Photographing a Dark Drawing, Getting a Better Value Range in Your Photograph

Drawings or paintings that have a narrow value range are often hard to photograph - ones that are overall grey can be almost impossible to capture all the subtle variations.

I just wanted to show you the best set-up for taking a photo of a piece like this drawing.

Give your camera a good value range to read - and try to put that range in the center of the camera (for my digital camera, I cannot press "half-way" and then MOVE the focus to take the picture - I have to just snap the picture.
So I need my value range right in the middle of the shot)

I did try with the value range set further apart - this was not as successful.

Taking photos of your art can be a big challenge - thankfully with digitial we have the freedom to explore and see the results instantly!

Click on the tag "photographing art" to see other examples.

Favorite Figure Drawing Books

I love buying books on art...technique, artists, styles, art movements. And what's great about buying any art book is that every time you look at it, you will see something new and gain some new insight. They don't have to be a big investment, either.

The book in the lower left "Drawing the Nude" was a great find for under $7 at barnes and Noble. The author is Diana Constance who also wrote the book above - "Complete Life drawing Course". While the drawings may not be the best figure drawings out there, they are all solid examples of technique and style. She gives a great over-view of drawing techniques and time-honored methods of improving your drawing skills.

Inside each book I find an abundance of inspiration - I love the "Big Book of Drawing and Painting the Figure" by Muntsa Calbo - he has an incredible technique and includes many examples from other great figure artists, both famous and unknown. He also shows a lot of works in progress, which i think is so important- the next best thing to watching a great artist work.

"How to Draw the Human Figure" by John and Jody Raynes also has a great over-view of drawing technique, and ends with a section on figures in environment which is very helpful and gets he artist thinking about beyond the studio, There are some beautiful color palettes in theses pieces especially.

I have written about "Drawing from Life" in a previous post...definitely one of my favorites!

The important thing to remember when buying a book is - no. 1 - not all the images are "the best of the best". Many of these are instructional drawings, meant to illustrate a point, not to be seen as "fine art". Read, but also look at the pictures with an eye for IDEAS - do you like the pose? is it a great sense of space? do you like the line quality? is it an interesting color palette? When you need an idea, or inspiration to take your work to the next level, or just a gentle reminder of HOW to draw (technique!) these books never fail me. I look forward to adding more to my collection!

Fishing and Painting...the busy sunny weekend!

What a gorgeous, sunny weekend we had here in Georgia! Jack was so excited to head down to the dock to try out his Spiderman fishing pole. He's a born fisherman - he can cast further than I can!

Arianna and I kept busy throwing bread in the water...hoping some ducks would come by or the fishies would come to the surface! (Mr. and Mrs. Duck eventually joined us!)

At one point a fishing boat with two guys on it floated by and Jack was shouting "Hey guys - look at my fishing pole!" They were very good-natured and asked Jack all about his fishing pole and what he was catching (mostly the red plastic fish tied on the end!)

And of course sunshine means finally getting some house projects done! Jack got a cool bunk bed for his 4th b-day, but it didn't match the all-wood dresser, so handy hubby painted the drawers black and added silver handles. We were thinking of painting the whole thing, but I like it just like this!

Green Tea Mojitos Recipe...Yum

Green Tea Mojitos - Pretty simple drink.
10 limes
½ cup mint leaves
2 cups green tea
1 cup simple syrup
Dark rum to taste

From the Creator of this fabulous drink and the Fearless Leader of "Is White a Color?"...

I have used a variety of green teas for this recipe, one that was carbonated which was good. Arizona Green Tea works well. Taste for sweetness before adding simple sugar.

Start by stripping leaves from the mint and set aside. Throw the rest of the mint, stems and all, into a blender with the green tea Strain through chinoise or fine mesh strainer.

Combine equal parts sugar and water in a small pot and heat to dissolve sugar then Add mint leaves (muddle optionally but mint flavor should be pretty strong).Add ice.Squeeze limes and add juice.Add rum and guard with your life. (he's serious about that last part!)

Goes EXCELLENT with Jalapeno Cheese Dip...

Watercolor Figure Drawings from the Live Nude Female Model

We had a great drawing session last night! We skipped gesture work and went right into a nice long pose. I had a couple 11" x 14" inch pieces of watercolor paper mounted to foam core and my watercolor pencils with me, so color was on my brain!

The first pose, with the model's legs up on the wall, was gorgeous (although watching her "roll" into the pose was incredibly funny! we were laughing ant what she had to do to get into the pose!)

I first worked in a light blue wash and slowly built up layers of color. I went more "intense" than natural - the drama of the pose lent itself to more provocative color. However, it was too cool at first - the purples, blues, and even the reds I chose were all "cold". I added some sap green which really brought some warmth to the piece.

The second drawing I worked with a 4H pencil to lightly sketch in the figure - just focusing on the largest shapes and major angles. In this pose I felt the chair was especially important, because of the way her form "tucked into" the space.

I tried to develop the values in the figure and the drapery at the same time, so that the over-all lighting scheme worked well.

I love the turquoise in the drapery, and the red I used to define her features. If I had used black to draw in her eyes, the effect would have been very different.

For the love of PB and J

There was something so delightful in watching my Arianna inhale a PB and J sandwich the other day...and I do mean inhale...some of the peanut butter was shoved right up her nose!

Painting Update...Nude Female Model in Blue Painted on Masonite Board

I am working on this painting that was originally just blue, but I am trying to add some warmth and broaden the value range. The challenge is working with clear and opaque colors and having them work well together. In the shadows, I can use deep red, sap green, and paynes grey in transparent layers. On the high lights, I use white, and even with a transparent medium it still makes an opaque layer. I keep going back and forth...I think overall I still want a warmer feel.

See the beginning here.