Visiting My Cousin--and Second Cousin

You know how the child of your cousin is your second-cousin? Well, today I got to meet my newest family member, and he's adorable.

We went to visit my cousin (Codenamed Sheri), and on the way there, my brother (Codenamed JoLT) fell asleep. I was planning on sleeping too, since I got up too early for the time I went to bed and missed my necessary 8-10 hours of beauty sleep. However, glancing at my sibling, the artist in me realized that his face at the time would make a great reference for future drawings. His head was slightly inclined upward, which is normally a pose I have trouble with. I could see the way the eyebrow arched and disappeared around the forehead, and I could see the outline of the cheek. He was sitting still, save for inevitable jerks that came with bumpy car rides. I wouldn't have a chance like this for a while (not without being seen as creepy, anyway).

So, like any good artist, I pulled out my sketchbook and commenced the replication of The Head. Before I show you my results, have you ever tried drawing on a 5"x8.5" sketchbook in a moving vehicle? Not as easy as you'd think. But it added to my overall sketches (additional pencil marks), so it wasn't too bad.

JoLT shifted a lot in his sleep, so I had...4 angles I planned on drawing. I finished the page above en route to Sheri's house. I drew these on the way back (yes, he fell asleep yet again):

Later, my brother looked at above sketch and stated flatly that it was not him, he looked blonde, I needed to draw some curls in there, and it was creepy [that I drew him while he was sleeping]. So, I drew in his mass of curliness, and my end result:

I am told (by my mother) that it looks like him, I think it looks like him, and JoLT himself believes his hair does NOT curl inward at the nape of his neck (I proved him wrong with my handy cameraphone). But I don't usually draw realistically; I draw in the manga style, with stylized eyes, stylized heads, stylized bodies, and crazy hair. So, all in all, I'm downright proud.


Now, backtracking to {time spent @ Sheri's house}, I loved playing with her son (and my second-cousin), Codenamed G. I decided to draw him because:
     A) he was cute
     2) he was a baby and I needed a reference for drawing young characters
     D) I was on a roll from the ride there!


First I tried drawing him while he was awake (*cough, cough, FAILURE, cough*). He moved around a little too much to be drawn by moi, who had to take a LOT of time to get a picture anyway close to "right." See?

*shudders* Ugh, I felt bad for the little guy, being drawn so strangely. But, he soon fell asleep, and the little angel is a whole lot easier to draw when he's still. Although, I found the sudden thrashing of his chubby arms endearing.


Here's what I came up with...

...before my mom decided it was time to leave. Shoot, and it looked so good too. The following argument went something like:
     -"But, Mom, I'm still drawing him!"
     -"Ah, we'll be back next week. Draw him then."
     -(*stares at mother*) "Mom, I'm drawing him as he is NOW. He won't BE like this next week."
     -"Take a picture."
Ah, whoever originally said "Take a picture; it'll last longer" was truly brilliant. They were right (and I knew this), for the picture of an angel always shows an angel, no matter what. Unless, you know, the picture is deleted or destroyed, but I digress. Anywho, I had my handy-dandy cell phone...um, handy, so I took a picture with said phone.

Once I got home, I started drawing little G from the phone pic (while it was on my phone), only to see a message pop up on the screen--accompanied by a beep I knew all too well--reading "Low battery. Please recharge your phone." In the Zone and upset that I could not see my reference picture due to my phone automatically dimming when its batt'ry is low, I did what anyone else would do: I went to my room, plugged my phone onto its charger and said charger into the wall, and continued drawing. I don't even know how long I was there, kneeling and blowing eraser shavings onto my bed, but I came down around six-ish and proudly displayed my completed drawing to my mother. Now, you can see it too:

Well, he's über-cute in real life, and I don't think my drawing does him justice. But I think today was a VERY good learning experience.

...

...I did some looking up/research, and technically, G is my 'first cousin once removed...' Sooo, replace every "second-cousin" with "first cousin once removed" or "cousin's child" or something.