Britt's Blog

Games Played:
Great Wall of China
10 Days in Asia
10 Days in Europe
Apples to Apples
Ticket to Ride
Ticket to Ride: The Card Game
Thurn and Taxis
Power Grid
Hanging Gardens
Carcassonne: The City
Lascaux
Yspahan
Rock!

Booty:
10 Days in Asia
Gavitt’s Stock Exchange
Rock!
Rat Hot
Halli Galli: Christmas Edition
Gone Fishing
Crocodile Pool Party
Mission: Red Planet
Times Square
Power Grid: Italy/France Expansion
Lascaux

Insanely Good Ice Cream Eaten:
Dark Cocoa Gelato
Queen City Cayenne
Lime Cardamom
Mango Lassi
Riesling Pear Sorbet
Cherry Lambic Sorbet
Sugar Daddy’s Brownie Cream Cheese

Memorable Catchphrases:
“Play the player, not the game.”
“Cameeples!!!”

Created by OnePlusYou

It’s science!

I’ve been trying to work on my drawing lately, working through the book How to Draw What You See, which I refer to as Drawing on the Left Side of the Brain. That’s in contrast to the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, which is about turning off the analytical side of your brain to allow unlock the amazing hidden drawing talent that we all have, apparently. I found Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain interesting to work through, no doubt, but I don’t know that it helped my drawing all that much. Plus, the analytical side of my brain and I are on pretty good terms, and How to Draw What You See appeals much more to that side, starting with basic geometrical shapes and perspective, which I can grok. I’ve managed to turn out some fairly satisfying line drawings of simple objects.

I’m kind of stuck at the part where you start doing shading and shadows, though. I haven’t been having much luck with my subject. I wanted something white and matte-surfaced, and the only thing I found around the house was an oversized coffee mug that has kind of a weird shape, and I feel like I’m fighting against the unusual shape of it while trying to also master a new skill. I wanted to try a different subject, but haven’t stumbled across anything useful IRL.

However, I am reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which has lead me to do a little googling for interesting shells, and I found this gorgeous page of shell photographs. I couldn’t wait for my next official drawing session, and did this goofy little sketch of a Martin’s Tibia with a gel ink pen on a piece of scratch paper:

It hardly does the original justice, but it sucks less than my malformed coffee mug sketches. It was considerably more fun to draw, too!