About Me

Drawing: A Visual Thinking Tool

Sun, 07 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

What I think the process of drawing fundamentally is, in just five minutes. On July 7th 2024 I gave a live, lightning-fast 5 min that included a live demo in Chicago at Show n Tell for Grownups. This write-up is based on a months-later transcription of that talk, from memory.

I got enough positive feedback from this live session that I’ve since started teaching this to small groups for fun as live one-hours sessions. It’s been quite a fun journey for me, so feedback welcome!

Meerkat pages at Lincoln Park Zoo - made 2023-04-22

Sat, 09 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Meerkat pages! at @lincolnparkzoo

Some favorite moments from this Spring. These can be tricky to draw because they’re so fidgety even when they’re sitting relatively still way up high on their security-guard hill at this zoo.

The diagramming on the first page is something I started doing when drawing the vultures taught me that I didn’t really understand the vultures by memory. I’d continuously be surprised that I’d draw them well from observation, but then look away for a matter of seconds and not be able to draw from memory. So out of frustration I started diagramming the vultures' features to prove to myself that I was paying attention. I’ve really liked this practice and now do this sometimes before I even test my memory. Unsure if it helps my memory but it certainly makes drawing from observation much faster and more fun.

Dog first watercolor years - made 20230424

Sun, 03 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Drawings from back in April, sitting on the floor beside my dog as he napped. Swipe for process/progress photos.

You’ll notice the palette is brand new here. I hadn’t painted in really long time, so didn’t even have supplies when I wanted to paint again. Anyway, these tiny little 2-inch-square experiments were encouraging. I’d been recently inspired by some neat color theory talks (link below) and they reminded me how fun mixing colors was when I oil painted as a teenager. Since this session I’ve been painting in my sketchbook a lot. I still have to convince myself to play with color for some reason, but it always yields something fun even if not what I intend. Also I learned later that some inspiring works are actually gouache, which helps explain how they get a layering effect I miss from oils. Needless to say, my art-supply experiments have been all of the place this summer.

Platform Studios model on stool - made 20230309

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Three pages from early March, at my favorite spot: @platformstudioschicago.

Some of my favorite drawings are with shorter poses - around 2 minutes. I think the one with arms up is probably(?) 5 minutes, but I didn’t write it down that time.

Drawn 2023-03-09 and 2023-03-14 in pen & ink on A5ish paper (don’t recall the fountain pen; given how thin the lines are, it’s probably my beloved Pilot KakÃ¼no EF; the one with arms up is probably something with a flexible nib though) #livemodel #lifedrawing #inkdrawing #fountainpen

Washes with bird faces - made 20230409

Sun, 28 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

These pages were drawn a day after my previous post’s, early last month at @lincolnparkzoo (I draw there a lot). I think this was the day I decided that birds' faces are a particularly fun drawing challenge for me. Something about the planes of their faces transitioning into beak or into the harsh hoods over their eyes.

It was almost two months ago now, yet the vultures and white storks are still favorite subjects to go draw.

Kangaroo tush in dirt - made 20230408

Tue, 16 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

All these are from early last month when I started playing with washes as a quick way to get volume into a doodle.They’re all drawn from observation one weekend at @lincolnparkzoo, but I’ve attached a Kangaroo picture for comparison. It’s so strange seeing a Kangaroo dig a hole for it’s tush in the dirt.

Geeky art-tool details here: I used a Pentel Vistage water brush (and my usual fountain pens) filled with both regular and water-resistant inks. So some of the wash is coming from the water brush’s own ink but some is from the pen’s ink that gets moved around. In more recent drawings - I’ll post some day in the future - I’ve been playing with fude pens as my wash-utensil filled with a diluted Lexington Gray.

Another portrait at Platform - made 20230214

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

From another fun figure-drawing night at @platformstudioschicago a while back. Really not sure of who the model was as the likeness is so off, but I still enjoy this drawing.

Drawn 2023-02-14 in pen & ink (probably my Ahab+FPR-ultraflex setup), about A5-sized paper. #lifedrawing #livemodel #fountainpen #inkdrawing

Portrait and doggo - made 20220305

Thu, 13 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Another portrait, and another doggo, all in one sketchbook page from last month. No idea what I was doing with that figure on the left side. Pleased with the portrait though - looks reasonably close to the subject.

