Appollonia

I totally lost the likeness in this ballpoint pen drawing of Appollonia from Sktchy yet it’s one of my favourite drawings ever. Why? Because I think there’s a really comic book quality to it and it’s the first time I’ve seen that in one of my own drawings. I’m a huge consumer of graphic novels so perhaps it was inevitable that something of what I was seeing in those books would eventually show up in my work but I never really expected it to. And I’m so excited now I’ve seen it. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do it again but I do hope so.

Sarah’s Mum

This is another portrait focusing on the eyes for Sktchy’s Anatomy with Tiffany course. The drawing is of Sarah’s mum and was made on an iPad Pro with the Procreate app.

Ángel

This is Ángel from Sktchy drawn with Bic 4 colour ballpoint pens in a Life Noble Note Plain notebook.

Raquel

It’s back to Bics for today’s portrait of Raquel from Sktchy.

Tamar

As in the first lockdown I’m struggling again to keep up with my daily portrait drawing habit. I know how much it helps me but I struggle to do it and can find a hundred and one reasons not to. So I’m happy to have managed this quick sketch of Tamar from Sktchy in coloured pencils today.

Raul

This is the lovely Raul from Sktchy. His photo makes me think of warm sunny days, which is exactly what I want to be thinking of on a cold January morning locked down in the UK. I drew this with my Bic 4-colour ballpoints in my Life Noble Note Plain Notebook.

Natalie

It was fun to sit down with my Bics for a while to draw this Boxing Day portrait of Natalie from Sktchy.

Reihan

This is a tiny little portrait of Reihan in a little pocket Hannehmühle Nostalgie sketchbook. When I first started drawing 5 or 6 years ago I thought that it was easier to draw small. Years of practice have taught meme how wrong I was.

Drawing small is much harder than drawing big. There’s no room for tiny details so you have to focus on big shapes, and small errors take up much space and so seem magnified. I messed up the nose here and it’s right in the middle of the portrait and taking up a massive amount of space, drawing all the attention. If you’re a beginner reading this take my advice, start with a large sketchbook, not a small one!

Aldebarán

I gave my Bics a workout for this portrait of the amazing Aldebarán from Sktchy. This is much lighter than the very dark inspiration image, but it think it would have looked overworked if I had tried to go much darker and I just liked how it looked at this point.

Can I make a confession here? Although this was inspired by a fantastic photo sometimes I’m drawn to particular muses on Sktchy as much by their names as by how great their photo collection is. I’d never even heard the name Aldebarán before, but I definitely wanted to add it to my portrait collection 🤣

Madina

This is Madina from Sktchy drawn with Bic 4 colour ballpoint pens.