The Mistresses' Sketchbook

We have merged with Drawn Today!

2009-12-02T00:21:00.002-06:00

We are now at:

Drawn Today

It was inevitable. I mean how long can you keep girls and boys apart?

All the posts here have been imported into Drawn Today and all the contributors are receiving an invitation to Drawn Today.

Let's get sketching!

Fairy Sketch

2009-11-29T19:58:00.003-06:00

One of my many goals is to finish up some projects that have been gathering dust around the studio. Most of these older projects are intimidating me for one reason or another (can anyone relate??). Either I'm unsure how to proceed with the medium or I'm not happy with the initial concept. Though I like the look of this one (top drawing), I'm uncertain what I want to convey. Yesterday, I spent some time reworking the fairy in this bottom sketch, trying to make her look less coy and more sad and dejected because she's been caught in a snare. Um....decisions, decisions.

New Moleskine -

2009-11-29T19:22:00.003-06:00

Finished out my old one, so got to start in my tiny, new Moleskine this weekend. Christened it with a view of the informal concert we watched my daughter play in downtown at Seattle's Winterfest celebration.

I also listened to this weekend's Conceptart.org's live streaming class on sketchbooks. Lots of great examples of famous artists sketching (and not the beautiful, elegantly composed and finished 'sketches' that many artists sell now as sketchbooks). Plus a number of good ideas on sketchbook exercises and subjects. A worthwhile way to spend the afternoon.

Must.Keep.Drawing....

Happy Chicken -er, Turkey Day!

2009-11-26T23:04:00.005-06:00

("Fancy Chicken" - a Yokohama Red Shoulder Cockerel to be exact. For "The Wind Dancers", published by Feiwel & Friends).

Happy Thanksgiving - my artsy-drawing friends. Thanks for your talent and your input and for enriching my life the last couple of years.

Goblin Girl take One

2009-11-26T11:37:00.002-06:00

So I've been trying to find my own "style". It seems that I've been looking for it for a long time with no luck. Then the other day I had an epiphany... I think I have actually had a "style" for years but I've been trying to paint realistically and have unintentionally brought a lot of undue stress onto myself. In trying to paint like Donato, Rebecca, Scott etc. I lost my own voice which was barely audible as it was. Doing a lot of research and talking with Madeline about licensing and artists who do quite well for themselves with licensing has had me thinking in a different way about my own work. Oddly enough it opens me up to a lot of freedom. Could I really make a living painting and drawing what I love and want to create rather than deal with being art directed? Even though this girl is just a beginning idea, it's the way I always used to draw. My question to everyone is this, "Is the natural way that I draw too elementary? Is it worthwhile in your opinions to go more toward this direction?

Breast cancer benefit needs art

2009-11-23T16:42:00.000-06:00

From Art Order:

Step up and help Daarken with his Beautiful Grim benefit - http://tinyurl.com/yehy353

--Madeline

Eakins in ballpoint

2009-11-19T19:11:00.003-06:00

I was at the Mutter Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art yesterday. I guess the former informed the latter because I found myself copying a portion of it in my little sketchbook. Photo taken with my iPhone.

--Madeline

IlluxCon Saturday Night Model Drawings

2009-11-17T22:52:00.003-06:00

The model was a bit of a moving target so it was a great challenge to get the pose before it changed - which was a lot of fun! The profile is something I doodled out of my head.

--Madeline

Christmas Promo - Finish

2009-11-17T01:40:00.002-06:00

While you all were off galavanting at IlluxCon, I was home. Painting. Got this finished at any rate...

Life Drawing -

2009-11-13T19:16:00.003-06:00

"Draped figure" day at life drawing this morning -

We did a series of short poses of our long-necked, leggy model. I decided to mostly ignore the faces/hands/anatomy and focus on the drapery and folds. To see how much I could get laid in in the various scant 20 minute poses. Also tried out different densities of charcoal pencils, from hard to soft - which means I can either have more control or more value...

Made good use of "The Virgin Queen" soundtrack for background accompaniment.

