Where are The Daily sketches?

I still do them. Almost. There was those two days in a row I skipped. And I don’t plan on quitting, even if I don’t publish.

The thing is that I realized publishing them was taxing (time-wise) as I have to scan them, copy them rom teh USB stick to the computer, resize and optimize them and then post them on the blog (and on mastodon).

not just publish them sithout optimization? I don’t want to waste bandwidth and storage space. They aren’t free, be it in money and in electricity used.

Sure, I could use Instagram or some variant of it and not pay a dime, and not care about resizing since they applys their own ‘optimization’ no matter how good mine could be. But I don’t want an add-riddled experience. And I’m not a huge fan of the constant tracking users of those online services are submitted to. Which is sad, because without tracking and the way too many ads it probably would be a neat service.

I will try to find another way to publish my little sketches. Something less time consuming. Which I realize is silly since I’m probablly the sole reader of my blog an I coudl as well not publish at all. But, hey, being silly is not a crime. Not yet at least 😉

Daily Sketch #13 14/05

Practicing my lines (and two sketches for the price of one).

I like doing these sketches but I also feel like I’m not… learning much doing them as it seems I keep repeating the same poor lines/skewed perspective/lack of control.

I’ve purchased Proko’s Drawing Basics online course. I have barely started working on it but it seems very instructive and promising and I quite like the way he explains things too. Maybe I should slow down for on those small sketches and focus on the exercises he is giving us at least up until I can do simple lines and simple forms well enough?

Daily Sketch #12 13/05

For the most part sharing those sketches is frustrating. I enjoy doing them, a lot but they’re not good. Maybe it’s the main reason I do share them? My desire to refuse the imperative to be ‘good’ or to be silent/invisible.

The other reason is that their ‘badness’ makes them instructive, to me at least. If only, by experimenting firsthand my lack of, no, I won’t use the word ‘mastery’ that would not even be funny, but my lack of understanding the proportions and how in a single sketch they should all be relative to one another. Maybe I do understand it, but I did not manage to get them right. Maybe I should post the photo (from a magazine) for you to see how not right my sketch is–I’ll do it later.

My clumsiness is probably similar to that of anyone learning handwriting or proper grammar (like I do here, on this blog, by writing in English instead of French). I find that fascinating. Failed approximation, after failed approximation, after even more failed approximation being the way we’re slowly learning. Or maybe it’s just me.

There is one last thing this very drawing taught me, this concern my lack of audacity or something like. But I don’t think I’m ready to discuss that.

Daily Sketch #9 10/05

Somewhere nearby la place d’Italie, in the 13th arrondissement of Paris.

For what I know, the 13th was a really poor and derelict district, poluted by leather tanneries and a few other industrial activities. It was proletarian too. There is not much remaining of that time, certainly not this ppoor old building I sketched — but it still allow me to imagine what it may have looked like in the XIX or in the early-XXth century.

A facsimile of a XIX century postcard showing the river Bièvre still running freely through the 13th arrondissement, with tanneries settled all along. It must have stinked like hell. Thx to the Éditions Depeyrot for the postcard.

Daily Sketch #7 08/05

Some mushrooms on a plate waiting to be cooked. A lot to be said regarding this sketch and, yep, I know how crooked the perspective is, but the real issue for me are shadows — as well as doing value gradations from darker to lighter tones. I don’t know how to make them using hatches.

Since this drawing, I’ve starting searching for tutorials and discovered Alphonso Dunn’s channel which is… amazingly good. Some videos are over 10 years old but despite not being the most sharp they’re still very, very instructive. I was so impressed that I ordered his two self-published books: ‘Pen and Ink Drawing: A Simple Guide‘ and ‘Pen & Ink Drawing: Workbook‘. He also offers an online course but I will first read his books.

Another channel I’ve also discovered is Marc Kompaneyets Studio (as I searched for fountain pen advice for sketching). And it is another gem. So far, every single one of his videos has been revealing and deeply enriching.

Marc also offers his own online course which I wish I could take but I am not that sure I have the basic level/practice he suggests. I will enroll, the moment I feel like I can because of the quality of what he is already teaching on YouTube. And how he is teaching.

Him and Alphonso are really great teachers each with their own approach.

Daily Sketch #6 07/05

A cramped chair at my dentit’s. Great to maje you feel comfortable when you’re waiting for your turn.

More seriously, she is great and I wouldn’t want anybody else as my dentist, even if It meant I could be waiting on larger chairs 😉