Santa brought me a set of Boko Undo E-Sumi Japanesque watercolours in “Almost Black” shades. This was my first use of them, trialling the purplish black for this portrait of Sktchy muse Tink. It was also only the second page of my new watercolour Moleskine sketchbook, so I was trying out new paint in a new sketchbook, so I’m pretty happy with how the portrait turned out, all things considered. I like both the paint and the sketchbook.
This is a portrait of Sktchy muse Ima and is the first page of my new Moleskine watercolour sketchbook. Lots of people talk about being nervous of drawing on the first page of a new sketchbook. I used to feel that way but once I started daily drawing I lost all first page nerves. The first page is no different to any other page – if anything, I’m excited to start a new sketchbook. That’s not so much about the drawing but about stickering the covers. I collect stickers purely for putting on the covers of my sketchbooks so I love to start new sketchbooks so I can put new stickers on them.
I painted Ima with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished the portrait with Prismacolor coloured pencils.
This is Bec, one of my oldest online drawing buddies. We’ve never met in person because I live in the UK and Bec lives in Australia, but we see each other most days on Instagram, Facebook and/or Sktchy and often chat about drawing, art communities and family. I’ve aged Bec a little in this portrait- she’s definitely younger than she looks here! But I know she’ll forgive me because she knows this is the kind of thing that sometimes happens when you’re drawing.
I drew Bec’s portrait in my A4 Moleskine sketchbook with Copic markers, coloured pencils and metallic gel pens.
Today’s portrait is of Jenny, and all I could think of as I was drawing this portrait was the fairytale The Snow Queen. All the time I’m drawing I’m having a conversation with my subject and as I was drawing this I was most definitely talking to the Snow Queen, more than with Jenny 🙂
I drew Jenny on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil using the Procreate app.
I’ve been practicing with ballpoint pens again. I drew this portrait of Jana D in my tiny pocket Moleskine using two Hema 6-colour ballpoint pens and a Paperchase 8-colour ballpoint pen. The pens aren’t great quality- they ‘re quite leaky and they also dry up frequently (hence all the scribbles on the opposite page to get them going again) but they have nice fine nibs which are great for such a tiny Moleskine.
This is Ahmet, drawn in my A4 Moleskine sketchbook with Copic markers and coloured pencils.
I haven’t managed to post many Christmas cards this year but I have managed to draw one Christmas portrait – of the very handsome Ogim, dressed up in his Christmas hat. This is my way of wishing all my followers a very Merry Christmas or happy holidays if you don’t celebrate Christmas.
I played with some of the new Procreate brushes to create this portrait, mostly the Hartz and Aurora brushes. I’ve also turned the portrait into a GIF – my first ever use of the animation feature in Procreate, which was fun. You can see that in action on my Instagram feed.
I drew Ogim in Procreate 5 on my iPad Pro using an Apple Pencil.
P.S. I’ve just discovered that Instagram doesn’t allow GIFs, so you can see the GIF on my Twitter account here .
This is the last portrait in my current watercolour portrait sketchbook. I messed up Mae’s hair and had to add some highlights in Procreate, which gave me a chance to experiment with some of the lovely new digital brushes. And because I have finished a sketchbook I’ve filmed a quick flip through of the whole sketchbook, which you can see on YouTube here if you’re interested.
I drew Mae’s portrait in my Laloran sketchbook with a Micron fineliner, painted it with Zecchi Toscana watercolours, added some Prismacolor coloured pencils and then finished off with some digital editing in Procreate.
Finally, after what feels like weeks of struggle, a portrait I’m happy with. I haven’t quite captured Ania’s likeness here, which reminds me once again that it isn’t a perfect likeness that I’m striving for, but I’ve definitely caught a sense of her gracefulness and her porcelain-like beauty. I made a mess of a number of my lines , especially under her eyes and in her hair, but that doesn’t matter. Overall I’m happy with what I achieved. The hair frames the face well and draw attention into those beautiful eyes and that lovely freckled skin. That’s what I wanted from the portrait.
I drew Ania in my Moleskine sketchbook with Micron fineliners, Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.
I’m still struggling to find time to draw but I’m hoping that as work winds down for the Christmas holidays later this week that will get easier and I’ll find some good creative time. My daughter’s internship ends on Friday too so I won’t have get up early every day to drop her at the train station – it’s shocking how much that eats at my spoons and leaves me with no energy for anything else by mid-afternoon. But I did manage a sketch of Noel for this week’s Old School Sktchy anatomy challenge.
I drew Noel on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil using the Procreate app and the new Peppermint pencil brush in Procreate 5.
drawing faces 