Lesson 27 - Tahitian Girl - Sea

The sea is a little complicated to draw. First, you need to get the shape of the waves. Then you have three-sided reflections. The top reflects the sky. Each side of the wave reflects what it faces, so it's always exciting. Are you ready? Here we go.

1. Take White # 938 and lay in your sun reflection and the white tops of the waves.

2. Now take Warm Grey 90% and put your shadows in. I'm focusing on the darkness as the waves get further away, and the dark backside of the close waves.

3. Slate Grey # 936 is one of my favorite colors. It is a blue-grey and works great for water. I put it right over the top of the warm grey 90%, and fill in the area between waves, all except for highlighted areas. It's fun watching the waves begin to take shape here.

4. Ready for some warmth? We'll put in the sun reflection on the backsides of the waves, and around the sun reflection with Canary Yellow # 916. Make sure you leave some pure white in the center of the sun reflection so it sparkles.

5. Now we'll put the reflection from the sky around the sun. Take Peach # 939 and gently lay it in. Be careful, because it's easy to overkill. Your strokes should be very light and very even.

6. I'm liking the feel of the waves, but it's still too light. It's better to start light, because you can always go darker, which we will. Take Indigo Blue # 911, which is a very dark blue. Go into the back waves and lay it on thick. Taper the intensity as you bring it forward, still keeping your strokes smooth and even. At this point, it's important to keep your pencil very sharp, so you fill in any texture on your board or paper with the tip, not by pressing hard.

7. All right, I'm happy with the intensity now. The darkness in the back gives the illusion of distance. Now we're ready to do some refining. Using Deco Blue #1015, smooth over the top of the front three quarters of the sea, going over everything except the sun reflection. This is a medium-light blue. As you go over the previous colors, it will mix with them, tainting the sea, but also giving unity. Taper your strokes into the deep indigo blue in the back, but don't go all the way. We still want the dark intensity at its best back there.

8. Now we're ready to polish it off. Using White, Cream, and Peach, go back and emphasize the highlights on the waves.  Then take your Colorless Blender and smooth any areas of the sea that are grainy. Voila, your sea becomes liquid.

Next week: We begin the skin! Hooray!!!

Soul Surfer

We took the kids to see the movie, Soul Surfer over the weekend. It’s the true story of Bethany Hamilton, a girl surfer who suffered a shark attack.

I read her book when it first came out and was very impressed. How can a girl lose an arm, but find herself?

Here is a short version of her story, in her own words:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVjDNMyLTH0&NR=1

She really found herself. The book was inspiring, and the movie was just plain wonderful. My eleven year old son said, “I think that’s the best movie I’ve seen in a long time!” And it was.

They also have an amazing cast:

AnnaSophia Robb as Bethany (she starred in Bridge to Terabithia)

Dennis Quaid as her father

Helen Hunt as her mother

and

Carrie Underwood as a church counselor and friend

among others.

The best part is, it’s real. Bethany Hamilton is real and a true role model.

Enjoy this movie trailer and then go see the show – and take a few tissues – and prepare to be impressed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUy4hyWzDxA

Lesson 26 - Tahitian Girl - Island

Since I'm on a roll with islands, let's draw one.
1. Using Cream, lightly encircle the area immediately below the sun, and the area where the beach touches the sea. Now, take Warm Grey 90 % #1058, and lay in your darkest shadow, which is most of the island. Where the sun shines across, make that layer very light and thin.

2. Go over the dark grey with Dark Brown # 946. Again, make your strokes very thin and light just beneath the sun. This island will be very dramatic.

3. Now we'll soften our dark tones by going over it again with Light Umber #941. Touch on the beach area, too. We don't want that too light.

4. Here's where we really add the drama. Taking Cream #914, hit the area right below the sun again, and softly add in some sun rays playing over the island's curves.

5. We'll add some real warmth to the lower sun area with Canary Yellow #916.

6. For the finishing touch, take White #938 and really whiten the area below the sun, blending into the yellows and browns, so it's a very soft transition - making it glow. Fun, huh?

Next week: the sea!

Cocos Island

All right. I’m writing a pirate book. And I’m doing lots of research and learning all kinds of random facts about people, places, and oh, yes, islands.

Have you ever heard of Cocos Island? It’s a tiny island west of Costa Rica. Rumor has it that on three separate occasions, pirates hid their booty there.

It shouldn’t be hard to find it then, right?

Wrong.

A man named August Gissler moved there with a shovel, two maps, and a big dream. Have you read the book or seen the movie “Holes?” Well, that’s exactly what happened here. He dug and dug and dug. The island was pocked with holes. His beard grew down to his knees. And all he ever found were thirty gold pieces and one golden glove.

I know, just enough to keep him digging, and not enough to keep his wife from going insane. The woman was a saint!

Anyway, what about the whole “I’m living on an island” thing? Well, that must have been nice . . . other than the millions of holes.

But, if you look at what is in the water surrounding it, that’s where you’ll find the true treasure. An Imax film called “Island of the Sharks” was made there, and if you have a chance to watch it, you won’t be sorry. Here’s a link to the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X22TCPIVPA

There are schools of hammerhead sharks, a feeding frenzy on a huge bait ball of fish, a leisurely scene with a hungry (and very patient) sea turtle -- one of my favorite creatures, and much more.

