Al Fresco Art Challenge -- Just Draw, Dammit!

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I was feeling lackluster at today’s meeting of the Al Fresco Art Club. I couldn’t think of anything to draw, sketch, or paint. On a whim, I pulled my first art instruction books out of the bookcase: Jack Hamm’s How to Draw Animals and Drawing Scenery: landscapes and seascapes. These books restore my peace of mind — all of the examples that Jack Hamm gives are gratifyingly instructive and doable. I found some exercises for drawing mountains that looked like fun and started drawing. Just like that, Art was fun again. Thanks Jack, wherever you are!

Resources

Jack Hamm: How to Draw Animals and Drawing Scenery: landscapes and seascapes

Al Fresco Art Day, Feb 9, 2020 -- Drawing Expressions

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Drawing facial expressions was today’s challenge. I managed to attempt fear and hunger. I use the word attempt advisedly, because I managed only four sketches in an hour. I spent most of the time trying to figure out the proportions on the baby jaguar’s ears. Baby jaguars are definitely cute. I love the soft features, especially the snub nose, droopy jowls, and softly rounded ears. One thing I’ve learned over the last year is that drawing animals is hard…really hard. My main resource for drawing animals is Jack Hamm’s How to Draw Animals. Some illustrators diss Jack for being “old-fashioned” or “corny”, but there’s a lot of good stuff in his books.

Here are my sketches for the club challenge. I practiced inking with Clip Studio Paint just for fun.