I’m starting as I mean to go on this year with drawing therapy when I most need it. This is MyHung from Sktchy and drawing her is helping me deal with my post-Brexshit blues. I try to keep politics away from this blog as much as possible but I’m a very sad Brit today. I know that there’s a lot wrong with the way the European gravy train works, but I for one will miss the freedom of movement and closeness with the continent that being a member of the EU gave us.
Athenas has such an amazing face. She was one of the first Sktchy muses I drew and I’ve returned to her stunning photo gallery regularly and redrawn her several times. This was so enjoyable to draw!
Merry Christmas if you celebrate it – and if you don’t I hope you have an enjoyable peaceful week in any case. Thank you to Shianne from Sktchy for providing the inspiration photo for this painting.
This is Lil from Sktchy drawn in what is now becoming my signature Copic method of a basic Copic marker drawing followed by some more work in coloured pencil and then some cleaning up and finishing touches on my iPad.
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!
I’m really enjoying the direction my drawing is going in at the moment. Ive slowed down a lot, taken a few online courses, paused more between portraits and taken the time to think about my process and it’s changed as a result. I’m less worried about likeness and more interested in capturing a sense of the person. I’m really happy with this portrait of Susan because although it’s not a perfect likeness I really feel like I’ve caught her spirit as I see it.
I’m always very nervous when using brush pens to draw with but I do like the strength of the line drawing they produce. It is easy to mess up with them though, fortunately I didn’t with this portrait of Henry from Sktchy.
This is Ksenia from Sktchy painted with Daniel Smith watercolours and finished with Prismacolor coloured pencils.
My favourite watercolours are Zecchi handmade watercolours that I discovered a few years ago on a trip to Florence. I order them online direct from Italy because I’m in live with the richness of their colours. But most of my painting friends rave about Daniel Smith paints so when I saw some on sale at Jacksons Art last week I decided to try them out. I’ve tried a couple of tubes before but I’ve never painted a whole portrait in them before. I think I like them, but one portrait isn’t really enough to base a judgement on. I’ll decide when I’ve done three or four.
Jenell is, without a doubt, the queen of Sktchy. I’m fairly sure she’s been drawn more than any other muse, a staggering 3104 times at the time of posting, perhaps not so surprising when you learn that she has a gallery of over 1600 amazing inspiration photos.
A good strategy if you don’t know who to draw on any given day is to head over to Jenell’s gallery and you’re sure to find some inspiration. Having said that, it can be intimidating to draw her because you know she’s be drawn many times by the very best and your portrait is likely to be compared with, e.g. Vin Ganapathy’s. So I haven’t drawn her very often. I think this is my third portrait of her and I still haven’t nailed that likeness. Maybe next time.
I’ve been struggling to find time for drawing and painting this week as my workload increases in the rush to tie up project loose ends before things wind down for the Christmas break. But I’ve managed to paint a watercolour of Mikhayla from Sktchy this afternoon.
I’m partway through a Domestika course on watercolour portraits that I started last week and I can see the improvement in this portrait, the first I’ve done sine starting that course. My washes are lighter and much better controlled. Hopefully I’ll find some time to get back to the course before Christmas!
drawing faces 