More Work with a Mentor Artist

I've mentioned in earlier posts that I picked up a book by William Steig and have been copying his work in an attempt to bring some of his style into my own scribbling.

Thought I'd share a bit more of that work.

First, an artist hard at work.  I had fun with this one, done in my little sugar cane paper journal.  Instead of doing my sketch with watercolor, I used colored pencil, but I let this artist's work be water color (his canvas and palette).  It was fun to play with Steig's original.  I learned a lot about how he does faces and body posture.

Next, I copied some portraits.

I really am very interested in how he creates faces.  They are so expressive and quick.  My brain just doesn't intuit how to do this.

Finally, I tried out bringing his style into some drawings of my own.

Interesting.  I like the red-headed lady in purple.  Not so much the others, but I can feel myself seeing shapes and faces a bit differently on the paper.  I'm going to keep at it.   Scribbling and scribbling.

I always remember that I've only been scribbling with any discipline for about two years.  I'm the one in my family who "can't draw."  And art students learn by copying.  So this again was very good work for me to do.

And it has me looking at people a bit differently.  "That face," I think.  "How would Steig cartoon that face?"

It adds a whole new dimension to people watching, that's for sure!