C. Muñoz Art

I have moved!

2019-02-13T11:45:00.002-08:00

Hello! I am rebooting my blog at www.charitymunozart.com. I hope to see you there and share more of my work!

Earning My Wings

2018-10-25T18:18:00.002-07:00

There's a scene in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" where the guardian angel Clarence, who has no wings and cannot see life on earth, is helped by Joseph and the blurry image clears before them allowing them to watch George Bailey's life. Joseph says, "If you ever get your wings, you'll be able to see all on your own." To which Clarence replies "This is amazing!"

In a lot of ways, I feel like I am similar to Clarence. I am also ranked AS2 (artist second class, ie, artist in training). And I too am learning to see the world around me. I have been drawing cubes, spheres, pyramids, and cylinders for 2 weeks, doodling on everything I can. I'm starting to see 3D structure with cross-sections and midpoints everywhere. My vision, though blurry, is starting to clear. I might not shout, "This is amazing!", and I might not get my wings when a bell rings, but I will quietly continue honing my skills until they are solid.

Now it's time to go earn my wings. What shape would a bell be? Cone? Sphere?

More from Inktober!

2018-10-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

I've been enjoying the challenged posed by Inktober as I learn the basics of inking. The prompt list helps because it gets me out of my comfort zone in terms of what I would normally draw. I've had opportunities to be more whimsical with illustrations for words like "weak" and "clock".

I've tested my limits with words like "guarded" and "flowing".

And I've had fun with the design work for "angular" and "cruel". In each choice I've been trying to use as many ink techniques as I can, while still not going overboard.

Inktober 2018

2018-10-03T05:19:00.003-07:00

It's October, or rather Inktober time! Having followed it online last year, I was excited to join in this time. I even signed up for a course on inking through SVSlearn.com.

I began the first 2 prompts before I had started my inking course . . .and it shows. I simply drew, and then traced in ink. The prompts of POISONOUS and TRANQUIL were rather easy to think up drawings for.

In between I filled pages of my sketchbook with what can only be described as chicken scratch as I tested different pens I had, different pens I commandeered from my 11year old, and the recently purchased Pentel brushpen - my trophy for the month, if I could only use it.

So today's drawing, using the prompt ROASTED turned out like this!

I am still stunned at how just a little understanding can make such a drastic difference. It makes me even more excited to continue!

Practice and a patience reminder

2018-03-30T08:08:00.002-07:00

Some of this week's practice. I think it's safe to say I'm only just starting to realize how little I know. Getting a bit more comfortable with the 9-value scale. Slight progress with Bargue and measuring. But then I tried copying out of my Bridgman book and forgot to measure for part of it, more out of a lack of patience that evening than anything. I can hear my dad now, "Patience, young grasshopper!"

Sharpening pencils

2018-03-20T13:24:00.001-07:00

I'm back in kindergarten. I'm excited that I can sharpen a pencil! It's an odd feeling for a grown person to have, but highly fulfilling at the same time.

I have spent the weekend teaching myself how to sharpen pencils with a razor blade so I could achieve a finer point and more control over my lines. The result, several types of blades and removed splinters later, is I have a few pencils that I can block in with and gradually build up my drawings. I also have bandaids on my thumb and a pile of broken, half-sharpened pencils. I think the only comparison that comes to mind are chefs in training that peel and slice pounds of potatoes for training.

Back in the habit again. . .

2018-03-15T18:49:00.001-07:00

I have been discreetly practicing for the last 6 months. Not that I was able to achieve the consistency I wanted, but I did manage to show up enough to keep myself going. Now my Bunny is 18 months and sleeping through the night . . .mostly. She's achieved some semblance of routine and schedule and therefore I have as well. So back to the drawing board, quite literally.

Here is the practice for today. Paul Foxton you make that shape replication look so easy!

I have lots of work to do on my arms wobbling again. As you can see my lines are nowhere near straight. And my eye is having trouble with values, although that is partly due to the awful lighting in my closet/studio.

This is my favorite challenge. With violin practice there are nasty, torturing Kreutzer exercise; with drawing it's Bargue. The parts I thought I had drawn correctly are completely wrong and the parts I thought were completely wrong are not so bad. Time to get back in shape!

Upside down drawing #5 and 6

2017-10-11T17:56:00.004-07:00

More Richard Scarry copied - Mr. Frumble and Lowly Worm! I'm still having my drawings come out larger than the one I'm copying for some reason, but I've noticed my brain is now thinking in terms of angles and curves rather than upside down parts of a picture. 4 more of these and then on to negative space drawing!

More drawing upside down

2017-10-10T18:34:00.003-07:00

Here are 2 more upside down drawing exercises I did from books gleaned from my kids' shelves. I've turned them rightside up for the blog posting, but they were drawn upside down. The first is a teapot from a family favorite called No Bath Tonight by Jane Yolen.

And the second is from the inside cover of Cars, Trucks, and Things that Go by Richard Scarry. I'm giving myself extra points for drawing Goldbug!

Drawing upside down

2017-10-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

One of the objectives of the illustration course I took on svslearn.com was to know where my weak areas are. I discovered I had more holes in my drawing abilities than I thought. So the class I'm taking this month is How to Draw Everything, covering the basics of drawing anything.

