Sundays are good drawing days. I always feel like I have can take my time to draw on a Sunday, without feeling pressured by the demands of work. I’m never sure if that shows through in my portraits but I definitely feel that is draw slower at weekends when I feel more relaxed. Today I drew Scuzzilch from the Museum by Sktchy app with Copic markers and coloured pencils.
I’m trying to get back into a daily habit of drawing, even if it means starting a portrait one day and finishing it the next. This is Miki, drawn of course from the Museum by Sktchy app, using Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.
This is Rime from the Museum by Sktchy app. I drew her portrait with a fineliner, Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils. This is very much my comfort zone. I always feel most at home when drawing with Copics and in the past year or so I’ve added coloured pencils to this working method because I can add some softness and extra detail (both highlights and shadows) to the marker drawing with them.
Today is International Womens Day and the best way I know to honour it is with my drawings of women. I’ve drawn thousands of women from the Museum by Sktchy app over the years since I started drawing portraits – these are just a few of them. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to them all and especially to Jordan Melnick, the creator of the app, and his team at Sktchy.
Anais from the Museum by Sktchy app, drawn with Copic markers and coloured pencils.
I’m a long way away from my practice of daily portrait drawing at the moment – distracted by work, health issues and a gentle flow of commissions. In a few weeks time I’m hoping to have some surgery which might help a little with the health issues, we’ll see. My goal is to try to get back to a more or less daily practice of portrait drawing within a couple of months of the surgery. Watch this space to see if that happens.
In the meantime. I drew Ethan from the Museum by Sktchy app with Copic markers and coloured pencils in my Midori cotton sketchbook over a few days. The lack of daily practice is showing but I can only do what I can do right now. I’m glad to still be able to do some drawing right now.
I’m not getting much drawing done right now. I’ve had a post-durapuncture headache since I had my trial spinal cord stimulator removed, which is causing nausea, dizziness and various other problems, all of which make drawing difficult. But I finished a portrait today, yay!
More practice at drawing children today with this portrait of Nicki’s son, as usual drawn from a photo on the Museum by Sktchy app. I got a much better likeness this time, though I’ve still aged him a little. Such a great expression to draw.
This is Scout, a very talented child model and probably the most famous and most often drawn child muse on the Museum by Sktchy app. I don’t often draw children but I wanted to get some practice in for a big commission I’ve just landed. But the lack of experience shows – I really haven’t got Scout’s likeness and I’ve also made her look much too serious. So more practice needed.
I do love an unusual perspective, though I didn’t get it quite right in this portrait of Yates from the Museum by Sktchy app.
I had a bit of disaster just as I finished drawing this, spilling a glass of water over my sketchbook- it missed the portrait but messed up the corner of this page and quite a few unused pages in my sketchbook. My desk is so messy so it’s a lesson learned – I’ll keep it tidier for at least a week and then I’ll forget and lapse back into my usual messy habits.
drawing faces 