Credit: Juxxtapose
Majestic peaks, bright blue waters, trees dressed for autumn. Especially the trees – I loved the trees. (You can see that I put in more effort while drawing the tree.) They were a brilliant display of greens, yellows, oranges, and a tinge of red.
Photo credit: Juxxtapose
It’s been awhile since I posted anything I’ve made. I’ve been sporadic in creating items cos I’ve been distracted by other pursuits like trip-planning and reading. Getting easily distracted is a bad habit I have to shake off at some point. I do love trip-planning and reading like a rabbit loves her carrots though.
Here’s the latest from my workshop – I chose the red, white, blue combination cos I thought it would be a vibrant shock of colours (as opposed to my usual muted choices of whites and greys). But it ended up looking a bit 4th of July-ish, which I guess is kinda cool too.
September was a ‘no-flying’ month for us. But it’s the first of OCTOBER! And we’re flying off the Dubai this evening (: May your Octobers be filled with cool autumn breezes, beautiful fiery leaves, brand new adventures, and exciting experiences. Have a great October everyone, and happy long weekend (for the relevant countries)!
Photo credit: Juxxtapose
More and more of my friends are expecting babies coming along. It’s a perfect opportunity to practise my crochet skills (which are still in its infancy like the babies). I made these little baby socks for a little girl who’s coming to this world in September, and I’ve also just completed a tiny blue pair for a little boy.
I was a very distracted kid. I remember numerous occasions when I sat staring at my homework for hours and at the end of it, it was still not done. In fact, scratch ‘numerous occasions’, it was more like almost every single time. I would sit and immediately get lost in the dreamland of my mind.
I think it was my mum who told me that when I get distracted by thoughts I can’t shake off, to write the thoughts down on a piece of paper and put it away. It did help. Writing it down seemed to have cleared it from my mind, allowing me to focus better on the task at hand. Gradually, though, I forgot this piece of advice. Despite this, I retained the habit of having to write down lists of to-do tasks when it felt like they were building up in my mind. I immediately felt more at ease and in control after writing them down.
I only got reminded of this piece of advice yesterday when I found my mind refusing to concentrate. I incidentally decided to draw what was on my mind, and immediately after I got it on paper, I could focus much better.
Here’s what I drew, dreaming of an African adventure:
Credit: Juxxtapose
(My camels look like dinosaurs!)
This is definitely an easy trick you can try when you find yourself distracted by your thoughts, and also, it is living proof that there are practical benefits to journaling or doodling.
Remember how I was learning to draw from this book called ‘Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain’ by Betty Edwards?
The final exercise was to do a self-portrait, and so about 2 months ago, I set out to draw just that. I set up a chair and my drawing materials in front of a mirror all geared up, confident, and raring to go! Besides, Edwards did claim that anyone, really ANYONE, had the ability to draw. I had followed all her instructions carefully, so where could I possibly go wrong?
Credit: Juxxtapose
This is what I produced from that sitting. Objectively, I think it’s a not-too-bad drawing of an Asian girl with what Chinese call ‘cherry-small lips’. The problem with this is that it looks nothing like me! But, you know, I did put in a lot of effort in the drawing. Just sayin’.
The next instruction in the book was to compare this drawing with my pre-instruction drawing. What this pre-instruction drawing is, is a self-portrait that I was told to do before I started learning anything from the book. The reason for this is that, according to Edwards, students’ expectations of their standard of drawing increases as they learn, and they will constantly be critical of their work despite having made improvement. So this pre-instruction will serve as ‘proof’ of your original standard of drawing.
Of course, at this point, being the critical student I am, I refused to do a comparison. Because how can you call a self-portrait that does not resemble yourself a success?
So after two month or so of being disappointed in myself and frustrated because I did do my best the first time, I decided to attempt another self-portrait. This time I would do away with all the shading and shadows and do a line drawing, in hopes that the end-product would look more like the real me.
Credit: Juxxtapose
This time my mouth seemed closer to its correct size relative to my face. My eyes look googly though. Probably bigger than they should be. I could possibly work on that.
It looks like a drawing of a Mongolian Warrior though, perhaps due to the squarish jawline (which I do have). Very tough and masculine, which still does not really reflect how I actually look like. But overall, it does look closer to how I look than my first attempt.
Again, I was a little disappointed and frustrated at how I was unable to do a self-portrait that looked like myself. But I decided that I had done the best I could, at least for now, and it was time to do the comparison to the pre-instruction drawing.
I must say, at this point, that as I did all 3 of the drawings I am sharing here, I truly truly did do my utmost best in making them true to life. But they somehow turned out different each time, even with both of my post-instruction drawings.
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Now, I am going to show you my pre-instruction drawing:
Credit: Juxxtapose
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
You have the permission to laugh. I literally laughed out loud when I saw it. I drew this in February earlier this year, and I had forgotten what I had drawn because I was told not to look at it until I was done with the book. Obviously I had curly hair at that time and was trying very hard to portray that!
My current drawings are admittedly still not up to standard, but seeing such a stark difference between the pre and post drawings gives me hope that with more practice and perhaps an advanced drawing book, I can continue to improve.
(Previous posts about this learning journey can be found here, here and here)
Photo credit: Juxxtapose
I copied this lily drawing from a photo that one of my friends took.
How do you think I did?
So I’ve been practising. I know it’s not much but I am determined to improve my drawing skills everyday.
Credit: Juxxtapose
Today was all about flowers. I googled flowers, I copied flowers. I made mistakes and I tried drawing them again.
It is difficult to learn something new, simply because it takes so much time and effort, and yet there is a great chance of failure. As the saying goes, ‘Do one thing everyday that scares you’. Do something that you’ve always wanted to do, but have always been held back by fear or other excuses.
Photo Credit: Juxxtapose
I drew this after a month-long drawing-hiatus so I’m not too pleased with it. I just feel that I could do so much better.
In this exercise, I was instructed to draw a chair by first drawing the negative spaces, which are the spaces in between the chair itself. The thin wooden strips of the chair’s back were too long and thin for my trembling hands I suppose. Need to learn to steady my hands more.
Photo Credit: Juxxtapose
I’m glad I managed to complete this, it took a little longer than I thought it would.
It turned out exactly like how I had envisioned it though, so I’m mighty pleased about that!
Photo Credit: Juxxtapose
Rows and rows of double crochet.
I wasn’t too efficient at first, but after doing rows and rows of it, it really did get me more proficient in handling the needle and yarn, and tension too. If you want to crochet well, practising a lot really does wonders.
Photo Credit: Juxxtapose
With the help of a picture plane and careful instructions from ‘Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain’ by Betty Edwards, I have successfully produced my first ‘real’ drawing! This practice is called the Modified Contour Drawing, and it focuses on every line and wrinkle on your hand. This process bores your left brain and allows your right brain to take over.
I am rather pleased with it because it actually looks kinda 3D. And I do have to emphasise how hopeless I actually am at drawing. Seriously. So, although this drawing was completed with the help of contours and a picture plane, I am very very excited about the potential of my progress.
Juxxtapose 