Renee - Observational Drawing
 

This was a fast drawing done from photo reference, using a new technique. The technique is from a William Maughan book recommended to me by our own lovely and talented Linda Brandon.

I wanted to test the method and thus I worked fast and used fairly rough paper to discourage me from my typical "mouse milking". Much more organic than anything I have done prior, and the technique was just wonderful and BIG FUN!

I'm getting pretty talented at Guitar Hero 2, and that's about the extent of things right now.

About those Carb-Othello pencils: I think they are a little tricky, since they are so hard to erase if you have even a moderately heavy hand. If you're using a soft paper, there's the danger of abrasion and ruining the surface. I'm trying to remember who it was on this Forum who said that half the battle of creating a good drawing is finding the right marriage between paper and drawing media.

Have you tried 'wiping down' your drawing every few minutes with a big brush or soft cloth and then picking out with an eraser? This lets you work big soft shapes - it's a form of bringing things in and out of the fog. David Kassan showed me how he did this with his drawings. It adds a level of mystery and atmosphere that is otherwise hard to achieve in line drawings. Having an arsenal of good erasers (not just a kneaded one) is key when working this way.

Anyway - I am really enjoying all your drawings here, Michael. :)