AEDM Days 8 & 9- Mei and Ruthie

I didn't get Mei and her bear friend posted yesterday, so I'm posting them with Ruthie today. Here goes!

Mei is a tiny clown doll given to me by one of my best friends. She is dressed in a satin jumpsuit with a large collar. She has a porcelin head and cloth body and limbs. She didn't want to be sketched alone, so I coaxed the pale blue long-haired bear, given to me by hubby, to pose with her. They held perfectly still while I tried to capture the different textures, but they were glad when I stopped. They were tired and I was too! :)

Ruthie is a vinyl doll from the 60's, rescued from a flea market. I loved her red hair, which was a total mess. It took a long time to get it into some sort of shape. She was also in her birthday suit. Mama made her a light navy blue dress out of velvet-like material and crocheted trim around the neck, sleeves, and tail out of white cotton thread. I added the white ribbon, the white underwear and knee socks, and the black-patin, laced shoes.

I used a carbon pencil instead of a regular one for a change. It was a little harder to control, but I stuck with it til I got ready to stop. Also, the lightest shaded foot was supposed to be making a step forward, but I couldn't get it to go there. Maybe next time!

Anyway, these are my last two attempts for AEDM. I also took a piece of 300# wc paper, wet it, and dropped black and red Sumi ink all over it and let it run and dry, which made a variety of grays. Then I dropped more pure black ink in randomness on top and left it to dry a couple of days ago. It's still sticky. I haven't decided how to proceed on it yet. I just wanted a break from all the pencil shading. When it's a little further along I'll show you. (I "borrowed" the idea from Leah over at AEDM). Thanks, Leah! I hope you don't mind. :)

AEDM Day 7-Doll Sketch-Sonja

I did it again! I failed to leave room for Sonja's feet, and I so wanted to show off her skates that I made for her! :) Sonja is a hard plastic doll from the 50's, given to me by mama for one of my birthdays. She is an ice skater, wearing a golden yellow taffeta dress with a peplum and lace the same color. Her golden blonde hair is swept back into a pony tail. She was barefoot when I got her at a flea market, so I made her some skates out of white felt, laced with gold thread, and sporting paper clip blades. She was so tickled and wanted to try them out right away. :)

I may have bitten off more than I can chew in trying to draw a doll a day for a month. It's taking more time than I thought it would. I'm proud of myself that a fourth of my challenge to myself is completed. 7 doll sketches in 7 days. That's quite an accomplishment for me, if I do say so myself. LOL Only 21 more to go!

AEDM 6-Doll Sketch-Suki

Well, I actually got the whole doll on the page this morning! LOL

Suki was given to me by my sister-in-law for Christmas one year, and I think she's adorable. She has a white porcelin head, arms, & legs on a soft body, and is wearing a white eyelet pinafore over a pink/wht gingham dress with white lace and white soft leather shoes that tie. Her hair is black and the bow is white.

I used the graphite pencil in the Canson sketchbook again and darkened the scan. I am getting much better at seeing the nuances in the lights and shades, even if I forgot to darken the lights in the black hair this time. I got distracted. But I had a great time getting to know Suki better! :)

AEDM Day 4 &5- Doll Sketches-Sasha

I didn't get yesterday's sketch finished or posted, so I finished it and sketched another angle for today and posted them both today.






Yesterday's sketch. I know, I didn't leave enough room for her feet again. LOL Sasha is one of my favorites. She is posable. She is actually dark complected, but I was in enough trouble with the shading. Her eyes and lips are painted on, her hair is almost platinum and her dress is blue/white checked. I ran out of patience. :) Also, I had company while I was working on her face, and I forgot to fine tune it when I resumed working on it this morning. But that's ok. I'm learning so much by trying. You really do learn by doing.

This is today's sketch, a close-up of Sasha, because she was already set up from yesterday, and I didn't want to go pick out another doll this morning. Just lazy, I guess. :) As you can see, this time I didn't leave enough room for her head. LOL I'll get it right...eventually.

