Quick anatomy and brain practice

For lack of a scanner and a tablet at the moment, I’ll start of this blog with a handy tip for a tool that I love to use as a warm-up before a longer drawing session. Check it out:

http://www.posemaniacs.com/thirtysecond

The thirty-second drawings tool is one of the most useful tools I’ve come across. It’s very simple: you’re shown a drawing of a human model, which changes every thirty seconds (or whatever time limit you choose). And you’re supposed to draw it! No dawdling allowed.

It’s an easy way to practice some anatomy, but, more importantly, it trains your eyes and brain to catch shapes quickly, and transfer them onto paper. It’s a great way to train yourself in proportions, and of course speed. Your brain gets into a drawing-vibe, and it’s a lovely no-brainer, which is why it’s such a great warm-up!

Try to do a set of five minutes next time you want to start drawing. If thirty seconds is too hard for you, set the time limit a bit higher, but never higher than is needed, because speed is essential in this process!

On a side note, updates this week might be slow. My laptop broke down yesterday, so computer access, especially with a tablet, is rather restricted for me at the moment. Sorry ‘bout that!

Who I am

Time to introduce myself! I’m Marinda Mensch, am nineteen years old and live in the Netherlands. I’m currently studying Communication and Multimedia Design at the NHL Hogeschool, which means I get to do everything that’s design-related. During this study, I want to develop myself as a (concept) artist. I personally think that even though I’ve gained quite a lot of knowledge on this subject, I’m not nearly good enough just yet, and that’s why I’ve started this blog: Not only to share my current knowledge, but also to monitor my own process, and get feedback from the outside world. It’s also a nice way to keep myself motivated, since I can sometimes get lazy with practising.

As for my art style, I used to keep mostly to a cartoony style, resembling the melisande/melusine comics. Lately, while I still much enjoy cartooning, I try to practise drawing realistically much more. I’m trying to polish my drawing technically, by drawing from life a lot, so that my technical imperfections won’t be in the way when I try to draw from imagination.

My favourite medium is and will probably always be the mechanical pencil. It’s easy to sketch and doodle with, which is what I enjoy doing most. I want to work  with other mediums too, though. I enjoy working with charcoal a lot, for example. My painting, especially my digital painting, needs major improvement, so on this blog I will show how I try to develop my own painting style.

Again, all comments and critiques are much appreciated. I hope you’ll enjoy!

What to expect from this blog

Welcome to my drawing blog!

Here, I hope to be able to help and/or entertain people of all skill levels. I’ll share with you the knowledge that I’ve gained on drawing over the years, in the form of tutorials or exercises. I’ll also give links to resources that have helped me in the past, or still help me right now.

In return for me helping you, I hope you’ll be able to help me. I’m still nowhere near the level I would like to be, and I’m working to improve. On this blog, I will try to show the process I’m going through, in hopes of inspiring you, and maybe teaching you a thing or two on the way, but also in hopes of feedback. Tell me what you think, what you like, what I can improve on. All comments are appreciated!

For now, this blog will be hosted on blogspot, though in the future I intend to host it on my as of yet non-existent portfolio website. It will of course be announced when and where this blog will move.