Elena, here is my drawing about the dromedary (this is not a camel). I used a sanguine sketching pencil for the first time.
All the participants are doing very good drawings. Congratulations.
Kain

Obrigado, Clara. i will hire you as my impresario artistico.

Kain, you're right about the camel, I used a generic name for it.It's definitely a dromedary as it has only one hump.
Good work in sanguine.

It's a good question actually.
I started to use my tablet at the age of 18, at the beginning it was ****, since I could draw all right, but my skill were sorta blurred by the absence of real paper and ink.
The most difficult part is to deal with the fact that, even if the graphic pen is a very well built tool and can reproduce the effect of pressure and inclination (I am speaking of Wacom intuos 2, the graphire tablets are not that efficient) it would never give you the same thing as the real pen.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that with the graphic pen you have less control or anything, because once you grow accustomed to it, a graphic pen is as much manageable as the normal one, you also got the HUGE advantage of drawing through a design program such as Photoshop or illustrator, that reduces incredibly the amount of time you got to spend on refining and such; it allows you to use every kind of graphical tool and every shade of color without wasting a penny and you can also avoid the great quality loss that comes with scanning.

The problem raises in the brain, I guess.
I have drawn all my life using plain and common pen, the first I found on the table was it, I never stuck on a particular one and I always found intriguing the fact that every metal tip, every ink, every paper and every surface makes your work change.
It's not the sensitivity or the pressure, it's the fact that sometimes sketching is not just about your skills, but is about how your pen get's blocked by some imperfection and how your hand reacts to it.

Working with the tablet is great, I met a lot of artist who refuse to bend toward technology, but it is undeniable that the future of art is in this kind of innovations.
It's crazy to think that in 2008 a cartoonist should spend one day just to create one board, scanning and rescanning bigger version of it and wasting energies on Indian ink while he could do at least 3 and spend much more time in creativity and style improving.

Technology is getting better and better everyday.
The last generation of tablets are big screens on which you draw and see what you are drawing directly as it was paper, the sensitivity was increased and you have more and more possibilities regarding the tools options.
Sure it's not real paper, but I can assure you, a tablet doesn't block your creativity, it's just that like any change in our routine it is something you have to force your brain to accept.

Once you do, you find that the pro outnumber the cons by far.

Let me ask just one quick question. If you have no drawing skills can you learn by the tablet alone?Or you need to know how to draw and then switch on to the tablet?

Kain, lovely dromedary. I never worked with sanguine pencils, I like the effect

Hey gang,
Here is my attempt at the camel. It took about 1 1/2 hours. I don't have the time to just sit and draw. Usually it's time spead out over a couple of days. I'm not sure what will be the next photo I do, but I hope to have it for your review tomorrow.

Great job on the works submitted so far. Yes I left the chains on. I see deer hit by cars all the time in Western New York. I could only imagine what a camel could do to a car.

My wife saw the drawing and started singing "Sally the camel has five humps..........." It's a kids song. My six year old daughter has taught us well! Welcome to my world!

Sally the Camel

Sally the camel has five humps.
Sally the camel has five humps.
Sally the camel has five humps.
So ride, Sally, ride.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Sally the camel has four humps.
Sally the camel has four humps.
Sally the camel has four humps.
So ride, Sally, ride.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Sally the camel has three humps.
Sally the camel has three humps.
Sally the camel has three humps.
So ride, Sally, ride.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Sally the camel has two humps.
Sally the camel has two humps.
Sally the camel has two humps.
So ride, Sally, ride.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Sally the camel has one hump.
Sally the camel has one hump.
Sally the camel has one hump.
So ride, Sally, ride.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Sally the camel has no humps.
Sally the camel has no humps.
Sally the camel has no humps.
Cause Sally is a horse, of course.


Later!

The only way to improve your skills is by drawing and drawing and drawing... with or without the tablet, in my opinion it's the same.
I learned on normal paper, but using the tablet while exercising could be good because you won't have to adapt to the tablet once you decide to start relying on it.

IIMostro, Is there a tablet you would recommend. I love working with the computer and this is an area I thought of attempting.

Nice song, Coach and definitely nice camel too.

Amico Mostro, tante grazie for the explanation.The potential of digital tools is great but for the time being I will stay with the old pencils and paper. You have the physical work this way as opposed to the virtual one that anyone can print or download eliminating the original and property rights.

Wow, so many lovely drawings submitted so far! Looks like the dromedary is a popular one. I'd like to comment on everyone's drawings individually, but no time right now, I'll just sum it up with I love them all! Here's my quick sketch of the dromedary, only from the computer screen. About an hour, just HB pencil. Thanks again Elena, great challenge!

Thank you, Mindy, for joining with this great camel.
We stopped the car to photograph them along the Desert highway and they were grazing. Now those beduins really need to make sure they will find them in the same spot they left them to graze.That's the chain for. I don't see any cruelty but the safety issue here.They are lovely animals and faithful friends.

I work with Wacom tablets, you can find them of many different formats and performances, depending on what you need them for.
Here the site http://www.wacom.com

The most advanced model is the cintiq (my dream ), the only one that has a screen on which you can draw, but they cost a lot... recently a friend of mine bought a small bamboo tablet for architectural projects, it was cheap and she found it very useful.

