CLAIRE WENDLING SKETCH BOOK

I saw this on facebook yeasturday and had to share it (with Claire's permission of course).

This is another example of what I am always  pushing in class. Keep a sketchbook with you and keep practicing , observing and creating.

If you like Claire's work (and what's not to like?) I can recommend these books, Desk and Daisies. Both books collect Wendling's  development work, as well as final colour renderings that can be found in Daisies. They are still in print and, for now at least  (at the time of this post), easy to get hold of online.

In my opinion Wendling is about as good as it gets.  You can learn a lot from studying her work.

I've posted more sketch book examples here
http://fantasyartclass.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/fantasy-art-class-week-4-8th-february.html

SEPT-DEC 2013:WEEK 1

When composing a figure drawing, try to  think of how the body reacts to a simple shift of body weight to one leg. We will be exploring this at greater length in later classes. If you have a full length mirror you can study how your own body works in various positions. 

A lot of fantasy art is  created  using a knowledge (or some kind of study) of  real life . If you plan to draw a centaur, it would be useful to study not only human anatomy but also that of a horse and how it moves (go look at some Claire Wendling sketches to see how this is done ). If you plan to draw some kind of hybrid see creature, study the  movement of real life sea creatures. I appreciate that  producing life drawings of sea creatures may post a problem but there is plenty of  footage on youtube to study and BBC and National Geographic dvds available. The information us need to make your drawings come to life is out there, you just have to look and study.

When I begin a drawing, it usually starts out as a scribbly mess ( as I have demonstrated many times in class) but if you are not ready for this approach, try breaking the drawing down to shapes that flow into each other. Notice that the figure below is essentially a nice curve with arms and legs attached.

When you are sketching a composition, try to think of the various components as blocks . I often use this method if I am struggling with a composition.

The head can be constructed really easily. Draw a shape that has a nice feel to it and fill in the detail.

Try and keep a sketch book handy. A small one will do so you can carry it around and doodle at any time. A5 is a good size.  and just have fun jotting  stuff down. It doesn't have to a work of art every time. Keep things loose and experiment.

CLAIRE WENDLING AND DRAWING CATS

I was going to do a post about the amazing art of  Claire Wendling but there seems no point when everything I was going to say is right here: http://characterdesignnotes.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/clair-wendlings-cats.html

Seriously, visit this blog, and read this post, it's absolutely bang on the money.

If you still need convincing, here are are a couple of Wendling's drawings.

LITTLE BLACK SKETCH BOOK

Had some time out in France recently and for the first time, in what seems like an eternity, I took with me a little (15cm x 10cm) sketch book. I figured I need to re acquaint myself with some observational sketching, and hey, guess what? It was great  fun! I had forgotten the joy of just rough sketching of anything that caught my attention just for the  fun of it. Below are some of the entries into the sketch book. I really do recomment this to any of you who love drawing and doodling etc, you don't have to go to France, just do it anywhere. The more you draw, the more you learn.