Creating the Mood

I was wondering the other day, what to put on iTunes today while I'm working would you not think your favorite music or sounds would work! Am afraid I can't draw to Janis Joplin or Meatloaf for that matter it seems I create the mood even before I sit down to draw or paint or photograph. I subconsciously create my environment before starting and I only found out when I put Summertime by Janis on and found myself listening instead of drawing!!!!


I seem to do well listening to Clanadonia, bagpipes and drums. Calamity Jane on DVD does well. Also Red hot chili Pipers again bagpipes and drums there's a theme going on here me thinks! It does not seem to matter what kind of drawing it is, maybe my mood is what I take into account, as, this seems to be a subconscious act at this time while writing I listening to Enter the Haggis's Star of the County Down. 

I have just finished a painting of Hunter the Cairn Terrier and he was very hard to do so many colours in his coat and getting a true representation was difficult, I think more so as I tried to change my listening music, and so it took longer to finish than it would have!

How to draw

How to draw is not too hard, what is hard is analyzing what you want to draw, I can not teach anyone to draw through a blog that would be silly, learning to draw is 90% looking and 10% marks on the paper.

Making marks on a piece of paper is the easy part, joining them together to make sense of them is what you are trying to achieve.

It really does not matter what style or genre you want to achieve the marks still have to be at the right angle, the right strength of dark and light. Shadows are darker on the whole but then there is detail in the shadows, ergo shadows are differing shades of dark and light.

Taking your time.

It is always best to take your time when you decide to do anything well. Saying this everyone works at their own speed and if you try working at someone else's speed the final piece will not be as good. Try drawing at differing speeds to find which works best, as with the first blog concentrate on your chosen object and try drawing it in different medias.

I found that when I was at college I worked to fast for the lecturers and was made to slow down, which did not help my drawing. Now I draw on my own and have worked out my own methods I feel my drawing is starting to really move forward, mind you I have been drawing for over 10 years seriously.

Find what subject suits you, some artists are landscape or portrait, and many other genres, concentrate on what you enjoy.