Chris Padilla/Blog / Chris Learns to Draw
In 2022, I went from only having ever doodled as a kid to learning to draw. I had a blast and it really freed up the looseness in all of my creative practices (including software!) Here is my journey documented. You can read my reflection on Lessons From A Year of Drawing here and painting here. .
Louie Zong's Boss Rush & Sketches
Louie Zong's album Boss Rush and the CUSTOM BLENDER RENDERED 3D VIDEO is a gem.
My last bit of plant construction for drawabox!
Chunky Head Construction
Studies and experiments on Andrew Loomis' Fun With a Pencil! Lots of chonky cheeks. š
ā½ļø Start here:
š End up here:
Still Life and Plant Construction
Miranda and I did some still life together. Can you tell which one is her's?? (It's the really good one!) š
Some plant construction studies in the mix, too
Draw From Life, They Said
More sketches! š¦
Also getting back to my roots and drawing funny Nintendo characters.
Construction on Plants
Studies of a Lotus Flower and leaves. š
It's really fun to twist and curl thin forms!
These are part of a set of exercises from the Drawabox curriculum.
Birds and Texture Sketches
Couple of my favorite birds š¦š¦
My favorite so far ā a study on texture dissections along organic forms. Completed as an asignment for Drawabox.
Sketches
After finishing my last sketchbook, I'm on to the next one!
Here are some of my favorite pages from this week:
I'm also going through Andrew Loomis' "Fun With A Pencil". An older style of caricature, but it's been fun to get comfortable with construction! Here are some head potatoes from my first studies:
Finishing a Sketchbook
I reached a funny spot creatively in September. I was making lots of things, but they were all purely digital. Each day also finished with "well, I'm in the process of making something. Not much to show today, though!" There's something that felt a little incomplete about having large creative projects, but no small ones.
A couple of funny intersections happened. I listened to Austin Kleon talk about the benefits of journaling and I picked up reading a few of my favorite art blogs again.
So to fill the gap, I got inspired to sketch everyday in these guys:
And it's been excellent!
Three months later and I filled the last page of the moleskin!
It's a wildly satisfying feeling ā one that's not quite recreated on the internet with paginated content and infinite scroll. A website is never full. But a completed sketchbook is a physical, in-your-hands unit. A way of marking time and space while also messing around!
I love making things digitally. But Just like music, keeping a tactile craft going is all the more warm and satisfying. Playing piano and guitar help balance music production. Writing by hand balances blogging. Sketching in a journal is part of that balance, too!
It's best kept largely private to keep it free, but I'll indulge a little! Here are a few of my favorite pages:
