Sept. last year, I did this thing called "Gesture Drawing", where you try to capture the animals' personalities more than try to draw them accurately. Well, with animals like cats and dogs, maybe you can see personality more readily, I felt, but it takes a lot more help from God to understand fish, birds, and insects.
I always did a little warm-up with something inanimate before trying to draw animals. One of those warm-ups wasn't exactly alive, but it moved--and altho' it was just a warm-up scribble in monotone, the longer I looked at it, the more I liked it. No, that's not a whale, but the fountain at Duck Pond.
In Oct., I decided to try my hand at realistic portraiture, and no one would get upset at me for making an unflattering picture if I drew MYSELF, right? I figure that's why a lot of artists do a lot of self-portraits. There's a guarantee there will always be someone to pose, plus the model will never get angry at you!
(I know ONE Person Who NEVER gets angry with me no matter what I do! )
Anyway, I tried drawing myself. But I tell you, I should stick to doing gesture drawing warm-ups and testing new markers...
