Tag: drawing

Hannah

This is Hannah, who’s photo was posted on Sktchy by photographer Andy. As you may know by now if you’re a regular visitor to this blog, I’m not a huge fan of drawing hair so I’m always happy to draw models with very short hair like Hannah here. And it makes it so much easier to focus on bone structure when there’s no hair getting in the way. Having said all that, I totally lost the likeness in this portrait, though I still like the way it turned out.

I drew this in a Midori cotton sketchbook with Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Aleksandra

A short while ago I was posting this image on Sktchy and browsing my feed on the app. Over the past few months of lockdown Sktchy has been hosting a whole series of classes on digital portraiture, something I’ve been doing for years. Just all my artist friends are beginning to embrace the world of digital art, I find myself swimming once more against the stream and retreating from it back towards traditional media.

It’s not that I’m not interested any more in digital art, but I’m more interested in how I can apply the skills it has taught me to my use of watercolour and coloured pencils and pens – I see these skills as so interchangeable and inseparable. But I do sometimes feel as though I’m always destined to be in a very different place to most everyone else when it comes to art making. Do other artists who didn’t get here by traditional routes, who didn’t go to art school, feel the same way?

I painted portrait of Aleksandra with Sennelier watercolours in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook and then worked over it with Polychromos and Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Zel

I do love working with ballpoint pens these days. This portrait of Zel from Sktchy was drawn with a range of Bic 4-colour ballpoints in a Life Noble Note Plain notebook.

Laura

It’s been a tough week and hatch, hatch, hatching away has been one of the things that has been helping me keeping on keeping on, one day at a time. This portrait of Laura has taken me a couple of days, mostly in the evenings. I love drawing shadows and the Sktchy inspiration photo has such beautiful shadows that I love building up with a range of colours.

I drew this portrait on my iPad Pro using the Procreate app and the ballpointy brush.

Ehsan

Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils in a Midori cotton sketchbook.

Sydney

This is Sydney from Sktchy. I’m really happy with this portrait. I think i did a good job of combining watercolour and coloured pencils. I can see mistakes, of course, but I’m enjoying the direction my work is going at the moment.

I drew Sydney in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with a Unipin grey brush fineliner, painted her with Sennelier watercolours and finished the portrait off with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Zoey

Totally lost the likeness with this portrait of Zoey from Sktchy but I’m enjoying pushing my practice with coloured pencils and learning as I go. They really aren’t in my comfort zone and I’m finding that everything I learn working on these portraits is proving really useful in my mixed media work.

I drew this in a Hannehmühle Nostalgie sketchbook with Polychromos coloured pencils.

Sherry

This is Sherry from Sktchy. I spent a couple of hours just playing around with a few different pencil brushes in Procreate instead of just using my go-to brushes. It was fun and I like that the portrait looks different from my usual style yet still distinctively mine.

Ali

This is Ali from Sktchy drawn with Bic 4-way multicolour ballpoint pens in a Life Noble Note Plain.

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.