I’m remote working from home due to the Covid-19 crisis but, rather having lots of time on my hands, I’ve been insanely busy. It’s been a real struggle to find just an hour to draw a portrait these past few days. But I eventually managed to draw Sktchy muse Alexandra in instalments.
I drew this portrait in my Midori Cotton sketchbook with a Unipin fineliner, Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.
I don’t often include backgrounds in my portraits but I have to confess it was the cacti in the inspiration photo for this portrait that attracted my attention and the reason I decided to draw it. And it was great fun to draw, especially the cacti!
I drew Lucrezia on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil using the Procreate app.
Sktchy muse Sid has the most amazing face. I scarcely lifted my pen from the paper when drawing this portrait, it came so readily. I usually start my portraits with the eyes but I started this one with nose because Sid’s nose is so commanding I really had to begin there, and it was a good decision. Everything else made sense once I had the nose down.
I draw Sid with a Unipin fineliner in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook, painted him with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished the portrait with Prismacolor coloured pencils.
I’m so glad I have drawing, reading and gaming to distract me from Coronavirus. These three activities, along with the ridiculous amount of time I spend on social media, keep me busy. But drawing is, without a doubt, the most absorbing. I’m in a different place when I’m drawing, lost to the world, and I don’t really hear or notice anything that’s happening around me. I’m just focused on the face in front of me and what’s happening at the end of my brush, pen or pencil.
This is a portrait of Sktchy muse Majo drawn in my Midori Cotton sketchbook with Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.
More practice with ballpoint pens for this portrait of Sktchy muse Rim. The most difficult part of ballpoint pen drawing for me right now is figuring out when to stop. I have a tendency to keep going and overwork my portraits but I think they look better underworked. I don’t know if I left this at the right point but I think I was in danger of messing it up if I kept going so I stopped.
I drew Rim in an A5 Moleskine sketchbook with 3 Bic multicolour ballpoint pens.
My husband had some surgery last weekend and today I’ve been sitting waiting with him at the hospital for the results of bloods and other tests which will hopefully mean all is well and he can come home. I’ve spent 2 hours of that waiting time drawing Sktchy muse Victoria on my iPad Pro. What did I do with my waiting time before I started drawing? I read, of course, but it was never as absorbing as drawing. Those 2 hours have flown by. I might even get another one drawn before the results turn up!
I haven’t used my Bardot Brushes for a while. I’ve become slightly obsessed with the Procreate wet acrylic brush and have used that for almost all my digital drawing recently but I decided to go back to my Bardot pencil box brushes for this portrait, and it was such a good decision – the cross hatch brush was perfect for those dandelions.
I drew Sktchy muse Elena on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil using the Procreate app.
I love cows. I love most animals, but farm animals hold a special place in my heart. My favourite toy as a child was a toy farm and when I was about 6 I was present at the birth of a calf. It was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen and that event has stayed with me my whole life. I love cows. I also love to draw them. And Sktchy muse Eli’s photo of this cow was irresistible.
I drew this in my Midori Cotton sketchbook using a Unipin fineliner, Copic markers, and Prismacolor coloured pencils.
This portrait of an aspiring Harry Potter was a case of “more haste, less speed”. It’s my entry for this week’s Old School Sktchy weekly challenge which has the theme “Harry Potter” and I ended up trying to fit it in between dog walks and hospital visits (my husband is in hospital this week). The result was that I feel that I rushed every stage of it and nothing quite worked. Lesson learned.
I painted this portrait in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished it with Prismacolor coloured pencils.
I’m always intrigued by how a portrait can end up both looking like someone yet being “not quite them” , even though I’ve measured the features and represented them reasonably accurately. This is many respects a good likeness of Sktchy muse Jean-Pierre, but his face is a little too wide and not quite long enough and so everything’s just a little off. I don’t mind these inaccuracies at all – I don’t aim for photorealism and these quirks in my portraits are what create my style.
I painted this portrait in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished it with Prismacolor coloured pencils.
drawing faces 