Month End: A Story and Lessons in the Image

I was much pleased with today's sketch. Not only did the person offer some character in the view and perspective but the resultant image tells a contemplative, meditative story. I had been having difficulty with hands and fingers and this pose was motivating for it presented palm gloves with fingers extruded. This was a suitable ending to the last  month long journey and worthy to me of showing my progress after 60 days of sketch practice during my rail commutes. This was a good likeness, showed light-dark contrast, tells a story, and has some feeling associated with it.  In my humble apprentice opinion.

Daily Sketch: Contemplative - Copyright James E. Martin 2012

I went back and reviewed my first set of Lessons Learned after 30 days of sketching.

What are my Lessons Learned for the second 30 day period of sketching? I had some firsts: Group sketch, assembled composite of multiple individuals, and Beauty. Matured my ability to capture a likeness but not always. Also, was able to start thinking about how to capture a feeling in the sketch. Increasing the size of the sketchbook and each sketch may be helping the resultant effort. I am working up the scale from cartoon caricature to realism. I have occasionally been able to move away from the flat face two-dimensional graphic to a more 3D depiction. In this last 30 days, I feel better about eyes, nose, and mouth. And that focus has resulted in better Likeness.

What are potential challenges going forward? Recognized the need to capture attributes such as childness, agedness, frailty, etc. Adding more body posture and position to the head portraits I have been doing? Detailing hands only perhaps. Maybe being willing to sit at the depot at the end of a workday for an extra 45 minutes and sketch people at the cafe tables. Or standing waiting for their ride. Or working at the eateries and kiosks. Methods might include using a tinted marker or wash to add depth to the outline sketch Could consider switching to some type of pen to darken the outlines and eliminate erasures from the method. Some of my opportunities come from Serendipity. Must be on the lookout for her.