Tag: digital art

Thiago/inktober

For people who draw and share their work online October is arguably the most important month of the year. It’s the month of Inktober. Started I don’t know how many years ago by superduper pen and ink artist Jake Parker, it’s the biggest monthly drawing challenge of them all. The challenge is to make a drawing in pen and ink and share it online with the #inktober hashtag every day of the month. Jake posts a set of daily prompts every year at the beginning of September, but you don’t have to follow them, and Inktober is now so huge that there are many, many alternative prompt lists and drawing challenges if Jake’s doesn’t appeal (my favourite alternative is Mab’s Drawlloween Club which you can find on Instagram – follow @mabgraves for that).

I have completed Inktober a couple of times but last year I took a year off. But I felt like I was missing out. So this year I’ve decided to take a relaxed approach and do some days but maybe not everyday. And instead of drawing in my sketchbook I’m going to use it to explore all the digital ink brushes I’ve got but have never used. So this is a portrait of Thiago and is today’s suggested photo for the Sktchy Inktober group and today’s prompt “mindless”. I used the dry ink brush that comes with Procreate to draw it.

If you want to do Inktober or simply find out more about it you can you can visit the Inktober website at https://inktober.com. If you want to see inktober art just search for #inktober on Instagram, Tumblr or Pinterest. I’ll only be posting my faces here; if you want to see the rest of my Inktober art head over to my Instagram account @helenlp.

Hannah

This is Sktchy muse Hannah. I drew her on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil using the Procreate app and Lisa Bardot’s wonderful Copicat brushes.

I’ve uploaded a Procreate timelapse video of my drawing process to my YouTube channel – if you’d like to watch it you can view it here.

Meghan

This portrait of Sktchy muse Meghan is for this week’s Old School Sktchy Wax challenge theme “figure study”. I’m always fascinated by bodies that can move and hold positions that my body hasn’t managed for at least 20 years. Even standing or lying straight is a challenge for my body these days so I’m intrigued by the idea of skeletons and whole musculoskeletal systems that can move into and maintain postures like Meghan’s in the portrait above. My own body’s limitations have made me more, rather than less, interested in the biology and physics of how we move – and the aesthetics of it too. As my movements have become more crablike I love to see fluidity and absolute ease in the movements of others. And to draw it.

I drew this on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil and Procreate using a Blackwing Pencil brush.

Giada

Experimenting with a more painterly approach in this portrait of Sktchy muse Giada. I drew this on my iPad Pro using a Blackwing Pencil brush and Lisa Bardot’s Gouache brushes.

Lilo

This portrait of Sktchy muse Lilo was a real challenge. I finished it in coloured pencil and then decided I wasn’t at all happy with it, especially with the angle of the head. So I imported it into Procreate, chopped off the head, seated it at a better angle, works on the whole portrait some more in Procreate and I’m much happier with how it now looks. This is one of the many benefits of using both a sketchbook and an iPad for drawing – it’s possible to meld the two drawing methods together for a better result.

Coffee truck

I know, it’s not a face. It’s a coffee truck for a Sketchbook Skool “Draw This!” photo challenge. I’ve always loved drawing vehicles and this truck is so gorgeous – it’s an irresistible drawing challenge for me. I drew it on my iPad Pro in Procreate with an Apple Pencil using a whole range of brushes but mostly my favourite Blackwing Pencil brush and a watercolour brush.

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.

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).

Cody

Cody is one of my favourite Sktchy muses and he’s always a pleasure to draw. I drew this on my iPad Pro with Lisa Bardot’s watercolour brushes.

Sheep

Something a little different today. A while ago I spent some time experimenting with digital block printing and I’ve recently agreed to come up with some designs for cards for a local eco project I volunteer with. So I’m refamiliarising myself with the process and plying around with colour schemes and brushes. This weekend Sktchy have a Barnyard Portrait party so I used a photo of my own of a sheep to come up with this digital block print design. It’s a little rough and ready but it was great practice for refreshing my memory and for playing around with colour schemes – I worked this design in 4 different colour schemes, but liked this simple one the best.

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