Day 22: Ugly Delicious Pear

I don't know what these pears are called, but they are both ugly and delicious. :)

Day 18: Teacup

Okay, today's is pretty sad... I started out trying to draw a portrait based on a photo, but that was taking too long (will finish it another time), so then I tried to quickly sketch my teapot with pen, and that failed miserably, so finally I settled for drawing this teacup in pen. I think I need to allot myself more time to do my daily doodle.

Day 17: Cushion

More practice with folds. It's odd: while I'm drawing each fold, it feels totally wrong, but when I stand back and look at the whole thing, it can actually kinda work. I think that's what I find difficult about drawing stuff from scratch: I don't understand yet how to construct the various parts that make a whole.

Day 14: Sleep paralysis, lamp and jazz edition

Have you ever suffered from sleep paralysis? It's a state where you think you're awake, and you're lucid to some degree, aware of being in bed and asleep, but you can't move. You can't move partly because you're mostly still asleep, and partly because your body produces chemicals during sleep to paralyze you (and prevent you from sleep walking or tossing and turning too much). In this state, people tend to get paranoid delusions, and it's quite possibly where many UFO abduction fantasies come from, as well as visions of, say, incubi in the olden days.

The first time I got it was in college, and I felt that I was in my bed in my dorm room, and two men in black suits were sitting very still in chairs to my right, silently watching me. I tried everything I could to move or to wake up, even trying to spit on myself, to no avail. Freaky as hell.

Anyway, sometimes when I drive long distances and get drowsy, I pull out at the next exit and take a brief rest to refresh myself before getting back on the road. Today I did that at a parking lot, rested my eyes a bit, and I guess I actually kinda fell asleep... and then suffered from sleep paralysis while trying to wake up.

I thought that I was home in bed, and that my bedside lamp was on my chest for some reason. I could only open my eyes half-way. I could sort of barely move my arm, but not enough to push the lamp off. Meanwhile, it seemed I was actually in some sort of college dorm room or apartment, because through an open window to my left, I could hear the faintest jazz playing.

When I finally woke up, there was no lamp on my chest, I was still in my car, and the jazz I thought I heard was actually the drone of nearby machinery.

Day 13: Jacket on Stool

I need to practice drawing drapery more.

Day 12: Quick Eye Sketch

I need to practice drawing eyes more. This is just a quick rough sketch before bed. Will try it again another day.

Day 9: Strawberries

I wanted to eat one or two strawberries, but they were so good I almost ate the whole box. :P Anyway, half-way through drawing the specks (seeds?) on the front strawberry, I realized that I should actually place them very precisely to reveal the shape and depth of the surface. But that would be a lot of work, so I gave up on it and tried to just shade it a bit. I'll have to try drawing a strawberry again when I have more time/patience. :)

Day 7: Bunny, Upside-Down

So the same friend who recommended that I try drawing directly in pen also recommended drawing my subject upside-down so I can focus on shapes and not on what I think I see. This was a bit of a rushed job. I definitely messed up that one hand, and the shapes in general could be more accurate. I'll probably have Bunny do this same pose again some time so I can try to do a better job. Bunny is patient.

(Blue pen in sketchbook.)

Day 6: On the Bus

The person sitting in front of me had interesting buns in her hair. Black pen on notebook. Okay so I cheated a bit, because at first I tried to color in the hair and the black leather seat back more thoroughly, and it looked AWFUL. So I re-did it when I got home. :P

Day 5: Rudolph

Black pen and red pen on a piece of 8.5" x 11". No pencil! The chin part is a bit too tall; I didn't get the proportions right there, but using a pen wasn't that scary. I think one nice thing about this sketching every day thing is that it lowers my standards, so I'm less anal.

Rudolph's hide is supposed to be gray (with white belly and face), but I didn't know how to color him, so I left him like this. I guess I needed a gray marker or something?

And in case you're wondering, that's a cubicle wall at work that he's straddling.

Day 2: Shiitake Mushroom and Bamboo Shoot

Tonight I cooked shiitake mushrooms at a bamboo shoot for a a potluck dinner. Shiitake mushrooms typically come in dried form (seen here), and you have to soak them in hot water for a while first before cooking them. Fresh bamboo shoots have a lot of outer layers you have to peal off before you get to the edible part (less than half the size).

(Pencil in sketchbook.)