TRIAL AND LOTS OF ERRORS

I've been trying out watercolors and different paper types. It's a hard medium to learn and it reacts differently to different paper types. I've been painting from tutorials online — mostly from Peter Sheeler's YouTube channel. He keeps it pretty quick, simple and easy to follow along. Each painting only takes about 30 minutes to draw and paint so I like that

From Peter Sheeler's YouTube channel tutorial. The paper on this one is Arches cold press 140#.

Plus I like his style of drawing. His lines are quick and sketchy and just the right amount of detail.

From Peter Sheeler's YouTube channel tutorial. I painted this one in my sketch book which does not have watercolor paper.  I'm not sure of what weight of paper my sketchbook has.

From Peter Sheeler's YouTube channel tutorial using one color. This was also painted in sketchbook.

 The one below I couldn't get the sky to work at all. I think I painted it, then lifted the paint off and repainted it three times and redrew it twice. I first tried painting it on a cheap watercolor paper (not sure of the brand) but didn't like it at all so when I redrew it I used Arches cold press paper.

Also from Peter Sheeler's YouTube channel. Winsor & Newton watercolors on Arches cold press paper.

I really like Arches paper but it is pretty expensive compared to other brands. I happened to get this batch at 60 percent off at a local art supply store. I should of bought more.

A sketch from my own imagination on canvas.

By the way, I'm using my phone to take photos of these to post, so if some of them look distorted or out of whack, it may not just be my drawing abilities ... but then again, maybe it is my drawing. Oh and the color isn't close to accurate either.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

It's been a day of practicing. From sketching my desk to sketching basketball players as well as practicing "Landscape people."

Practicing basketball ... drawing, not playing.

My desk. Also practicing drawing faster for whatever reason.

Character interaction.

"Landscape people" in watercolor.

I did get a chance to work a little on live sketching a few blocks away at lunchtime. It's an apartment building with businesses on the ground floor.

My first sketch of the building s along Broadway and Market streets.

The drawing above was a very quick sketch just to get a feel for the perspective and scale. These buildings are actually a block down from the ones in the drawing below. The drawing below is/will be more detailed but I like the feeling and sense of urgency and spontaneity of the one above. 

I call this building the "Young at Art" building because it
houses that business and it has one of the most dominant
signs. This is my lunchtime project that will take me a few sessions
to complete.  I only get between 5-10 minutes at a time to work on
it at lunch, in between rain showers. This is the second day I've drawn.Because of all the straight lines and perspective,
I was tempted to use  a ruler but decided to freehand it.