Thanks Islander for the input. I did them the best I could and I should have just left the backgound plain. I was being abstractie though...LOL, as for the color of the tomatoes I couldn't copy the refrence photo you had up and just did them how I would like to see a tamato. I guess I will call the picture "Ready for Pickin" ..sounds good to me anyways but in the future I will keep that in mind and who knows maybe I will try the drawing again. I do have like 12 days left...lol

Venus Well done there they are very good for some one that is yet starting out! i wouldn't be able to do that u have the shape done well they look like toms and i love the toms when i look at your drawing i feel like reaching out a picking a tom its a realistic drawing 5 stars Hun

Good job, Venus - I thought the tomato leaves were tricky also & am hoping someone else chooses to do that reference so I can see how to do the leaves!

I'm just peeking in around the doorway to see what everyone is doing! Sorry to be so slow chiming in – my internet connection has been very cranky over the past two weeks!

I am flabbergasted by the quality of the drawings - it's fascinating to see the individual styles emerge within drawings done from the same reference photos! When this leg of the challenge is over, I think it would be fun to pin a gallery for each photo reference, and the resulting drawings in the inspirational gallery, to even better explore individual style.

Huge big kudos and a great big thank you to Jeanette for taking on such a daunting task! Organizing a group of artists (such as me for example) is usually akin to herding cats!

Thank you to every artist who is participating and/or supporting others! We are only 4 days into this project, and it’s already a huge success!

Brenda

Your tomatoes are wonderful Venus. I wasn't criticizing, I hope my observations weren't taken the wrong way. I guess my version of support includes drawing pointers I teach a drawing course, so it must be second nature by now to comment lol. I'll try my hand at the tomatoes too later this week. Just need to add more time into my days...

Thanks Brenda, this has been fun! Herding cats is always a hoot!!

Come one everyone, we need to see more drawings here. All levels, all sizes, all colours. This is a wonderful chance to practice drawing and to let others guide you while you do. Look on it as free art lessons!! If you're a beginner don't feel intimidated, everyone starts somewhere and the assistance you can get from others on this thread will help you achieve what you want artistically.

So everyone keep drawing and keep posting.

Hi There, I am very excited to try my hand at drawing these using pastels.

I need some halp as to how I can get them on to the computer. Do I need to find someone who has a scanner?

Thanks,

Pam

The only way to upload them to this link would be if your drawing was in a digital jpeg format. That would entail either drawing them on the computer with an art program, taking a photo of them with a digital camera, taking a shot of them with a Webcam (Like a Labtec you can buy from 60 to 80 dollars US) or have them scanned into a scanner. Other than that you would have to snail mail the drawing to someone who has one of the above listed capture equipment and have them upload it to this link.

Islander...Its ok if you were critisizing that is what the whole challenge is about to get better at drawing. I was just trying to emphasize that I have no color ink so I couldn't copy the colors of the tomatoes is all. I tried to do them like I would see them or want to buy them persay. I think you are a wonderful artist and way to go for being able to teach. That lately has been one of my latest dreams to beable to do is teaching for some reason but I think I wanna teach kids or teenagers to get away from the streets and drugs. Ohh well everyone has a dream. But please don't think I was upset or hurt for your comments I really appreciate them.

Pamela good luck!!! Nice to meet you. I have never tried pastels. they sound messy though.

..My first post....
Glad to see this challenge...
....There's a lot of talent on this forum...and Great styles....
------------
Drawing done in a strict (aidless) freehand fashion, from the photo displayed on monitor, by visual perception alone.

Eager to participate, I did a quick 15 mins sketch
[attachmentid=152]

and a brief follow-up, for lack of time...
[attachmentid=153]

I can see, it needs some corrections, already....I'll finish it, later on..

Regards

Oh my... everyones pictures looks so fantastic, i hope mine is up to parr. starting on it tonight!!!

Lori

Wow! Everyone is doing a fantastic job with this.

I am only sorry to say I've been too swamped at work this week to begin my own drawings. Been cleaning a nasty virus out of one of our High Schools which of course is slowly spreading to our Middle and Elementary schools as well. Please, just don't shake hands with me and you'll be fine.

