I enjoyed this technique. It did make it easier to draw a complicated “object” In general I enjoyed technique week. Thank you Irene for introducing some new drawing
techniques to
Imaginary flowers in acrylic markers inspired by Irene’s live
Had great fun drawing and painting this flamingo from the line and wask course. None of the calm, meditative process of drawing the daisy, This was pure, joyous, splashy fun! Absolutely loved it, and I love that the course contains such a wide range of projects, something to suit every mood
Another acrylic marker pattern inspired
by Irene’s live
Blind contour (with two little cheats lol). I have done blind contour several times and I really like it even though it is usually extremely wonky. I even did a blind contour self portrait that funny enough captures my look better than self portraits I have really worked on.
but I just went with it lol. I decided to leave it a negative space sketch so I did not fill in the bike. It was intereting experience but once afain it was hard to keep my eyes onnthe negative space and not draw the object instead. Need to practice this technique also
Inspired by another of Irene’s acrylic markers livestreams
All I can say is -
HAHAHA . This poor girl. If she only knew what we were doing with her image!
I’ve never tried this before although I have seen artists doing this on Insta. And it is as hard as it looks but super fun. Irene Thanknyiu fir introducing this !
I am finally back! I have tried drawing with a grid before. I took an art class and we had to do a masters copy. We were told to make a grid of about 40 squares. It was very tedious and because I am not very precise, with that many squares my proportions got off and my lines did not end up connecting properly lol. We had to do a second one. The second time I just pretended to follow the grid and instead free-handed it. I (and the instructor) were happier with the result.
k
It was easier with just 4 squares. I did have to do a screenshot and crop to completrky block the other squares. It was too distracting to see the things even at the edge of other squares.
I think it takes practice to do grid method in a very small format. I am drawing…
Another Line and Wash lesson. I really loved doing this. The repetitive movements drawing the centre and veins were so relaxing, almost hypnotic. The drawing looked complete to me without any colour, but once I started painting it, it really popped out from the page!
And here is my magnolia, again from the Line and Wash course
I've just started the Line and Wash course, this is my take on the first lesson, heavily influenced by the Wobbly House session that Irene provided for Sketchbook Revival.
The last of the flower sketches and my favourite one. I didn’t have a pink highlighter so used a pink pencil to give depth and texture to the flowers.
I know some of you have joined the Sketchbook Revival Challenge thanks to Irene telling us about it, and I have seen we have several new members this week who have probably joined because of the lovely wonky houses lesson that Irene gave for the challenge. I thought I would join in with Sandra and share my effort.
I've been pretty quiet for a few days, partly because we've been having some work done on the house and all the noise and crashing isn’t conducive to calm, mindful art, and partly because a small medical procedure earlier this week left me totally washed out for a couple of days. Thanks to Irene telling us about the Sketchbook Revival challenge, whenever I have felt able to, I've concentrated on that as I'm very aware that it is only available for a limited time.
Anyway, today I managed to do some of the flower sketches from this week's Sketch Hub sessions, so here they are.
Not as round and soothing as Irene’s but still fun to create. Less light blue and more orange - so more like a lava flow into the ocean than sparkling reflections of sunset on an ocean 🤣
From Irene’s wonky house in Sketchbook Revival. I couldn’t stop myself so not much white space…but it was fun. I loved creating the stylized “ocean”
A stylized hummingbird in acrylic marker from one of Irene’s livestreams. I highly recommend these streams they are so much fun and no push for realism, so really reduces perfectionism. You can get really inexpensive acrylic markers (I recommend as large a set as you can find/afford because even with a set of 90 I don’t always have the color I want and I don’t think it is that easy to mix them (but Irene may know a trick or two lol)
I felt like some color so I drew on a background of scribbles with my Tombow markers and drew with a colored fineliner. Not sure I am satisfied with the result, but here it is.
I thought I posted this earlier but then couldn't find it again so maybe didn't hit post! 😂
Tried the first chicken/hen today!
Pleased with how it turned out but I feel like I don't know when to stop shading and ended up with far too much ink on the page! Happy with the shape though!
Tried the 2nd chicken/rooster this afternoon and I think I managed to put a little less ink on the page and stop shading sooner compared with the hen but still feel like I'm overdoing it! Definitely like the tail and head/neck area better this time 😊
From another one of Irene’s lives on YouTube using acrylic markers. This was fun.
I stuck with pencil because I was afraid lol. But it really did help to just think of this as shapes, not a child. When I realized that the think by her head was a hood, I really struggled with it.
I was totally lost about trying to make the beak look 3D and my eyes are too big and too far apart. I found this week’s fluffy baby animals very difficult lol. I hope next week is flower or some inanimate still life lol. Something without mouth and eyes.
More fun with acrylic markers and Irene on YouTube lol. A bit of a mishap with the ginkgo fruit on the bottom left, but I like the colors (from a different one of Irene’s YouTube drawings)
Leaves inspired by Irene’s YouTube live session. I will be very sad when I have used up this blue lol.
