hair on the right side (his left) turned out, and his eyebrows. I was a little vague in the description — a lot of the different markings that look like texture in the hair and beard are not black pencil (those are much lighter shadings on the skin, fur, and most of his eyes), but dry brushed ink.
Practice is a good thing, especially when it’s been so long. I want very much to get back to my most recent drawing of Thorin with a goat (seen below), but I refuse to even go near it until I feel much more focused. Soon, I hope!
View sketch here.
Thanks for looking, and hope all is well with your goals and projects!
