Monday, 1 March 2010

Winter Olympics

sketch in coloured pencil

A speed skater for EDM #261, which was 'draw a winter olympics event'.  I don't watch much sport (or TV for that matter!), but I do find the speed skaters facinating.  The positions the take and their long limbs makes their movements so fluid.
I did this sketch on Fabriano 3 paper, which is very smooth.  A bit of an experiment but went well with the theme as my pencils slipped and skidded about.  I'm still trying to find a good paper for coloured pencil that is available locally, I'm working my way through the local art shop's stock.  I usually go for the Fabriano 4, which is rougher and gives a softer feel to my drawings but takes ages to fill all the white speckles.  You can't have it all!?



13 comments:

Vicki Holdwick said...

Fabulous!

xoxo

E*phi said...

Wow! Perfect foreshortening, really!
I did sketch a speed skater too for #261, they are amazing. :)
I know the problems of chosing a paper... still looking for the "swiss army knife" of papers too.

Patsy Taylor-Craw said...

Wonderful capture of movement!

Anonymous said...

Great sense of movement in this - I can almost hear the 'swish' of the blades!

Alex said...

This is gorgeous! Love the posture of the speedskater, and the colors are fantastic!

frayed at the edge said...

This is super - you can almost hear the swish of the skates on the ice!

nanke's stuff said...

This is really remarkable. I love the clean lines, the colors, and the position you chose to draw Well done! nancy

Sandra said...

Beautiful! You have such command of the colored pencil.

Dan Kent said...

This is so cool - you really captured it! And the foreshortening of the arm is well done. Speed skating was my favorite event this year!

Unknown said...

Fabulous job! I can really feel the weight on his front leg. Yes, I believe that's swishing I hear!

Janene said...

You did a marvelous job of capturing the movement and grace of the skater. I really like the sheen on the tights too. Speed skating is my favorite event too.

Anonymous said...

I will just say that I agree with all the above. :) You might want to try using some scrap matboard for your colored pencil pieces. It was suggested to me by someone on EDM and I tried it and loved it. The colored pencils take to the smooth board beautifully and you can layer and layer and layer on it, too.

Ramona Davidson said...

Wonderful capture of the action and movement of the skater. The colors are great, too. Good work.