Another Irene inspired acrylic marker painting. Stylized poppies.
My table spread is not quite as busy as the reference photo, but I really enjoyed the bouquet (yes to Flower Week lol) . Like Jane, my candle is a a precarious angle, ready to topple over onto the bouquet. Maybe because it is at the far left of the page so I subconsciously drew it leaning toward the center?
I wanted to add the folds in the tablecloth, but I could not think of how to do it with hatching and not have it just looking like scribbles
Hello everyone, I'm newly joined since completing A Week of Art and Inspiration 😊
Dipping my toe by sharing my makes!
And the last of this week's sketches, the child with a basket of eggs. I found Irene's advice to just think about the shapes rather than the parts of the body a great help
I really enjoyed drawing this chick but it's come out looking really angry, I think it might be auditioning for a part in "Reservoir Chicks”
I did the tblescape as a double page spread, but I'm only really happy with the vase of flowers so I might try doing the vase on its own later in the week. Goodness knows what I was thonking when I started drawing that tall candle, I started off at a crazy angle!
I used a fineliner for my bunny. If I'd used pencil, I think I would have erased the eye and moved it very slightly. It doesn’t seem to be in quite the right place
Triangles from Mindful Watercolr. I think I prefer circles but I am trying not to judge with perfectionist eye.
I think I managed to restrain myself from making the head too big, as I usually do woth animals, but you can probably see fron the rough placement lines I didn’t erase, the head was initially going to be a lot bigger.
Hmm I am struggling with the Easter prompts. It may be a combo of drawing animals I have never drawn before plus the stress of preparing for a big overseas
trip later this week. As with the lamb, I drew twice. First real loose with pencil then in ballpoint over the main shapes (square for head and circle for body) drawn in pencil. Not very satisfied with either, but here they are.
Music from Mindful Watercolor
My first lamb in ink was a mess lol, so I
tried again in pencil with blending stump. The pencil version looks more like a fawn or doe than a lamb. Maybe the placement of the eyes is off for a lamb? I can get the overall body shape, but I am still struggling with the shading….
I was doing okay until I tried to add shading to the neck. Looks like this horse has some massive main like a lion or something lol. But I enjoyed trying to capture the gesture of the rearing horse. I also am happy with the head .
I thought I would share a little process and ask if people think the piece was better before or after
This is from the Mindful Watercolor class.
Following another one of Irene’s livestreams on YouTube. A watercolor abstract. Although the final painting is very busy imo, it was very calming to create - drawing all of those little circles without really any decision making required.
Maybe I am getting a little more confident in my proportions of a horse head lol.
The rest of this week's horses. I think the head is my favourite drawing this week, possibly my favourite in the sketch hub so far. And a 4B pencil with blending stump my favourite sketching medium.
I still have problems with the proportion of the head when drawing a whole animal of any kind. I check and measure and plan it out right, but then once I get lost in the process my mind takes over and makes the head more prominent. For the upright prancing horse, I erased and redrew the head until my paper was wearing thin, and I'm still not happy with it.
My first foal sketch was all wrong, it looked as the poor creature had been stretched out on a rack! I tried again today, still not completely happy with the proportions but it's much better than before. I prefer the face on the first though .
Ran out of space so the neck is too short, but okay for a quick sketch.
Foal - i used water soluble graphite pencil, but honestly I did not enjoy it, not on this paper (royal talens sketchbook). Then I tried to “fix” it with regular pencil did not work well on the semi wet paper. But I like the drawing itself well enough.
Final shell. I was a little intimidated by the complexity.
Following Sandra's example, I found one of Irene's You Tube tutorials on acrylic markers. A very new to me style, but I love the bold colours of the markers and the opacity. I'm used to water based and alcohol markers and these bring something very different to work with.
I would like to preface this post by saying I have never drawn a horse and In general I have not drawn many animals. But I decided to jump right in with ballpoint so I drew this horse profile
And then I drew this one.
I’m not satisfied with either although there are different aspects of each that I appreciate. I may try again after completing the other 4 for this week.
Horse no. 1. I've never attempted to draw a horse before and was very pleased with this for a first attempt
More acrylic markers inspired by one of Irene’s YouTube lives. I was going to put a a light green background, as Irene does, but for now I kind of like it like this.
I’m ready for strawberry season, my favorite fruit.
The final shell. I used pencil and a blending stump. Difficult but very interesting to do
Starfish and shell
I felt the need for sunshine and rainbows today lol. From Mindeful Watercolor course
another stylized bird n acrylic markers based on
Irene’s YouTube livestream
Revisiting another lesson from the abstract landscapes course. The first photo is the one I did this time. I tried to give it a lighter feel, and I think it looks more like dawn than sunset.
More acrylic marker play with another of Irene’s youtube videos
I couldn’t decide if I needed more orange circles. So I took this photo and will add more circles later.
