female nude studies

this one was a quick 15 min. sketch. i timed myself to see how quickly i could do this.

Lady Gaga (pic & sketch)

Norfolk Drawing Group #96

so i had a bad night minus the 2nd sketch and the foot study in the last one but that's about it

the commission: revisited

I want to apologize for my delivery in the last post. I however do not apologize for how i feel. I got an interesting email from the commissionee last night. In the email he began to defend why the price that he paid for the pieces were higher than the quality of work. He closed with saying that our friendship was no more etc etc.

I also ask this question of my girlfriend whenever i talk to her about issues that she encounters. I ask her was the lesson that we were suppose to learn? If you generally don't learn the lesson you're doomed to do it all over again. I will take the opportunity to do the same thing to myself.

I learned

• friends and professionally never mix
• that no one will EVER value the time and energy you put into something if you don't
• email agreements aren't enough, handwritten confirmation and 1/2 of the money of up
• always have a sketch so that the individual knows what he/she is getting
• a person's true colors will always come out in the end

His email left me questioning my art levels. That's something that i shouldn't do but i find myself doing so. The rest of this week will be dedicated to a mental health week.

honor & respect,

tommy

the commission: part III

these are the finished products. I wish i could have taken a better picture but i was using a cellphone camera plus i was at work. Not the idea place for either one of those.

I did my job and give as best as i could a finished polished piece within the time frame. Ultimately creating an image that wasn't there and making one. That i can be proud of, outside of all the text messaging this is something i can hang my hat on. But what does bother me is people who don't respect art for what it is. It's a craft and a talent that i've cultured over the years. Something that was a hobby but became a passion. A gift that i went to college for and i have a degree for. All i want and i believe anyone else who does anything creative wants is respect.

Over the last 2 days i put a lot of time and energy into these 2 pieces. I wasn't asking for the world in return. All i did ask for was to be compensated for that effort.

the commission: part II

Sunday:

I had a lot going on that day. The house that i'm staying at was having an open house so i needed to have the place clean (actually it was the 2nd day in the row that had happened). I also was suppose to meet a friend for coffee later on that evening. Therefor I went out to draw at Panera again. This time i spent almost 4 hours there sketching and drawing. On the way home i got another text from a friend asking me to where i was at and when i thought i would be done. He had yet another request for me: could i add a border around the text? He the asked if i could be done by today so he could pick it up early. It could be done early but not a professional piece, a sketch probably so but not a finished drawing. I sighed heavily and agreed, because yet again it was for a friend. I began to feel the overbearing need that i was being micromanaged. He asked for another picture but due to the bad lighting at Panera i declined for the moment.

this is pictures that i sent him

The text that actually got to me was the one that asked for "another updated pictures so any last second changes could be made." I exhaled again and mentioned that the draws were to far along to be changed. I used that frustration and began working even harder. I found the font that he wanted and worked on the border for longer that i would've liked to but sometimes around midnight i was finished.

The commission: part I

Everyone drawing has a story and this is part one of this story. I won't spoil the ending because what's good story wouldn't be without a good ending.

A friend of mine approached me about doing a piece via text last Tuesday night. i'm always up for a challenge and this would seemed very easy and within my capability of completing. The job seemed simply draw 2 pieces and have them in by Monday. With one small catch, widen some eyes, create a smile on the ladies face, and write a phrase. What actually drove me to do it is that it was a remembrance piece. A young lady had lost her grandmother and a friend wanted to give her a gift of allow her legacy to live on. So as a favor i told him i would do these pieces for him. That's what friends do and not only would i do him this favor but i would also give him a price deduction.

On Friday, my friend and i came to terms and we both agreed to complete to begin working on these pieces. I have attempted to work with my friend on the past and really haven't charged him for any freelance sketches that i've done. I treated it as a challenge to see if i can do it and he's used the imagine. Saturday, i began these drawing and oddly enough i drove to 2 Panera's looking for a place to hide and draw. That seems to be the only place that i can think and concentrate. Within 2 hours i began to lay the framework for my sketch.

this is what i came up with

Later on that same day i began working on some more on the same sketch. I got a text from my friend asking for an update on the status. Along with the input he also had some suggestions/request. I admittedly was on in sketching phase trying to get a concrete defined drawing but i was argued to add detail. Within the hour i got another text asking if any of them would have color? Due to the limited price pencil and charcoal were the idea mediums to use. For the drawing above color pencil doesn't look good over pencil

Due to the color request that i answered i scrapped this drawing :(

Norfolk Drawing Group #95

Tonight was a special night for me because it was the first time i had a friend model for me/ the group. The motivating part for me is that this was on of her items on her bucket list. I generally go on and on about bucket list and things in life that i want to do. But this is an easy one that she did and crossed off rather quickly. Even after a long day of traveling up and down the road she still made it to the group this evening on time. She was a graceful and remained still more than i could have ever imagined for a 3 hours pose on painting night (of all nights). It does give me a good feeling to have friends that are driven and have goals because it keeps me motivated as well.

Norfolk Drawing Group #94

I generally don't have to many bad drawing nights but for some reason this one of them. i want to say it has to do with the fact that i have a semi chaotic day that nothing seems to flow just right. I was having a hard time focusing, but this is what i created that night. And sadly enough, the last drawing of the extreme close up i had to crop off the hands because they didn't flow with the piece.

Edgar Allan Poe (pic & sketch)

This was a special request for my friend, Sam. She generally takes extremely good care of me at work from the little uplifting things to bring me tea. So when Sam asked me to draw her a caricature of Edgar Allan Poe, how could i resist?!

You can tell how one failed attempt brought forth an even better sketch.