A Few Sketches

Happy Monday everyone! Today is going to be a little bit tougher, since I've maybe had 5-6 hours sleep. It's only 11:30 am and I can feel my focus slowly waning... I had my morning coffee, and now I'm drinking something a little stronger, a nice hot cup of lemon tea (not herbal). :)

I have a few sketches to show off today...

In case you're wondering, the drawing on the left is inspired by Constantin Brancusi, a Romanian Sculptor.

Sculpture by Constantin Brancusi

You see?? I love drawing elephants!! I think they have great curves, their trunks can be stylized so many ways, and their ears can be drawn so many ways as well as their eyes. In fact, why draw a realistic elephant when a stylized, illustrated one is so much more fun??

This here is a drawing I did from a list of words to give me inspiration. I wrote a whole page of words from past Illustration Friday words, so in case I ever get stuck I can look at this list, pick a word and draw what comes to mind. Germs... This is what I saw when I heard the word. :) First I started with bacterium with flagella (the ones with the little lines all around it), then moving on to spiky viruses and X germs which I doubt exist. This was a fun page to draw. :)

I Spy ...

Today was a hot day. I didn't spend much time outside, but it was nice. Sunshine, blue skies, and birds being bullies to other birds!! I actually shooed away a tiny bird bugging another tiny bird! Poor thing was squawking away, its wings spread a little bit, being chased around a tree! I felt so bad for the little thing. They're so cute these little birds (unlike the rats with wings that are just so icky ... pigeons).

Speaking of pigeons, have you seen the original German version of the movie Mostly Martha? She talks about pigeons as if they're delicious to eat!! Eww. I don't think a pigeon in the city would be very tasty.

On my way home from 'work' today I stopped again at the courtyard behind that church I drew the other day. The bench that was free didn't have a great view of anything, so I went back toward the metro to go home. On the metro platform, I pulled out my sketchbook, and drew a guy with his arms crossed holding a shopping bag. I had to go fast cause I could hear the train coming in his direction, and soon enough he'd be out of view. I didn't get much drawn by the time he was obscured, but I could guess the rest. At another stop a larger man in a shirt and tie was holding the pole in front of me, so I shot some glances in his direction, trying to capture him before he got off (which I figured was soon as we were fast approaching a connecting line).

This is the first time since my trip to Japan since I've drawn people on public transit. Let's just say that I had to do it a lot during art school, and it's not my favorite subject. People move a lot. :) Haha. It's a challenge to get the pose because as you know it, people don't often sit still!

So here it is... My art for the day.

Ok it's not the best.. especially the guy in the suit! I couldn't just stare at him (that's rude), and I would have had to move my head up and down (he was tall and I was seated), so all I could do was move my eyes and tilt my head just a little! I had a hard time with the hands (always have). I don't even know if he had the chubby cheeks I started drawing.

But there you go!

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I was looking at this blog today http://lovebirdstationery.wordpress.com and it got me thinking about the lotus she drew in her sketchbook, and I found this drawing I did last year:

I had completely forgotten that I had this in my little pile of papers of lotus flowers and koi fish. Last year a tattoo artist was offering any tattoo for any price to raise money for her dog's vet bills, and I had my appointment all booked and was going to get this done. I backed out because something about this girl's art really bothered me, and I'm glad I did. I don't want to get a tattoo just because it's dirt cheap.

In any case, the image is really nice. The writing is Thai, it's the Om Mani Padme Hum Mantra.

OM MANI PADME HUM MANTRA MEANINGS

The Om Mani Padme Hum mantra is a Budhhist and Hindu mantra that translates roughly to: I honor the jewel within the lotus bloom. It is a metaphor representative of honoring the divinity within yourself and within everyone and everything. You are the lotus bloom. The jewel within is the divinity and enlightened compassion of Buddhahood.

Illustration Friday ~ 'Gesture'

Well this is a good start. It's the 2nd week and I'm still feeling really creative and I managed to get this week's illustration done. It's a quick sketch done in pen. I always enjoy feeling out other people's styles. It can help me to relax when drawing people (since I have a tendency of drawing people way too realistically in my illustrations).

Here's my submission for Illustration Friday this week entitled 'Gesture':

Creative Ramblings and Other Doodles

Good evening! It's Friday, I've worked my first week at my first freelance contract gig this year, and already I'm wishing to be done and back home. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to make some cash, but I thoroughly enjoy working from home. I've been doing it for 6 months now, and I don't have any desire to return to the working world of slaving like a robot for someone who just wants to line their pockets with cash, know what I mean? I mean, if I want to slave over something, it's going to be for myself this time. At least I'll put in a bigger effort because I know that I will be rewarded.

Today we got to leave early. Good for me, bad for them (the company's busy!). I was on my way home and looked over at a courtyard behind the Anglican Church of Christ on Union Street north of Sainte-Catherine Street and it looked so lovely I decided to stop and draw something. The seat I settled on had this great view!

Anglican Church of Christ

I took this photo with my cell phone, and then I loved it so much I decided to draw it!

My interpretation of the church. For someone (me) who doesn't do a lot of realism, I'd say this was pretty aewsome!

From my comment you can see how much I like this drawing. I don't often do realism, but I find that since I've stopped slaving for someone else, I've had a lot more creativity flowing back to me which is super awesome. It's like it used to be. I must say though, that Montreal is a really inspiring city to be living in, especially an artist. Now, it's perhaps not the best painting (Ok, I'm being hard on myself), but keep in mind I'm still learning the art of watercolouring.  It's not the easiest to work with. I also haven't learned the art of drawing foliage in the foreground, so I ended up doing a lot of scribbles. I needed to show that the trees were above me and in front of the church. When I started painting this, I got halfway and kind of wished I hadn't painted it at all, but once it was started I couldn't just leave it.
After I drew this I strolled around to see what this tourist was photographing. Apparently it was this!

