September 30th (comments)

beginning with clouds, gradients, outline by erasing

concerned more with hand-eye coordination warmup than balancing composition begin timing to focus on important aspects of drawing over wandering/exploring

beginning semi-blind continuous line drawing

more semi-blind, loosening up remembering to suggest perspective

mostly-blind

mostly blind and switching to rigid, simple, artificial shape of bench instead of complex, natural shape of trees

remembered I could just draw the outline of things if I wanted to

more outlines

beginning to remember shadow cores

note to self: include peripheral vision at some point

remembering I could draw for composition of picture with respect to proportion of page i.e. centering, balancing values

beginning to focus on single tree, sweep (broad) for horizontal lines and slice (thin) for vertical lines

select things I liked from previous drawing, get rid of things I didn't

trying a continuous, broad stroke to fill space no regard for values or light

filling space but also referencing values and light more

attempting a continuous line, single stroke gradient for lighting, weight and outline of tree

begin with single stroke gradient, but then revised with the usual gradient filling technique disregarding continuity of line or stroke count i.e. focus on end result: smoother transitions, flashy highlights, contrast and disregard method

returning to loose outlines, choosing to focus on only three trees rather than entire field of view

remembering I could draw the trees however I wanted to, could center them on page, balance composition

simplifying outline, remembering I can connect peaks with straight lines and then refine later

remembered the three graces

beginning to fill shadows, shadow cores are lacking

tried simplifying the trees as much as I could without losing the primary form, marking important shadow cores, also paying a bit more attention to balancing weight of form

seeing how few shadow regions I could use and how fast I could fill in shadows without going outside the region 

allowing a fuller, smoother shadow core

borrowing heavily from hollis dunlap's stroke composition

taking what I liked from previous and smoothing shadow cores a bit more, not completely balanced or smooth, more of a prototype for a later drawing