Analysis – I’m doing pretty well with facial features and shading, but hair still leaves something to be desired. I think I get too specific with the lines and need to abstract it out a bit more. Any thoughts?

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This is my second Burning Man experience and it feels much different than the first time. I don’t know if it is because I have already been exposed to all of the excitement before, if there is just a different energy in the air, or people around seem to be more withdrawn this year.

But first, for those who don’t know what Burning Man is… it’s a huge annual art/party/spiritual/sexual/dance/anything-goes event in the Blackrock desert of Nevada held around each Labor day. Recently the numbers have been in the 50 thousand range of attendees. The conditions are harsh but the vibe is friendly, caring, and open.

As I sit and think back over the week in the desert, I find that words really can’t describe the experience. What happens and what you see and feel are so different from the pictures you end up bringing back. The inner personal experience is totally what makes Burning Man. The only thing I can suggest is that if what you see and read about the event excite you, then you really need to give it a try. Maybe I’ll see you there next round.

Location of Burning Man

Burning man evolve sign

The man enjoying the sun

A closeup of the man

A fabulous climbable sculpture

Climbing on the butterfly

The Lost Penguin

The fire tree before lighting up

Magnification of a skeletal sculpture

An evolving arm

A real mobile home

A nest out in the middle of nowhere

Starfucks oasis - a wonderful place to relax

The man at night

Imei all dressed up with anywhere to go

A seventy foot tall woman

The fire tree in action, interaction required

The love knot

Statue of ....?

Into the belly of the beast

Ice cream in the desert... any flavor you want

The salamander has lightning orbs for eyes!

Bioluminescent octopus

Vibrator Repair Camp

Fiddling hare

Dancing tortoise

The show begins

... and intensifies...

Until the man goes up in flames

Analysis – I haven’t had much experience with flames, or drawing the shading on balls… so I wasn’t very happy with the outcome. The overlapping colors was especially troublesome, as the colored pencils I am using don’t blend well together… so it takes a bit of planning to determine how you want the final overlapped colors to look (which I didn’t do).

–Click the images below for larger versions–

Analysis – Shading came right along and just seemed to work. Her eyes and lips really stand out for me and give her character, but I still have issues with hair. I need to learn how to better show highlights and shading within hair. The cat’s hair isn’t much better either. *Sigh*…

I do like having a record of my progress as I draw each day… although I need to make it a more consistent output.

–Click the images below for larger versions–

Analysis – A color treatment would have felt better with this drawing because the best details are the colors and subtle color differences on the wings. Without using color the details were surprisingly few. I noticed some errors in the outline after I had done quite a bit of work on the drawing and didn’t want to undo it all… so this was a constant eye sore to me as I continued on.

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Note – I’ve decided to start posting my drawings to my blog. For a few reasons… To share the art, to stimulate me to draw more, and to keep a record of them all.

Analysis – I like the final result, but I think it’s more from the beauty of the subject than from my drawing. In other words it’s hard to mess up such a beautiful flower. But the shading on the green leaves is terrible in my eyes.

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Note – I’ve decided to start posting my drawings to my blog. For a few reasons… To share the art, to stimulate me to draw more, and to keep a record of them all. Click on the small image to get the larger size view. There will be a small flood of posts as I put up all of my back dated drawings, then only as I produce new works.

** (If you are unfamiliar with the reference it is from “Stranger in a strange land” by Robert Heinlein, but I haven’t found a description online anything like the true meaning you get from reading the book, so if you want to know what I mean… you’ll have to read the book.)

Analysis – This drawing I decided to take scans at different stages of the work. Scan 1 is after the general outline had been drawn and I’d just started to fill in some color on one of the Giraffes. Scroll down to see more explanation and the drawings.

The next scan shows most of the first Giraffe is filled in and shaded.

The final scan is my completed work. Shading with a black pastel pencil over other colors is really very difficult for me. The true representation I am trying to achieve doesn’t flow and I have to fuss with it quite a bit. Although these newer pencils seem to be better than my previous ones. Also the layering of colors seems to mute and distort the other colors that should be just a bit more vibrant.

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Note – I’ve decided to start posting my drawings to my blog. For a few reasons… To share the art, to stimulate me to draw more, and to keep a record of them all.

Analysis – As this drawing is almost all about the fur and trying to capture the facial expressions of a cat through his fur… it was a challenge for me. I focused on the face for a long time. Really working on the highlights and shadows of the dark black fur around his eyes and nose. I really liked how it came out, but I ended up spending so much time on it that I lost focus on his eyes which are even more important. Two steps forward, one step back I guess.

Drawing of a Siamese Cat (Niko) on 2008.07.28

Note – I’ve decided to start posting my drawings to my blog. For a few reasons… To share the art, to stimulate me to draw more, and to keep a record of them all. Click on the small image to get the larger size view. There will be a small flood of posts as I put up all of my back dated drawings, then only as I produce new works.

Analysis – Not much time was spent… maybe 30 minutes or less, so it’s obviously very incomplete. The lines are pretty good for being 400% increase in size. Seeing the detail on the quarter was the hardest part.

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Note – I’ve decided to start posting my drawings to my blog. For a few reasons… To share the art, to stimulate me to draw more, and to keep a record of them all. Click on the small image to get the larger size view. There will be a small flood of posts as I put up all of my back dated drawings, then only as I produce new works.

January 20th, 2008

Analysis – Hair is becoming easier now. Practice makes perfect. Not that it’s anywhere near perfect, but it is getting better. The coloring isn’t quite what I wanted, but I was pretty limited in my pencil colors at the time. Also the depth of color, more shading using color, and overall brightness could all have been better.

Drawing of a tiger for Briana's 11th Birthday

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Note – I’ve decided to start posting my drawings to my blog. For a few reasons… To share the art, to stimulate me to draw more, and to keep a record of them all. Click on the small image to get the larger size view. There will be a small flood of posts as I put up all of my back dated drawings, then only as I produce new works.