To get motivated it is sometimes fun just to take a subject and sketch it. This is a sketch I did one morning to get me started for the day. Sketching is fun, fast and many times gives a better result than I anticipated.
Wed
13
May
2009
Project Update : Chateau de Vufflens - Drawing the Castle
Written by RJ
Drawing the Castle
The steeple of the main tower is covered in copper and the roof with clay shingles. The copper of the steeple has darkened to almost black where as the shingles are a mix of 4 light tones as can been seen in this color photo. The photograph was taken from the other side of the castle so you do not see the extended roof to the left as in my drawing.
You can follow the WIP and read a detailed explanation of how the clouds will be drawn and why I made certain choices in how they will be rendered.
Project Update : Chateau de Vufflens - rendering clouds III
Written by RJ
New update on my Vufflens Castle drawing. I decided to go with dark heavy clouds on top tapering back to open sky and then picking up again with some distant clouds with dark and light tones. This helps to bring the castle to the front plane of the drawing. To produce the dark clouds I used a 6B graphite and then went over it with a 4B graphite. I then blended the graphite with a stump to even out the tone. I used a kneadable eraser to pull up some of the graphite to produce the lighter areas in the dark clouds.
You can follow the WIP and read a detailed explanation of how the clouds will be drawn and why I made certain choices in how they will be rendered.
Project Update : Chateau de Vufflens - rendering clouds II
Written by RJ
Drawing Clouds II
I have started the main sculpting of the clouds. The difficulty is to get the clouds to tapper back in perspective. The clouds at the top should appear closer than those at the bottom giving an illusion of distance. It will take several more hours to get the result I'm looking for but this image will give you an idea of the direction I’m taking.
You can follow the WIP and read a detailed explanation of how the clouds will be drawn and why I made certain choices in how they will be rendered.
Project Update : Chateau de Vufflens - rendering clouds
Written by RJ
Drawing Clouds
I started to draw the clouds and background elements for the Chateau de Vufflens drawing. The clouds will be a very present part of the drawing. They will be highly developed and intentially highly contrasted with the castle.
You can follow the WIP and read a detailed explanation of how the clouds will be drawn and why I made certain choices in how they will be rendered.
The steeple of the main tower is covered in copper and the roof with clay shingles. The copper of the steeple has darkened to almost black where as the shingles are a mix of 4 light tones as can been seen in this color photo. The photograph was taken from the other side of the castle so you do not see the extended roof to the left as in my drawing. 
