Category: drawing

Giada

I have an ongoing problem with placement of portraits on the page. Giada’s portrait today is a case in point. I always start drawing with the eyes. I thought I had placed the eye far enough across the page to fit in the whole head but by the time I got to drawing the hair (pretty much the end of the portrait) it was clear I was wrong. And I’m much too lazy to start again at that point.

It also left me with the problem of what to do with all the space on the left hand side of the page. I did think initially of making a pattern out of the letters painted on Giada’s cheek, but I don’t know what they say and I didn’t want to be rude or disrespectful by writing them incorrectly or changing their meaning by writing them into a pattern. So I dug out my huge collection of washi tape and Japanese stickers and found a sticker that matched the mood of the portrait and used that to fill the space.

I painted this in a Laloran sketchbook with Zecchi watercolours and finished it with coloured pencils.

Lilian

I have a slight obsession with images that make me think of space. Lilian’s Sktchy photo that inspired this image was possibly derived from a motorbike helmet, gloves and jacket (and some ivy :)) but it immediately made me think of space and astronauts. As I was drawing it I was most definitely drawing an astronaut, or maybe now I think about it I was drawing Jules, hero of Hugh Howey’s Wool trilogy and probably my favourite science fiction character.

I drew this on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil using the Procreate app.

Layla

Still finding my way with coloured pencils. I’m only really comfortable hatching and I’m still trying to figure out how to represent form, colour and light and shade with pencils using hatching. It’s a slow process and I’m finding that I’m exaggerating form much more than I do with other mediums – I’m not quite sure why its especially obvious in this drawing, where I’ve obviously elongated Layla’s torso quite a lot. I was aware that I was doing it but it seemed quite a natural thing to do with my pencils.

I drew this with Polychromos coloured pencils in a HannehmĂĽhle Nostalgie sketchbook,

Tara

I used Zecchi watercolours with some coloured pencils over the top for my portrait of Sktchy muse Tara.

Riley

Back in my Copic comfort zone I enjoyed drawing Sktchy muse Riley so much. For what I think is the first time ever I also remembered to take photos of my work in progress so I’ve added a collage photo of those below, so you can see how I build up my layers of colour as I’m drawing. I worked with Copic multiliners and markers in an A4 Moleskine sketchbook.

Lorë

A fun sketch of Lorë on my iPad Pro today. Her inspiration photo was in full colour but the pink and gold stood out for me so I decided to highlight those and leave everything else in black and white (well, grey).

Van

I love drawing on toned paper so I thought I’d try a coloured pencil drawing in a Strathmore toned paper sketchbook that I’ve been working in just occasionally for several years now. But I’m a little disappointed with the results. I had to work pretty hard to get my pencils to show up at all in this portrait of Van. I expected them to be much more vibrant on this paper. So I think I’ll be sticking with my HannehmĂĽhle Nostalgie sketchbook. If anyone has had better results with a different toned paper sketchbook I’d be interested to know about it.

Klara

Another patterned portrait, this time with watercolour and coloured pencils. In Klara’s Sktchy photo she was posing in front of some fabulous rhododendron bushes so I took my inspiration for the floral background pattern from those flowers.

I drew this portrait in a Laloran sketchbook with a Copic multiliner, painted it with Zecchi watercolours and finished it with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Sid

Sid was Sktchy’s chosen daily inspiration photo yesterday. I’m a day late drawing him but here he is. I started out with a green and white striped background but it was nightmare – it totally drew the eye away from the portrait- so I filled in the stripes and it looks much better!

I drew this in a Moleskine sketchbook with Copic multiliners and Copic markers.

Jeandor

I’m still finding my way with coloured pencils – I’m never entirely sure whether to hatch or to colour in the way children do. For this portrait of a Sktchy muse Jeandor I decided to stick with hatching all the way.

I drew this in a HannehmĂĽhle Nostalgie sketchbook with Prismacolor coloured pencils.