International Womens Day 2022

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

Anais from the Museum by Sktchy app, drawn with Copic markers and coloured pencils.

Ethan

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.

Taylor

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!

Nicki

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.

Scout

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.

Yates

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.

David

Drawing with a migraine at the moment which seems to have made David look a little sadder in this portrait than he does in the inspiration photo 🙂

Tara

I love the inspiration photo (which can be found on the Museum by Sktchy app) for this portrait of Tara so much. I thought such a wonderful face deserved the Copic treatment so I spent some time in my Copic marker comfort zone, knowing that I’d probably get the best results there. And I’m so happy with the finished portrait.

Tyan

This is Tyan from Sktchy. I loved drawing her portrait. It was one of those drawing sessions where I got kind of lost in the process- those really are the best kind of drawing days! I lose track of time and almost of what I’m doing and just lose myself in line and colour and texture, and somehow the portrait emerges.

I used Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils in my Midori cotton sketchbook.