Kittys Drawings

‘Sup!
Wow look I’m finished!

Once again I got a bit sick of it all towards the end. Really need to get better at drawing faces – however starting with the head is always hard. I find that proportions work easier if I draw the figure first and add the head later….but that means that I’ll leave the face til last and by then I’m usually well over the drawing.
Next time I’ll attempt to block in the majority of the figure first….do the face and THEN finish the rest of the drawing. Hope that works out better. Always something new learnt from doing one of these.

Some work in progress.

So yeh – not entirely happy with the face. Hmm. Thoughts?

Seeyas!

Hiii!

Since I’m stuffing around with a drawing at the moment – and it’s been about a week since I last posted….I thought I’d show you my most recent working space. Much better than my last one. I have my precious beastie Erebus – no more squinting at a laptop screen. I’ve also cleared the majority of crap away so it’s kind of calming to work here now.

This is the left hand side – Those brown boxes are where I hide all sorts of crap that I need on hand but its all so small that they should be hidden away. One day I will find a nice little set of drawers that can go on the floor under my desk and free up that space for other knick-knacks.
Also – an assortment of random books, sketchbooks and diaries. That rainbow Moleskine was/is my 2010 diary but ended up being pretty sucky cos I couldn’t be bothered changing it every month. I think I’ll just stick to my iPhone from now on even though I love paper.  The Syd Mead DVD is something I’ve been meaning to give back to Dwardo for ages now – I haven’t stolen it I promise!
The book titled Rage is written by Julie Mac – who works in the department next to mine – she wrote about her teen years as a Sharpie – a subculture I knew nothing about til she wrote the book. Very cool read
Perfume box is there cos it’s pretty. And the little mug is something my grandma gave to me when I was last in Europe – apparently that was mine as a baby. Only found it the other day so I thought I’d put it out.
Aaaand – that’s my Wacom pen (the big silver pen thingy in the stand) and a sketchbook buried under the boxes. Neglected these days since I’ve been working straight from the computer…it does get scrawled on occasionally but I usually have a bit of a hissy-fit about what I’ve drawn and it’s full of crud. Heh.

This is the right side (drawing preview in there).
Check it out! The drawing Audrey did for me on my napkin is framed – woo! A Thank You card from my friend Sal….the scanner – A cactus I bought for Jonny in the background.
I hate cables. This is as tidy as they get – I shoved the long Wacom cable down behind my desk for the photo but I can’t leave it there for long because Boofy (my enormous, fluffy cat) has a penchant for gnawing on them. He’s already taken  a few chomps at the Wacom cable. Also chewed right through the battery cord for Jonny’s laptop. Anyone would think he’s a rabbit! Naughty Boof!
I think, thankfully, my actual computer cables are too thick and not “tender” enough for good chomping material so he hasn’t had a go at those.
Does anyone else have pets with expensive habits??

And this is what I see sittin’ at my chair. Sneaky preview of what’s coming up If you haven’t already seen on Facebook. Sal’s painting is in the background. It’s not hung higher cos there’s an air conditioner up there hehe
Think I need more cute, quirky things. And more cacti. Or a bonsai. Want to get rid of those boxes cos they really don’t “fit”.
Otherwise, it’s a comfortable place to work. My chair is comfy and my shiny LED screen is shiny. Shiny shine shine!  And big.  Yay!
When I ordered my Mac, I specifically asked for a full sized keyboard. No number pad shits me.

And now I can attempt to finish that drawing on screen. Considering whether I can be bothered doing any today, or go read my book instead.
I always feel a bit “meh” about starting something…but once I pick up the pen and start it’s hard to stop. It’s just that starting thing that’s tough. Like exercise haha! Does anyone else get that?

Seeyas!

And it was awesome! YAY.

We went to +39 Pizzeria on Lt Bourke and nommed on pizzas (what else)….Audrey was really really lovely – even though I felt awkward as usual. She did a drawing for me on my napkin – which is now in a photoframe on my desk.

Sooo…..I drew something quick just before – inspired by the lady herself – but not as good of course. And looks crappier than the sketch I did. Oh well – I’m really not that good at linework on Painter….Bah!

Here are some terrible photos of the night. Jonny’s ones are better.

Yaaay!

and here’s my cruddy drawing

Better work next time I promise.

Hi!

Guess what? I totally WON the dinner with Audrey! Woooo!! It was a pretty splendid night and I did actually manage to hold some conversation. My photos suck – so I’ll be posting those as well as Jonny’s good ones later. But today I have some drawing completed. Another piece where I was all gung-ho at first…then I abandoned it…then I finished it just to be done with it.

