I think he did a little too much LDS...

I was watching Star Trek IV tonight and playing with some new pencils and paper, and suddenly decided to draw Spock. It's been years since I've done a real drawing of a person (or a Vulcan). This is far from perfect, but...not too bad, considering. I did this from my paused movie, approx. 11x14.

Plein Air at the Zoo

I brought my watercolor pencils and a new sketchbook along to the zoo yesterday and managed a quick sketch. I am rather distressed that I managed to get the perspective of the zebras vs. the landscape so very wrong (the zebras are entirely too small). But, live and learn I suppose. Actually overall I'm happy with this because usually my watercolor pencil work is entirely too stiff, and here I managed something a little closer to what I actually want to achieve. I really dig the zebras themselves, so I'm including a detail shot of them. This is about 6x9.

Pferde!

Yesterday I was out and about taking some pictures of the countryside. I went around a bend I've been on dozens of times, and was surprised to see a few horses. This is from one of the pictures I took, approx. 4x6 (and using a new pencil I bought). I believe this cute guy is a yearling.I just finished this one from a German magazine (St. Georg, April 2009, photo credit: Rau), working on understanding form and shape and anatomy. Again, 4x6, started with the same pencil but wasn't getting the results I wanted so I switched to my trusty old mechanical at the end.

Summer Challenge Zebras #01

I have set myself a summer goal of at least 15 watercolor pencil/crayon zebras (15 because that is how many pages this sketchbook has) to complement my graphite studies. To start, I used the same reference as my last sketch. This is approx. 7x7 on Hahnemuehle paper.

What would we do without mothers?

This drawing is of my very first Mother's Day flower, which I drew on Sunday, appropriately enough. :) And this small 4x5 sketch I just finished, from some video footage I took at the zoo today (before I got rained out and soaked to the bone), of a colt playing with his mama. I feel very blessed to have been able to get so many references of the awesome zebra herd at the zoo!

Dog Tags, oil pastel, 5x7

Today I thought I'd use oil pastels for a quick color study for an oil painting, but ended up liking the oil pastel so much that I wasn't compelled to do an oil painting. This photo is a little too saturated, but it's always difficult to get a good image when there's a lot of dark ground showing!

Mangalarga Marchador, finished

I was so pleased with my sketch that I decided to do a "full" drawing of this horse. It has been years since I've done a larger drawing with no time constraints. It was enjoyable and I loved doing those dapples! This is 9x12 on Bristol vellum using a mechanical pencil.

Horse Breed: Mangalarga Marchador

This breed hails from Brazil (obviously of Spanish descent), what beautiful horses! They are a gaited breed, so they have an ultra-smooth gait not common to non-gaited horses. I am a little bit excited because this drawing has got to be the best drawing I have ever done. I'm not sure why all of a sudden my drawing should have improved by such a measure, though obviously my practice this year is doing some good! This is also the first time I've used my trusty mechanical pencil for a few weeks, so maybe that had something to do with it, and there must be something about dapple gray horses because the last one I drew (back in February) I saw a marked improvement in my drawing, as well. (The reference for this drawing comes from the Wikipedia article on this breed.)

Horse Breed: Cleveland Bay

This is one of the oldest breeds developed in England. As you might guess, they are always bay in color (all the better for making matched horse teams).