So, if you inherit any pirate maps, take it easy. If you live on an island, I'm seriously jealous. If you find out any cool pirate facts, let me know!

Well, I’m off to write and do more research. See you soon, mateys!

Lesson 25 - Tahitian Girl - Sky with Prismacolor Pencils

There is still time to enter the Contest to win the first print when this drawing is finished. See this link for details:

http://thewonderfulobsessions.blogspot.com/2011/02/contest-win-first-tahitian-girl-print.html

Here we go on the sky behind the clouds.

1. Start with White #938 and brighten the sun.

2. Now we go to the darkest area of sky. One mistake many people make is using colors that are too bright. We want the sky dramatic, but we don't want it stealing the show. So use Slate Gray #936 in the upper left area. Slate Gray has blue tones, but is very earthy and won't make your blue too bright. Don't worry, we'll add some more color over it later.

3. Now go to the lower area and use Cream #914. Like the Slate Gray, Cream is an earthy color and not overly bright. Rough in some light sunrays, too.

4. Now to warm it up some more. Using Lilac #956, which is a very mellow purple, go over the Slate Gray and feather your Lilac down almost (but not quite) into the sun area. We're going around, but not touching the sunrays, which are beginning to stand out.

5. Now we can see where we want more pure color. Go back with True Blue #903 over the upper area, feathering it into the colors below, but not quite going to the bottom.

6. We'll add a deeper yellow also. Using Deco Yello #1011, which is still a somewhat mellow yellow (but stronger in color than Cream), warm up the area around the sun and feather up. I'm going over the sunrays, too.

7. Okay, we're ready to smooth it out. Using a Colorless Blender #1077 and White, touch up the rough spots and mellow out the sunrays.

Next week, the mountain!

The Rarest Thing I Almost Touched

When I was about nine or ten years old, my older brother came running up to me with a covered bucket and a glint in his eye.

(Warning, brothers, buckets, and glints are not good signs.)

“Look what I have,” he said.

I knew it was a test. I got plenty of those since I was female and younger. I was also stubborn and didn’t want to fail.

So I looked.

Now you have to give me credit. I didn’t scream. I didn’t run. But my heart was pounding in my eardrums.

If I had screamed and ran, then he would have chased me with the thing. So I casually draped my hand on the edge of the bucket, my fingers hanging just inside, just far enough so I could jerk them out if the thing moved, but also far enough in to prove I wasn’t scared.

I don't remember exactly what I said, but it must have been something like: "Whoa. Cool! Where'd you find that?"

Apparently I passed the test, because my brother left me alone.

So what was the thing laying a mere 8 inches below my hand? Well, I don’t really know, even now. But I do know it’s very rare, and it didn’t belong in Montana.

It was a worm-like blind, white snake. And it was hard to tell the head from the tail, because the tail looked just like a head. This picture is very close to it:

If I remember right, it was bigger than the biggest worm I’d ever seen, yet smaller than a garter snake – maybe ten inches to a foot long.

All these years later, even with the wonders of the internet, the closest I’ve come to identifying it is it’s either a Xenotyphlops, a Typhlopiae or a Ramphotyphlops braminus (all blind worm-like snakes of varying colors) and none of them like the cold.

My brother found this one deep under a rock when he was digging out a new fort.

Soon all my siblings had to run the same test.

But the crowning moment came when they called our mom out. Yup, she screamed. Yup, she jerked. No, she didn’t run. (Even if she had, my brother wasn't crazy enough to chase her with it.)

But she did back up and demand that whatever that crazy thing was, take it FAR, FAR away and don't bring it back--EVERRRRR.

And you don’t mess with Mom, so off it went.

But I have some wonderful images burned on my brain, and every so often, I pull them up and enjoy them once again. But I think I would have had an entirely different take if I'd failed the test . . .

Oh, well. Thank heavens for small blessings.

So, what's the craziest thing you found during your childhood?

Lesson 24 - Tahitian Girl - Sun-Lined Clouds with Prismacolor

1. We're ready to do the low clouds. First use White # 938 to outline the highlights.

2. Take Cream #914 to add the highlights that aren't stark white.

3. Now we're ready for the dark, dramatic shadows using Warm Grey 70% # 1056.

4. We'll add the main tone, Parma Violet #1008 over the grey, pushing harder in the areas where the clouds thicken.

5. Now, we'll add a subtle red into the cloud-tops using Beige Sienna #1080. They're coming alive.

6. To really add some heat, we'll take Sand # 940 along the bottom of the clouds, making sure to gently taper our color up.

7. Okay, we have all the colors we want. Now it's time to use the Blending Stick # 1077 to smooth and blend our colors. Go back with white and cream to touch up and soften the bottom and top edges of the clouds.

I can hardly wait to put the sky behind it, but that will have to wait for next week. Doing a flat area is the biggest challenge with Prismacolors. It takes a lot of patience and very smooth, even strokes. Come back and see how to do it next week!