trees with leaves, in marker

In the last little while, I've had some fun experimenting more with my art markers, trying to better master the medium. First, I did this one, based on some of the photos we took by the stream in Spearfish. I loved how the background turned out; there's something to be said for working from real-life references rather than just out of my head! The trees here look completely different than the ones in my first big marker picture I did this last winter. Which I love, but is not realistic at all.



Having something to look at helped me make better decisions on how to create the colors and the light on the trees. The only part I would have liked to re-do is maybe the water. I would know how to blend the colors together more seamlessly if I were using pencils or paint, while I'm still trying to figure out the best process with the markers. The kids here aren't supposed to look real, they're just cartoon representations. I funished this shortly before the baby was born.

More recently, I wanted to do some kind of fall drawing, in anticipation of our drive up the canyon (which  didn't yeild that many fall leaves, unfortunately.) This drawing wasn't very well planned out. I found various elements- like the different types of trees- in a National Parks coffee table book I have. I did a quick pencil sketch before I started with the color, but didn't spend a ton of time on it.



While I love various elements in this drawing, I don't think the composition as a whole turned out very good. All the small details make the viewer's eye jump around to much, and you don't know where to look first. I wasn't sure what the best balance was between the marker and the details in black pen, and I may have done too much detail overall.
While the sum total of the picture doesn't add up to a good layout, I do like several smaller compositions within the drawing. For instance, these crops would work well on their own:

 




And I do love that it's our first "family drawing" with the baby included. Hi, Eli!