Plantain & Pears Sketch

Hi, I haven't posted in a long time. I've been busy working on illustration projects, surfing and working at local SurfSchoolPuertoRico.com and SurfCampPR.net. it's been fun, tiring, and I now have a nice tan :). Here's a sketch i created a couple days ago to get into the still life drawing mode. I'm right now drawing portrait illustrations for a client so last night I was inspired to visited cousins to draw their portraits, it was fun, they got a kick out of me drawing quick sketches of them. I'll prep and post them soon on this blog. Hope everyone is well, keep in touch.

Cheers,

Bernard Garcia

Bananas & Tomatoes in Puerto Rico

Here's my first drawing I created since I arrived last week in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico. I've been wanting to draw but I've been so busy settling in, cleaning my studio and working on projects.

In the evenings, I visit family and I always bring my pad to draw but by then I'm tired and motivation is low. Last night was different, though. I arrived at my aunt's house and I thought, no excuses, sit down and draw and I did. It's always tough to get started, especially after a long day, high humidity and mosquitoes! It's so much easier simply lounging on the front-porch hammock. But once I started a quick gesture sketch to block in the shapes, I got hooked and was determined to finish.

It felt good to finish a piece, it always reminds me how much I enjoy drawing. Plus my family members would walk by and watch me, they thought it was cool. One cousin was cleaning table and moved two tomatoes while I was drawing, I looked up and they were gone! I was shocked and I expressed myself, he apologized and put them back.

I actually worked up a sweat on this sketch, it's different drawing in high humidity, my paper felt different, it doesn't feel crisp like in dry climate and my graphite pencils really felt soft so i would lose my sharp tip fast, and if I pressed too hard my paper would burnish. I approached this drawing like a figure and portrait drawing: with a quick gesture sketch to block-in shapes and to fill the page, then slowly began building tone, added depth with overlapping thick and thin lines, and always kept in mind negative shapes, composition, and design.

Two full Figure Female Portrait Drawings

The Saturday morning portrait drawing sessions that I attend has two new models for the next four weeks. One is a young ballerina seated and the other is a casually dressed young woman curled up on a chair. Both poses are nice and since the session is only two hours, I made sure to spend an hour drawing each model. I first created the drawing on the right, the model chose this pose and I like it because it fit my drawing page well. I was able to draw her bigger so it has a bold look to it. Plus the arms to the chair add depth. I like the way the arm chair wraps around her.

On the 2nd hour I sketched the ballerina, it's a nice pose. I ran into a challenge with drawing her, I couldn't get her ballerina shoes right, it drove me nuts. I don't know why, finally after several attempts I sketched a nice looking ballerina shoe, and I'm bummed I wasn't able to fit the tip of her right shoe.

As always there was a good crowed and the DJ played soundtrack to Wicked! Cool musical!

•

I was a little sad at this portrait session because I knew I wouldn't be back to continue drawing these two models. Soon I'll be returning to my studio in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico. I am excited for my trip but also sad because I will miss my family, my friends, and the drawing groups. I will continue posting drawings I create in Puerto Rico. I will also be creating paintings and will post them as well. I believe I'll return to Toledo end of summer. Thank you Toledo, Ohio. I had a great winter here! :)

Portait Drawing of 1980's Teenage woman

This is the other model from Saturday morning's portrait drawing session. The portrait session hires two models for 4 weeks and I spent the 1st three drawing portraits of my friend AJ. On this last session I finally sat in front of this model and made several portrait drawings, she was dressed 1980's style. It was fun sketching her, I wish I had done a painting of her because her outfit was very colorful.

I created the full figured portrait on the right side first in about 40 minutes. I really enjoyed drawing that one, I thought the leg warmers were a good touch. The portrait on the left was 25 minutes, and I created it towards the end of class. It was rushed and you can tell, the eyes on this one aren't right and I lost my highlights on the pupils, so they now look dark and hollow. Lessons learned, I need to make sure I leave a little high light on the eyes.

I still had a great portrait drawing session, the crowd was nice, one of the artists brought Monavie juice drinks that were delicious, and the boom box played a James Taylor live concert recording.

Figure Drawing of Large Woman

Last night's evening figure drawing session was challenging. I like it when this person models because I can feel my drawing concentration intensifying. When ever I draw her I realize how easy it is for me to sketch the petite female models we've had in the past.

Lately I've been drawing the full figure with all my figure drawings. I remember when I used to focus my drawing on certain part of the pose, but now I draw the figure within the edges of the page. i like this because It forces me to make proportion measurements, its more challenging, and I believe drawing the full figure every time makes my drawing skills and technique progress evenly.

I created several drawings at this session and they all came out nice. I chose these two to post, the drawing on the top left is a 5 minute pose and the drawing on the right is a 40 minute pose. I started with a gesture drawing to help me quickly block in the shapes of the model, I made proportion measurements, and sketched in the negative shapes. I also sketched in the chair to help me with proportions and to add depth and perspective to my drawing.

