'Drawn'-out.

I love seeing time lapses of artists making their artwork. So today I thought I'd share a little play-by-play of some of the pieces I've done recently.

Unfortunately for you, I haven't the time nor equipment to sit down and film myself creating a drawing in one attempt. My method is to work for as long as I possibly can before I go eraser-crazy then come back later.

I could potentially come back to the same piece an infinite amount of times, because it never seems quite right once I've given my brain a break from staring at it. But those are the times when I just have to call it 'good enough for who it's for' and finish the dang thing.

Speaking of 'who it's for', this first example I did for my former roomie, (sad day..) Lacy-Hacy's, upcoming wedding. Instead of a guest book, she's going to have people leave a thumbprint 'leaf' on this tree then sign their names very petitley beneath it.

You can thank Pinterest for her ingenuity.

This is how it started out. Looking EXACTLY like the picture reference she had given me. However, I was quickly informed that I was doing it 'all wrong' and that she wanted it to be 'less short and squatty' and with a 'less perfect heart'.

Forgive me for liking perfection, Bridezilla.

Once I had lengthened the tree and imagined more branches, (no small feat for me, I hardly ever draw from my imagination) I began shading in dimension with a brown soft lead pencil.

It was then that Lacy-Hacy informed me that maybe she did want her and her fiance's names included in the drawing. Did I mention that was why the tree was 'short and squatty' to begin with?? To allow room for said features?..

Have I also mentioned that she's somewhat of an indecisive Bridezilla?
Yes? Moving on then.

After similar indecisiveness surrounding what she would like the birds to look in her tree, I threatened to make them look like this:

Needless to say, she wasn't amused and increased the level of 'testiness' in our correspondence.

When she finally sent me an image of what she wanted, I penciled in two little bluebirds representing her and lover-boy. Naturally, one had a larger beak than the other. I'm not saying who it represents.

As if that weren't hassle enough, it took me another seven years to find out what font she wanted me to replicate for their names. Did I mention that this commission was pro bono?

Or that I no longer have any hair from pulling it out?..

But it was all worth it in the end upon seeing her satisfaction with the finished product. And my free-hand calligraphy turned out amazingly well, if I do say so myself.

My second example is a drawing I did for my and the fiance's parents last Christmas. I probably should have taken a picture of the rough sketch before I added any shading, but in all honesty, rough sketches of humans are often quite scary. I'm talking super hideous here people.

Be grateful that we live in a 3-dimensional world.

The only thing that prompted me to document the beginnings of my drawing at all was a need for validation. Luckily, 'da twinneh' recognized who I was trying to draw, albeit over poor quality picture message.

And so I plodded along, hoping that I wasn't horribly mangling President Monson's loving features too much.

That's the problem with drawing a person you (and possibly a LOT of others) know. There's always something wrong with the depiction, because everyone looks at different things in a face.

Gratefully, I've only gotten an overwhelmingly positive response about the image, because I was a little worried there.

It was two months in the making, but I finally finished it. And this time round, I decided to let Photoshop add the wording in for me.

Then it was packaged, wrapped and gifted. And now hangs happily in both homes, not to mention Lacy-Hacy's bedroom, her parents' house and her soon to be in-law's house.

So there you have it.

Creating artwork is fun when you stop second-guessing yourself and aren't collaborating with a semi-unresponsive/indecisive bride.

It's also fun when you get paid.

But then again, I wouldn't know anything about that.

And so leads the life of Corinner-Elly.