Cashmere Crypt

welcome

Welcome to Cashmere Crypt, my little corner of the internet. I'm currently in the process of reorganizing, please pardon the mess ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

The Fundamentals

Ever since I got back into drawing, I have been hearing the phrase "fundamentals" all over the place. "Just improve your fundamentals", they say! "Work on your fundamentals!"

...okay... what are fundamentals?

After weeks of searching, googling and researching, I finally found a definitive answer to my question. According to Lesson 0 of the Draw a Box drawing course, the fundamentals can be summed up as follows:

  • Spatial Reasoning - Representing objects that exist in a 3D world, on a 2D plane
  • Markmaking - Using a drawing tool to accurately make intended marks
  • Observation - Seeing things for what they are in the real world

Things like form, light, color, composition, and style... those concepts will certainly come with time. However, when we talk about fundamentals in their purest form, the trio of spatial reasoning, markmaking, and observation are really the three ideas that we are talking about improving.

In my own practice, my Observational skills are probably what I've spent the most time on. I used to spend hours perfectly reproducing a reference photo or master work, line by line. However, I didn't consider why things were shaped the way they were to represent a 3D object on a 2D plane.

I am looking forward to sharing my progress as I continue to improve my fundamentals!

9.22.2024

Class Sylabus

I've been struggling to actually work on the Proko Figure Drawing course as the content is a bit disorganized. Over the last week, however, I've gone in and created a Notion template that outlines the course. I've been using it and found that it helps me to stay on track and focused on studying!

You can copy my notion template for free here! :)

9.17.2024

Find the Landmarks

Today, I completed a lesson about landmarks of the human body. I learned that it's important to find the landmarks on a body in order to see the relationships of angles between parts of the body. For example, when the elbow is more bent, the three elbow bones make a triangle. But when it's straight, the elbow bones stay in a straight line.

Happy back to school everyone! :)

9.8.2024

Back to School

I'm such a sucker for back to school supplies. Put me in a cute stationery shop and I could browse for hours. Pens, notebooks, highlighters... I love it all!

Every year around this time I feel so nostalgic for when I was in school. I miss having an excuse to go to the store and pick out a fresh set of supplies -- but wait. I'm an art student now, aren't I?

I might be taking free courses online, but I have been studying just as diligently as I did when I was in college. Why not enjoy some fresh notebooks and pens just like I was going back to school?

I haven't bought anything new yet, but I dusted off my old cute pen case and Campus notebooks from when I was in college. I've felt more like a real, full-fledged student again. I'm hoping this will help me to protect my time studying, just like I used to when I was being graded!

Happy back to school time! :)

9.4.2024

15 beans

8.27.2024

Break It Down

As a recovering details-first artist, I have been amazed by how much more convincing my art is becoming as I learn to break things down into simple shapes.

There are three basic shapes that make up all 3D objects:

  • Sphere
  • Cylinder
  • Cube

I have always struggled to draw animals, as I couldn't figure out where the contours were going. What a strange curve, I'd think! What is that weird angle doing there?

Now that I'm starting to break things down into spheres, cylinders, and cubes, I'm finding it's much easier to see the full picture of why lines are doing what they are doing in the reference photo. I'm even finding that I can improvise lines where I previously would have struggled due to shadow in the reference.

This is my first time trying an exercise like this! For tomorrow's practice, I'd like to break things down into even simpler shapes.

8.24.2024

Finding Time

Today, I work from 9-5 and then have date night with my husband in the evening. Really no time for a big block of art practice, plus it's important to rest.

I found a few minutes between meetings to sketch a few more beans. 10 minutes of practice is 10 minutes of practice. I'm proud of myself for keeping up my momentum today.

8.23.2024

A New Perspective

I've been kind of floundering with the same figure-drawing exercise that I've been working on for years now. I know I need to ingest more emotion into my figures, but no matter what I do they always feel.. stiff.

"Okay, now we're going to draw the torso and hips as beans." As WHAT??

I wasn't sure how this was going to improve my gestures... until 15 minutes in, my weird little bean guys were somehow showing more emotion and gesture than any of my figures ever have.

I guess there's something to this bean practice :)

8.22.2024

Failure & Repetition

Failure & repetition aren't just an unfortunate side effect of the artistic process. They ARE the process.

8.21.2024

Just 20 Minutes

I did not want to make art today. I've been getting over a nasty summer cold, and while some of my energy has returned, my brain remains clouded by a foggy haze.

Whenever I'm feeling this way, I will try setting a timer for just 20 minutes. This can work for many purposes -- 20 minutes of art, 20 minutes of laundry... 20 minutes of cardio (okay, maybe not cardio just yet ^^)

I often find that after taking just 20 minutes to jumpstart my routine, suddenly my brain remembers what it should be doing. Oh yeah! Art isn't work! Art is fun!!

Today, I ended up doing just over an hour of art practice. When my 20 minutes were up, I couldn't peel myself away from my drawing if I'd wanted to. Next time you're struggling to get started, try a 20 minute timer. Trust me, it works ;)

Today's lesson

8.20.2024

Contour vs Gesture Drawing

Today, I began a self-taught figure drawing course on YouTube. Here are the highlights of what I learned:

  1. Gesture is the movement between elements. It describes relationship, motion, and flow.
  2. Contour is the outline around elements. Apparently, I have spent a majority of my life drawing contour while ignoring gesture.
  3. Emotion in art is expressed through gesture.
  4. To draw a gesture drawing, you want to observe and sketch what you see quickly -- 30 seconds to 5 minutes per drawing.
  5. Contour drawings consist of only three types of curves - C curves, S curves, and | curves (straight lines).

I would highly recommend this video series if you are interested in learning about figure drawing! I've been through part of it before, but I'm excited to return to these videos with a fresh perspective.

8.17.2024

Spaced Repetition

We artists often like to think of our craft as something beyond logic. Art communicates what the soul feels. Through art, we can express our humanity. It is proof that we are alive, proof that we feel our experience deeply. It is proof that we exist.

This is the very reason why it is so hard to remember that art, like any other skill, can be improved through effective study techniques.

What do you mean that my soul-language can be learned just like I could pick up Latin or Japanese?

As it turns out, just like learning a language, one of the most effective ways to improve your art is through spaced repetition, or recalling newly-learned information right as your brain was about to forget.

Rather than trying to learn "how to draw", it is more effective to actively study one topic of art at a time. For example, for one month you might choose the topic "How to draw the human face". You can start by researching how the face is put together -- what are the bones? The muscles? How are the eyes, nose, and mouth positioned on the face?

Then, before looking up references, use what you learned to try to draw something from memory. It will probably be bad, at first. But when you look up your reference photo, a lightbulb will click on in your brain. It's like flipping a flash card when studying for a test. Suddenly, you remember! Oh yeah, that's how it was supposed to look!

The more you do this over time, the more effectively you will be able to create drawings, not just from reference but also from memory. Art is the language of the soul. And like any other language, you need to learn the fundamentals in order to use it to communicate properly.

8.16.2024

Hello, world!

This is my first blog post. Well, it's my first blog post on this site, anyway.

I was inspired by Seth Godin's blog to try to post one thing every day. I hope that most days it will be some kind of art practice, such as sketches, doodles, paintings, or sewing projects I am working on. I will also be posting things that inspire me, on days when I'm taking a break from making art.

I might also go back and retroactively add posts in place of some of the current content on my website. We shall see! :)

8.15.2024