Back in the Saddle Again

It's been a busy month, and I've not been drawing the chickens much lately.

But today I got to draw just a bit, and was able to dash off a few scratches:

Today's Scratch Doodles

Not much today-- just a few doodles while the chickens were ranging around (today they were especially troublesome models!):

The good thing about it was that I had to totally simplify the drawings, seeing them in their totally basic expressions. So even though the sketches are very simple, they have a certain expressive life to them:

Scratchin' and a Preenin'

Drawing Silkie chickens almost never gets tiring, because of the incredible variation in their tone and texture, which makes for interesting and challenging rendering, especially when drawing from life.

Drawing Runner Ducks, on the other hand, also never gets tiring, but for entirely different reasons. They're always moving, and their bills and necks provide difficult shapes to draw (especially when they're moving!).

Buddy (and Stella), A Study

Followed Buddy the Silkie rooster around the yard today, getting some quick drawings done of him.

I also managed to get a quick drawing of Stella done, minutes before a downpour made us scramble to get the chickens back in!

Chicken Contours: Delaware Quick Draw

Using a Derwent Graphic 6B pencil today, on the usual Canson 50 lb. Sketch pad...

I think the pencil is a whole lot better than a 2B or HB at getting a wider range of line weight and value. And it's easier to do a gestural contour line with it, as your hand can glide more freely across the surface.
I will continue my search for the best combination of pencil and paper and, in the meantime, I hope my eye will grow sharper and my hand, quicker.

Dust Bathing Ladies

Simple Scratch again from yesterday. Doodle practicing gesture drawing while the ladies dust bathed. I spent so much time running around mediating disputes between the rival gangs/broods of our chickens and ducks, that I only got a few minutes to draw! It's all good practice, though.

Duck Quack... er... QUICK Draw

Today's Scratches are of the ducks...

Getting a Line on Shading

In some of today's Scratches, I tried to use drawing pencils of varying softnesses, and to incorporate shading and value gradations. What I seem to have achieved is still a lot of middle tone. Perhaps I need to go 6B or softer to get darks that aren't forced...

If you'd like to see a great sketcher at work in this regard, go see Victor Ambrus' book Drawing Animals. It's a wonderful compilation of his sketches from life of animals as he observed them. We're all duffers compared to him when it comes to sketching from life, and maintaining energy in line while incorporating value and focus areas...

Gesture

More gesture drawings.
The process reminds me a bit of figure drawing class, when they'd have us draw the model doing quick gesture poses, the model changing pose every minute. You'd have to keep a lightning hand and quick eye in order to capture something of truth about the pose.

And just like those classes, Chicken and Duck Figure Drawing has models that move constantly! So a lot of the drawings end up looking like scribbles! But, with practice, the drawings can sometimes have a bit of energy and life to them-- life that can be lacking in the more extended poses, which allow for too much "tightness."