here's one I did earlier ....

I think it's lovely....

thanks, dear. it surprised me considerably to have been able to draw that - did you check out the original cover? i had to fill in bits where her hand and the man were. I must have tapped into something special that day, not been able to connect a second time.

I know the feeling! A dear friend who I used to be carer for was a brill artist, cartoonist and poet. He started by copying, says it was the only way to learn.
I don't draw or paint much now, only make my mosaics.

I want to learn to draw people, but I doubt models at life classes would appreciate being looked at through a telescope - escpecially as I want to learn to draw the *body*, not the clothing. I've been nicking drawings and photos off the internet; the idea is, I'll copy those until I learn how the body goes together, and then try to wing it. sigh, that'll be a looooong time.

I don't do much craft work; I've got stacks of stuff in the cupboards; plaster of paris, clay, wire, candle-making stuff, and lots more. just getting somewhere to work, and getting around to starting.

Starting is always the hardest part and I am a professional artist!!

yep! i've got so much stuff: mum gave me sketch pads and pencils for Crimbo for about five years running; i've got water colours, acrylic paints, chalks, pastel crayons, charcoal sets - and several sets of pencils!

Lidl did a range of artists canvases, so I bought about a dozen; then i found some more in a local pound shop, and bought about a dozen more. All still boxed in a cupboard, waiting for room to be got out.

I thought, those canvases will be cheap enough that I can practice on them, and it won't matter much if i make mistakes (same reason I bought cheap sri material to practice sewing on) but I still find myself thinking, But what if I mess them up? but that's what they're there for!

Cor, wish someone would give me all those things for my xmas/birthday!! Maybe I should come and burgle you!!

lol you'd have to get past my motion-sensor squirrel-squirter first! not to mention my Defenisive Planting!

oh, and the land mines in the plant pots ....

Ha Lol, I'll bring my 3 dogs, they will protect me (not!)

ah, I forgot to mention the Squirrel Squad ... always on the look-out for loose nuts [har har] and loose mutts, come to that ...

My mutts think squirrels are just the best...after pheasants and hare!

lol they're welcome to any they can catch round here. but then, nature abhorring a vacuum, another lot'd just move in ...

Hi Fran, is this large drawing yours? Well, compared to original, yours is better. Not so sugar sweet (original looks little bit like male version of King Kong and his love :)). Does it hang in some gallery? How did you make such a large painting? Or is it copy?

thanks, Katrina, yes, it's a freehand copy (I tend to say "freehand copy" - I dew another photograph to go with a poem I'd done; when I said it was a copy, I was asked if it had been photocopied!).

lol it's only about A5 size, half a standard sheet of paper; this effect was done in Dumpr, a free online photo effects site; you do'nt need to download or install anything, you can use it online. The frame, and the people, in the picture are part of the effect. There were several possible settings, but *s* I chose this one because it showed the biggest "portrait"!

If you look at my "Raindrops keep falling" blog, I posted several different effects you can get with photos.

The book cover, or at least that cover, does look a bit King-Kong-ish: Virgin Planet by Poul Anderson is the story of a man whose spaceship crashes on a planet that has only women - he thinks he's going to be king of the heap (as tends to happen in this sort of dodgy sf! all those poor deprived women worshipping the only man on the planet!) but the reality turns out to be something very different.

...still do not understand correctly what does it mean "freehand copy????

I mean that I drew a copy of the picture with pencil, looking at the picture, then at the paper.

It wasn't copoied by photocopier or any artificial means of producing a copy by drawing round an outline projected on to the paper.

All done with hand and eye - and the bit of brain that I don't seem to be able to get into very often!

Hope that makes sense, I'm starting to confuse myself!

Yes, clear now. Thank you for explanation. I will learn a lot here, lol.

Still, you did not answer yet - is your drawing in the gallery? :)

smiles, we all learn lots here! the way I look at it, we're all learneers, just some a bit further up the ladder than the rest of us *s*

just found this pic and noticed that I've not answered your last question, Kat, sorry about that. The picture's not really in a gallery, it's only half the size of a normal sheet of paper really. the effect is done by Dumpr, a free online photo-tweak program; there were three or four "art galleries" that I could have chosen as the frame for this pic, but liked this one bext.

So cheating us. Why I am not surprised?

well, "cheating" is a bit strong - the drawing is totally real, it's just the setting. you cuold do the same, or better, as you take better pics than I do!