Old man Woodblock Print

In case anyone wonders what I've been up to at school lately. . .

Last week I made my very first woodblock prints!
The first image is the ink sketch that I based my print on, though personally I'm happier with my drawing abilities than my wood-carvings skills. It was incredibly tedious but oddly rewarding (It didn't help that my wood block was flawed - a fact that was pointed out after I had finished carving) and I would be very willing to try it again on my own time. Next up is colour prints on linoleum, so I'm super psyched about next class!
Erm - and, I scanned the test run print crookedly. Please ignore the paper dings as well. It wasn't a good copy!

Bus Riders Can be Hairy

More Bus Riders. The dude at the top had nasty chin hairs. The other guy was riding with a kid. He was larger than I drew him. Oops!

Eager Listener

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Squiggly Person

Sort of a fun exercise in class that I decided to *gasp!* FINISH!!! Distorted a photo using a grid. I'm sure you've heard of it.
The scanner couldn't quite get it right, and try as I might I couldn't Photoshop the evil out, so I photographed it - it may be a little shadowed, but the colour and contrast is nearly spot on.
Coloured Pencils (Prismacolour) on Mayfair. Speedball ink used, which I found smudged a bit with the pencils. Used a pen (2 different nibs) to lay down the linework. The bottom shows what it looked like before I coloured it (doi) and the reference photo - not sure what happened to my face but I quickly got over it and posted the damned thing anyways. The picture is from about grade 4 or 5 - you can imagine.
Used my colourless blender rather heavily in this one, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The background was a big of a pain in the ass to do - but I love the idea. I think if I were to do it again I would use a pen and coloured ink instead of pencil crayons. It was too much to keep the lead sharp and I found that line inconsistency was rampant. Maybe I'm just too lazy. *shrugs*

10" x 12"

Bus Riders Can be Antsy

I know it says the 15th, but I clearly didn't know what day it was today. My apologies.

Skull of the Human Variety

Just to prove I did draw something today.
An assignment.
About 10" x 15". 4B Graphite. Yep.

We go north to Preston in Lancashire, and Mrs. Betty Teal!

Daily Drawings

I'm starting to keep a daily sketch book and carrying it around with me. Today I did some contour drawings.
I don't imagine that anyone will be impressed with these - but they are great exercises. Each took anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to draw. I used a pigment liner - so. . . NO ERASING! All of my models were moving (especially Lady!). I think these sorts of things are really helping to a) build my confidence in the line I put down and b) train my eyes and hands to work together. I quite enjoy them and plan to do many more.

Sleeping Lion

My very first attempt with oil pastels. I used kraft paper and an ancient set of pentels, and. . . I've to got to say I'm pleased. Not a bad first try. The reference photo is on the cover of an old book of mammals that I've been drawing from since I was a kid.
The lighting in this isn't great - plus it's slanted, I know. I'll be sure to take better pictures later - I can't blame the camera any more! I just bought a new Canon digital Rebel XTi. This poor carpenter has lovely tools.