Drawn 2022-03-05 in pen & ink (no idea which pen), about A5 sized paper #inkdrawing #fountainpen #livemodel

Hippo napping - made 20230217

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Both these pages are from the same day - both of my dog napping. A favorite activity. These are sketches of my 8lb, floppy-eared terrier back in February. I might’ve been testing out different pens at the time too, hence the funny colors.

Favorite dog-napping position: the "snout under paw-bridge" move. I’m assuming other dog-people will recognize this.

Drawn 2023-02-17 in pen & ink (TWSBI vac mini w/stock nib, Pilot KakÃ¼no, and Picasso 916; no idea which inks), about A5 sized paper. #fromlife #inkdrawing #fountainpen

Model reclining elbow - made 20230222

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

From a modeling night at @platformstudioschicago back in February.

I’m not sure if the pose is immediately clear here, but I like that it reads correctly to me while being so minimally drawn. I’m sure that minimal-ness was more accident than intentional, as I was probably just focusing on the face because I’m studying portraits right now.

Drawn 2023-02-22 in pen & ink (with TWSBI vac mini and its stock nib), about A5 sized paper. #livemodel #lifedrawing #inkdrawing #fountainpen

Model lifted heel long legs - made 20230302

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Another session at @platformstudioschicago from last month, this one of @alligatorade modeling.

Funny thing about this drawing is that in the moment while drawing: I spent a solid two minutes scratching my head about the proportions. Something about the combined twists—crossed legs, to angle of hips, to angle of shoulders—leave me feeling like the legs are drawn way too long. I’m sure I could make it read better somehow by drawing it again, but I still enjoy this as-is.

Portrait hair back and up - made 20230215

Sun, 02 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Portrait of @shiloh.capone from a figure drawing session hosted by @platformstudioschicago

Drawn 2023-02-15 in pen & ink (with Noodler Ahab, FPR flex, and Platinum Carbon Black), about A5 sized paper. #livemodel #lifedrawing #inkdrawing #fountainpen

Vilppu tip immagination - made 20230303

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A teacher I’ve learned a lot from, Glenn Vilppu (@glennvilppu), likes to point out that one can’t learn to draw from imagination if one’s not practicing it regularly. It sounds obvious, but it’s really easy to unconsciously avoid things you don’t feel you’re good at.

Most of this page is from observation, but with just the two heads at the center I finally followed the advice. Both have some proportions and alignment issues, but it was still another pleasing mini-milestone: mildly believable heads without a model!

Sketchbook full o dogs - made 20230212

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

So I’ve been drawing a LOT the last few months and though my goals are around improving in human anatomy and portraiture, my doggos are just always around. Also they’re my favorite people. So whether I like it or not, 50% of my sketchbook is filled with tiny little studies of their faces and their napping and paws.

The one with the long pointy ears is named (Jadzia) Dax. There’s also a couple in there of my floppy-eared bestie, named Hippo. They’re both tiny little 10-pound~ish terrior mixes. I’m thinking maybe I’ll collage a ton of little dog-nose doodles together into a massive post some time.

Anatomy medical skeleton - made 20230227

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Been focusing on both portrait and body anatomy.

But despite so many educational sources claiming it’s important to study, I wasn’t sure how useful or relevant it would feel to look at a skeleton or muscles. It just seemed like a stretch to say it would help my drawings. While I did find it mildly useful and interesting with books and diagrams, stumbling upon a full-sized skeleton in person was the most convincing. (This was in a physical therapy space, not a graveyard :P)

Model at Platform private milestone - made 20230208

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Another modeled portrait I did a while back, at @platformstudioschicago. This one was a bit of a private milestone.

Frankly this portrait doesn’t look anything like the model and that’s a problem since a big goal I have is to capture likeness reliably. But still this was a pleasing sketch for a different reason: the lower effort it required. Right around this time I found I could often (not always) produce plausible-looking portraits with only a fraction of the time it would’ve taken me a month before. It was an tiny moment where I felt all the textbook/coursework time was paying off. I’ve still got lots I want to improve, but little milestones like this are encouraging and fun.

Ear close-up - made 20221228

Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Studying anatomy and portraiture, I’ve had a lot of fun focusing on ears in some sketches. They’re so complicated and fun to draw.