Anyway, I'm hoping to start with mine this weekend when I have more time to myself. I like the Grainery scene. Kinda reminds of places that I grew up around. We had two of them in our town down by the railroad tracks. Loved to hang out there and take in all the spooky scenes one encounters in these places.

Submissions:
Venus: Excellent work with the Grainery. Hey so the proportion thing got a little too hectic, don't worry its only a practice round. There will be more of these to come. Dark and gloomy works well with my memory of the place. Only 25 pushups for getting it done in the first 5 days.
JohnnyInc: Did you go a little hurried in the background? It seems to show. Taking it down to the crop was probably a good idea. The full version looks a little stormy. Well, hurried or not, I don't think 25 pushups would hurt you too bad for posting this early.
Woo: Talk about attitude, your chicks got it all! You're right about being heavy on the stick, but then again the masters were heavy on darks as well. Most of them you have to really concentrate on the background to even see there is something painted there. Well, only 25 pushups this time, unless you want to submit another one tomorrow.
J-Lynn: Good thing you fixed that shadow issue, cause I was going to give you an extra 25 penalty pushups for that. Maybe I oughta give them to Ted for finding your flaw. Well, we all learned a little bit from that one, so you can be exempt from the 25 for providing the lesson. I like the texture of the paper with the graphite, it really stands out and makes the drawing look "Sunday Cartoonish". Good choice for the crop.
Werebot: That drawing is nothing to shake a drawing stick at. For a beginner, you did a really good job of rendering that chick. I can see you have the beginner problem that I have with trying to get the graphite to show different tonal values. Everything seems to be the same tone, even when you try to dig a hole in the paper with the point it still doesn't provide any contrast. Keep with the lessons here and you'll do fine.
sqioart: You may be new to these forums, but you are no stranger to drawing! A remarkable rendition of our little friend for this week. We need you to participate in all our drawing sessions. Hey, if you do another one of the challenge drawings this session, you can skip the first 25 pushups. Deal?
Venus: Are you a glutton for punishment? I've got you clocked down for 50 pushups now and an extra 10 for putting in the double picture post. But you know what? I'm going to be generous and take them away just because you did such a delicious job of making them look so damn real. And to think about all of us here and post an extra set so everyone could sample them. Super job!
Brenda: Just popping in costs t0 pushups...you think we do this stuff for free?
J.E.T: Very nice job presenting the "Play by Play" post. This gives us all a good look at how something like this is put together. And to think you are going to outline every piece of peach fuzz on the little guy. Remember we only have until the 14th. Keep up the work, you're doing a really amazing job.

Till later,
Eric

Eric..... ....
I was having computer problems that day. It tends to act up sometimes and be tempermental. Where did 50 pushups come from? I thought it was only 25 at first? LOL

Ohhh I am not done yet either I still have the hands and chick to draw.

Hmm, all the stuff on here breaks down my ego entirely, but i'll give it a shot... Here's my w.i.p. on the tomato. As you can see from the dark outlinings I am a cartoonist by gender, so this is not something I do everyday. Can you guys please give me some comments on how to improve this a bit?

ps; Sorry for the poor quality, my scanner isnt the greatest...

Xanathos, you've done a great job on these tomatoes. Yes, they do have an illustrational feel to them but if that's your style, then that's great. If you are trying for something that is realistic you'll need to soften those lines around the fruit, stem and leaves.

You've got wonderful shapes here and the negative spaces look fine. You can model the forms with shading or hatching to bring them forward more. Its a matter of layers and layers, use a light touch to build up the darks. Review Brenda's lessons on values and shading to get an idea of how to sculpt the shapes and make them 3 dimensional.

Compare one section to the next to ensure that your proportions are correct and watch carefully for the change in tones of the fruit. They range from light in the unripe tomatoes to darker in the ripes ones and the shadow turns darker still towards the bottom and in areas where one section overlaps another.

The realistic black and white sketch is my official answer to the challenge. I didn't try for every detail, but to have a good set of tomatoes. I can identify some of the issues - I don't quite have the negative space on the left side quite right, for example, but I'm happy with my effort overall.