Next time, I think I’ll be ready to attempt something original. And spend more hours on it. Definitely have got the hang of Corel Painter’s tools – now to get over my own self-sabotage.
Some work in progress and (shitty) detail shots….

Not a very high level of detail but whatevs…NEXT.

Seeya’s round (Audrey post up soon)

Hi!

Woo! I think I’m getting the hang of Corel Painter for real this time. Just took a few digs around on the web for a tutorial (there aren’t many good ones out there) and some tweaking of my brush settings. Much better.

Another copy of a pinup from way back – George Petty this time. Of course it doesn’t look a lot like his work as he has much cleaner lines and lighter colours. Still had to do it how I like it huh. This took about 3 hours again.
Eyes are a bit of a problem…I’m not drawing these with too high a resolution as I think I would get lost in the finicky detail if I did that and right now it’s more about quantity than quality. The more I slave away at something the more I hate it. And then I get all stuck on the face…Raarr!!
Anyway – A little of the process…Usually I start with a fairly low res file – say 700px across by 1000px high – which is enough to get most of the drawing done. Then I take it into Photoshop (cos Painter I find is pretty terrible for up-scaling) and pretty much double the size which in this case, gave me just enough room for a sort of recognisable face. You don’t want to go over what you’ve done in the low res file too much as I reckon that makes things too smooth, where focus should only be on the parts that matter – face etc.

I’m probably not making much sense. Or I’ve already explained this before. Do I blabber on about too much technical jargon?? If you have any questions about how I do things then please ask

Onto the drawings then….

And some (sort of) detail:

No reference photos to compare with this time You can dig them up on Google yourself if you’re so inclined. Good luck!
Hmm – the more I look at it the more faults I pick…

What’s next….

Yaaay finally some work!
Okay so it’s utterly shit.
But that wasn’t my intention to create something great. Trying to pick up the Corel Painter skillz again…trying some new things. I drew this without any initial sketch – something I realised I should be doing after finding it so liberating dropping the linework at life drawing. I was getting all stressed about getting the perfect line all this time, and yet I feel more comfortable pushing blocks of colour around.
The only problem now (there’s always a problem), is that Corel Painter doesn’t behave the way I want it to. Or more so, I haven’t figured out how to make it behave the way I want it to. Hrrmph. *whinge whinge whinge*

ANYWAY….so I started off happy with this…and then when I got to the face it all went bad. And I pottered around….and then I thought “F*** it, just FINISH IT”….the more I do the better I will get huh.
Took about 3 hours all up….copying directly from a Gil Elvgren painting.

And I’m a bit obsessed with pinups right now – I like the skin tones and the shapely legs. Legs are fun to draw/paint. I can hear my ConceptArt readers (think I still have a few of those?) screaming “But the anatomy!!!!”. Hehee – I won’t argue against that – have you seen how small the feets are in these paintings? But oh well….it’s practice.

So here’s the drawing…

Also – not something I usually do, I’ve added some inspiration pics…and the original. So you can see just how much I failed

Til next time…

Hi everyone!

Wow two posts in a week! And colours too. Omg what is the world coming to? Hehe

So what’s got me so excited as to be posting twice – and even doing a drawing to fit? Macarons of course. Who can resist these little delicacies? They seem to be all the rage right now, quickly taking over cupcakes in the trendy sweet stakes.

Claire of Melbourne Gastronome fame recently did a post about all about them and how those in the know can have access to the best macarons in Melbourne – those created by Duncan of Syrup and Tang. All you needed to do was put your name down on his website and hang out for that special email telling you when you can get your hands on a few. If you’re quick enough that is Being a complete sucker for treats, I was all over it. Eagerly I awaited any news….

And yesterday that news came. It took me all of 2 minutes to shoot off a reply saying “WANT PLZ” and my quick typing meant I was in line to receive my goodies. Following instructions for my pickup I landed these babies this afternoon…Salted caramel flavour and one test Seville orange marmalade which is to sit in the fridge for another day or so as they were apparently a FAIL, with a too crunchy shell. No matter. I was stoked.
So here are my photos – I nom’d one just to show you the insides….this was before dinner too…see what I do for this blog?

And let me tell you, these were DELICIOUS. I could eat 100. Bestest ever. Not too sweet, with that dash of salt, but gooey with a delicate, crisp outer. Mmmmm….sooo good!

Here’s my commemorative drawing. Broke out the Wacom and everything. Really need to get back to digital!

Until next time peeps, seeya!