New 50 Day Project

I loved participating in #the100dayproject of drawing/painting 100 portraits in 100 days. I always had a reason to draw each day and a subject using the Sktchy app. I also felt that I needed a lot of practice in drawing faces and people, so doing 100 portraits really helped with that! 

Lately, I've been wanting to improve my urban sketching - especially with regard to adding people to my sketches. So, I thought I would participate in another drawing project/challenge - but with a bit shorter duration. So, I decided to create my own #the50dayproject and draw/paint 50 figures in action in 59 days - but using mainly the Sktchy app and its inspiration photos as references. Though, I will keep trying to practice drawing figures from life as well. Here are my first attempts for the project I started on September 1st.  

1/50

2/50

3/50

4/50

5/50

6/50

7/50

8/50

9/50

10/50

Have you tried any art challenges that you've enjoyed or can recommend? 

Sketching using Grisaille

In Steven Reddy's excellent Sketching Interiors class, he instructs us to use a series of India ink washes after our contour ink drawing (among other things). He makes drawing details easier by instructing us to draw foregrounds, middle ground, and then backgroun elements in that order with the freedom to edit out items as we choose. 

I took a photo from our recent trip to Paris and tried out his techniques. Here is the phase before adding color.  

Grisaille

Using this method really helps me to see values (lights and darks). But, I can't help but add watercolor.  

Finished version

Grisaille refers to a painting done entirely in gray tones and was popular during the Renaissance. Have you tried it?