I also had a little bit more fun by working a loosely abstracted version in watercolor crayons. I like that look. I just wish I'd gotten the angles right on the way the branches connected to the main stalk. I added some water to it after I scanned it, just to see what happened, and turned it into more of a painting.

Beth

Mechanical pencil on Moleskine sketchbook

My First ever challenge. Help.....Did not really come out how I wanted. I used various H&B pencils.

I just wanted to say good job everyone. Keep the pictures coming and lets show Brenda that we are serious about these drawing challenges!!! I know so far I have had fun doing them.

This is a really good drawing Beth. You've got the shapes in place and the tones are there. Did you leave out areas that challenged you perhaps? My suggestion would be to increase the darks on your tomatoes and the stem to bring it to life. Also soften the hard lines around objects. In real life, you would not see distinct lines around objects, they just seem to melt into the background or against other objects.

Watercolour pencils can be tricky - I think we could do a thread just on those alone! Treat them as pure pigment and go lightly initially, building up the layers of colour gradually and plan your colours and strokes carefully. Yes, this could turn into a wonderful abstract painting. The shapes and colours are lovely.

Jangra,beautiful drawing of the chick! Very soft and delicate. The shapes and tones are great, and you could intensify your darks within the head/beak area and on the underside of the fingers to make this drawing pop. Again my comment would be the same as to others here - to soften the lines around the fingers to avoid that 'cartoon' effect.

This is an excellent first attempt Brian I would recommend that you have another look at proportion for the hands, especially the rear fingers against the chick, they may be a little small, sort of squashing the chick's proportion. And have a look at the tonal effects that you can create with your pencils. This drawing is a little flat, so you can do two things: Take out highlights with your eraser or increase your darks and deepen your background so that the focal point stands out. Same advice as for everyone else too, soften the outlines so that then blend into their surroundings.

Hopefully by tonight I will have a demo of the tomatoes to show you what I mean. Time is a challenge - at least finding it!

I love that everyone is posting and practicing their drawing skills. Everyone should go back and review Brenda's lessons on proportion and shading and practice the exercises there too, to help them render the tones and half tones of any drawing they are attempting.

Yep! I definitely left out the areas that I found most challenging. Tackling the tomatoes and a couple leaves was enough for right now. I have not reached those skills on the lessons here and have only done a couple drawings with tone and shading in the past. I still remember the lightbulb ooooo moment when I was introduced to the blending stump and the kneaded eraser.

I originally didn't have those hard lines there, everything was just blended and I thought it didn't look right, maybe because all those background aspects weren't there. Adding the lines seemed to complete it for me, although I definitely see your point. If I'd worked a little more detail in carefully with tone and blending and erasing I might have been able to achieve the same effect with more realism. Thanks for the comments.

Beth

This is an excellent first attempt Brian I would recommend that you have another look at proportion for the hands, especially the rear fingers against the chick, they may be a little small, sort of squashing the chick's proportion. And have a look at the tonal effects that you can create with your pencils. This drawing is a little flat, so you can do two things: Take out highlights with your eraser or increase your darks and deepen your background so that the focal point stands out. Same advice as for everyone else too, soften the outlines so that then blend into their surroundings.

Thanks so much for your help I am going to take another try at it . Nice of you to take the time to comment I really appreciate it and I love the work you are doing . Brian

Attempt # 2 Thanks to Islanders advice and Eric's pictures as a guide I think this one is a little better for my second try.

Excellent work Brian, that's coming on in leaps and bounds!

Now what I want you to do is look carefully at the reference photo. Do you see the areas of light and shade on the fingers? And do you see how in your drawing, the fingers are all the same tone? You need to correct that. Use a kneaded eraser and gently lift off some of the graphite in the lighter areas and clean up around the areas that you've erased. Now, do the same around the outlines you've created around the hand and the bird. Soften them so they become non-existant, just one shape after another.

You're doing great on this Brian. Just carefully observe and put down what you see on the paper. ONLY what you see. Don't let your mind convince you that you see something else, cause it will try to do so! Try a new reference - or just part of one to practice on. Keep drawing, every day.