So far I've been sketching in a large Canson sketchbook with a regular old school pencil. I turned the book sideways and drew a line down halfway on the page on 15 pages. I've been trying to sketch on half a page, which is kind of awkward for me. I was thinking this would make 30 sketches, then I could cut them apart and make a little booklet of sorts, but I'm not too happy with way the composition is going on them. Maybe I'll get better as I go along. Right now, I'm just worrying about drawing and shading. I'm also having to digitally darken the pencil lines so the sketches show up better on my blog. So my doll sketches may be going through some adjustments in the next few days.

Anyway, I'm having fun, and sketching dolls and their clothes is great practice for sketching people and fabrics. Hope you are all having as much fun as I am! :)

AEDM Day 3-Doll Sketch 3

My attempt at drawing Ninnette, a hard plastic doll from the 1950s. Once again, I didn't do her justice, and once again, I ran out of room for her feet, but that's ok. I had fun trying and the shading practice is good for me.

Her hair is platinum, and she has a faded pink bow in her hair to match her dress which has a floral cotton top with a sheer beige skirt with pink rick-rack on it. She is 8" tall and much cuter than my sketch.

However, I'm proud of myself because drawing with a pencil has always been a huge challenge for me, partly because I didn't enjoy it. Since loosening up with all the doodle drawings, I now enjoy pencil sketching. Look for some color to be added soon somewhere though. :)

AEDM Day 2-Doll Sketch 2

You'd never know that this is the same doll I sketched yesterday, would you? LOL

Yep, it's Tanzy again, only I pulled her little wool coat off to show her dress, which is an off-white linen color with a lace bib. The fold across the front is where it was creased under her coat. I got her face a little too long this time, and didn't have room for her feet. One of my problems is that I start drawing without thinking about leaving enough space for the drawing.

Anyway, it was a good exercise in shading, and I had fun, so it's all good. :)

I meant to draw some more EDM projects and a different doll for AEDM, but didn't get around to it today. Maybe tomorrow!

AEDM Day 1--Doll Sketch

Today is day 1 of the Art Every Day Month challenge for November, hosted by Leah, who also hosts the Creative Every Day Challenge that goes on all year, and she does a wonderful job, both as an artist and a hostess. I have been participating in the yearly challenge for a couple of years, but this is my first AEDM challenge. The goal is to create something every day, post it on your blog, and link to the AEDM post so the other participants can see it. It should be fun!

For all the information, either click on the AEDM red/blue button on the sidebar or go to the AEDM link here. Even if you find it after it's started, you can still play!

That being said, here is my attempt for today.

I am toying with the idea of sketching a different doll every day for November from my collection, then making it into a book. I'm not off to a very good start though and am not at all happy with the sketch for today.

I have to admit that I couldn't get really focused on it after I looked out and saw a HUGE black dog in the back yard eating the cat feed. Mama said there was one at her house and she had tried to get it to move on. I thought it was a little dog, but it's huge and has some pit bull in it. She's very muscular and has been taken care of, but she looks like on of those guard dogs in the movies about Satan. She's used to people, but if she turned on us, she could sure do some damage, plus she could eat Sammidog for breakfast. Maybe we can find her owner, keeping my fingers crossed. She's already found out that Mama and I feed dogs and cats, so she's not going anywhere. I feel sorry for her, but we can't afford another dog, especially one that size.

Anyway, I hoisted up my graphite pencil and my Canson sketch book and proceeded to attempt a sketch. I had problems from the start. I couldn't get the doll and the light situated like I wanted. I've gotten so used to the Moleskine paper that the Canson paper was hard to draw on, and the graphite pencil wouldn't get dark enough to suit me. Nonetheless I tried and here she is. I did digitally darken the sketch so that it would show up better.

Tanzy is a little porcelin doll, wearing a shell pink wool pleated coat over a white dress, white stockings and leather shoes, and there are tiny pearl buttons on her coat and shoes. She reminds me of one of my much loved cousins. She is such a sweet little soul. My sketch certainly does NOT do her justice, but I enjoyed trying.