In 2008 and 2009 I was living in France and the small town where I was living, they had a local art class which I joined to draw but also to practise French. I wasn’t working too much so I had a lot of spare time. This probably explains why I did a fair amount but not why I didn’t do more!
2008 - November
Comment: Trying to get body proportions right using the classic dummy. I still have the same dummy though it has lost a foot.
Comment: Trying to be quick, have a loose hand. Not sure it worked.
Comment: This time I even did a stickman.
Comment: Try and try again. All on the same day in November 2008 – 24th to be exact.
Comment: After overdosing on the mannequin, I used a photo and actually it came out alright though I am sure the centre of gravity of the boxes is completely off!
Comment: Another photo and again the same thing – all about the human form in different poses.
Comment: Using a reference photo but I clearly got bored by this point though in terms of proportions, this wasnt too bad.
Comment: The next day and again another reference photo. As before, once I’d done the outline I was bored of going any further.
Comment: The day after the day after. I switched from the human form to a face. Quarter profiles are not easy.
2008 - December
Comment: The first of three drawings on the 1st of this month, where I was still clearly motivated by whatever was the cause at that time.
Comment: The second drawing of the day, which I suspect didnt take more that 5 mins, maybe 10. I’ve reverted back to the human form.
Comment: The final drawing of the day of a ballet dancer which, in terms of proportion and movement actually didnt turn out too bad.
Comment: 2nd December, so doing a drawing the next day was good. I clearly became too ambitious as I did not have the skill to do either the forms or faces at those angles.
Comment: The first of 7 drawings on the same day, all of which would have been in class. I recall the teacher putting down a load of objects on a table and telling us to draw.
Comment: Drawing no 2, which should have been some kind of cup or jug.
Comment: Drawing no. 3 – a glam teapot.
Comment: Drawing no. 4, a jug.
Comment: Drawing no. 5, a teabag container and the last of the objects. Looking back on these photos shows that I did not improve!
Comment: Drawing no. 6 and I am not sure if I did this when I returned home or at the class.
Comment: Drawing no. 7 and the final one and again an ambitious attempt at a ballet dancer – maybe I had some book about ballet dancers? It also proved to be the last one of the year.
2009 - January
Date: 19/1/09
Comment: The first of a number of drawings from class and where we were introduced to ink.
A panda bear which is the easiest reference to use when using ink because of the black and white nature of it all.
Date: 19/1/09
Comment: I think this may have been the first attempt at drawing a big cat (see next drawing)
Date:19/1/09
Comment: The second attempt at the big cat. I think a tiger.
Date: 19/1/09
Comment: Again sticking with the black and white reference photos for using ink, a penguin.
Date: 19/1/09
Comment: Back to the pandas though I think sequentially this may have actually been after the first panda in ink.
Date: 25/1/09
Comment: I dont think I did this in class but I dont ever remember buying any ink so either I did this in class and just got the date wrong or I did this at home with watercolours.
Date: 25/1/09
Comment: There are several of these on the same day which does suggests I did in class. Another cat. A fat cat by the looks of it. I have to admit I am not particularly enarmoured by ink.
Date: 25/1/09
Comment: The final one of the day, yet another attempt at a cat and Happy Feet!
Date: 29/1/09
Comment: I definitely did this at home, using a watercolour set somebody had given me as a present many years before. I remember showing this to the art teacher (being a teacher’s pet and all) and she suggested using purple somewhere.
Date: 31/1/09
Comment: As the teacher had suggested I used purple in the mix and I got a much better contrast in the values. The proportions in this came out pretty good.
Date: 31/1/09
Comment: On the same day I tried yet again a more ambitious drawing using watercolours. It is pretty flat. I remember thinking at the time that people who use watercolour make it look so easy when it really isn’t.
2009 - February
Date: 7/2/09
Comment: The first of 5 drawings when I attempted to draw big cats. This would definitely been at home rather than in a class.
Date: 7/2/09
Comment: Drawing no. 2 – a running cat.
Date: 7/2/09
Comment: Drawing no. 3, a cat that has been alerted to something.
Date: 7/2/09
Comment: Drawing no. 4 the only one where you can tell the type of big cat, the lion.
Date: 7/2/09
Comment: Drawing no. 5 and the final cat which given the tree is likely to have been a jaguar or leopard.
