Monday, April 17, 2006

Old sketchbook


I filled my old sketchbook last week, it´s up in the sketchbook section of my site, if you´d like to take a look.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! I'm blown away by your latest scketchbook. I looked at the last 3, and will be back to look at your little one later.
I have a few questions... do you always draw from life? How long do you get to spend at a place? I am an artist as well, and have been getting back into drawing everyday, after a long hiatus, but I never have much time to spend drawing somewhere; so I'm amazed at the detail of your drawings, and wondered if you ever draw from photos?

Thanks for sharing it with us. I've learned alot, and have been inspired to try some things in my own sketchbook.

Nina Johansson said...

Hi glassgirl. Thanks for commenting, I´m glad you enjoyed my latest sketchbook. I don´t really know where to answer your questions, can´t find an email-address, so I´ll just answer them here and hope you get back here to see it.

Yes, I almost always draw from life. Drawing from photos means the challenge of changing 3D to 2D is already done, and those drawings tend to look flat and no good, at least when I do them.
I do use photos sometimes for my paintings, to get person´s posture right, but then their faces never look like themselves (and I don´t intend them to). If I use photos, I use my own photos.

How long my drawings take... that differs, of course. It depends on the subject, the size of the drawing and so on.
Two examples from my latest sketchbook: The student sleeping on his desk took me about ten minutes to capture, and then some to add crosshatching afterwards. The black-and-white view over old buildings and rooftops took me perhaps 20 minutes to draw, and then some time to add the watercolor washes.

Hope this answers your questions, and I´m really glad I could inspire you in your work. Thanks for telling me!

best wishes
/nina

Nic Squirrell said...

Wonderful, I have really enjoyed looking through your sketchbooks.

Anonymous said...

Nina, what a wonderful group of sketches! You have a wonderfully diverse style and a very deft hand. Such a delight to see your work.

Linda T said...

I love your sketchbook, Nina. We lived in Stockholm for about 19 months, back in 1986-88. It's fun to see things that remind me of those days. I've enjoyed all of your sketch books. Thanks for sharing.