Thanks Islander, I see what you mean about the tones in the hand. I mostly used to draw mainly cartoons so I really need help with my shading and realism. I will get back at it as soon as I have the opportunity . I am really enjoying and learning lots from this , thanks again. Brian.

Hi All,
I just finished my drawing for the October Challenge.


Gary

This is totally cool! I choose the tomatoes. I already started a light sketch. I hope to finish it soon, maybe tomorrow on Sunday? Then I can scan it and post. I'm not sure how it'll turn out...*bites nails* But it may not be too bad! I'll cross my fingers.

-Kait

[attachmentid=179]Here is my drawing for the challenge. It was alot of fun, any tips, critiques or comments welcomed.
thanks
Lori

Gary, your drawing has all its elements in place, though I think you ran out of steam for the calyxes of the tomatoes. They are more difficult to draw and shade but bring the whole image together. Leaving them unshaded draws the eye to them as a highlight. That's a great tool to use to bring attention to something, but not if you want the viewer to look at the total image. Try shading the calyxes and see the difference in your image.

Kait, I'll look forward to seeing what you do with the tomatoes. I'm sure you'll do it justice.

This is a lovely, soft drawing Lori. I like the vignette effect. The shapes are perfect, the hands and the chick's pose. Try deepening the tones on the chick and the hands to bring them into relief. Compare the greyscale to your own drawing, side by side, and you will see that you can go a lot darker in areas. Also have another look at the chick's eye area. I think in the ref, the eye is more open and here its closed almost.

I've made a little start on the tomatoes. I started it at lunchtime today at work and only on computer paper with a mechanical pencil. I'm sort of locked into that paper now unless I want to start the drawing over and that's not a great thing, as the paper hasn't got much tooth so will only hold so many layers of graphite before it reaches maximum. I'll do some more and see where it goes from here. The top tomato is about finished and I haven't tackled much else at this point. Its very difficult to get a good scan of graphite, so I will take a digital photo tomorrow in daylight for a better image.

The tomato and shading around it has taken about an hour or so to get to this stage. My point is, that the process is not a quick one if you're looking for realistic effects. Pay close attention to the subtle tone changes from ripe to partially ripe to shadow and highlights and layer your graphite slowly. I've used a circulism effect with this, rather like Brenda's 'squirkling' only smaller rounder circles. Its slow, but it means that you have control and you don't need an eraser.

[attachmentid=180]

Hey IslanderNL, did you ever think that you would get such a response??
a lot of us haven't posted yet either, tee hee..
As soon as i can change my rockets to look like grain storage tanks...to quote Arnie "i'll be back!!"

RJS, I think it is fabulous that so many people responded and are taking part!!

I love seeing the different styles from each person, even if it is the same reference image.

I have my own grain elevator nightmare to beat into submission yet! I think - just think - that I may have the perspective right on it now. Looking forward to seeing yours RJS - and many others.

Come on everyone, get drawing, get posting!

Gary, I like how you made the tomatoes composition your own by departing somewhat from the reference photo and still created a realistic looking drawing. Being able to do something like that still boggles my mind.
Beth

My 3rd attemt at this one I think I will try another if I get time. Thanks Islander for this challenge and your great tips, I am really enjoying this and what a great way to learn.

Can I use water color??? This is my favourite technique. I'd be glad if you permit me to use it:)))

Arwen, this challenge is for drawing only to hone those skills. So graphite pencils, coloured pencil, pen and ink only at this point.

If you want to do a watercolour, you'll have to post your master drawing first, then you can tinker with colour after that.

Brian that is soooooooooo much better! You're really getting the grasp of seeing the shapes and tones now. Wonderful work!

Are you going to tackle another one?

Thanks Islander for the tips, you know you are not the first person to say about the values. that is something i really need to work on. it seems when i go darker with the hands it blends in to much with the chick so i also need to go darker with the chick. i thought i was to dark with it already but i guess im not. i do really like these challenges too. i hope we keep them going.
Lori

Islander, I am sure I still have a loooong way to go but your words and guidance are surely an inspiration to us all. Thanks for that ! I would love to try to tackle another at my next available opportunity. Brian

Hi,
I love drawing and this is my first time in the forum, so I saw the little chicken and tryed to draw it...
[attachmentid=186]

Dangel, this is a lovely loose sketchy drawing. You've got all the elements here. I would pay attention to proportions, the chick's head looks a tad too small for its body perhaps?

