Shapes of the Polar Bear

One not long ago I had the day off and loads of ambition for scribbling.  I wanted to draw my new toy polar bear and practice getting shapes and volume down.

Below you will see three sketches of my polar bear model.  #1 was modeled just using shapes, no lines, no pre-drawing.  I used the dye Pentel brush pen and a water brush.    

#2 below is a different angle, starting with contours and hatching, then brushing in the shadow shapes.  

#3 I did with the colored pencils, lots of scribbly motion, and WOW!!  I feel like I actually got some volume!!!  I am working on a very smooth ivory toned paper for these pictures. 

I am pleased with how these scribbly lines, the big blobs of black and gray, somehow work to show form.

And when you look at an object, in particular observing how and where light hits it, you see that object in more detail than ever. 

It makes you think, too.  I mean, light and dark, real or metaphoric, hits us all differently every minute of every day.  We are always finding our way among the lights and the darks of life.

This post comes from work I did in a class with Roz Stendahl, Drawing Practice:  Drawing Live Subjects in Public.  I recommend it!