I made such a mess overworking my watercolour in this portrait of Sktchy muse Isabelle – it’s slightly improved by working over it with coloured pencils. It’s also my contribution to this week’s Old School Sktchy WAX challenge on the theme “Fall”.
Tag: mixed media
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.
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.
Tara
I used Zecchi watercolours with some coloured pencils over the top for my portrait of Sktchy muse Tara.
Klara
Another patterned portrait, this time with watercolour and coloured pencils. In Klara’s Sktchy photo she was posing in front of some fabulous rhododendron bushes so I took my inspiration for the floral background pattern from those flowers.
I drew this portrait in a Laloran sketchbook with a Copic multiliner, painted it with Zecchi watercolours and finished it with Prismacolor coloured pencils.
Apo
I find it hard now to believe I used to be scared of watercolour. These days it’s almost as much a comfort zone for me as Copic markers and yet I can look back even in the last sketchbook I used and find plenty of examples of horrible overworking. But right now I feel like I’m in a good place where I understand where to stop so that I don’t overwork – and I think perhaps that’s because I took Sketchbook Skool’s Coloured Pencil course and now feel much happier finishing paintings with coloured pencils instead of adding those extra layers of watercolour.
I drew this in a Laloran sketchbook with a Copic multiliner, painted it with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished it with coloured pencils.
Puffin
This week’s Old School Sktchy WAX challenge theme is “fish”. Never one to take the conventional approach, I ignored Sktchy’s many photos of people with fish and instead chose to draw those beautiful image of a puffin with a mouthful of fish, posted by Africa Shepherd. I’ve never drawn a puffin before so I loved learning about the shape and colours of a puffin’s beak and eye as I drew it. Everything’s interesting when you draw it (I stole that line from Sketchbook Skool).
I drew my puffin in an A4 Moleskine sketchbook with Copic markers, a white Posca pen, Crayola Shimmers metallic coloured pencils and Prismacolor coloured pencils.
Brit
I have two real Achilles heels (or areas I always struggle with) when it comes to drawing faces. One is drawing mouths, which I always draw too big initially, and the other is hair. It took me such a long time to gain any confidence in drawing hair but mostly these days I can manage it OK, except when I’m making a portrait with watercolour.
I still don’t know quite what to do with it or how to get it looking right. This portrait is a case in point. My anxiety comes through even at the initial drawing stage – I made a mess of the drawing here, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have done had this been the early drawing for a marker portrait. When it came to painting it again I didn’t really have a plan or a clear idea of what to do so I disguised the mess I created with some coloured pencil.
I know I’ll get there. I’ll develop the confidence eventually to draw and paint hair in watercolour confidently and well because I’ve been here before with marker drawing. In the meantime I just have to keep going. And to apologise to Brit, who has beautiful hair.
This was drawn in a Laloran sketchbook with a Unipin fineliner, painted with Zecchi watercolours and finished with coloured pencils.
drawing faces 