Day 30 - wolves (final day)

Day 30 (final day)
Topic - wolves continued
 
I read that the Latin roots of the word satisfaction mean "enough action". I must have done enough drawing the past month because I feel pretty satisfied. I even had to take an emergency trip to the shops to buy another sketchbook. Holding a completed sketchbook feels good, it somehow seems much heavier.
 
I hope you enjoyed following my personal challenge. If you did then please like and share with your art-loving friends over on my facebook page here. Thanks for all of your support. Kind wishes to you all!

Day 29 - wolves

Day 29
Topic - Wolves

A fun topic but my time is short today, so here's a quick grab. 

Day 28 - kangaroos

Day 28
Topic - kangaroos

Today was another one of those days I wanted to keep my sketchbook to myself. This challenge has been both good and bad. On the one hand it has got me practicing drawing a lot more consistently, but on the other it has obliged me to show drawings I'm not exactly proud of. I do enjoy looking at the unedited sketchbooks of other artists though, so here's to the spirit of openness.

(Ken Hultgren studies are noted, otherwise they were from photo reference.)

Day 27 - Crustaceans

Day 27
Topic - crustaceans

The past few days I've tried to go beyond my original challenge and show more finished illustrations instead of just studies. With all the visual research I've done the last month I'm starting to get quite a few fun ideas. I thought it would be more interesting to see the results of my research rather than the research itself. I was hoping to show another finished piece today but I underestimated how hard it is to come up with something finished every day. Anyway I hope you find something of value in seeing my studies.

Crustacean sub

Day 26
Topic - Crustacean sub

Unidentified Floating Crustaceans

 

'Grow'vember day 25

Topic - 'Unidentified Floating Crustaceans'

'Grow'vember day 24 - sauropods

Day 24
Topic - sauropods

'Grow'vember day 23 - T Rex

 

Day 23
topic - Tyrannosaurus rex

To feather or not to feather? I heard in a radio show that more has been learned about dinosaurs -since- the film Jurassic Park than in all the time before the film! The bottom image shows my preliminary studies, mostly from the above mentioned film, and from Walking with Dinosaurs the puppet show. The uppermost image was a test to see what I'd learned from the reference material.

'Grow'vember day 22 - stegosaurus

 

Day 22
Topic - stegosaurus

'Grow'vember day 21 - pigs

 

Day 21

Topic - pigs

'Grow'vember day 20 - yet more castles

Day 20
Topic - yet more castles

Less sloppy by the day I think. A lot more focus on getting the tone working too today. I'm happy enough with these to move on to the next topic.

'Grow'vember day 19 - more castles

Day 19
Topic - more castles

'Grow'vember day 18 - Castles

Day 18
Topic - castles

A big subject castles, I might sneak them into tomorrow's topic as well. :)

'Grow'vember day 17 - Man-eating plants

Day 17
Topic - man-eating plants

'Grow'vember day 16 - imaginary flora

Day 16
Topic - imaginary flora

I had in mind strange fanciful trees for today's topic, but without including any clues to scale I guess they could just as easily be small plants.

'Grow'vember day 15 - rocks

 

Day 15

Topic - rock formations

'Grow'vember day 14 - more anatomy study

Day 14
Topic - torso structure and leg musculature

'Grow'vember day 13 - hip & leg bones

 

 

Day 13

Topic - hip & leg bones

Today I decided to return to basics and study the amazing anatomical drawings of Gottfried Bammes. I'm focusing on the bones of the hip and leg in particular.

'Grow'vember day 12 - tigers

 

Day 12
Topic - tigers

Well there's no way in the world a day is enough to master the drawing of tigers.. but I feel I've put in a good effort today and inched my way forward.

'Grow'vember day 11 - tailfins & fender skirts

Another fun topic today, but shading took up most of my time. Would have loved to do another page. Follow on facebook to catch tomorrow's topic!

'Grow'vember day 10 - galleons

'Grow'vember day 9 - camels

Day 9
Topic - camels, or The Ships of the desert

'Grow'vember day 8 - Harley Davidsons

Day 8
Topic - Harley Davidsons

A difficult subject today. I'm glad I only promised a page!

'Grow'vember day 7 - elephants

Day 7
Topic - elephants

'Grow'vember day 6 - Planes

Day 6
Topic - planes

'Grow'vember day 5 - Horses

Day 5 topic - horses

I'd love to be able to take full credit for this week's studies, but alas I have to be clear that good use was made of the enormous amount of reference available on the internet. Much of the hard work of simplifying and deconstructing form has already been done in the case of man's other best friend - horses. Where applicable, thanks to those artists who will recognize their hard work in my drawing studies, and I hope this simple statement is credit enough.

'Grow'vember day 4 - Vampire bats

Day 4 topic - vampire bats

I had no idea vampire bats are so fascinating. They have so much personality and variation. I could easily spend the month studying bats alone. I also discovered a species called a Greater False Vampire Bat. How sad to be called false.

'Grow'vember day 3 - boats

Day 3 topic - boats

'Grow'vember 2nd

Day 2 - topic Australian actors

So it's a double post today, as I posted day one of my daily drawing challenge earlier this morning.

'Grow'vember 1st

Yesterday I was doing some visual research just for fun. I do this when I'm not sure what to draw. The topic was the character King Kong. Not only was it fun, but I realised it's too important an exercise to do so infrequently. With drawing, being able to represent form well is one thing. But having a rich mental bank of imagery is just as priceless. With this realisation I decided to undertake 'Grow'vember. Each day for the month of November, I'll take a topic, and fill at least one page in my sketchbook with visual studies. Going public with this was also a way to keep me on track. I'll be posting the sketchbook drawings here on my blog, on my facebook page, and on my twitter account. Here's to a month of artistic growth.