And try to remember to soften lines around objects. There are no solid lines in real life. When you shade, be aware of edges and make sure your shading becomes your line, not a hard line that will stand out.

OK, ok ... I know I've been laying out a lot of flac here the past week without providing any meat of my own. Well, a week has almost passed and I believe I've waited long enough so I don't incur any pushups for early submission. As IslanderNL said "These drawings should take time to draw."

I'm submitting a WIP of the Grainery. It's going to be an 8x11 graphite on Heavyweight Paper from an Academie Sketchbook. I spent about 4 hours this evening blocking everything in proportionally and working on finding my dark, mid and light tone areas. I have a couple of things not quite right in proportion, and I'll work on those if only I can get that business sign to point in the direction I need it to. The whole side of that building is thrown off because of it. Geez, I had no idea how hard it is to get a sign or writing to look as though it is flowing away from the viewer. (tips pleeeeeze!)

I know the whole drawing looks a little hokey right now, but I'm hoping that when I begin doing my shading it will all eventually come together. Ok, everybody, pick away at it!

Eric

[attachmentid=187]

Hi Eric.

I would like to thank you for adding the line drawings. I am very new to drawing and when I saw the original pictures I thought "Too tough for me, I can't draw those". But then I looked at your grey scale and
line drawings and then thought, " Wait a minute I can draw THOSE. They are just shapes." And in the books that I am reading drawing is all about seeing shapes.

So from a rank beginner adding the line drawings took the fear away for me and I am going to give it a try.

Karen

PS I would love to see you in your speedos lol

Eric,this is one of the reasons I enjoyed doing profiles.No straight lines.Don't be afraid to use a grid and a straight edge.
Now to poke a little fun at you! Us Experts can do this you know!My advice is to forget about this WIP and start all over in the morning after you sober up. Amid it, you don't have a photography memory so don't be afraid to look at the subject picture more than once.All the letters in "POOL" are basically the same size.Just draw or imagine a line at the top and bottom of the word "POOL" and then line these lines up parallel with the lines of the building.Now that was easy was it?You tried way to hard and made "L" 1/2 the size of "P".
I guess this is enough "Picking" for now but I do hope it make you try harder.We all know you have what it take!

Hey guys, sorry ive been tied up with numerous freelance jobs this week. I'm doin the granery, getting a bit carried away with the details, so i think i'll try something new... i bought this fine tipped pen which i wud like to use.... cross hatching here i come!!!.

Is it just me that is very very deeply concerned that the general consensus on this thread is for eric to wear speedos? Speedos should never be worn. Never.

Never Ever.

Hi Eric, yes, perspective can be tricky and your drawing needs a bit of tweaking to makethe grain elevator sit properly on its prairie landscape. Its always good to do onen of these drawings freehand then use your perspective knowledge and ruler to line up angles with your vanishing point to make sure its correct.

I've done a quick line drawing of the grain elevator and created a vanishing point so that you can see from the red lines where the angles of the roofs line up with the VP. Also the lettering on the grain elevator works on the same principle just as Tehobu said. Line up the lettering top and bottom with the vanishing point and fill it in from there.

Also look carefully at the reference image to see the structure and where the flat fronts of the building meet the roof and the angles of the roof sections. Its a tricky one! Blame Venus, she wanted something with perspective!

Kck45, yes drawing is all about seeing shapes and if you break down your drawing into simple shapes, then fill in the detail you can't go wrong.

[attachmentid=188]

Okay, I really don't like perspective. I started with the silos and worked out from there. My (evil) scanner added back in the old lines I used to create the clouds with a standard pencil and blending stick. Most of the drawing is with a standard pencil on multi-purpose inkjet paper. I used a B5 to add dark values to the doors and windows. I didn't think the medium tones of the grass in front of the factory/grain elevator added much to the picture (and I'm lazy). The patterns in the silos where fun to tackle.

