First post about drawing

I've been putting off commenting about drawing because I wanted to be sure that people hang onto my photography interests. Rest assured, I take all my interests fairly seriously. I simply don't limit myself to just one tool.

Today, I've finally finished a drawing in pastels with a golf theme. It's the second sports drawing I've made this summer. I spent so much time learning Photoshop as a goal, or re-learning it, that I now want to rekindle my old skills in illustration.

My very first paid gig, even before paper routes was actually a drawing. My first paid employment was as a sports illustrator, but the first thing I did for money besides household chores, was a bizarre drawing gig.

A lady in the neighbourhood commissioned me to draw a life-sized portrait of someone in her family who was becoming famous for his car racing successes. A local hero! I barely remember it, except I think the gig paid $50, and I recall people saying that I had drawing prowess at the time. I was about 13. I guess I doodled even then, not just in high school. I know for sure I was doing drafting for a hobby, using Autocad, but that's another story.

So today I was proud to finish my drawing. It uses a combination of hard and soft pastels. It's very close to what I intended, which was to practice pastel techniques I've learned in the book Pastels Unleashed by Margaret Evans. I also wanted to explore drawing sports, like I did as a teen.

Here's a snapshot taken with my Google Nexus phone (sorry about the vignette):

Golfer drawing in pastel by Heidi Bada

The book covers things like glazing and creating atmospheric and perspective effects. I enjoyed trying the techniques, and I'm sure this won't be my last sports image using pastels.

More of my comments about this drawing are found on my Youtube channel below, in two parts.