A Daisy in Graphite

Completed: September 8, 2013
Time Spent: ?
Materials: Different pencil grades, tortillons, regular eraser, kneaded eraser,
Paper: Strathmore recycled sketch paper, 9in x 12in

NatGeo Turtle

I started this drawing in October 2012. This one took almost nine months from start to completion. It proved to be a huge challenge for me. I'd be lying if I said I had a lot of fun working on it, because I often felt overwhelmed and frustrated. I really didn't know what I was doing. I could draw shapes. Shading, I could figure out, although I did struggle with it a lot. It was figuring out how to draw the different textures that really kicked my ass, so much so that I had to walk away from the drawing so many times—sometimes for weeks at a time.

Of course, all the frustration and fear (yes, fear) was all worth it when I finally completed the drawing. I'm quite happy about how the turtle turned out. It's perfect in my eyes. :) I did my best with the seaweeds and the seafloor, and I know they could be done a lot better, but that's the whole point, isn't it? Take a challenge, not to achieve perfection, but to see how far you can go and where you need to improve on.

Nota bene:
Although shading is also still a weakness, I was able to cope with it relatively well. I knew I still had a long way to go in terms of seeing the interplay of light and shadow and rendering that on paper, so trying to get that right on this drawing was an enjoyable learning process for me.

Completed: 7 July 2013
Time Spent: Not sure. Lots of hours.
Materials: Different pencil grades, tortillons, regular eraser, kneaded eraser, workable fixative
Paper: Strathmore 300 Series Drawing Paper, 18in x 24in

Hellsing: Alucard

Who doesn't want to draw Alucard? Who doesn't?!

I needed to practice shading to render light and shadow in my drawings, and I thought this was a perfect drawing to practice with. I also liked the challenge of drawing the gun. Drawing the straight lines was going to be easy with a ruler, but I knew getting the angle right was a different story. I had to redo them a few times, which also required a lot of erasing and re-shading.

I struggled quite a bit with the top left corner section of the drawing. Making dark marks on white paper was so much easier that the other way around. Perhaps would have done better with a larger drawing, but then again, I just didn't know what I was doing. (The saliva dripping on the creature's mouth in my version makes that quite obvious!)

There are no techniques in my drawings in the sense that I just draw with my intuition. I'm a trial and error kind of learner. (That's formally known as a tactile-kinesthetic learner, isn't it?) I've read books and articles online, so I'm familiar with drawing terminologies mentally, but they're not sinking in. They will eventually but not until I get to a point where I'm able to "see". At this time, I'm just exploring and indulging my eagerness to create finished drawings. I'm just playing, in other words. That should let you know why I'm not being articulate—that is, not using drawing terminologies—to write about my process.

Completed: 8 November 2012  6:26P
Time Spent: 10 hours
Materials: Different pencil grades, vine charcoal, tortillons, regular eraser, kneaded eraser, Faber-Castell pencil eraser, Pentel Ain Clic Knock Triangular Eraser, red marker, ruler
Paper: Canson Bristol, 11in x 14in

My Smurf

I started working on this before the Smiling Korean Girl drawing. This is the final version. I first "released" the version below.

Completed: 30 July 2012
Time Spent: 6 hours
Paper: Strathmore 300 Series Drawing Paper, 18in x 24in
Materials: Different pencil grades, vine charcoal, tortillons, regular eraser,
kneaded eraser

Pretty Korean Smile

This was a huge challenge for me. I'd be lying if I told you I had a lot of fun with it, especially because I never attempted to draw a human face before. However, I loved the original work so much, I just couldn't resist trying my hand at copying it. I'm glad I didn't give up on it.  It's one of my favorite pieces now.

Completed: 7 July 2012
Time Spent: 20+ hours
Paper: Strathmore 300 Series Drawing Paper, 18in x 24in
Materials: Different pencil grades, tortillons, regular eraser, kneaded eraser,

First Flower Drawing

This was my first attempt at drawing from a photograph. The flower is beautiful and it had clear lines that I could follow. Through this exercise, I discovered how useful tortillons could be in making light, subtle shades.

Completed: 2 July 2012
Time Spent: 8+ hours
Paper: Multipurpose paper, 8.5in x 11in
Materials: Different pencil grades, pink eraser, tortillons

Lion Fish

I apologize for all the pencil smudges on the page. I debated for a momemt if I should remove them digitally and decided it's better to leave it as it is. This is a record of my progress after all.

I loved the drawing when I first saw it on Facebook, and I was excited to try drawing it. The experience was both fun and frustrating at the same time. Using grids to help me draw the outline, I was excited to see the fish take form without a lot of mistakes. However, the shading process was a different story. I struggled with it quite a bit. I think I erased the stripes in different spots a few times. I realized too late that the stripes weren't random. It was a good lesson about paying attention to details.

Needless to say, I was quite happy to learn my lesson and felt proud that I did it!

Completed: 17 June 2012
Time Spent: 15+ hours
Paper: Strathmore recycled sketch paper, 9in x 12in
Materials: Different pencil grades, regular eraser

Harajuku Girl

This is a tag from a cute Harajuku purse that my sister gave me. The characters looked like fun to draw, so I did and this is my mix 'n' match version. It took me forever to shade the hair. I remember wishing I made a smaller drawing. Talk about big hair!

Completed: 12 November 2011
Time Spent: 6+ hours
Paper: Strathmore recycled sketch paper, 9in x 12in
Materials: Pencils, regular eraser

My Aladdin Insulated Tumbler

After my self-portrait exercise fiasco, I was determined to test my skills without the time pressure. It took forever, but I managed to produce a drawing that I'm quite proud of this time. Not bad for a first attempt at freehand drawing in ages.

Working on this drawing allowed me to try and discover the different grades of lead pencils.

Completed: 11 Nov 2011
Time Spent: 8+ hours
Paper: Strathmore recycled sketch paper, 9in x 12in
Materials: 8H, 9H, HB, 2B pencils, pink eraser

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First Self-Portrait

This is my first attempt at drawing my self-portrait. I know. I know. It's pretty scary. If I remember correctly, it's the first exercise in Betty Edwards's very popular book, Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain. The exercise is meant as a record of our current skills and to be used as a measure of our progress over time.

I have a mixed feeling about this drawing. It doesn't excite me, because I could've done better; but I'm also kinda proud of it, because I know I have improved much since I drew it. However, I'm steering clear from portraits for now. Yikes.

Lesson learned: Don't doubt yourself. I started this drawing already fully convinced that I would fail. Not good.

Completed: 5 Nov 2011
Time Spent: 20 minutes
Paper: Strathmore recycled sketch paper, 9in x 12in
Materials: 2H Pencil, pink eraser

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