Sketch 365 – by Scott Hulme

This evening I dropped by one of Art Center’s figure drawing workshops for the first time in several weeks.  Amazing how rusty you can get so quickly.  Anyway, this session was with a larger model, and on this particular pose I had an weird, unflattering viewing angle, so I tried composing the sketch in a different way.

[Comments and critique always welcome]

I didn’t know what to draw tonight, but with iTunes running in the background, I struck on an idea.  I arranged all my songs by duration, and started playing all the one-minute tracks back to back.  Then I drew something associated with each track while it played.  An interesting exercise for several reasons:

• I was required to not only draw in 60 seconds, but also to listen to the song, pick an aspect of it, conceptualize an image for it, execute the drawing, and finally caption it.  Lots to think about.  Some drawings didn’t get finished (“the merry peasant,” for example).
• There was no time to go back and start again once the drawing had begun.  Even if it was going really badly (e.g. “serpent”) I just had to keep pressing forward.
• It forced me to pull stuff from my brain, rather than look up a reference image (which I probably would have done for several things like the lute and violin).

Trying to keep that pace was actually a lot of fun.  Before I knew it, I had spent the better part of an hour at it.  Click through to see all 45 mini-sketches representing songs ranging from 1:00 to 1:07.  Images are based on things like artist, song title, featured instrument, associated lyric, etc.

[Comments and critique always welcome]

Didn’t really feel like drawing today.  Felt more like having a beer or two.  I ended up doing both, but it wasn’t hard to guess what  was going to work its way into the sketch…

[Comments and critique always welcome]

Went over to my cousins’ place tonight to watch the USC/Oregon game — the outcome of which does not need to be discussed here.  Suffice it to say, we had some excellent enchiladas, and that’s all that matters.

(Full credit: this sketch is based on a photo found here.)

[Comments and critique always welcome]

This was inspired by today’s visit to  the dentist, where I was subjected to a full suite of scheduled irradiation.  These dental x-rays have such excellent names.  Which got me thinking: “Panorex Bitewing” would be a pretty great name for a spaceship commander.  You’re welcome, struggling sci-fi writers!

[Comments and critique always welcome]

Just wanted to do a quick figure study this evening, since I hadn’t done one in a long time.  So I headed to Flickr and found this amazing photo by user Ryan Muir.  I just scribbled a quick and basic figure study, but seriously, check out the original photo — it’s incredible.

Oh, and as for my sketch title, it’s just a little inversion based on the following discovery: I learned that the guy in the photo (the guitarist for The Roots) goes by the excellent name “Cap’n Kirk Douglas.”  His definitely has a better ring to it.

[Comments and critique always welcome]

Husbands and wives get equal Netflix privileges, and we watched my choice a couple days ago.  This sketch was inspired by the formulaic basketball-themed romantic comedy we watched this evening.  I know what you’re thinking: “Basketball rom-com!  But that sounds so promising!”

[Comments and critique always welcome]

I was struck by this amazing photo today, while looking through Ansel Adams’ incredible images from the Manzanar War Relocation Center.  Having visited there a few years back, I was astounded at how bleak and desolate it was.  I couldn’t imagine being required to live there.  To me, that makes his collection all the more remarkable.  As Adams apparently wrote when submitting his work to the Library of Congress:

“The purpose of my work was to show how these people, suffering under a great injustice, and loss of property, businesses and professions, had overcome the sense of defeat and dispair [sic] by building for themselves a vital community in an arid (but magnificent) environment…All in all, I think this Manzanar Collection is an important historical document, and I trust it can be put to good use.”

For more of Adams’ experience of Manzanar, check out his photos and writings.

[Comments and critique always welcome]

Yes, I realize it’s pronounced “boat.”  But these are size 13, so that’s not far off.  Plus, I was using them to keep up above the water on this rainy day.

[Comments and critique always welcome]

I originally gave myself a challenge today to depict the concept of “every person who has ever lived.”  Not surprisingly, it wasn’t easy.  I tried it a couple different ways, but it wasn’t working out.  So I went a different direction: bones and sinews.

(And yes, this is my quick approximation of Da Vinci’s drawing.  Hey, steal from the best, right?)

[Comments and critique always welcome]