Cat Sketches

2009-11-10T00:12:00.002-06:00

I have my first children's book commission. The author is a wonderful 72 year old lifetime educator. She's self-publishing which is an avenue many authors are taking these days. The title is A Grand Cat and it's based on the true story of Fred the cat.

Right now I'm developing the storyboard and book dummy. I'm also playing around with the style and look of the illustrations. The author has given me a free rein in both. Right now, I'm simply studying cats and their expressions and anatomy. Next, I tried drawing them without the photo references and attempted to draw a cat based on memory and characterization. Have much work to do before this feels more fluid and free.

Christmas Promo - WIP

2009-11-08T21:07:00.004-06:00

This is the final drawing for my Christmas promo requested by my agents. Their theme this year is 'Caroling'. It is sadly lacking in dragons, but for the children's market it should do fine. :-)

The simpler and more decorative the piece, the harder I find it to make *the right* color choices. Since I paint these in watercolor, I must know before I begin what colors are going where, with few options to change after the fact beyond a bit a glazing. I'm tending towards the lower right, but don't really like the cool background. However warm (ochre? cream?) might be too much warm?

Thoughts?

Life Drawing -

2009-11-06T23:21:00.003-06:00

Short-pose, sleep-deprived week.

30 minutes. Charcoal. Nap needed.

Lifedrawing and new FW inks

2009-11-02T10:57:00.003-06:00

Guess I'm joining the trend of using toned paper! I very much enjoyed using it... even though I was kicking myself for over-working the leg, as well as thinning down the model's loose arm so much that it looks like a macaroni noodle, but that's why we do these things right?... Live and learn. Also got some new FW inks so I was just playing around with 'em... this very sketchy unicorn is the first thing I did (other than some color squares) and the colors are from different mixes of indigo and scarlet ink. The best way apparently is not to mix them first but to use light layers to achieve the colors desired (they seem to look fairly different when wet from dry.)

jester hats

2009-11-02T00:40:00.000-06:00

I've been working on a jester hat logo and here are some iterations of one version of it:

Mummy

2009-10-29T23:18:00.002-05:00

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Jester Logo

2009-10-27T05:00:00.006-05:00

Three version of a jester hat logo.
The customer wants to use it as his logo for everything from favicons to embellishing his suit lining.

Fanart and Sketches

2009-10-24T18:02:00.003-05:00

Finished sketch of Emmett from Twilight (non-movie version). No snickers please.
From sketchbook, scanned and toned in ps. Playing around with different proportions...slightly exaggerating head for fairy possibilities.

More "oatmeal" sketching -

2009-10-22T23:53:00.003-05:00

Here is an uncharacteristic "monster" design by Alphonse Mucha - for Halloween. Need softer/darker pencils. Don't think I want to draw on white paper ever again. :-)

H is for Hygeia

2009-10-22T19:22:00.004-05:00

I got some great shots of a friends little girl during a photo shoot. This one in particular I wanted to turn into something mythological based. I was thinking snakes or octopus. So I came up with a little Hygeia. She was a goddess of health and healing....hense the term hygene. She is always pictured with a snake signifying healing and medicine. Anyway, it was fun.

sketch work ups

2009-10-22T00:20:00.003-05:00

Work ups for some commissions.

More sketchbook fun -

2009-10-21T21:30:00.003-05:00

Head study after Edward Burne-Jones.

[Graphite and white charcoal on toned paper]

Nifty new sketchbook!

2009-10-20T02:36:00.002-05:00

After seeing some of the examples of drawing on toned paper by Mike and Jennifer, I acquired a Utrecht 11x14 'oatmeal' paged sketchbook.

Practiced on copying some Master drawings at the retreat last weekend. This one after Hans Holbein (who drew fascinatingly 'real' looking figures from the court of King Henry VIII. Most of them somewhat homely and decidedly *not* idealized). Great fun.

Sunday Sketching -

2009-10-18T15:47:00.003-05:00

Only a couple more pages left in this tiny purse Moleskine....
(Maybe for Halloween, I'll draw their skeletal structures instead? Just like Steve over on Drawn Today. :-)

Life Drawing -

2009-10-16T19:44:00.003-05:00

Sleep deprived long-pose day....

Last week's Lifedrawing, plus a Photoshop layer

2009-10-15T12:37:00.005-05:00

I couldn't get the effect I was looking for at the studio last week, so I came home and twiddled with it in PS just by adding a layer and erasing some highlighted areas (which I'm embarrassed to admit I'd never even THOUGHT of doing until Dan DosSantos did it in his presentation at IMC. I felt like a nitwit, because it seems so obvious now, and is also something I can do with a mouse-- at least to experiment with compositions-- until I get my tablet working again.) I like it better but still, not my favorite thing ever. I had trouble getting that left leg (the one she's holding) to come forward instead of being amorphously joined to her torso. Sharper highlights on the kneecap may have helped there. Oh well, "better next time."

Play!

2009-10-13T01:02:00.004-05:00

I just returned from our annual fall illustrator's retreat weekend. Lots of art happened - including drawing in my nifty-new, large toned sketchbook (I'll post some of those soon).

One of the 'fun' projects we dabbled in was intaglio printing on plexiglass plates. Here was my initial tiny practice plate and a few of experimental prints I pulled. Incredibly fun. Want to do more!

To anyone interested in buying the much revered cachet kraft paper sketchbooks:

2009-10-10T18:56:00.003-05:00

I just bought an 8.5" x 11" hardbound, 80 sheet one for $12.95 at WAL*MART.
It must be a new item because I have never seen it there before.

So when you pickup your motor oil, big-screen tv and a gallon of Sunny D, stop by the crafts department and take a look-see.

--Madeline

In Progress

2009-10-09T10:45:00.002-05:00

Hello All! This is a piece I'm working on that will be completed by next week's deadline. It is the interpretation of a Henry David Thorough quote.

Temple in the cliffs

2009-10-07T14:31:00.007-05:00

This is a rough pen and ink drawing that I liked the concept of and started playing around with its colors in Photoshop.

Yes, I know the cliffs look like clouds. I don't have a tablet, just a laptop mousey-pad, so Photoshop is always an exercise in frustration for me... I think I will invest in a tablet soon as it seems very useful. :)

I was thinking of eventually painting this in some traditional medium as a portfolio piece, but I don't know if it would be too simplistic and boring just as a peaceful landscape... I mean, surely there should at least be a dragon twined about one of those roofs, right?... so I'd like to know any opinions or suggestions you all might have to either add interest or make it a stronger piece. Thanks! -Abby

Fun times with foreshortening -

2009-10-03T00:25:00.002-05:00

Short pose, life drawing day. About 15 minutes...

Some WIPs ...

2009-09-30T23:46:00.004-05:00

(...a sample of which is shown here....)

...complete with drama and peril...

...are posted in full over at the home blog....

Boat Art

2009-09-28T20:51:00.001-05:00

I call this "boat art" because this piece is an example of the art I was working on last spring when I was traveling regularly to the mainland on the ferry. I found it was the perfect time to work on small pieces (this one is about 5"x6" right now) and helped make the time pass more quickly. I haven't been traveling on the boat much lately, so this piece kinda got buried. But I found it again recently and am planning on having it finished for Illuxcon.
-Sheila

More tiny Moleskine...

2009-09-28T00:47:00.004-05:00

Larger faces -

-and quickie smaller ones (mostly smaller than a quarter).

Finished

2009-09-27T16:53:00.001-05:00

Well, here it is. I had to stop somewhere, but I was so tempted to work to the edge of the paper. Must move on to other things now. Anybody got any ideas for a title?

