I gave in to Drawing for Fun. Play! First I drew a Caricature from the same photo that I had been drawing from in today's previous post. Then I drew from 2 other random reference photos. Felt sooo much better.

And I feel like the Playful pictures are better.

I spent some time trying to come up with an easy way that I could see a front view for most of the time, but draw the Caricature as a 3/4 view. I studied it by looking at a picture of a person in front view, side, view, and 3/4 view. Only allowing myself a quick glance once in a while at anything that wasn't the front view.

Felt even more nerve-wracking than when I'm at a Party, grabbing quick chances of seeing anything other than a front view. So I finally just gave in and drew it as a front view.

Whew. I'm glad I got that out of my system. I felt all a-tight because of the original impetus for this activity. After drawing the front view picture here, I'm feeling like I can get back to reality. The job isn't always easy, but I love to be in my regular Party drawing zone.

Just wasting my time. But.... can drawing pictures Ever be wasting time??

Well.... isn't that what it's supposed to be doing?

So. This is what happened. Weekend's Gig is coming up. It's going to be a 50th Wedding Anniversary. I looked online for random pictures of 50th Wedding Anniversary, planning on drawing some Caricatures. But the first things I found were just gold circles and gold 50s. I don't expect to be depicting 'real' gold in quick Party Caricatures, but whatever piques my interest during my 'off time' usually has a good effect on what I Do draw when I'm 'on'.

Let me see now if I can remember what was going on when I drew these 10 gold circles. Not only should I probably consider drawing Gold Circles a waste of time, but I also feel like other people might consider this particular session a waste of time. Because I was best off with the First Gold Circles that I drew. That's usually my experience. The first one is usually to best one. But..... on I went. I am an Artist.

All these drawings were based on the same One picture that I found online. Of a gold circle that had an angled 'point' around the center of the whole circle. I didn't care anything about size, or the width of the circle. I was just interested in the 'goldness'.

The first picture was a quick copy of the direct colors that I saw in the reference picture. No 'intelligence' added.

In the 2nd picture, I tried to apply basic knowledge of 'how o draw shapes.

Then, 3rd picture, I tried to Simplify that knowledge about shapes. Highlights, shadows, reflected light.... tha sort of stuff.

Still not satisfied, I loosened up for the 4th picture. Less is more. The idea of gold is that we notice the highlights. The White. So I didn't draw as much. I didn't 'color it all in'.

5th picture ~ wouldn't that need some background? Some Dark to make the Light Shine in comparison? I put in the Colors quickly, and I compared #5 with #4 to see if maybe it would work better if it gets a background.

Ahah, I realized that I was probably feeling disappointed with these pictures because I was using only Yellow, Ochre, Brown, and Black. What is this? Kindergarten telling me what Colors things 'are'?? I decided that 'woodsy' brown doesn't belong in 'metal' gold. And my serious Color studies were previously done in Oil Paint ~ where I Never would have used black. Not at all. No. No way. But.... maybe this colorful picture looks like a beginner's jump into Color. Because my supply of Color Sticks (yes I still have Some. oh) is even more limited than Colored Pencils. Both of which don't come near the versatility of Oil Paint Colors.

I'll try it again. I chose mostly Warm Colors for picture #7. I felt like that would override the coarseness of the color choices available in this package of Color Sticks.

Wait. In writing up this post, I just realized that I hadn't decided to rely on the White of the Paper in the 4th picture. It was in the 8th picture that I did that. Just hints of colors.

Ummmm..... not too good. Maybe I'll try this again. 9th picture. Getting in to what I remember learning years ago when I was studying Shiny Objects in Oil Paint. Stuff like ridiculously high value contrast. With the surprising VeryDarks right up against the VeryLights for Shiny Objects. Much less in the way of blending than for other materials. But as soon as I started picture 9, I felt surprised because I inadvertently picked up a Light medium blue instead of the Dark medium blue that I had been using. That was the better color for this situation. It looks plenty dark next to the white paper and yellow color stick. I cannot continue with this red.

So I went directly for the Light medium blue in the 10th picture. And I also felt like I had to Change the way I was applying the colors. Harder, rougher lines of the colors, instead of the smooth way I had been coloring all night. This is Metal! Not velvet.

but I wasn't too aggressive in my new choice of how to use the colors. Not Yet. First attempt.... a little timid....

Good Night.

btw ~ the 3rd page (pictures 7, 8, and 10) ~ it probably comes across as dully because I used that blah black color stick. I felt like it's dullness should make the item stand out brightly against it

Good Night.

..........Update the following morning:

Still on it. Woke up this morning ~ this should be Simple! I decided that it can probably be handled by Keeping the Outline a bit. That's something that is Never done in most painting. Realism is created by Color next to Color. There are no outlines in the real world. But I felt like it would work for coloring Gold. Because there's something unusual in it's shading ~ in which the Darkest is next to the Lightest. No value changes in between. That's what makes it shine. The High Contrast. Hence the 11th drawing here.

A works in progress. Then I decided to see how it would look with Darker Background. To contrast with the Brighter Yellow and White that kindergarteners think of for coloring Gold. 12th drawing here. And the grown-up introspective Fun continues:

Good to see them all a-posted here. Now I can see that yes I do like today's better. After letting last night's studies settle a bit. But once again, I feel like my First picture is the better one. The First one that I drew today. withOut the background. Probably. But I'm not sure. I guess it depends on the rest of the picture that I would be including with this gold.

Getting ready for drawing Caricatures at a Bat Mitzvah today. I figured I'd do some warm-ups. From random reference photos. They all came out good.

But to choose a style! First, I drew a Caricature in the style that I feel pleased to have evolved over years of doing this. I feel like this style impresses clients and guests the most. It looks slick. And evolved. Not something that a beginner could have done.

Then I drew from the same reference photo, the same face. But I used the playful style that I really admire best. It's Fun. And I feel like that's what Caricatures are supposed to be. Fun. Playful. Clients and guests do like it, but I feel like they Think it's somehow easier to do. Because the shapes look simple. It is Not easier to do.

Then, for the 3rd Caricature that I drew here ~ I was planning on using the first 'evolved' style again. Based on a different random photo. Just warming up. But as soon as I started drawing, the obvious heart-shape of the girl's face took over. So I started drawing using the 2nd 'playful' style instead. But I didn't maintain it. Because my mind was already set on doing the first, 'professional' style. No conscious thought about it, my mind just switched back to what I originally planned to do. I continued this Caricature with the first 'evolved' style. Like I forgot that I changed my mind. The picture came out super. But it didn't feel good to draw it. Because I felt confused inside.

To rein in our brains, to decide at every moment what we want to do.....Clarity. My Brain might be the next thing that I want to study. (Maybe that will help me remember to stick to my diet ~ heheh. Not to 'change my mind' when the cake is served.)