Another Sketch

Though my artistic style falls into the category of realism, realistic details are nothing without a basic comprehension of shapes and values. In my last blog entry I posted some old sketches done in pencil, and talked about the importance of being able to quickly render the face with few details. Today I am posting a similar example of a quick sketch that I did more recently. Like the older drawings, this sketch is comprised of rough, quick lines, but this one is done using a fine tipped marker. I like the challenge of this type of sketch because it forces you to work quickly and to be bold.

The beautiful, vibrant young woman in this sketch had lost her battle with breast cancer, and her husband asked me to do a sketch of her with her dog. The image was used on a tee-shirt for a team of friends and family who ran the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in her memory (see the second photo).

A Few of My Old Sketches

Quick sketches can be a great way to practice drawing faces, as it forces you to capture a person's essence with just a few quick lines and shapes. I recently found some old sketches (from over 12 years ago) that I did while in college. Most of them are from life, done while I was working at the college music library, when I probably should have been organizing CDs, doing homework, or studying! The first one is of a girl doing some music listening homework. Most of the others are of people in the library, or of people in magazines I was flipping through.