Drawn 2022-12-28 with pen and ink (a Delike pocket pen with Platinum Carbon Black, I think), about A5 sized paper. #livemodel #lifedrawing #inkdrawing #fountainpen

Gorillas in January - made 20230113

Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

These two gorilla studies are from back in January when I re-discovered the wonderful, free @lincolnparkzoo. I’ve been drawing there a lot lately and one of the unexpected delights has been the personality of the younger gorillas. You wouldn’t know it looking at either of these calm-looking profiles I drew, but there’s a hilariously trouble making younger gorilla egging on this adult, clearly trying to get him to play by jumping on his back and just generally being a raucous toddler.

Lions winter sun - made 20230115

Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Couple more quick sketches I did at @lincolnparkzoo - this time of the lions.

They’re surprisingly tranquil, as they’re always focused on soaking up the winter sun, hanging on their rock. This means they make for easy studies as I can fill up a page of sketches of the same position or pose quite easily as opposed to the chimpanzees that are way more fidgety (unless they’re out for a nap on their backs).

Profile portrait bearded model - made 20230126

Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Profile portrait of @mr.darius_the_hilarious during one of my first visits to @platformstudioschicago - a favorite new spot :)

Drawn 2023-01-26 in pen and ink (Noodler Ahab w/FPR Ultraflex EF and Platinum Carbon Black), about A5 sized paper. #livemodel #lifedrawing #inkdrawing #fountainpen

Self portrait for online course - made 20221127

Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Starting to draw more diligently again for the first time in years and really enjoying studying and learning. So I’m going to start sharing my doodles, sketches, and finished drawings here. Particularly sharing so I can geek out with other artist friends I meet in Chicago.

This is a self portrait, drawn 2022-11-27, that I did for an online course ("Art of the Portrait" by @drawjuice) where homework number zero was a 1-hour baseline portrait we can look back on later after the course. Still working my way through the course and getting value out of it, so I’ll post the "after" portrait sometime later to this account.

Chat Directly

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Real Way to Reach Me

Ways to reach me, in order of preference:

If you have my phone number, chat via signal.org messenger^[1],
Email j@zac.sh (optional PGP: 0x0D602C2 key asciiarmor or its keyserver listing)
Imperfect as these are IMO a lot less accessible today (2025-02), but hopefully easier as time goes on:
1. via Matrix: @jzacsh:matrix.org, directly^[1].
2. (extra experimental!) via nostr over direct message^[1] to (eg: via primal’s desktop web UI); I’m: npub170ar5c8dq7nk6k2w5vrr3qm9yrdc7e3nq9yxxd06tyt3ha9yqvgs76ttdn^[2].

No but where’s your Timeline?

If the above links appear useless because you simply want to know where to "follow" me - I truly don’t upkeep^[3] a public profile anywhere (and I haven’t since I last used Facebook around 2006-2009).

Figure 'Curriculum': Studying & Learning Educational Direction

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This is a living, breathing “art degree” for autodidacts, outlined for/by me (its being formally written out like this is by a lunch with another artist where there was discussion about the value of externalizing stages of learning).

Curriculum aka Tour of Resources

This “curriculum” is less curriculum and more of a hypothetical tour of content I’m excited to keep making progress on. Where dates are mentioned, it means I’m strangely trying to track an effort to take the curriculum literally.

Pen & Ink: Studying, Learning as Continued Engagement

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Overview: Learning & Art, Why?

I love keeping a sketchbook: drawing with pen and ink and a big element that keeps me engaged, aside from seeing others’ works or getting feedback on mine, is learning. This comes up enough in conversations with other artists, like exchanging favorites of current art books or resources, that I decided it would help me to write it down somewhere.

Recent Learnings

Here’s my own efforts that I can speak to (and maybe even recommend):

Rank Choice Voting (RCV) Results Calculator

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Paste a CSV of voting results^[1] into the textarea below, and in-browser (offline) script will run to give you an analysis/winner:

tweakable parameters

Number of CSV columns to drop starting from the left. (eg: 1 if only a user-name column exists, but you might have more like "2" here for the presence of both user-name column and timestamp columns).
Use TSV (recommended!) instead of CSV.
(advanced) enable lazy quotes, allow cells without quotes
(advanced) CSV cell quote boundaries

Sketchbooks & Doodles

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This page is a listing of everything of mine that’s visual-arts related. If you’re the nerdier type, you might appreciate jumping to some of my study notes on art.

Sketchbook Snipppets as Mini-Blog Posts

While I work on refreshing this site Sketchbook Log is where I share little blurbs about select drawings from my sketchbooks, but that content’s also replicted over to instagram/jzacsh: