Pen Drawings For Sanity

0 Shares Facebook 0 Twitter 0 Pin It Share 0 Google+ 0 StumbleUpon 0 LinkedIn 0 Reddit 0 Email -- 0 Shares ×

Pen Drawings - model wearing platforms, girl in hat, L

I started drawing more sketches very soon after my last session of pen drawings, within a few days in fact. I was in the mood. But after having looked at my last drawings, which were done with a fair amount of abandon, I started to think too much. The first drawing that followed (above) was stiff and over-done. Then I picked up another magazine for inspiration and tried again.

This is what I got, after a lot of struggle and long slow sessions trying to get everything looking just right. I wasn’t even sure what to do with the rest of the page, so I left it alone and decided to come back to it later.

Pen Drawings - portrait of man looking over his shoulder

That was over a month ago. Today, I needed to draw to maintain my sanity. When you feel overwhelmed by things, drawing is a great productive escape. So, I picked up the same magazine I had put down a month ago and started drawing very quickly. These are what I got.

Pen Drawings - man in shades and army jacket, close-up of woman's eye

Pen Drawings - profiles of man and woman looking into the distance

Pen Drawings - mushroom, car, flower, girl caricature

Except for the very first drawing in this post, all the images here were put together by looking at a single magazine. They are all collages, including the drawing of the couple, which is made of two different images that I thought went well together. Speed was my main aim here and I tried various thought processes along the way. The man in the jacket was draw by blindly rendering the details without paying attention to the over-all image. The couple were drawn trying to use as little as possible to express as much as was needed. And in the last one, things were distorted and stretched to fit the elements on the page, rather than to maintain proportions.

The speed worked out well. All the three images drawn today were finished in little over an hour. If I keep this up, I might actually get somewhere with my drawing skills. I’m nowhere near making accurate likenesses, but I do think the images are becoming more interesting, which is what counts in the end.

Samir

Liked this article? Please share it: Facebooktwitterredditpinteresttumblrmail

Comments
      1. Dale I dont think anyone would mind u haunting us….. heheh imagine the talking walking library a haunting ghost…….. need to pen down this thought……

      2. Put up non-pretty pictures and insult your tutelage? Never!

        Glad you liked the site. The current incarnation is already over two years old and much in need of an overhaul. That should happen soon-ish, I hope.

        On a side note, I am now very curious about whether “to aunt” is a proper verb. If it is, I want to know what “aunting” is. Has to be something fascinating!

    1. Candy, how many times have we talked about this before? šŸ™‚ I’m game, you’re just a very difficult girl to get hold of.

      You pick the time and the place, and we can begin. Watch out though, ninja drawing exercises are tough and will make a real man out of you!

  1. Hey Samir,

    Bravo on posting the drawings! courageous. and I agree good therapy. what a strange concept: artistic integrity, no?

    I used to draw. alot. all the time. what worlds the young artist creates, how slyly we escaped.

    I am really unable at present, but in years hence, you’ll see, will return home, bask once again under strange light, and know details of human skin, windows over cliffs, water bouncing. At present though, I’m at the mercy of the train pulling my box-car. Trying to make it to ‘the big city’, which looks less illustrious as I approach, than in ‘the movies’.

    Peace,
    P

    1. Hi Paul,

      These comments slipped by un-noticed until today.
      Sorry about that.

      If you have done it before, I doubt you are truly unable to draw anymore. That’s certainly the feeling I get when I’m getting back to it after a long absence, but the strokes, the sight, and the minute visual judgements come flooding back fairly quickly. You go out of practice and get a bit rusty, certainly, but you never quite lose it. Hope you do get a chance to try your hand at drawing again soemtime soon. It really is worth the effort.

      Samir

  2. Is the guy in the jacket Hunter S. Thompson? (“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”) – nice outlines on that one, I often prefer them over attempting to shade noses, although for hands it is sometimes the reverse, shading is better than sharp outlines.

    1. I didn’t know who you were refering too, but looked him up, and it’s not him. I’m not good at identifiable likenessess yet, so I don’t even bother trying to be accurate. I mostly use the photos as a reference for detail.

      The decisions between line-art and shading is always a tough call. It’s really not the question of one being better than the other, I’ve seen both done masterfully, but rather about where your personal talents lie.

  3. Hey, I’m writing a story for school and I was wanting to use the second image from the top for my cover. The story is going to be published or anything its just for a project assignment.

    1. Dustin, feel free to use the drawing for your school assignment. It’s a good idea to mention where you go it from somewhere in there as a credit. I always appreciate it, and it’s safer in school assignments to avoid any plagiarism issues. Best of luck.


Trackbacks
  1. Pen Drawings As Procrastination | Samir Bharadwaj

Leave a Reply to Aarti Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *