The fact that drawing dinosaur is "funner" is because no-one has ever seen a dinosaur with their own eyes before. There are hypothesis on how a dinosaur or a particular specify should look like but these are just theoretical predictions from forensic science and archaeological finds. The way a dinosaur should look like change every time whenever a new dig was found. So it is up to the artist's imagination to think of what a dinosaur should look like and that is the thing that makes it all more fun and exciting.

I reckon James Gurney (http://jamesgurney.com/site/) is the best dinosaur artist. Most of his dinosaur drawings and paintings came from tons of research to make them look authentic and believable. That's the key word. What makes your dinosaur drawing believable? The studies on anatomy, how they move, and etc. You can be a professor on just drawing dinosaur alone.

After a long hiatus, I am back to drawing TREX again. From the look of it, I needed more practice.

Faber Castell Polychromous Coloured Pencils

This was done with the help of a model, so I was practically drawing this from life.


That's my old trusty model. I collect a couple of dino toys and this one is my favourite. It cost less that SGD20 during a sale. Pretty well sculpted but in terms of assembly, not that good. In an attempt to re-shape one of the legs, I broke it.


When I was drawing these, I tried to video the whole process. Though I failed to do so, I manage to test out different types of over head rig. One with the selfie stick tripod and one with a tripod stand and with a Lumix camera which is not built to make video.

Photoshop and Kyle's brushes

Photoshop and Kyle's ink brushes - Colourised.

Then I did another one on Photoshop. Here's the video. It is 30mins long but I have placed a nice Jazz track in so you may enjoy the music even if you are not watching the footage.



https://youtu.be/0A5cZ063BOc

I have not posted anything since Dec last year.... first of all, a Happy Lunar New Year to all who visit my blog, may you live long and prosper. Strangely, the "Vulcan salute" sounds really like the traditional Chinese greetings especially on auspicious and special occasions like the New Year. Do not under estimate the power of your tongue, which can be used to bless and curse. It is very wise to control your tongue only to make sure good words come forth, which in turn has an effect on your own body too.

Anyway, I ran a #2016bestnine on a third party app for Instagram and the result showed a remarkable 2016 for myself. I love it when only sketches, drawings and paintings appear to be the top posts.

Instagram Best Nine for 2016 #2016bestnine

I took out a sketch I did during the CNY season in 2015 at Chinatown and put some colours on it. Everything was done from memory, how I remembered what the CNY atmosphere was then. When I saw another sketch a friend did for this year at the same location, I saw that the shops have recycled the use of the same CNY decor of the prosperous grandpa deity. Have they run out of ideas or budget. I saw on TV they have placed a giant rooster at the cross junction of South Bridge Road and Pickering right in front of Chinatown Point... maybe I will head down to take a look myself.


Good news!! I have sold a pencil sketch when I posted it on my Facebook. It was bought by a FB friend from US. I have not met him in person yet but I think we have been following each others' posts. I love his painting. He was kind enough to buy the pencil drawing from me. I was elated and thought this was too good to be true. He also requested that I gift the pencil I used to draw to him, and gladly did so. It was a Cretacolour Nero Extrasoft Oil Charcoal Pencil. I gave him another pencil drawing of the same subject matter for good will. I am pretty sure the drawings have landed in good hands.

Boats drawing made with Cretacolour Nero Extrasoft Charcoal Pencil

Here you go... and again have a great year ahead. Will be back soon!

Claude Monet would draw and paint a subject repetitively. He was famous for doing the "Haystack", "Waterloo Bridge", "Rouen Cathedral" and the "Water Lillies" series. Monet painted the Rouen Cathedral's facade at different times of day to explore the effects of different light during Winter, and in 1895, he exhibited 20 Cathedral paintings at the Durand-Ruel Gallery. (source: http://www.theartstory.org/artist-monet-claude-artworks.htm#pnt_5)

There is one location in Singapore I have been back again and again to draw and paint. Till date I have done more than 50 pen & ink sketches and watercolour studies based on the same location. At least about 40 pieces were sold in 2 group shows with "White Canvas" which is now a private gallery renamed as "Black Gallery" - managed by Colin and Maria who are the owners too. The group shows were held in 2010 and 2011, and those were the years when USK Singapore Chapter grew exponentially.






Tiong Bahru has been a favourite location for me to sketch and paint. The reason is very simple. The buildings are unique and the place is quiet. The morning breakfast crowd dissipates by 10am. The lunch crowd would arrive by 12pm but they usually congregate within the food center. In recent years, there have been many cafes and pubs opening in Tiong Bahru, but these have simmered down in the last 2 years, so Tiong Bahru has more or less become what was before when I first came to know the place.

So far I have mostly used pen & ink, and watercolour for Tiong Bahru. I have not done acrylics or oil yet. It would be a challenge and I am still looking forward to a plein air session at this location.

Anyway drawing and painting the same subject or location can be quite refreshing every time. You may visit the location at different time of day like what Monet did. I can vouch that it would be different all the time. If not you could try a different point of view, which I did all the time. Similarly you may use a different method to draw and paint, or create a series with different colour temperature or colour scheme. I like to change how I frame or format my sketches. This time I used the foreground foliage as a vignette for composition, though I wasn't really thinking of visual path and movement within the image, but I did think about using the darks for creating rhythm. And instead of watercolour, I change my painting medium to coloured pencils.

Hope these would offer you some tips on how you could approach a subject matter for location sketching. :D