Illustration….Girls

Since I’m in an illustration obsession….I thought I’d draw another one.



The shiny stuff is the masking fluid.



What cracks me up about this drawing is that the head sizes from left to right kept increasing.  The first head (far left) is much smaller than the last one (far right).



Watercolors only allowed.  Plus marker to sharpen those edges.



I was surprised that I liked how the curly hair turned out.  Gotta stay loose when drawing this hair type.



Just fun and colorful!  It won’t win any awards but that’s not the point!

Gorgeous Graphite Girls

Went in and enhanced my shading since the background was darker.



Graphite highlights gave me a lot to think about.  Not too happy with my approach.



What a fun sketch of one of my favorite friends and her daughter.  Not perfect…but where’s the fun in that?

Graphite Girls

I love it when a friend asks me to draw something for them!  And when I asked “do you want it in color?”…..she said… “Oh, No! Black and white please”.



It’s been 6 months since I’ve drawn anything in graphite.  I guess I’m liking the colored pencils.  My art teacher said that I may find that my colored pencil time may help my graphite work….but not necessarily the reverse.



I knew what I needed to do to make the pupils right….but I got a little cocky and didn’t wait to use my circle template….my punishment was erasing and erasing! Ugh!



The original picture has a very dark background and both of these cute ladies have dark hair!  I get to interpret their head shape any way I want to!  Haha!



The advantage to the dark hair is the ability to veg out while getting that graphite down.  To balance out that dark hair….I’ll need to strengthen the shading in the face.

Beach….Six

I’ve done about as much as I can with my skill level.  I can see that the right girl’s chin area was “over-colorized”….I’ve made it muddy.  But by the time I got to the left girl, it’s not so muddy.  That’s progress!  Haha





The difference between this picture and the first one is I’ve gone in with my markers and straightened my edges.  I also, used markers in the polka-dots.  Just looks better that way. 


If I was giving this away…I would work on those hands more.  But for now…for me….they’re ok…enough.





Looking at these together [like this] is a bit embarrassing.  But then again….how else will I learn?


Thanks for baring with me thru all.this.learning!

Beach….Five

So, I went in and gave her some hair.  Softened that forehead a bit, but I think it could use more softening.





Looking at the picture next to the drawing I can see that I have that upper lip in the wrong place.  It’s curling up toward the inside, (like you would if you were sneering).  This girl doesn’t sneer so it’s best if I fix that.





Drew in the missing eye and the hair of the right figure.  Had to adjust those eyes some….make them a bit bigger.





It’s getting towards completion.  I expanded out the mouth of the girl on the left.  Possibly it will need to go out more.  I also need to adjust the ribcage on her as well.  Doesn’t look right from here. 


The easy stuff is done.  Now, it’s onto the hands.  Not sure if I’m mentally up to that yet….may have to google search “5th grade art” to find something fun and play for awhile.

Beach….Four

Gave up on the right face for the time being and moved over to the next figure.





Almost a complete profile…but not quite.  Interesting angles in this shot.





Will have to play around with that nose…up close it doesn’t look hooked, but standing back it does.  Ugh!





Seeing these images here, I can see a bunch of things that need to be tweaked:

• left girls collarbone
• left girls nose
• left girls forehead (un-bulgicize it)
• right girls eyes (yea…yea…she’s missing an eye too)

Beach….Three

So, I’m sketching along….and omitting the shadows as best as I can.





I was liking the figure portion….but pretty disappointed in the face portion.





Then I received a tip….get some acetate paper and make a grid over the face.
I copied the grid over the face on a copier….then took the acetate with the grid and placed it over the problem areas. 





Boy, were my dimensions off.  Way too small.  This grid really helped.  I was surprised to see how much I had to expand on everything.  The nose, mouth, eyes, forehead.  All of it!





It’s better now….a little more in proportion.  Still needs much adjusting.  Glad I have a new trick up my sleeve!

Beach….Two

This is getting fun!  I really like the way this sketch is going. 





I guess because I haven’t made any assumptions.  You know, assumptions about where the eyes are placed….the nose….





I can take my directions from the picture itself and use COLOR.  By using the color in this way, I’m able to shape the face.  It’s a bit like sculpting, but with pencil.  Hard to explain, but the color/shadowing is a bit more pliable.





I was able to see some light in the right eye.   Not so much in the left.  But something will need to be done here…because they don’t match up!  Haha





Tried to de-wonkicize that arm….Will probably need a more experienced eye to help me there. 

Beach...one

Since, I was still in color-sketch mode and I haven’t received the promised jpg’s from my daughter’s friend to sketch yet.  I had to go looking for something “cute” to draw in my own collection.





Contoured these girls out first.   Then started sketching.





The above sketch looks like it’s taking shape the way it should.  That arm is still a little wonky….will be working on that more.





I’m doing something that I’ve never done before…..sketching-in as I go….Notice, I did not pencil in the eyes yet….I also have laid no graphite down on the face interior.  Highly unusual for me….but may help in the long run.  Hopefully less erasing!…..hopefully

Growing Pains….Stalling

I have neglected to tell you where I got found this drawing inspiration.  It is found here.





I wanted to bring the bench into the drawing.  It was easy enough, since shading is shading and straight lines are straight lines.  Made me happy!





Fini!  Kinda feels like it’s missing something….yea, the horse cuz this reminds me of the headless horseman. But I was no where near drawing horses yet….so this worked!





Brought my watercolor pencil set to my art class.  To see what I can do with them in a “figure drawing” sort of way.   The look is so much different.  The instructor said she liked the color palette better with these than with what I had done in colored pencils alone.  I had to agree…but I had to stick up for those colored pencils too.  I said “but to get it more 3D, the 3D look is only accomplished with the colored pencils, the watercolors will always look more unreal.”  She, of course, begged to differ!  And informed me… that with time, I could make watercolor pencils look 3D…..now this I gotta learn!





Went shopping online the other day at Dick Blick.  I was happy they had such a good selection of the super fine nibbed (005) Microns in different colors.  Grabbed each color they offered in 005.


Do any of you work in Watercolor pencils?  Any tips?

Growing Pains….Subsiding

Well, because I don’t know any better.  I’ve gone in and applied “marker” (Ohhh….Nooo) to the pink legs to help even out my edges. 





And I even used marker for the paisley pattern in the bandana (Ohhh….Nooo). Since I’m all about product, I really don’t care if that’s allowed or not.  I just want to replicate what I see….I’m not entering any contests. Whew!





And I probably did the “unthinkable” on the girls white shirt. I used graphite pencils (Ohhh….Nooo)…!!  I even went in with my darker graphite pencil and worked some of those shadows.  I like it better this way! 
Still a few more things to do: 

• hands
• smooth out the Mary Jane shoes
• buttons
• bench in background
• miscellaneous details

This is really getting fun!

Growing Pains….in the legs

I went in and un-wonky-sized that right knee.  Then I started on the child’s tights.  I think I got a little overly ambitious on that left leg and was able to calm down my sketching on the right one.  (She’ll probably turn out as a half-decent…half-monster child when I finish….it’s taking me awhile to get used to these pencils).



Didn’t spend a whole lot of time contouring her in.  (I may regret that!)



Had to pull the image in thru my ipad to see things a little more clearly.



I just couldn’t help it!!  I had to go in and even out those colored edges around the pink tights, skirt and shoes.  I used my orange, gray, and red microns (01). I’m going to be needing all the colors made of the Sakura Micron 01’s if I’m to continue with colored pencils.  Another excuse to hit the Art Store!! Oh Yea!