Day 70?! Only 30 days to go? Wow! I cannot believe I've come this far. 

After all the tight anatomical drawings and diagrams I've currently been doing, today I decided to let go and free up. I was itching to break free from the constraints of my sketchbook and work on loose sheets of paper. I used the same reference photo for all five drawings so that I could observe how each one developed. I also opted to tape the tools I used to the end of a metre long bamboo stick from our garden to help me loosen up. Because I held the stick right at the very end it didn't give me the same control as it would do if I was drawing normally. I was also partially 'blind drawing' whilst doing these. This is an exercise whereby you only look at the reference you're working from and not at your drawing. It makes you observe your subject more closely. 

For the first three drawings (including the image above), I used willow charcoal. I love charcoal but in this instance I didn't feel comfortable using it. Using it on the end of a long stick proved quite difficult to make certain marks. If I wanted to produce a forward/backward motion it was tending to catch on the surface of the paper and was really hard to create continuous movements. 

The fourth drawing was created using a pure 8B graphite stick strapped to the end of the stick. This felt more fluid compared to the charcoal but I found it difficult to add any pressure for any darker areas and it ended up tugging on the paper surface, as did the charcoal, when I pressed harder. However, I think this is my favourite out of all the five drawings. I get a sense of real movement with this one. 

The fifth drawing was a standard 6B pencil. This felt the most natural to use in this way and I was able to make the marks I wanted. The only downside was that it wasn't dark enough for me. 

I've made a time-lapse video to accompany today's drawings and it can be found on both my Instagram and my Facebook page.

The music for the video I posted on social media was provided by my very talented dad, Paul Gooderham. You can follow his music page here and you can download his music on Spotify and on Apple Itunes. For use of any of his music please email him at remnantsacoustic@hotmail.com. He'd be happy to hear from you 😊.

Drawing 2

Drawing 3

Drawing 4

Drawing 5