I guess I'll take a stab at the tomatoes next.

Heres my pen sketch. Im not sure if i like pen. Too fiddly and scratchy. mayb if i spent more time and did each line deliberatly...



nice work jonnyinc, its got a nice brooding atmosphere to it... like a tornado is about to strike..

watch out for the chess board patterns coming out on the front silo... its a bit distracting from the realism

LOL Islander, Its not just my fault I thought it was a good subject. Plus I am still haveing a hard time with it in my class. Heck, even my art teacher that I go to every two weeks couldn't help me with it, she took home a list of things that I had to know about to ask her husband who is an architect. So hopefully when I go back she will have some pointers for me from him. That and I am waiting for a new book on perspective drawing I ordered from amazon. Should arrive soon. Besides EVERYONE, should learn perspective drawing its good to know. So thats enough rambling about defending myself wanting perspective..LOL
On to [b]ERIC,
Hmmmm I saw your drawing, not bad, not bad, [b]BUT, where is the land and the wire lines? Your lines are a little off so I really cant say anything about them though because I myself didn't use a ruler. Which as Islander stated I was the one that requested (perspective). I think when I have some more time I will try it again using the perspective lines. I am in the middle of doing another project. So now YOU have to do 50 pushups. Then start over...lol (You have to do my 25) (joking)

Hi Islander and Beth,
Islander, I tried your suggestion this afternoon about shading the calyxes of the tomatoes, and I see what you mean. Learned something valuable! I won't forget that.
Beth, thanks for the compliment about my composition. I had in mind to keep the important elements, but yet trying keep things simple.

Gary

Well Venus, as you know being an artist and wanting to totally immerse myself into my work, I guess I went a little too deep and walked into my reference right past those wires and telephone poles. So, naturally I thought... Lucky for me, a couple things less to draw!

Isn't there some kind of license for this stuff?

Oh, and I'm just about done with those 50 pushups while I'm writing this post with my other hand!

Have a great holiday! Eric

IslandBaby! Thanks for the help. I tried to do that with a picture that I printed out then took the ruler to it to see if I could determine the VP and where things should line up, but with all the angles in this piece, I was putting the reference lines against the wrong parts to get my angles. Thanks for laying it out a little clearer, and showing which places I should be referencing.

Tehobu (Ted in real life): You just couldn't wait to slip in the knife and give a little twist, could you? Well, just in case you didn't know, the only Pool I knew about was at the city park, so if my letters seem a little strangely formed, then its because I was visualizing them from beneath the surface!

JohnnyInc and 3lansir: You both did a marvelous job with this ref. My basic sketch doesn't come near to the amount of work you've both put into your renditions. I'm going to put some more work into my piece and hopefully have a final done by Monday.

Kck45: Stick around. I will be posting the photos for the October 15th challenge. So, who knows what may appear! Meanwhile, get busy on this week's challenge and get it posted. I would love to see what you have done with the resources I provided you. See?... You really do have some confidence in this.

I'll get back with comments on the others a little later, my one arm is killing me from those 50 pushups!

Eric

Fabulous drawing Johnnyinc. For someone who doesn't like perspective, you seem to have done pretty well with it! Recheck the roofline of the bottom righthand section where it joins the main building. The angle seems a little off there to me.

Excellent job on this one 3lansir. I do have a fondness for pen I have to admit and your hatching looks quite even and not scratchy. I llike it a lot.

Venus, yes everyone who wants to draw well needs to know at least basic one pointi perspective. Why don't you post some of the questions you have about it here and see if people can answer them?

Gary, I'm glad the shading worked for you. Whatever is brightest, the eye is drawn to first and tends to linger, ignoring the rest. Look at different pictures and think about how your eyes travel over the images and you'll see what I mean.

Eric of course you have artistic license and can add or leave out whatever you want. Drawings aren't photocpies of the references that you use and shouldn't ever be. Your own style should shine through. Personally, I think the power lines detract from the image, so the won't be included in my drawing. However, someone else may use them as a reference point in setting up perspective or judging placement of other features. Its all down to individual choice.