Whenever the sun decides to poke its head out every 3 months, half of Seattle shows up at the Greenlake.  Got to only enjoy it for about an hour, so got some quick sketching before the meter ran out.  Figure drawings after the jump.

Went to do some figure drawing this weekend expecting some quick gestures when I found out that the model was doing longer poses.  I tried to draw with my brush pens even though I had some China marker on me hoping to learn how to master brush pens.  During the session, I would write notes to myself trying help me through my thinking process.  Sometimes it would work, but given that I’m still a novice at brush pen and that I didn’t have other shades with me, a lot of the drawings come out pretty sloppy and stiff.

At this point, I just about gave up and resorted to a more cartoony-style.

Despite 3 hours of frustrated stiff drawings, I did learn something from the session.  1) I hate drawing with brush pens when it comes to capturing subtle lighting and 2) I got rid of another bad drawing day.  And as other have told me, the more I sketch and get the bad drawing days out of the way, the quicker my drawing will improve since I’ll have those bad days behind me. While the drawings didn’t come out the way I wanted to, it’s good to be humbled and reminded that it’s not about the end product, but the journey.

OK, enough with the one-liners.  If there’s anyone out there with tips on using a brush pen, I’m all ears!