I have two Intuos 2, back when I bought them the a4 cost around 400 dollars... for drawing purposes I wouldn't recommend a bigger one, it's more expensive and not really needed.

There are now sites on which upload your art and sell the prints, all protected by copyright (the high definition image is not shown or shown partially), without considering web comics, they make money out of advertising, but I respect your choice

Alessandra, still for a long time to come people will rely on physical art to hang on the walls of their homes. So digital art will remain only for certain purposes now, unless we become a copy planet, scan and print images all the way.

great drawing, and I loved the song, I wish I could hear the tune too, but I can imagine it

Here is my watercolor shrimp. Not to my taste this time.But i tried.

Nice try Elena, the more you try, the more you are closer to the goal. You are on the way. I hope before this year ends I can paint with watercolor.

Kain, you are already an artist. Just do a good drawing as underpaint and then apply layers of color, wash better say. That's all.

wow Elena that is very nice, I realy like the touch of blue on the shrimp.

Obrigado, Clara.maybe the tiger stripes are too well defined.I might try it with them cooked, i.e pink.

Here's my version of the leaves, done with soft pastels on watercolour paper.

Thank you very much, Elena. I´ll follow your advice and take on count your very kind comments.

Very nice pictures for the challenge Elena.
Everyone is producing wonderful drawings.
I tried the shrimp.

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Thank you for Joining in Norma and Tammy. Norma I knew you would do something in color.
Very good rendering.

Tammy, you captured well the shrimp. Isn't it fun to draw it?

Hi Elena,

This is my attempt for the dromedary. Nice pictures and it must have been a wonderful trip.

Saludos,
Turrialba

Excellent drawing, Turrialba. You drew wonderful legs.Thanks for your contribution.
Un abrazo, Elena

Still waiting for the first brave one to draw the fountain. I might give it a try meanwhile.just to encourage you

Here is my attempt at the shrimp.This is one of the few seafood items I will eat.
How about some chicken wings next time! That's more my speed.

CoachKWL, for a non eater your shimp looks very good. But I like the way you drew the dish. very good.My dish is always shapeless.

here is my start for an oil pastel in white sketch pencil of the fountain on Canson mi teintes brown pad 9x12 in.

Nice start Elena

everyone is doing so well in this challenge. great work!!!

This is rather wild(fauvist) painting done in oil pastels. I found that the grey or stone like colors would be too sad and monotonous.So here I am with my purple hues fountain.

Dear Elena,
Lovely rendition of the fountain. I like the color very much, your artistic license paid off with great results. I think the original color of the fountain is what put me off from drawing it.
Regards,
Trish

Thanks, Trish. Very kind of you but my intention was to do all that light and shadow play and the realistic approach and I ended up playing like a schoolchild with my OP.

Two this morning - it was very cold yesterday, so I didn't stay outside very long!
I'm afraid my fountain is much more boring tha Elena's purple one. I just used graphites on cartridge paper.
The guide I drew with graphites then brightened up with light brown and red soft pastels.

My try to draw the leaves. Only one leaf finished in more than 6 hours. Drawn with colored pencil. I stop drawing at this point because I don't want to get mad until monday, because of the workshop.

Norma and Ulrike I see you have been busy.

Very good rendering of the fountain shape, Norma. The guard is also well rendered especially the position of his head and expression.

Ulrike, you patience paid off. You have an excellent leaf, all the colors are very true to life.

Thank you both.

Lovely photos Elena. I want to draw them all!

I made myself take some time at lunch today and do some drawing. These are just some line drawings and I may have time to work on them some more. I quite like the fountain image, it has potential for an oil or watercolour I think.

So here is my version of a guard and the fountain so far. I had to darken them on the scanner to make them visible as the line isn't very dark. The fountain scan is just awful for some reason. I'll have to redo it at home.

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Jeanette you picked two difficult ones for the time left, but you can finish them any time, I guess.
Yes the fountain has very good light and shadow effects and even a good pencil rendering can do it justice. I wish i had the patience for all those leaves in graphite.
Wish you luck!

Hi all,

what a fantastic challenge Elena, I admire all the drawings very much this week. I finally found a little time so I thought I would try the Camel, he sure is popular. Thanks for the challenge,


Brian.

Hi Brian. Nice to see you had time for drawing the camel. And what a funny character on its back!
Thanks for participating.
I love this last minute surprises with people showing up with drawings friday and saturday. It's the suspense moment of the challenge, always.

AS our challenge is about to end soon, I want to thank you all for participating with your art this week and here is our gallery.



Kay

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Clara

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Norma

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Mindy
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Tammy
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ncgirl

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UlrikeClick to view attachment

IlMostro(Alessandra)

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Elena

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Jeanette(pending)

and the boys

An
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Brian

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CoachKLW

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Turrialba

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Kain

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Thank you for the opportunity to participate, although I couldn´t send more than one drawing, because of lack of time. Thanks Elena.

Thank You Elena for hosting!

Dear Elena,
thanks for hosting, sorry for not posting, busy week here, but I did save the pictures for a later attempt, then will post in my gallery.
Warm regards,
Trish