Saturday, January 03, 2009

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

bunny sketchThe beginning of the year is often the time to look back over the past year and make plans for the coming year. I'm usually not one to do this, but for some reason, this year I did. I thought I'd share some really old stuff of mine to compare to my recent work. I have a sketchbook going back 15 years (half my life, gasp!). This little bunny, for example, I drew while watching Captain Bob. Way back then, Captain Bob was a drawing show for kids at the ungodly hour of 6am Saturday morning. I would set my alarm and get up to draw the animal of the week.

carousel horse drawingAbout the same time I drew this carousel horse. While I cannot remember exactly, I'm pretty sure I came up with it on my own. I drew a lot of horses around that time, in addition to dinosaurs and, dare I say it, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
greyhound drawing
snow leopard charcoal drawingAfter middle school, my efforts focused on academics. In fact, I did very little drawing from high school until about five years ago. I tried out a few media: pencil, ink, pastels. Last January I drew this greyhound for donation to a greyhound rescue center. And then I read Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil. The book opened my eyes to the potential of pencil and charcoal. My very next drawing was the snow leopard.

Over the past year, I have progressed to the point of my current favorite, the gorilla. But I'm not completely satisfied. With the help of overcoming another mental obstacle (kind of hard to explain), I think I'm taking the next step with my art as evidenced by my current piece, the bobcat. My work will be taking longer, but I will post in-progress work periodically. (I also got a nice, big easel for Christmas that the coral reef actually fits on, so I'll be working on that more, too.) I think the coming year will result in even better work. Stay tuned...
gorilla charcoal drawingbobcat charcoal drawing in progress

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow!

Anonymous said...

omg!

Anonymous said...

you are so good!

Heather Ward said...

Thank you!

Joe Corrao 4 Eyed Animation said...

yup I rememeber getting up bright and early to see Capt Bob! Great show!