Makiko Itoh : Not a nameless cat. - daily

Not quite a picture a day, no. 11: Red chili peppers

maki — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 07:34:59 +0000

I am fairly happy with this one, especially the red. Took about eight hours total!

Not quite a picture a day, no. 10: Desem bread

maki — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 13:45:01 +0000

I am still drawing...but I haven't been able to keep up the daily picture goal. There are a couple of reasons for this; first, I've just not had the time, or given it the time, on days when I've been swamped with work and other matter.

Second, I've discovered that quick sketches don't satisfy me as much as trying to do a fairly detailed, finished drawing. that takes quite a lot of time. The picture here of desem bread took about 4 hours, and that's one of the shorter times. There's a picture I'm still working on, of 5 tiny pastries, which so far has taken about 10 hours - for one pastry. I guess for the moment this is the style I like.

One reason for this exercise was to re-discover what my style is, so in that sense I guess this is a good thing so far.

The other, quite annoying reason is that I can't seem to figure out how to either scan or photograph the drawings well enough. The scanner seems to have suddenly lost the ability to scan the green/blue colors (maybe it's broken...it is an old scanner) and my skills at photographing the pictures is not too good. I'm still working on this..we recently set up some daylight lamps for a small studio set up, and I need to get more used to this.

I have some pictures completed and still unscanned/unphotographed, which should show up here shortly.

A picture a day, day 9: Spotty bananas

maki — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 12:58:11 +0000

Bananas (no. 9): colored pencil

Past their prime though still tasty. The spots seemed to increase as I was drawing.

A picture a day, day 8: Red knitting

maki — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:56:43 +0000

Red Knitting (no. 8): colored pencil

I am knitting a bright red mohair scarf. Hopefully I'll finish it before winter, such as it is, ends.

I have come to the conclusion that I can't use the scanner for scanning these drawings. It's fine for photographs but seems to choke on artwork. So, I'm going to have to photograph the picture the next day (since I am usually drawing in the evening, after the day's work is done.)

A picture a day, day 7: Square paper clip

maki — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 15:48:04 +0000

Square paper clip: graphite

I am much more comfortable in black and white than in color. I need to make a color chart of the pencils I have. The only drawback of graphite is that it gets all over the hands.

A picture a day, day 6: Woman in Red

maki — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 14:38:48 +0000

Woman in Red: colored pencil (Faber-Castell ColorGrip 2001)

This lady really stood out in the crowds of people doing their Saturday shopping in Zürich yesterday. In a town where most people wear blacks, greys and browns in the winter, she was wearing a bright red coat with a bright red hat. She wasn't that young or pretty, but she definitely drew stares - and smiles.

There are more things around here in the sketch but I left them out and just left in the grey color around her.

I'm really not sure though about colored pencil. Maybe the paper that I'm drawing on is too slick (in a handbound book I made last year in our bookbinding class). This time I didn't want to bother with the big pencil set so I used the 12 color ColorGrip set that I got 2 years ago and have barely used. It's meant for kids, but seems to be nice quality.

A picture a day, day 5: Cell phone

maki — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 19:52:04 +0000

Cell phone (no. 5): gel pen

To loosen up after yesterday's broccoli, which took about 2 hours, and because I was busy today, I just decided to do a doodle-like sketch of my cell phone, an object I can't do without but which I sometimes dread, like my computers. Done with a 3-color gel pen (red, blue, black) in about 10 minutes.

A picture a day, day 4: Broccoli (actual)

maki — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:18:23 +0000

Broccoli (4b): Colored pencil (various

The actual broccoli from yesterday. Photographed with a Nikon D70 using a tripod and natural daylight. The paper is pale ivory, which is what may have thrown off the scanner.

A picture a day, day 4: Broccoli (sketch)

maki — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 23:27:33 +0000

Broccoli sketch (4a): pencil

I did actually do a color version of the broccoli, but the scanner totally failed to pick up the greens, turning it into a blob of yellow with green bits. I may try to photograph it in the morning when I have more light. For now this is just the preliminary pencil sketch.

A picture a day, day 3: Gala apple

maki — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 21:01:40 +0000

Gala Apple: Colored pencil (Faber-Castell Polychromos).

A Gala apple is a medium red with a yellow-green-orange undertone, and quite streaky. Getting that streakiness is rather difficult.

The apple also looks rather lanky.

I haven't really done much with colored pencils before and so far it's a rather frustrating tool But I think I will stick with it for at least a month.