Tag: drawing

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.

George

This is my very beautiful friend Georgina, aka George. I first met George 3+ years ago when I was just beginning to draw faces. She has seen my portraiture develop on Instagram and a few weeks ago she messaged to ask if she could be one of my daily faces. I jumped at the chance of having a live model and we had a lovely time chatting while I sketched yesterday. I thought the portrait was a bit of a disaster when I started to add colour to it this morning but suddenly, after about an hour, George appeared on the page in front of me.

Drawing someone you know is always a little more anxiety-inducing than drawing a Sktchy face because capturing a likeness feels so much more important – so once I could see a likeness I was happy. I don’t need to have a perfect likeness but I do want to capture the essence of a person and I feel like I’ve done that here. There is something very “George” about this portrait.

I drew this on Bristol paper with an HB pencil, Copic multiliners and Copic markers and finished it with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Fabrizio

I’m struggling a little with my coloured pencil portrait drawing. I’m not really enjoying drawing very precisely; it takes too long and I don’t much like the results. So I tried something else with this portrait. I worked much faster and less fussily and I like the results so I’ll try this again.

I used some really old (but virtually unused) Derwent Studio coloured pencils I found during a clearout last weekend in a HannehmĂĽhle Nostalgie sketchbook.

Laura

I’ve known Laura via Instagram for a few years – she’s an amazing musician aka She Makes War. She recently joined Sktchy and as soon as she did I added her photos to my Sktchy queue and planned to draw her asap. I’m so glad I got around to doing just that today. I drew this in my Moleskine sketchbook with Copic markers.

If you want to check out Laura’s music you can find it on Bandcamp at https://shemakeswar.bandcamp.com

Her Instagram name is @shemakeswar

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.

Bethany

Such a lovely face but some difficult light and shadows to capture here. Didn’t manage it with watercolour alone so I worked over the top with coloured pencil to add more definition. I was using my usual Zecchi watercolours in a Laloran sketchbook and Polychromos coloured pencils.

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.

Jennie

There are some Sktchy muses who are almost iconic- every Sktchy artist has to draw them at least once! Jennie is one of those muses (and she’s also an artist). She’s known for her huge range of inspiration photos and her willingness to experiment with poses, makeup and cosplay. This portrait is drawn from an awesome series of photos featuring “Good Omens” cosplay.

I drew this in an A4 Moleskine Sketchbook with Copic multiliners and markers.

Giada

I have an ongoing problem with placement of portraits on the page. Giada’s portrait today is a case in point. I always start drawing with the eyes. I thought I had placed the eye far enough across the page to fit in the whole head but by the time I got to drawing the hair (pretty much the end of the portrait) it was clear I was wrong. And I’m much too lazy to start again at that point.

It also left me with the problem of what to do with all the space on the left hand side of the page. I did think initially of making a pattern out of the letters painted on Giada’s cheek, but I don’t know what they say and I didn’t want to be rude or disrespectful by writing them incorrectly or changing their meaning by writing them into a pattern. So I dug out my huge collection of washi tape and Japanese stickers and found a sticker that matched the mood of the portrait and used that to fill the space.

I painted this in a Laloran sketchbook with Zecchi watercolours and finished it with coloured pencils.

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.