In all of these I clearly didnt have the patience or discipline to do more than the outline.
Date: Feb 2009
Comment: The first of a number of drawings where I didnt make a note of the exact date but just assumed it would be in that month.
The mannequin again but with a bit more detail.
Date: Feb 2009
Comment: I clearly gave up after a few mins. But this was the last drawing in that particular sketch book.
Date: Feb 2009
Comment: One of my very few attempts to draw a real life person. If you can guess who then job done!
Date: Feb 2009
Comment: This was definitely in class because it is an introduction to charcoal, a medium that never have chosen because of the requirement to have dirty hands!
Date: Feb 2009
Comment: I recall this being at the end of the class where charcoal was introduced hence why it is part done. I ummed and arred about whether to include it but I wanted to include all so in it went.
2009 - March & April
Date: 9/3/09
Comment: A class drawing using charcoal and brown wrapping paper provided by the teacher. That was the first time I’ve ever used such paper to draw on and I cant remember why we used that.
I thought these came out ok given my limited experience with the charcoal medium which was growing on me despite the dirty hands price.
Date: 9/3/09
Comment: The second drawing of the class, again on the brown wrapping paper. Again I thought these came out ok though they lack detail.
Date: 15/3/09
Comment: This one was done at home (in pencil, not charcoal). My main memory of this drawing is struggling to get a black black.
Date: 15/3/09
Comment: The second (or it could have been the first) attempted drawing of the day but this time I used a reference photo of two friends at an Aztec or Mayan site in Mexico somewhere. It was hard so I abandoned it.
Date: 30/3/09
Comment: Back in class with the ink but I think this time we draw the outline in ink.
Date: 30/3/09
Comment: The second ink attempt of the class. Rubbish and hard work but the base drawing was ok.
Date: 4/4/09
Comment: This is definitely a drawing at home where I attempted ink and decided at that moment that medium was not for me!
Date: 20/4/09
Comment: A charcoal attempt using a reference photo. Again one suspects I simply got bored!
The next set of drawings are all marked as March 2009 but that is a guess as I didnt write down the dates. So they would have been intermingled with the above March and April drawings. The majority of these are focussed on the human face.
Comment: If I could delete the lips which are too small and make the nostril move slightly to the left this would be ok.
Comment: I clearly got bits wrong in this and then gave up rather than correct.
Comment: One of the few times I attempted do something a bit different and learn a particular skill, the perspective. The classic street scene.
Comment: A second attempt at perspective but with a car to see if it would be easier. It was not.
Comment: This drawing and the following which are similar in composition are different from others in one aspect – there is no reference image that I was using. I was just using what I knew at that point about drawing eyes, nose and mouth.
I remember doing this on the sofa in front of the TV watching something, nothing.
In this case I started and then abandoned.
Comment: A second attempt at the mental image.
Comment: A third attempt.To date, one that I like even though the nose could have been a bit better.
Comment: I think this one may well have been around the time I tried the Obama drawing. I really have no member of this at all, not even if this person was a famous person or just a random.
Comment: The reference photo is actually me, taken by a friend whilst sitting on a beach in sunny Brittany. That was around a time when I struggled to be sensible in front of a camera.
Comment: Th reference photo was of Vanessa Paradis and again the biggest difficulty was the hair and getting a black black. This is also in charcoal.
This drawing was the first in a my new A2 sketch book, the biggest pages that I had ever attempted on.
Comment: Again in the A2 sketchbook, I’d discovered the challenge of drawing wrinkles. The reference photo was an elderly lady holding a baby but I was only interested in drawing the elderly lady.
Comment: Another charcoal drawing in the A2 sketch book, a bit rubbish really.
Comment: Another drawing in the A2 sketch book but in pencil. I was trying to capture an elderly gentleman but it ended up being a bit of comic style drawing rather than a sketch.
Comment: The final sketch in the A2 sketch book. The reference photo was actually one of the grandsons of my host parents in France. I quite like this save for the nose. If I could correct this, I would! The hair came out better than I thought it would.
Comment: What can I say about this?
Comment: Another attempt at learning the human proportions using the mannequin.
Conclusions to 2008 and 2009 drawings
2008 and 2009 were easily my most sustained attempt to draw. This was because I took classes. But when I stopped taking classes, I stopped drawing.