30 Days of Carving – day 9

Yesterday, for day 9, I carved 3 stamps! They are all the same design. Let me explain why. I was doing my sketches while finishing up a movie, (500) Days of Summer of Summer.  (P.S. I LOVED this movie! If you’re looking for a good flick, put this on the list.) At the end when the credits were starting, there was a drawing that inspired me to do the sun ray thing.

After I carved, stamped it, & cleaned it up, I felt like it wasn’t reading right. The white rays were coming forward to look like the positive part of the image instead of the negative. So I carved out the center circle. I thought I could stamp it and then color it all in. It looked more like a flower than the graphic sun with rays. Since carving is so fast, I decided to try again, on a bigger eraser. So I traced the design onto tracing paper and transferred it onto the eraser. Then with a brush marker, I extended the rays out to the edges of the eraser.

I liked it better, but it still wasn’t exactly how I wanted it. I think it was because I got some of the rays to skinny where they come out of the circle. Since the eraser was thick, I flipped it over and tried again.

I like this one the best. On the stampings, the dark lines on the edges of the rays are from the graphite on the eraser, from when I transferred the design!

I was sleepy, so I went to bed to do the drawing. Sometimes I kind of peak every now and then when I do the blind contour drawing. This time I didn’t peak (or if I did, not nearly as much). And look at it! (the one on the left). I love wonky drawings like this. And showing it right next to the other one makes it look like 2 different people did them. Things didn’t meet up right even on the “better” one, so I decided to do another. Then I drew Shelby, who is always nearby. I’ve realized when I sketch, I always hold the marker near the end (away from the tip). I kind of like that, and like the look of having less control.

Here are my other posts for this project.