Not sure my shading is completely coherent, but I enjoyed creating it and the patterns.
Shell 2
Another of Irene’s acrylic marker projects. I am really enjoying these as a way to get accustomed to acrylic brush markers (and trying to figure how to kind of blend)
More from Mindful Watercolor class. It did not turn out as I planned, but as Irene said in one of her videos - this must have been what I needed at the moment . Also trying out my flat brush for first time with watercolors. I don’t quite have the hang of it yet, so no crisp corners.
It's raining and windy so I've been drawing shells and dreaming of summer
Another of Irene's youtube videos using acrylic markers. These are really fun projects.
first
shell.
Another from Mindful Watercolor. For better composition I should have varied the size of the dots more and not perhaps gone so close to bottom boarder or made the dots so dense, but I was enjoying making the dots so got carried away. All part of learning when to stop lol.
I decided to leave it like this. This time I like the color, even if it is a bit funky lol Btw I am using Royal Talens sketchbook so not watercolor paper, and it warps a little
This is not as smooth as Irene’s, and my shapes are not very uniform and more blobby than teardrop, but I had a lot of fun with the layering. I am working on my composition skills with these abstract kind of works.
Wonky house 2 of wobbly house 2nd class. The ink. I wanted to include a hint of the other houses, but I really wanted the subject hotel to stand out. Maybe the contrast is too stark? Maybe instead of grey I should use a very think black liner (.005?). What do you all suggest? I was thinking of making the hotel the aqua green and put a very very light wash of pink of the other two houses. I think it would make the Hotel pop more than leaving the other buildings white. Looking for suggestions lol.
This is the second of the abstract watercolour landscapes, this time in greens and yellows. I think it looks like a meadow full of buttercups, with woodlands behind. I'll try to post the first version I did in the comments.
Was feeling stressed today so I did some Mindful watercolors.
Here's my bird's eye. I've learned a lot about both art and nature this week. I've always just thought of an eye as just an eye, bigger or smaller according to the size of the creature. There's so much more to them than that!
Final eye I enjoyed this week. I think my favorite was the reptile eye.
I think I keep doing something incorrectly. Many of my posts just seem to disappear I apologize if this already posted somewhere. But here is my cat’s eye.
Hmmm. I think I preferred it before I added color…
Cat's eye. I was really pleased with this but then I dropped a pen on the page when I was moving everything to take my photo, so there's a blue smudge sspoiling it!
I've repeated the first lesson of the abstract watercolour landscapes using different colours. I reckon this could be the pathway to a dragon's lair. I've included a picture of it beside the first one to show how different they are.
My first Wobbly House 2 ink drawing. Tomorrow will add the color but I am happy with it so far.
This was fun. Once again I really enjoyed
creating texture lol.
Crocodilie's eye. I relly enjoyed doing this one. I rarely use my softer pencils, but now I've tried them with the blending stump I can see I'll be using them more often.
Horse's eye. I found this very difficult because like Sandra, I've never looked closely at a horse's eye and even with the reference photo, couldn’t relate what I was seeing to anything I had really experienced
This really was abstract for me. I have seen a horse in real life maybe 4 times and never looked at the eye that up close. So I had no reference for what I was drawing.
That was more difficult than it seemed with a looong ugly stage lol. I kept working on my proportions so it didn’t look bulging. And I will admit I did use my eraser to remove lines to get better roundness. Overall I’m happy with it .
Human eye. I enjoyed doing this, not something I've really tried before
I followed Irene’s tutorial on acrylic makers to try out my new brush tip acrylic markers I have tried the bullet tip ones before but I never liked them because you could not control the line width. I really enjoyed these, though it was hard to control lol.
The final lesson in the abstract watercolours course. I had a bit of a leak in my tape, but it was luckily positioned and looks as if I've deliberately overlapped into the border.
I think now I'm going to repeat some of the lessons using different colours, I think they will look completely different.
Quick sketch of the jade plant on my terrace to round out the week of cacti and succulents. It looks like a plant, but I’m not sure it looks like a jade plant lol,
I bought a blending stump. It really does make smudging easier. Over these past few weeks I realized I really enjoy creating patterns/texture. The repetition really is soothing.The fourth succulent
I started to shade in the leaves, but ai preferred them with less shading and my pen kept making blobs. So I stopped at this stage.
Four more succulents. Love all the different shapes and textures of them, what a great subject to choose.
Second cactus
First cactus
Cacti day 1
Another painting from the abstract watercolours course. I am absolutely loving this course, Irene, it’s got the same sort of magic as seeing pictures in a cloudy sky!
A quick contour drawing (with a little shading added lol) I know it wasn’t the point, but I was proud I could, for first time, fit everything in the page, more or less.
The perspective is a bit off, and I am struggling with random ink blobs, but I an enjoying shading with ball point.
It’s fun to try to make everyday objects look special with shading. Of course this is only working because the subjects themselves are simple shapes, relatively speaking.
