A Sketch a Day... (Keeps Artist Block Away?)

Hopefully you all have seen some of the changes happening at www.ClaireNoblesArt.com --if not, GO THERE NOW!

As I stated a few blogs ago, my painting time will become rather limited since classes have started. Right now I'm in 5 classes, and none of them are Art Classes..... I'm getting a ton of extra general ed out of the way, being a junior and all... I won't be getting normal weekly practice and painting even once a week might not be able to fit in my schedule, so I bought a "Sketch a Day" Journal.

This journal works exactly how it sounds. It gives half a page for each sketch-- so it doesn't even has to be good or even resemble anything, it just has to be done every day. That's my challenge. Let's see if I can do it for a year-- or if I even last a week!

I decided first off that the sketches did not have to be fantasy related. I have given myself permission to draw whatever I want and in whatever style I want (stick figures, cartoons, realism, abstract) as long as its something! Also, I shall not allow myself to spend long amounts of time on these, just pure, quick, raw thoughts!

I won't be posting the results every day, but I might post the interesting ones, or at least group them together and post a bunch at once. 

This is Day 1

"Heart on your Sleeve" 2012, pencil and ink 
(done in 15 minutes)

Whenever I don't know what to draw, my fallback is my left hand. The sketch paper in the journal is alright for pencil-- not amazing. The blending I tried works only OK. I tried to draw some sketchy-stylized realism, probably my second favorite style of drawing. I love zig-zagged, harsh, messy grey lines. It just adds to the rawness and emotion for me. I drew my hand raw and messy pencil, and drew the tattoo clean-lined and in permanent black pen. I was trying to juxtapose the two concepts of emotion. The hand being real and raw and full of emotion, the real character of the piece. The heart is fake and precise, yet is suppose to represent love and emotion, it's in cold black ink. I added a second line to the right side of the heart- it was not a mistake- I like the design, I wish I knew why.

The idea of the tattoo on a person is to represent love and compassion, wearing your heart on your sleeve. I think it's a cool idea. I don't actually have this tattooed on me though, it's just pen.

I hope you all enjoyed this short detour from my fantasy art into my random feelings of love and such... Again, please check out www.clairenoblesart.com because it just keeps getting better each day!

On a side note, my left hand is in pain and lost all circulation from keeping it clenched in a fist for 15 minutes straight. That vein in the center of my wrist got more and more pronounced as the drawing wore on, so it does look a bit creepy now... But that's seriously how it looked at the end of the sketching. My vein is not usually that bulgy...