Sarah

Three hours. Sarah's always fun to draw and paint. Today she wore an outfit that screamed Elizabeth Bathory (the Blood Countess), so I chose the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night original soundtrack as mood music to go along with her look. Either I'm getting better or the music was the secret ingredient I needed to add to the mix; it was easier for me to see color fluctuations than in the past, and in general, I've become more adept at handling brushes and controlling the flow of paint. I'm excited to see how my oil paintings will look after all these trial runs in watercolor.

Robert

Two to five minutes. I don't know what happened, but my speed increased dramatically this week. I think it's because I'm more confident these days about making a commitment to the lines I put down, an assurance that comes from drawing literally hundreds of these quick sketches over the past year and a half and burning the hand movements into muscle memory. I've developed the ability to tell kinesthetically if a line feels a little off or is too long. I still have a ways to go, but I can't tell you how glad I am to have achieved even this small success.

Natalie

Three hours.

Pam

Charcoal, two hours. Watercolor with white gouache, two and a half hours. Pam trains art models for a living. My instructor Stan says she does surprisingly dynamic poses for quicksketches. I'm looking forward to that; she was really fun to draw and paint today.

Alma

Three to twenty five minutes. Yes, that is indeed a violin in one of the quick sketches. Alma, our model for tonight, happens to be a classically trained musician. It struck me that her curves and the shape she made with her pose closely matched that of her beloved instrument. It was a beautiful example of how a passion for something can literally define a person.

Monsters

I've been weary these days of doing only studies, so I bought myself a little sketchbook to flex my creative muscles. My aim with it is to provide not only a break from the norm but to also test my retention of all that I've learned so far. These three portraits of monsters were all drawn without reference. Don't ask me what the thing on the bottom right is. I have no idea either.

Fey

Derwent Venetian Red with Derwent Chinese White on Canson Moonstone paper. Three hours. Tonight, for fun, I went back to the original mix of paper and pencils I first learned how to draw heads on.

Scott

Five minute poses. Tonight at the workshop I sat next to Tim Gula, an American comic book artist and animator. After the first set he looked over at my pad and gave his approval of my quick sketches. I told him thanks, I'm trying. He quickly recognized that I had studied with Kevin Chen, and so we got to talking about the different art schools here in the Los Angeles area. Turns out that he teaches a quick sketch class of his own Monday nights over at the California Art Institute. He invited me to drop on in anytime to check it out. I think I will.

Adrienne

Two to five minute studies focusing on simple light and shadow patterns. I tapped out near the end of class today because my wrist was aching like hell. Got one of those newfangled IcyHot sleeves on now to soothe the pain. It's true, I've been pushing myself hard these days, so maybe it's a good idea to take a break for a day or two. I just hope the pain isn't symptomatic of something worse - if you catch my drift.

Nicole

Watercolor with white gouache, two hours. Charcoal, one hour.