Re-learning techniques

Again, I've not done much in the way of art this week, I did manage to get a foot drawn quickly yesterday, but mostly opted to watch films and play games with my spare time yesterday.

I'm getting a bit of a headache, so this will be a quick post anyway.

So, this is the one piece I've done, in Graphiter on my tablet:

This is not my foot!

I haven't done anything else art-wise this weekend, but I have been making use of the free magazines my library offer online, and I've re-learned the use of masks in Photoshop. When I drew the statue of the lady I spent about 45 mins getting the lines down, maybe an hour or two shading, and then the rest of the time cleaning it up, and this took hours. Using masks with the transparency layer locked I won't have to clean up my line work all of the time, so should save me lots if time in the future.

Art expo, hands and general doodling

So, I'm feeling a lot better! Although I managed to shake off my sore throat from last weekend it was promptly replaced with a cold, which I didn't start to shift until Thursday, but then by Thursday evening it was like I had never been ill.

I've been trying to get more daily sketching in, even though I haven't done it every day I've at least done more than what I would normally. On my tablet (which has a stylus so I can draw on it like a Wacom Cintiq) I've downloaded a free app called Graphiter, which is a great little program for sketching on without having to load Photoshop all the time with all of its fancy gadgets. I've been focussing on hands this week, and initially I was just copying pictures from Google using the Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain techniques, which looked pretty OK. However (I had an 'ah-ha!' moment), I realised if I wanted to progress with my art I would need to work out the mechanics of what I'm drawing, not just copy, otherwise if I want to draw something in the future I'll struggle as I wouldn't have learned anything:

Top-left & top-middle are the ones I copied direct from Google Images. Bottom middle is my hand with the fingers foreshortened, that was harder to work out the mechanics

I've also done a bit of general doodling this week, the first was quickly sketching my partner close-up as he's playing a video game, although when he's concentrating he sticks his tongue out and moves it around, so I struggled to get the lips right:

The other doodle I did made up a character while my fella and I were taking turns playing games, I've no idea where it was going at the time, not bad for 10 minutes though huh?

Also I've noticed there's a new Wacom Cintiq that +CreativeBloq have reviewed. It's their most affordable yet, although to be honest if I had a bit more cash I would probably get the Surface Pro 3.

I managed to get to the art expo this weekend, I really enjoyed it, and it's nice having something like that in my hometown, where it's a small town and nothing much really happens. I was quite inspired by a few pieces I've seen, and I thought the art being sold was very affordable, although we weren't looking to buy. Some were ridiculously overpriced though, but I guess that's just my opinion. There was a range of art for sale, all different subjects and mediums, quite a lot of watercolours which, while I think looks pretty, is not my medium of choice. 
It was also my gateway to see what our local Art Society did, and while I enjoyed the art I don't think joining the society is for me. They do have life drawing sessions every Wednesday which is open to non-members, so I may pop along to one of those in the future. I've looked up other art groups in my area, and they're either not for me (ie ceramics) or closed groups. I think if I want to do a collaboration in the future I'll need to do one online. I keep meaning to join a Hangout on Google+ on the Sycra forums but I always seem to miss them (I think because they're over in the states and me being in the UK it's always the time difference).

Anyway, not many plans for next week, will just try to keep up the sketching, and maybe finish my logo, and might try to get a BriefBox done this weekend too.