Kat Johnston

Tag: face

  • Life Drawing / Sketch: A figure and a face.

    Kat Johnston: venturing into life-drawing this week, here’s an ‘actual’ sketch… as in, one that isn’t a cartoon.

    How’s that for a literal title? And how’s this for a proper sketch!

    I must admit that I don’t draw from actual figures all that often – I don’t really get too much of a chance to tell someone to pick a pose and sit in front of me naked for 20 minutes. The last time I did a proper ‘sit down and draw from a person sitting there’ thing was years ago. Soooo, when I found out that there is a place in Brisbane (at the Metro, actually) which has weekly life-drawing sessions, I was more than ready to drag a friend along and give it a go.

    I find it rather amusing that with a fully-naked figure sitting there in front of me, I’ve decided here and there to draw parts which really require no nakedness at all. Both last week and this week I have found myself focusing on just the face, or a hand at some point, rather than the whole. I know that I could probably get a friend to sit still for a while to let me draw their face, but I guess the glitch with that is that I’d then probably have to show them what I just drew. I’m sure that I don’t have to mention that drawing from a photo is just not the same.

    Today’s picture is plucked from my sketch-book from last night’s session. The up-tilted face and the partial figure are two of my favourite drawings from the evening. The model was absolutely fantastic for figure studies with well-defined muscles, a wonderfully interesting body/face and an excellent selection of poses, including an incredible kung-fu ‘crane’ style one for a minute there!

    So yes – if you’re in Brisbane and want to give it a go (and you should, even if you’ve never picked up a pen before), check out Drawn From Life. All you need to take is yourself and something to draw with – easy peasy!

  • Sketch/Announcement: Inspired by Jenny, but definately not Jenny.

    Kat Johnston Sketch: Inspired (somewhat) by my Jenny pictures. Look through the categories if you don’t get what I mean!

    A quick and early sketch today! I have to go in for my ultrasound later, and have various other annoying things to get done until then, so I thought I’d get this out of the way early if I could.

    The picture today is somewhat inspired by Jenny. If you have no idea who or what Jenny is, check out the category links – there’s one called Jenny there. I love the original Jenny to bits, and to be honest, I’m not entirely sure if I could ever properly turn her into a ‘regular’ person. It just doesn’t really work like that.

    On another note, I’d like to point out something incredible and fantastic! I’ve now been writing on this blog for over a year. I didn’t actually think about it until last night, but when I did… oh my! I had to race back to the computer to click on the archives for May 2008 to see when the exact date actually was. I actually have an odd sense of accomplishment over all this. There’s 270 posts (or will be, when this one is included), which means that I post approximately two days outta three, or there-abouts… that’s not too bad if you ask me!

    For something started on little more than a whim, then continued on under the banner of ‘study’, I think the site has gone incredibly well so far. Yes, there are still some things I need to do – finish updating the gallery, finally get around to sorting out the banner for good (the composition as it is currently isn’t perfectly ideal, but with a bit of work, could be much much better), and perhaps a few other things… but it is good. It has certainly been fulfilling its primary purpose: keeping me motivated to do what I know I love… sketching. If people see it, so much more the bonus.

    So, celebrations all around, don’t you think? Milestone accomplished.

  • Sketch: I need sleep… and wontons.

    Kat Johnston Sketch: I need sleep… I do.

    Just another quick post today. I need sleep – I really, really do. But first, I think I am going to make wontons. I like wontons. They are tasty, and delicious, and in a warm broth they happen to be one of the most delightfully comforting foods.

    For lack of better post content today, I’m going to tell you what is going to be in them. I’ve got some premium beef mince, and to that I’ll be adding garlic, ginger, finely chopped chives, finely chopped shallots, a little splash of soy, and perhaps a little flour if it is needed. I’ll then be dolloping that onto wonton wrappers and sealing them up all perfectly.

    Some I will have for lunch, and then the rest I will serve up for dinner in a nice warm beef broth, I think, with some wombok and perhaps some noodles… we’ll see how the mood strikes, shall we? In the meantime though… that nap is looking mighty good.

  • Sketch: The dreamer dreams another dream…

    Kat Johnston Sketch: A solitary dreamer, she dreams of distant things.

    Ah, a solitary dreamer in a world of wakened reality – it is a wonder there is room for dreaming still, when the starkness of the ‘real world’ threatens to consume each and every one of those wandering, winsome imaginings.

    Just another sketch from one of my little sketch books today – nothing major, brilliant or life-changing. And I don’t even know what to write about! It’s the weekend,  and yesterday we were pestered again by home-owners who don’t seem to understand that you are required to give notice before knocking on people’s doors on a Saturday morning to enter the properties of your tenants.

    Now if that happened once, it’s easy enough to forgive… the hubby and I are not unreasonable people. Throw in builders coming over twice with no notice, once at 7:30 in the morn (on a Monday!) to do construction on the place, and I start getting a little grumpy. Time to give the real-estate agent a call again.

    Anyhow, all that aside, there really isn’t too much to type about today. So I think I’ll leave it here! Have a good rest of the weekend, ya’ll.

  • Sketch / Digital: My Ballerina with a touch of colour.

    Kat Johnston Sketch: A touch of colour on one of my previous sketches… because I can’t scan anything in today!

    So right now the printer/scanner/copier isn’t yet set up in our ‘new’ computer room, while the rumpus dries out. I honestly think that the flooding downstairs has somewhat killed both my husband’s and my desire to have things down in that room now – at least within reach of possible flooding… again. That, and it smells like mildew. Eww!

    So instead of a ‘new’ sketch today, you’re getting one of my older ones with a touch of colour! This was started a little while back, and since I have it handy, it can go up for today’s sketchy offering. I’d go a little further on it, but surprise surprise… the wacom hasn’t made it upstairs again either! Ah well. Things should get back to normal soon, I guess.

    Happy weekend, guys! Aren’t you glad it has arrived?