We are Strong. We will Stand and Fight.

I had wanted to have my revised portrait painting done by today so that could be my Friday post.. a glorious, year-in-the-lazy-painting process! Unfortunately, I'm still not happy with it and need to work on it some more. In the meantime, I thought I could share some thumbs for a painting I'm about to start working on. I always like seeing in-process work, so here's some of mine. I'll definitely show the finished painting once it's done.

After several ideas, #4 is the one I like the most so far. Although the reference photo was shot horizontally, there was something nice about arranging the shapes in a vertical format. It also seemed to lend more negative space to establish the dark, creepy mood I'm aiming for. What are your thoughts?

But also, let me be real. The real reason I'm not producing anything substantial today is because I am SO PUMPED to see Symphony X tonight at The Regency Ballroom in San Francisco!!! It's been years since I've been to a show--way too long. I know, I'm lame. Tonight will be epic.

A quick charcoal sketch inspired by the awesome headbanging I expect to see and do tonight!

Drawing Dump

It is as I said... and here, a dump of drawings from the summer.

One of my last from Anatomy... finally starting to get the hang of white charcoal pencil on toned paper.

I really enjoyed drawing this model. She had a lot of energy and beautiful curves (including her lovely hair!)

Loved her hair cut and the look-away.

I now have a thing for drawing backs... mmm, back muscles...

Something about this model (and I've drawn her a few times in varying classes) reminds me of Brienne of Tarth... (yup, still hooked on that crack)

And Another is Vanquished!

Summer semester has finished once more! I must say, this has been my favorite semester at AAU yet. Anatomy for

Artists and Expressive Drawing... both classes nurtured my favorite things about drawing--the human figure and experimentation! I'm happy to say I've learned a few things, be it muscles of the body or the wonder that is matte medium.

So, what happens after the end of every semester? Lots of scanning, photographing, and re-working! Uh, not to mention drinking copious amounts of coffee while sitting at home, basking in the freedom of each day.

For now, take a gander at these life drawings done on toned paper. More to come as the digitization proceeds.

The interlocking of forms is something I've heard before when drawing the figure, but this concept really was hammered in and made more sense to me now. Check out that ankle.. aww, yeah.. interlock into that foot.

On a surprising note, I never thought I would actually come to LIKE charcoal. Accept, begin to grasp its benefits, sure... but actually think about using it in my own time?! Toned paper, charcoal pencils, and white pencil.... pretty sweet. Now to experiment with colored pencils as well.

Oh, and have I mentioned how sweet Sanguine pencils/conte is?

Snow Bunny (w/o snow)

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's to working toward 2011 being a productive, creative, and fun year!

But first, one last post from my past semester. This was my final for a Head Drawing class at AAU. Enjoy!

The assignment was to draw from a chosen reference pool of our fellow classmates. Since my camera sucks, most of the time I have to base my decision more on which photo isn't blurry, but luckily this particular shot came out well. How could I resist a bunny hat?

There's something I like about the simple, flat shapes in this beginning stage.

Acetone splatter!

And here was the final I turned in for class. After some critique from my instructor, and my own realization once it was up on the wall and I was feet away, there needed to be some changes made. The brightness of the hat was too stark and drew away from my desired focal point of the face (namely eyes and nose). Throw that sucker back up on the drawing board!

Here it is with corrections. I lightened up the face and darkened some areas more to enhance the contrast, hopefully negating some of that surging bright power of the white bunny hat. I'm satisfied with the drawing overall, and have come to appreciate charcoal more after this class. Of course, once I found out about splatter textures my relationship with charcoal deepened that much more. You will never take my acetone!!!

Head Drawing Midterm

There's something about the initial sketch's looseness that I like which, unfortunately, gets a little bit lost in the final version.

This was neither the first nor last of the reconstructive surgery her lovely face underwent.

Final! Not the best, but I definitely feel that my drawing skills are getting somewhere a little further down the road... and charcoal is no longer my enemy.

More Charcoal! And a Deadline!

Charcoal is still far from being my favorite medium. I just feel like it's so hard to control... not impossible or as hard as other mediums, but I just have a difficult time. I need much bigger charcoal. These hands are way too big for tiny, pointy charcoal.

What is fun about charcoal is the mess. I always look forward to seeing how ridiculous I look after a drawing.



This was only after two drawings. lol And not even those really dark ones (the first in the post). Mah face is dirty....

ALSO..... DEADLINE!!!
I've decided that the deadline for the first chapter of my comic will be February 1, 2010. This gives me my break between semesters to work on it, and that should be enough time. So I'll be posting teasers on here, but all of it won't be available until the physical minicomics are made.

Clothed Figure Drawing

So my first assignment for my Clothed Figure Drawing class online at AAU's grad program is complete! Woo boy that was a long-winded sentence. It was pretty interesting to already learn some new techniques, such as sharpening the charcoal.



Now, this may be obvious to some of you, but Columbia's Fine Art department was hit or miss. I guess I got through not really being told about this phenomenon. For those who are still in the dark, all you do is take an X-acto knife (or any good knife for that matter) and shave it down to a point. It makes a mess, as you can see, so make sure you're more prepared than I was. I really love the patterns the charcoal makes as it's shaved off though. After cutting it down, you're supposed to smooth it with sand paper but since I am lacking that now, I just worked with it as is.



This was the first drawing I did after some warm-up exercises. I'm also holding the charcoal differently now--against my fingers and held with my thumb so that I can gain more movement and flexibility when drawing.



Also what was different this drawing around was that I started with the eyes and related everything to one another as I went, as opposed to roughing the entire form in all at once. I think it came out ok? lol It was definitely a different experience.

All in all, working with charcoal again was lots of fun--especially with new techniques. However... there was one thing I forgot about charcoal.



The photo doesn't do my face justice as to how ridiculous I looked. It was all along the side of my face and on my chin.. haha...

If anyone happens to still be reading too (I know, crazy right? Of course I'm just talking to myself and the internet), due to my renewed love and interest in charcoal and drawing the clothed human figure, if anyone wants a quick drawing of themselves then by all means, let me know!!!

Send me a few photos of yourself.... CLOTHED. And let's keep it somewhat decent.. at least try. I mean ultimately it's up to you but know there's a chance it'll be going up on this here blog so you may want to keep your privates to yourself. E-mail me at melisa.desrosiers@gmail.com, include a photo or two, tell me a little bit about yourself, and I'll get to drawing. Then I'll e-mail the drawing to you as a high-res file just in case you want to print it out or anything. If I decide to post it on my blog, I'll let you know first before doing so.

Alrighty! I shall await your responses.

::crickets chirp::