The inspiration photo for this portrait of Rocio is so fantastic – it just oozes warmth and happiness, I couldn’t resist drawing it for this week’s Old School Sktchy challenge which has the prompt “light”. I wasn’t able to capture the fantastic glow that the light from the rainbow emits in the photo but I did get some of the warmth
I drew this portrait on the first page of my new Midori Cotton sketchbook using Ca Micron fineliner, Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.
I love drawing half faces. It takes away all the stress of drawing the second eye. Lots of other artists on Sktchy have talked at one time or another of the fear of drawing the second eye. In my case I tend to draw it slightly lower and bigger than the first eye. It doesn’t matter what I do to try to account for this (guidelines, careful measuring, etc), I still have a tendency to get it wrong and I almost always have to draw it two or three times before I’m just OK with how it looks. So drawing a half face (or a profile) every now gives me a day off from that particular worry. And I couldn’t resist Helena’s beautiful strawberry blonde hair!
I drew Helena’s portrait in my A4 Moleskine sketchbook with a Micron fineliner and Copic markers.
When I first started drawing faces I was terrified of expressions and would only draw expressionless faces looking forward, mouth closed. Now, a few years and more than 1200 portraits later, I have much confidence in my portraiture skills and it’s all about expressions. When I’m looking through Sktchy for a face to draw the images that jump out at me are the ones with great lighting, interest skintones and/or wonderful expressions to draw. The inspiration photo for this portrait of Denyce has all three.
I drew Denyce in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with a Micron pen, painted her with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished the portrait with Prismacolor coloured pencils.
This week’s Old School Sktchy weekly art extravaganza (wax) challenge theme is “historical”, and when choosing a photo I knew I only needed to visit Rick’s Sktchy photo collection to find an inspiration photo to draw from. Rick is probably the most well known Sktchy muse. He has a huge collection of more than a thousand inspiration photos, in a massive range of costumes and poses. He also very open to suggestions from artists if someone has an idea for an new costume he might pose in. So a quick hunt through Rick’s photos turned up the inspiration photo for this portrait, which wouldn’t look out of place on a miniature in the Victoria & Albert Museum.
I drew Rick in my Moleskine sketchbook with a Micron fineliner, Copic markers and coloured pencils.
This is Sktchy muse Avonlea. I love the way the light casts a shadow down the left side of her face and across her eyes in the inspiration photo for this portrait, and capturing that without darkening her eyes too much was my main focus when drawing. I’m so happy with the finished portrait; I really feel like it’s the best I could have done right now and that’s all I can ask of myself.
I drew Avonlea in my A4 Moleskine sketchbook with a Micron fineliner, Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.
I’m starting 2020 with a little watercolour of Tina’s son. I don’t know his name but I loved the photo of him she posted on Sktchy. I love to try to capture different expressions in my portraits and this one is just great! It’s all in the eyes and the eyebrows.
I drew the portrait in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with a Micron .01 fineliner, painted with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished it off with Prismacolor coloured pencils.
This is the last portrait in my current watercolour portrait sketchbook. I messed up Mae’s hair and had to add some highlights in Procreate, which gave me a chance to experiment with some of the lovely new digital brushes. And because I have finished a sketchbook I’ve filmed a quick flip through of the whole sketchbook, which you can see on YouTube here if you’re interested.
I drew Mae’s portrait in my Laloran sketchbook with a Micron fineliner, painted it with Zecchi Toscana watercolours, added some Prismacolor coloured pencils and then finished off with some digital editing in Procreate.
Finally, after what feels like weeks of struggle, a portrait I’m happy with. I haven’t quite captured Ania’s likeness here, which reminds me once again that it isn’t a perfect likeness that I’m striving for, but I’ve definitely caught a sense of her gracefulness and her porcelain-like beauty. I made a mess of a number of my lines , especially under her eyes and in her hair, but that doesn’t matter. Overall I’m happy with what I achieved. The hair frames the face well and draw attention into those beautiful eyes and that lovely freckled skin. That’s what I wanted from the portrait.
I drew Ania in my Moleskine sketchbook with Micron fineliners, Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.
Alexander’s face ended up a little wonky but never mind. I’m snowed under with work at the moment and really struggling to find drawing time, which I’m finding frustrating. I hate not having enough time to settle down and focus properly on drawing but everything I’m doing feels very rushed at the moment. I’m so looking forward to the Christmas break, when I’ll have two whole weeks with no work and plenty of time to draw!
I drew Alexander in my Laloran sketchbook with a Micron pen, painted him with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished the portrait with Prismacolor coloured pencils.
drawing faces 