Tag: Apple Pencil

Emitis

I’m struggling with my mental health again but now I find that, instead of not drawing at all, I’m drawing often. I need to keep my hands moving so when I’m not working my fingers are constantly hatching away, or crocheting or clicking on my Nintendo Switch.

I’m also finding that it helps to have several portraits on the go at any one time, so I can switch between them. With portraits built up through hatching I’m not always sure when they’re finished so it helps to step away from them, move on to another one, and then come back to them to the next day and take another look. That little break allows me to look at them afresh and I can see where they need more work – as they almost always do.

The hatching on this portrait of Emitis from Sktchy helped me through 2 evenings when I was struggling to focus on the television or anything at all. I drew it on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil using the Procreate app and the ballpointy brush by Georg.

Atlas

This portrait of Atlas from Sktchy needs more work but I’ve run out of steam. Hatching takes time and effort and right now I’m having a pain and fatigue flare and I don’t have the energy to keep going on it. So I’m leaving it here. Maybe I’ll come back to it another day. Or maybe I won’t…

Drawn on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil using the Procreate app.

Dennis

I’ve been working on this portrait of Dennis from Sktchy very slowly for days, scratching away on my iPad Pro with the ballpointy brush. I’m finding building up layers of colour through slow hatching so very meditative.

Cosmic

This is Cosmic from Sktchy. The inspiration photo has fantastic intense colour but I ran out of steam long before I got anywhere near those intense blues and reds. Maybe I’ll come back to it another day and finish it off.

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

Hannah

I got some new stippling brushes for Procreate and played with them while drawing this portrait. I have an electric stippling pen that I used to love drawing with, though I haven’t used it for a while, so it was fun to play with dots again, although i think I’ll need lots more practice with these brushes before I’ll feel confident using them. But I’m happy enough with this first go at drawing Hannah from Sktchy.

I drew Hannah on my iPad Pro using the Procreate app and True Grit Texture Supply’s Stippling Brush Set for Procreate.

Daria

Daria

I haven’t drawn on my iPad so much recently, I’m not sure why. Maybe because I do most of my iPad drawing in the evening and evenings are when I’ve been finding it hardest to focus during lockdown. But it was good to sit and really try to focus on this portrait, and especially to try to experiment with some techniques and brushes rather than going for the ones I usually use. I really like the sheen I got on Daria’s cheek and nose, though there are other parts of the portrait I’m less happy with, especially that hand. But all in all it was a good exercise.

I drew this on an iPad Pro with a 2nd Gen Apple Pencil using the Procreate app.

Ada

Ada

I’ve been struggling a little bit these past few days to find either the time or the motivation for drawing. I’m feeling slightly overwhelmed again with work and I’m so tired when I’m not working it’s hard to settle down to drawing. But I have managed a Procreate drawing of Ada over several days – but boy was it hard work!

Paul

Paul

I’m still not feeling great – so much so that I haven’t managed to get out of bed today. So I drew Paul on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil and the Procreate app. I love the strength I see in his expression here.

Frida

Frida Kahlo

I’ve been taking part in the Brooklyn Art Library’s 14 day portrait challenge. Today’s person to draw was Frida Kahlo but I decided that I didn’t want to draw the flower crowned iconic Frida that everyone knows. Instead I decided to draw the younger sterner Frida who wasn’t entirely sure yet who she wanted to be.

I decided to draw this portrait on my iPad Pro because I thought Procreate offered me the best tools for trying to recreate the vintage feel of the photo I was drawing from. I used most of my favourite brushes – the wet acrylic, the stucco, the Blackwing Pencil, and the Studio Pen.

Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher as General Leia

I’m participating in the Brooklyn Art Library’s 14 day portrait challenge, although it’s now Day 4 and this is the first day I’ve felt inspired to draw a portrait. Every day for 14 days they email a prompt for a portrait but the first three prompts didn’t excite me enough to make me want to draw the suggested portrait. But today’s prompt was to draw someone, living or dead, who I’d like to have a meal with.

And I came up with a very long list, but I would love, love, love to have a meal with Carrie Fisher. And not the young Carrie Fisher, but the older wiser Carrie Fisher. Because while I love the actor I adore the outspoken courageous sassy mental health campaigning Carrie Fisher most of all. That’s the woman I would love to sit down and share a meal with.

This is the third portrait of her I drew. The first two weren’t right. The likeness was fine but somehow they didn’t capture her. And suddenly I realised why. She needs to be among the stars – that’s where she belongs. So when I drew this third portrait I was imagining her as a constellation.

I drew this on my iPad Pro with the Procreate app.