Spiders

No insects but I wanted to sketch an european garden spider-like spider, which are very common here in Switzerland.

First I did a sort of brain dump sketch, i.e a sketch of what I remembered (i.e not much).

Then I dig up some reference pictures to see what I missed (shape of the abdomen, size of the legs, ect.)

And tried again.

Comparing with the reference pics, the proportions are still off but it's an improvement over the first attempt. 

Mosquitoes

This week is insect week and today is mosquito day. I sketched them from imagination with the help of photo reference to better understand how they are built. The top left one is the first I tried. The rest were selected from the next ones. I sneaked a nautilus I saw in Vienna. Fun stuff.

Flies

I did some thumbnail studies of flies. First few are from memory, then I used reference photo to help me spot the mistakes and the last two were done from memory again.  Wings and legs perspective are the big challenge. Also the leg posture is something I don-t understand very well.

Vienna Natural History Museum Day 2

I spent the whole afternoon sketching like a mad man at the Vienna Natural History Museum. Here is the raw result.

Some sketches are not very good but I am happy I can draw that long, almost 3 hours.

On the plane back, I tried to draw what I remembered. 

Line is a bit dodgy but I like this exercise.

Vienna Natural History Museum

Hotel has wifi access so I can unexpectedly keep the (posted) sketch a day chain unbroken! I spent two hours at the natural history museum in Vienna and it's fantastic. Two years ago I would have find it quite boring but now it's one of the best thing in the world. So many cool things to draw!

Will come back tomorrow if time permits and if I can manage the hangover.

Vienna Airport

Arrived in Vienna. Very short sketching session.

Mammut Wallet

Very quick sketch of my hiking wallet.  Tomorrow I am off to Vienna.  No post till Sunday, I won't have any access to internet connection.

Notre Dame de Lépante

I did a two 3/4 construction of the small church I had a look at yesterday. Not very pleasing to the eye but a good excercise IMO.

Small church

Just did this front view of a mini church I can see from the balcony in Montreux. Not much time to sketch today!

Cockatiel

A family member has a dozen of them. Took the opportunity of a visit to have a look at them!

Biplane

After many attempts, could complete one biplane. I used the notes from yesterday.  Still many errors but I am happy I could at least draw the main elements!

Fokker DVIII notes

Studied blueprints of the Fokker D7. Will try to draw it in 3d tomorrow.

Voliere

Short session at the Voliere.

What's tricky with the toucan and the tokos is the beak proportion and perspective. Still don't have the right approach yet but I am more comfortable.

Arcs exercise

I could not sleep last night so I did this page of arcs exercise.

Doodling

I tried to fill a page with drawing from memory. Didnt remember much so I did a lot of crosshatching.

More Masks from Liberia

Lunch break at the Rietberg museum. I like sketching these masks.

Tractor Doodles

Was chained at my desk today. Did these dreadful sketches from memory.

Not very proud of it, but well, I enjoyed the process ;)

Off Day

I had an bad sketching day today. Tried to revisit the model H tractor but perspective view didnt work out ;)
All I can post is this proportion notes

And a arc lines warm up.

Truck perspective practice

I did this page of truck from memory, to practice tperspective construction.

As you can see, I still have problems just to lay out a proper perspective grid. Will need to work on that.

Piggy Bank On Post-It Note

Got caught by surprise today. Could only do this thumbnail sketch of my son piggy bank, 1 hour before the deadline.

On a different note, have a look at this. This is Peter Han in action. This is the man who taught the dynamic sketching 1 & 2 class. He made drawing tractable for me. I owe him a lot!

Conchiglie

As always, thursday are busy days. Sketched a conchiglie, a sort of italian noodle. Quickly done in 5 minutes.

Forklift

Small forklift close to work. Took notes and references and did the 3/4 at home. Was a bit confused about the front and the perspective is a bit off. No point in pushing it further. Not my best but it was good practice.

Voliere

At the Voliere today. I tried something different today and warmed up by drawing the birds from memory. The goal was to sharpen my attention.

Interesting to compare with the actual drawing from observation I did next.

Volvo Excavator Notes

Here are my partial notes for the body of this huge excavator. Didn't have the time to draw anything anything serious today.

The tricky part of the excavator is the arm, it makes the perspective difficult.

Crawler Loader 3/4

3/4 for the Crawler Loader as planned. I used the notes and the reference pictures.

Overall I am not too unhappy there are mistakes but the overall proportions are ok I think. With additional details, basic lighting, it could look good.

I also took notes on a huge excavator, a Volvo EC700Blc but I haven't finished it yet. Will do the rest tomorrow if they dont move it.

Crawler Loader Notes

So what I thought was a bulldozer is technically called a crawler loader according to this site. I spent half an hour trying to understand the proportions in a simple so I can remember it. I came up a simple grid that is reasonably accurate. Back at home I then did a small 3/4 view from my notes and pics (for the details).

Will try to it from memory tomorrow with different perspectives. We'll see how it looks. There is also a huge excavator I would like to draw.

From memory bulldozer doodle

Had just time to scribble a bulldozer, without reference. Interesting to see how inaccurate it is. The overall structure is not there. It doesn't look like a real bulldozer. And I have seen many many bulldozers in my life! Lol

Tomorrow, I will do a real one from life. We'll see what I have missed.

Truck Toy

*couldn't sleep this morning so I completed this post*

Worked on a truck toy, with the aim of being able to do it from memory (building a visual vocabulary)

Top of the page is an attempt to draw the truck from memory (I have seen it several times already). You can see the proportions are out of wack. 

The middle part of the page is an attempt to understand the proportions in a way that can be remembered easily. What I found out is that the truck is very roughly 7 wheels long 4 wheels high and 3 wheels wide. The windows are at 2 wheels height. The cabin is two wheels long. First wheel is at wheel coordinate 2, and back wheel at wheel coordinate 6.

Stuffed Birds

Very productive half an hour at the zoological museum. Did layins of stuffed birds. What is challenging is the head as usual and the less neck there is the more difficult it is ;)

Voliere

Spent half an hour at the voliere at lunch, practicing live bird drawing. Not very visually appealing but it's a lot of fun, birds are very expressive.

Toy Espresso Machine

Only had the time to do this toy expresso machine.