-Sheila

Tarot Card - work in progress

2009-09-26T01:09:00.016-05:00

This is my progress on the Knight of Cups card I'm doing for a "Who Killed Amanda Palmer?" tarot deck. The card size will be 3"x5.5" but I am working up to a 12"x16" and I will crop and resize the digital file.
I still don't have a set methodology but this how this one went.
Thumbnail sketch in ballpoint.
Tried a drawing on tracing paper in pencil but it didn't have the same feeling as the thumbnail so I scanned the thumbnail.
Messed around with color and mash-ups in Elements.
I enlarged the main figure so the lady in the bowl would be larger, too.
Printed out on Bristol board and trimmed to 12"x16".
Laminated the print to gessoboard.
Worked in with color pencils and did some inking.

A note on the printer: I just bought an hp officejet 7000. It prints up to 13"x19" and only has 4 ink cartridges. I got it for $179.99 at Staples. It printed the 2-ply bristol board with no problem and looked perfect. I have yet to check out how good the photo prints are.

Sketching in the Dark...

2009-09-25T22:58:00.002-05:00

Me and my tiny purse-Moleskine go everywhere together... Last night it was to the theater. The play was cute, but not gripping so I felt free to sketch some of the fun costumes and sets and profiles. Made even more exciting by the fact that I couldn't really see what I was drawing.

You can see more location sketching in my latest blog entry.

Drop Caps

2009-09-25T22:41:00.003-05:00

So....I've been pretty lax about posting lately so it's time to get back on it! This is a sketch for a current project I'm working on for a client. Drop cap for a gardening story. I'll take it into Painter and finish it in black and white. It's an interior ... no color! I have more on my personal blog if you want to check them out. ChristinaHess.blogspot.com. I will also be posting sketches of the key and spot for the stories as well.

Painting on Vellum ala Sergio Martinez

2009-09-23T22:18:00.006-05:00

I've been a fan of Sergio's every since I discovered his illustrations for Max Lucado's "You Are Special". His composition and line work are wonderful and strong. He creates his luminous colors by drawing on both sides of vellum. I've been a fan of drawing on vellum for years now so I was very interested in his technique. In one of his blog posts he mentioned that his whole process was explained in an out-of-print edition of Step by Step Graphics. Fortunately, someone on ConceptArt who owned that edition scanned and posted the whole article. UNfortunately, the link is now down. If anyone would like to have a copy, let me know and I can email it to you. This is my experimental sketch & value study. Next I will cover the sketch with a sheet of heavy, 90gm vellum and redraw with a carbon charcoal pencil. Hopefully, I will be ready to post the next step tomorrow.

Edit: So I'm not hogging Mistress Sketchbook blog space, you can follow the rest of this experimental process on my art blog.

Sunday Sketching -

2009-09-21T20:34:00.002-05:00

Tried to push the stylizing a bit. (there were kids sitting behind me watching. They didn't think I captured the essence of the people I was drawing at all... Needs work apparently).

partial sketch

2009-09-19T23:57:00.002-05:00

Doing a little sketching from a photo on my pc screen. Need to get better at capturing likenesses so I will leave out the subject do avoid embarrassing myself.

Life Drawing -

2009-09-18T23:53:00.003-05:00

- has started up again for me for the season the first three Fridays each month. Results (successful, or not so much) will be posted on my blog....

Fun with a Cintiq

2009-09-17T22:14:00.006-05:00

Fellow IMCer McLean Kendree introduced me to this exercise. You simply take a screen snap of a scene from a DVD, set it to one side, make a blank canvas that's the same size and then start sketching. If you watch the sequence that your image is from a few times before you begin sketching you'll have a sense of the mood, environment, and character(s) that you just won't get when working from a photo alone.
Since I struggle with color, this exercise helps me to learn to see the colors more correctly. I first guess at what they are, then when I finish a section I use the eyedropper tool to sample the colors from the screen snap and check them against my sketch. Wow, were my shadow areas way off! But now I know what I really need to work on. McLean can finish one of these in about 15 minutes, but it's taking me closer to two hours! With time I hope to catch up to him, and finally get all of those shadow areas right the first time around!

Oh, and another tip: try working in three layers when you start one of these (sky, background, foreground). I had to move Orlando to the Southwest halfway through, and if I haden't used layers to begin with that would have really slowed me down.