It's strange. I walked only a meter and the colour of the sky and building totally changed!

Squiggly church!

It's really fun to take pictures of buildings reflecting off buildings. As I was strolling around I suddenly ran into a sign that was about ribcage high. It had a pointy metal edge, and it totally rammed in my abdomen! It left a mark, but thankfully not a bruise. I felt so silly walking into that! But what I was thinking was "why are there signs screwed into the ground all over the place?" I mean, I'd have to look down to see them!

Hopefully I can find more things to draw! I'm starting to become less rusty and more at ease. I guess I'll have to start carrying a small amount of supplies with me in case the need strikes me.

New Facebook Page

Good morning everyone! Happy Friday! Today is a dreary, rainy day, perfect for staying home and doing crafty things.

I want everyone (in the whole wide world too) to know that I have a new Facebook page! No, not Curious Little Bird (my plush monsters) but for my Graphic design and Illustrations.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melanie-Audet-Illustrator-Designer/139463906129768
I am a multi disciplinary woman, and I have many talents!! I created this page in hopes to bring clients to me internationally, and an opportunity to be noticed. I recommend you LIKE my page :) And that way, you can follow up on what I'm doing, etc. It's always nice, right? Plus, then all of your friends will see what you like, and them in turn my come and visit. It's a great idea.

In other news, I've got a few new additions to my sketchbook. Want to see?? :)

The elephant sketch I did in 20 minutes. From the time I got on the metro until I arrived at my stop. I kept wondering if the people sitting next to me (who could clearly see what I was doing) were watching me. I find it (personally) fascinating to watch others draw in public. It's not something you see artists do in public trains/metros/subways. I find it hard to draw when the metro is bouncing up and down really hard. :-) I'm surprised it's as good as it is.  The drawing on the right is a little raccoon. He's very cute. I was trying something out for a possible painting idea for Le Nichoir. I don't want to do a bird-inspired painting because last year a good portion of artists did that, and they really wanted all ideas!! I want to stay true to myself, n'est-ce pas?  I figured I'd do a series of cutesy paintings (maybe inspire someone to buy them all so they get the whole set). Haha

Now I'm off to do some more Facebook updates! Until later!

New Sketches

I did these sketches yesterday when I was watching the film Pretty Woman which I have to say is pretty awesome! I think Julia Roberts is beautiful, and Richard Gere's a hunk! :) So the above drawing is Bear and Boo. They're based on ideas I want to use for future softies/monsters.

This drawing is entitled Robot and Dog.

Medium: Blue 0.7mm hi-techpoint pen in my 5" x 8" moleskin sketchbook.

Gotta keep creating, or you just plain lose it.

It's been a heck of a long time since I've posted something on my blog. It really has been a trying few months for me lately. I've been unemployed, fighting mild depression symptoms (and quite frankly I've been doing pretty good lately). I haven't been really positive lately, and a wise woman (my yoga teacher) once told me that "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all). That being said, I really don't post much on my twitter account, or even on Facebook because it's not like I have a lot of great things to report. It's soooo BORING to be unemployed!! On the bright side, it's spring now, and the weather is warming up, the snow is melting and soon it'll be a lot warmer outside.

To battle my boredom, I joined a few meetup groups to keep my mind and body occupied. I have a new group of men and women and we get together every 2nd Saturday to play either cribbage or scrabble. I find it's a great time spent, because not only do I get to meet some amazingly fun individuals, but I also work the left side of my brain (which doesn't get much work seeing as I'm pretty artsy and right-brained). I've also recently joined a new group called Geek Girls in Montreal. Title sounds a tad cheesy, but it's totally fun! We had our first meetup last night at Amy's house (the girl who started it all), and about 14 of us showed up, had a potluck, and we all discovered that we had a lot of things in common!! It was awesome.

So I've recently created some new drawings lately. I saw this band, Braveheart, on April 2nd at the Yellow Door, and they're this crazy, progressive Jazz band. There was someone on snare drums, a bassist, and a sax player. Another artist came to draw the band, and I felt in slight competition with the guy even though there was none at all. I sat next to said artist (to get a better view of the band), and I told myself I had to capture these guys, and these weren't going to be really great sketches, but you will at least get the gist of the pose they were in at the moment.

The guy who played the base really liked my drawing and gave me a hug. I thought it was so cute that he did that. :) I mean, I know I'm really self-critical, but it's not the best drawing, but it does capture his pose he was in at the moment. And he was REALLY into his music!

So the other day it was warm (now when I say warm, I mean +10ºC), and I decided to go out for a bike ride down the Lachine Canal to Montreal's old port. On my way back, I was looking at the Five Roses factory, and was going to just keep going, but I had brought my sketchbook with me so I forced myself to stop and draw the building. This is the end result.

I'm very much out of practice drawing real life, but I am trying! I painted it with watercolours today, thinking it's look a lot nicer with colour, than just inked on paper. I say it's not bad. :)

Oh, so the other day I decided I wanted to make a skirt out of a pillowcase. There were a few people who've done this before, and posted their results on the net. So I chose a pillowcase I'm not really using, yellow ochre with stripes. The skirt's supposed to be really easy to make.... just cut the top off, fold over, sew and add a drawstring. So I cut the top off, slid the case on but I realized it was just too tight over my hips, so I grabbed a second pillowcase in white and sewed them together, and created a sort of wrap skirt. It's not the best idea, and I don't know if it's appropriate for the public, but it is comfortable for around the house. I guess I can't seem to upload the photo. It's not the best :) Oh well.

Well that's it for today. I will try and post more often!

Cheers!