The first assignment is 1 of 3 drawing exercises given: drawing upside down. It's as simple as it can get, yet one of the most challenging thing's I've done! I did notice that everything I tend to draw upside down is larger than the object I'm comparing it to. . . . food for thought as I practice. There's only 1 assigned in the class, but as I've got endless material at my fingertips (my children's bookshelves are being raided), I'm going to do 10.

The first one is from a board book call Are You a Cow? by Sandra Boynton.

The second is from If you Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff.

Lunchtime conversation

2017-10-07T17:12:00.001-07:00

While at a farm this morning, I saw these 2 animals sharing a bunch of hay. They seemed to be having a conversation the way 1 would raise it's head while the other ate. All I could think of is that they were in a story of some kind and deserved an illustration.

Colds and Brandy

2017-10-03T18:03:00.002-07:00

Just a simple illustration today, and a story. We're going through a bout of colds and with 3 kids, it gets to be a lot. My grandmother once told me of how she had a baby teething and all the rest of her then 6 children were ill. At the time the family doctor advised her to get them all to bed and take a shot of brandy for herself. I have never forgotten the story or the sage advice, old-fashioned though it may be. When we go through a round of flu or colds, I always remember my shot of brandy to help me sleep, hence the illustration.

30-in-30: last day!

2017-09-30T18:52:00.002-07:00

Last day of 30-in-30! This is an illustration of my youngest, proudly standing for the first time without assistance. I have a similar feeling of pride in restarting my art practice and making it through 30 days nonstop.

30-in-30: Day 29

2017-09-29T18:37:00.003-07:00

Movie night and the baby fell asleep. I get to sketch the characters on the couch. Just a rough sketch since they don't hold still for more than 2 minutes, but the personalities are there.

30-in-30: Day 28

2017-09-28T17:54:00.003-07:00

This is a woodpecker that had landed on our back fence. He kept posing, so I assumed he wanted a portrait.

30-in-30: Day 27

2017-09-27T19:05:00.002-07:00

3 days to go! I'm nearing the end of the 30-in-30. Three sketches of Tasha, my parents' dog, tonight. I'm hitting a part of the course where there's a lot of talk about digital illustration and I'm finding myself getting frustrated. I don't like the idea of digitally drawing or editing my drawings. And it seems that's the way illustration is likely going. So I'm going back to my favorite type - a very sketchy look, entirely hand drawn.

30-in-30: Day 26

2017-09-26T17:47:00.001-07:00

Today I've created a self-portrait of sorts (an awful likeness, but a fun process). Since drawing in general is a family activity with my children (even my 1-year-old loves to color), I decided to illustrate all of us. My eldest child asked the question "What is Manga?" this week, which led to searching Google images for every bit of anime ever drawn. I chose to mimic the style of it . . . although I'm not sure how faithful it turned out.

30-in-30: Day25

2017-09-25T18:56:00.003-07:00

With so many people talking about Inktober, I'm starting to wonder about using ink. So here is another trial. I wanted to draw a bird travelling South for the Winter. It's still in the simplest form and needs to be fleshed out, but I'm learning there's no rushing development of ideas.

30-in-30: Day 24

2017-09-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to think the hardest thing to illustrate is the same as the hardest thing to paint, people you know. This is an illustration based on my daughter. While I got the body language mostly right, and her favorite thing to wear, the hair still needs work and I've given up on the face for tonight. Also my first time trying to incorporate ink as the hair. I'll add it to the steadily growing pile of "try again soon".

30-in-30: Day 23

2017-09-23T18:43:00.005-07:00

Day 23 of 30-in-30 and I reworked all of the poses that were for the Santas, with the other figure given, a pig.

30-in-30: Day 22

2017-09-22T18:40:00.003-07:00

Just fun today, drawing cats. I've tried different poses and expressions.

30-in-30: Day 21

2017-09-21T18:28:00.001-07:00

It's not even October and stores have Christmas stuff in them. Then, the assignment for my illustration class says to use a figure drawn in different gestures. They provide the gestures. And they provide a figure - Santa. Not my usual figure drawing despite the fact that I usually draw for my kids. My kids were nice enough to share their markers for this one.

30-in-30: Day 20

2017-09-20T19:13:00.001-07:00

Today's assignment is to create my own simple character head with simple character features and change the face to see different angles while maintaining the likeness of the character. Sounds easier than it ended up being. I started with a cat that I've drawn for my kids, although never at so many angles. With just the head turning, it makes me want to draw the cat doing yoga, just to put a body position with each head.

30-in-30: Day 19

2017-09-19T18:27:00.002-07:00

Ahh perspective, my nemesis! The assignment was to be able to rotate an item different ways and the item given was a sketch of an armchair. I'm sure if you look closely enough you can see a lot of erased guidelines. I can definitely see where I squished the chair so it was narrower rather than wider. Had I been in a physical class, I would have been sweating. I think I've found my weakest link and therefore practice for the next month.

30-in-30: Day 18

2017-09-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

A reprieve for 18 days with long hours! Tonight's assignment in my illustration class is to take a photo of a girl in a pink dress and simplify it, rounding the shapes to make an illustration cute. The pose was really already this simple, so I can't take credit for that.