Reclining nude on toned paper

2009-09-15T23:54:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite methods of doing figure drawings is on a toned paper with white prismacolor or conte crayons, and a brown or sepia pencil. I did this one on a pad called "Bogus sketch" (weird name for a sketch pad, eh?) from Sam Flax, but if you can't find something similar in your area then the inside of a paper grocery bag works just as well.

The drawing was done at a private figure drawing class in neighboring Winter Park, Florida. I was asked later by someone if her head is a bit small; no, those are really her proportions. She held her poses beautifully and was a wonderful model to sketch from!

Battlesteed

2009-09-15T12:22:00.007-05:00

Well I sat down to draw a treehouse, *actually*--and a battlesteed came out. I'm not sure what Freud would say about that, and I'm not going to ask him, either. ;)

-Abby

Book Signing -

2009-09-15T01:34:00.005-05:00

Tonight I got to attend a book event/reading/signing for the last of the Spiderwick Chronicles, by Holly Black and illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi (both heroes of mine)-

-sketched them in the semi-darkness of the audience... Love trying to draw moving targets...

(but if you think trying to draw in public places is tricky, try drawing live, in front of an audience full of fans like Tony did - several times over!)

Catnap

2009-09-14T22:31:00.004-05:00

Quick sketch done on my Cintiq 21ux of my Maine Coon Oberon. He looks so comfortable when he snoozes that it's hard not to join him in a mid afternoon nap!

Sunday Sketching -

2009-09-13T15:33:00.004-05:00

My teeny purse Moleskine (it's one of the 3.5x5.5 ones) is starting to look worn. I'm more than three-quarters of the way through it, so it ought to survive til its remaining pages are filled.

I continue to feel vaguely guilty for only doing some sort of drawing-from-life only once or twice a week, so am grateful for the impetus to do some sort of sketching more often! Thanks again Madeline.... (you can see more Sunday sketches on my blog).

Thank you for the Invite

2009-09-11T20:25:00.002-05:00

Hey Fellow Mistresses. I'm glad to see this up and going and appreciate the invitation to contribute. This will motivate me to sketch more. Have a few fairly recent sketches. Here we go.

pen doodles 09/09/09

2009-09-09T21:36:00.005-05:00

A couple of big-eyed ballpoint doodles.

TV Doodles

2009-09-08T15:55:00.001-05:00

This started as a doodle while I was watching TV in the evening, trying out some new paper I just got. It's now become a bit of an obsession, still in progress, and it just keeps growing. But I think it's close to finish. I really like the swirly stars and bubbles around the edge...

-Sheila

Knight of Cups thumbnail

2009-09-08T03:52:00.004-05:00

Here's a quick thumbnail for the card the Knight of Cups for a tarot deck the Amanda Palmer people are putting together.
Since it's using real people I had to submit it for approval.
I hope it's ok'd because it's what I got!

Sunday Sketching-

2009-09-08T00:26:00.004-05:00

Over the last few years of heavy work, I've become fairly nocturnal in my sleeping habits. Church on Sunday comes much too early. I've taken to pulling out my tiny purse Moleskine and drawing people around me to stay awake. Here were the ones closest to me this week.

(And I think a tree house would be awesome! :-)

The First Post

2009-09-07T00:01:00.005-05:00

Okay, this blog was started because the blog Drawn Today seemed to be adding members but shucks if they weren't all boys! Honestly, none of us had asked to joined but an invite would have been nice.
So this place is to show off all that little stuff we do in between BIG projects meant to be viewed by the masses.
I hope we learn a lot through sharing our stuff and commenting on it.
I know we're going to see some cool stuff going on!

And gentlemen are always welcome to join our ranks.

Email me at madeline@mcmatz.com if you want to contribute and I'll add you to the authors list.

Here's my first thing. As I was writing the blurb for this blog, I knew I had to paint it. Anyone else who feels inspired to create their own tree house, please do!