Drawing

Ever since I did the painting for the guest room (the Dawn Treader--because every guest room needs one), I've been remembering how much I love drawing. It's something that gets buried sometimes when you have small children walking on you and eating your art supplies. (Kidding. I don't let my kids eat art supplies.) I don't pretend to have the same professional aspirations regarding illustrating that I do writing, but I'm still interested in learning about color theory and especially about drawing people better. That's my very favorite thing to draw, but it's also the hardest! Just because we are so attuned to even the smallest facial changes that create an emotional message or an identifying mark. After admiring the art all over again over at The Dreamer (www.thedreamercomic.com), I spent the weekend drawing everyone in sight.



(I know the head is too narrow on that last one--but I think I got the smile right. :) And yes, the perspective on the piano bench is also wrong--but I was drawing from life. Or you could just imagine that the bench is falling apart--which is sort of is.)

And also an art project I'd like to do sometime with the school kids (only I'd have to figure out the problem of bringing that much fruit):



Anyone know of a good color theory book and/or a good book for drawing faces/expressions?