I had a great session, the evening weather was pleasant, a good company of artists attended, and the boom box played classical music for the 1st half and Nils Lofgren for the 2nd half.

Portrait sketch & drawing of my friend Adrian

I attended the Saturday morning drawing group and my friend AJ was modeling again. This time I feel I created a nice drawing that captures AJ's true likeness. It's never 100% exact but it's what I try to achieve with my drawing style.

I made a couple drawings and I picked these three to post. The drawing on the left took me about 40 minutes to create. Then I created the two quick sketches on the right, about 8-10 minutes each. I wish I had more time to complete these but I like them because you can see my method for drawing a portrait. I quickly sketch the light lines that are horizontal and vertical to help me align features of the face to slowly achieve the likeness I'm looking for.

You can also see circles or ovals, I use them as short cuts to add tone or highlights. I sketch the ovals to quickly block in areas of the portrait that change in gradation. The lamp that provides the light is coming from above so I may quickly sketch an oval on the highlighted area and not add any tone. On the side of the face and bottom, the tone is changing so I'll quickly add ovals with crosshatch lines as tone to block in those areas.

I also add ovals to create a surface plane, giving a feeling of depth. Notice ovals are different from top to bottom, I try to draw them in perspective.

I'm happy with these drawings, I had a good session. A lot of artist showed up, and the jukebox played good music: James Taylor, and Irish fiddle music, which always takes me back to the Pacific North West :).

Traditional Graphite Drawing of Young Woman

I attended the weekly Wednesday evening figure drawing session and again I produced some nice drawings. I definitely believe the environment has a lot to do with my success in creating these drawings, the sessions are held on the top floor of an old four story brick warehouse near downtown Toledo. The adventure begins when climbing a long stairwell to the top floor that seams to always leave me out of breath. It's impressive to enter a real aged artist studio with weathered wooden floors, several large hand printing presses, high ceilings, artwork and posters on the walls, it just feels like it's been there a long time. The figure drawing space is large and sectioned off by large plastic walls to contain the warmth from the heaters and has more artist stuff: old art frames, easels, large schoolhouse chalkboard, old furniture, good lighting, a large model stand, a good sound system and a large chubby cat! This creative environment sets the tone for creating good art, and last night there was a cool crowd of artists, a nice model, and of course, good music.

Here are two drawings I chose to post, the sketch on the right is a 5 minute pose and the drawing on the left is a 30 minute pose, and the center drawing is a closeup portrait of the left side drawing. The model did a great job holding her poses, and the music was nice: old church hymns for the 1st half and Tom Petty's greatest hits for the 2nd half!

Portrait Drawing Young African American Man

This portrait drawing is of my friend AJ. He's modeling at the Saturday portrait drawing session for a couple weeks. Drawing AJ's portrait has been difficult.

These two drawings I'm posting do look good but compared to the model there are subtleties that I missed. Drawing portraits are difficult and it's the main reason I attend these sessions--for the challenge, and for practice.

I have attended many portrait drawing sessions and I believe they have made me a more skilled artist. AJ will be back next Saturday, hopefully I can draw one that captures his true likeness.

Reclining Female Nude Figure drawing

WOW! I just returned from an awesome figure drawing session! I was definitely in the zone and created some really nice drawings. I don't know what it was about this drawing session; the good weather, or the nice music, or the fantastic model, or all three, but I felt focused and was having a good time. Plus they played nice Classical music and Irish music.

The session was started with several 5 minute poses, which were all wonderful poses, full of energy and emotion. The 5 minute poses really warmed me up and set my mind straight for the long poses. I was able to complete three drawings with the long pose and here is one of them. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I'm still feeling fired up :)

Foreshortening Female Figure Drawing

Hi, here are two sample drawings from a figure drawing session I attended last night. It started with several 5 minute poses as warm-ups, then one long pose for the rest of the evening. Out of several drawings I created, I chose to post these two. The sample on the right was 5 minutes and the sample on the left was the long pose.

The long pose had a lot of foreshortening from where I was viewing it, so I found myself taking longer to complete this piece than usual. I've done plenty of drawings with foreshortening, I enjoy them and they are challenging. I learned a lot from this drawing, I made a lot of proportions and alignment measurements with my pencil and this was the result.

On the 5 min pose, as always it's not enough time! At the end of 5 minutes the timer chimes and I always curse it, saying to myself "just 5 more minutes". The drawing is always unfinished and well I admit that's good because it FORCES me away from the drawing giving it that fresh, quick, unfinished, in progress sketch look. It's love-hate for me when it comes to 5 minute poses.

Hope you like these two drawings, feel free to let me know what you think of them.