New Craftsy Class!

A Sketchbook Skool and Instagram friend, Minjoo Yoon, who is also a lawyer-turned-artist, posted a beautiful urban sketch and said that it was based on a class she was taking through Craftsy from James Richards. I had to check it out!

Minjoo was taking Essential Techniques for Sketching the Energy of Places with James Richards. I signed up and immediately downloaded the video lessons and started in. James is a great urban sketcher and he gives so many helpful tips that I never would have thought of - including drawing from a one point perspective using a single eyeline as a basis point and shorthand tips for capturing people and crowds. Truly mind-blowing!

I didn't get a chance to go out on location to try his techniques yet, but I did practice them on an urban photo from Sktchy.

To ink or not with watercolors?

This weekend, I talked this portrait of my friend's nephew.

In tackling this portrait, I decided to start with my pencil and then use watercolor. I didn't start with my normal fountain pen with Platinum carbon black ink.

This was a departure from my normal style, but I kind of liked it. So, I posted it on Sktchy and asked for feedback. The majority of the feedback was that I should leave the portrait as is - and the hardest thing with watercolor is knowing when to stop!

So, I thought I would tackle this next portrait of Kiana - in my usual style with fountain pen and ink first and watercolor next.

What do you think? Which do you prefer - watercolor & pencil or ink & watercolor?

Sktchy's WAXHandy Challenge

Sktchy is a fun and inspiring app for artists and people who want to inspire artists. Each weekend, Sktchy has a themed Weekend Art Extravaganza (#WAX). This past weekend, it was #WAXhandy and the challenge was to make art featuring hands. Here are my contributions.

The funny thing is that I was recently explaining my 100 day portrait project to someone in my figure drawing group and how I undertook it to improve a weakness I felt I had with portraits. I was saying that I have such trouble with drawing hands that I was telling her that I should do a 100 day project with hands and feet! I don't know if I can do 100 of those, but drawing hands for this weekend was challenging and fun!

What is your experience with drawing hands and feet? Do you relish the challenge or find it easy?

Trip to Monterey in Comic Form

In Danny Gregory's Sketchbook Skool Polishing klass, he taught us to document our days in comic form. He said that the point is not really any one individual daily comic, but the accumulation of the days over time. I tried to do that, but realized that my daily activities are pretty routine and repeatable, and, frankly, not very exciting to motivate me to do it. But, on a recent trip to Monterey, Carmel, and Pacific Grove with friends, I found the idea of a daily comic as a usual and fun way to document and remember the activities we enjoyed and shared together. Here are my comics from that three day trip.

Progress on Athena Mixed Media Illustration

Juliana Coles's Sketchbook Skool Polishing klass has really inspired me. In working on illustrating a Greek mythology book with my friend, Steve Seinberg, I've found that using mixed media will allow me to incorporate all of the symbols and information Steve wants to convey about the goddess, Athena, visually.

I love Juliana's method of layering and adding to the piece over time as well as letting the art speak to you and become what it wants. Here are the first three phases of my Athena illustration.

What do you think? Any ideas for further phases/changes?

Playing with Koh-I-Noor Magic Pencils

I was inspired by Sktchy's weekend crosshatch challenge to pull out the Koh-I-Noor Magic multi-color pencils to do these drawings. It was fun!

Have you tried them? What do you think?

Another completed sketchbook!

I work on several sketchbooks at once, but I recently completed sketchbook 8 and put together this quick sketchbook tour.

And this more leisurely sketchbook tour.

Trip to Monterey

This weekend, I took a trip to Monterey, Carmel, and Pacific Grove with my friends, Julie and Sharon. I had a lot of fun introducing them to the Sktchy app and drawing them!

I drew this at lunch at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We had an awesome table with this lovely view.

Mixed Media Sketchbook Skool Homework

This week's Polishing klass for Sketchbook Skool is being taught by Juliana Coles who is a mixed media artist. In her klass, Juliana showed us how she layers mixed media on drawings to create multi-layered art that she continues to work on over the course of months or even years!

I tried Juliana's methods with a 5 minute sketch done with my figure drawing group. My friend, Steve, is writing a book on Greek mythology and has asked me to help him illustrate it. I started this mixed media piece with the goddess Athena in mind.

Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare

I plan to keep working on this further. What do you think of it?

Possible Athena? (16/100)

I'm exited to start working on illustrating a book about Greek mythology with my good friend, Steve. We are starting with Athena, the goddess of wisdom and warfare. All I know physically about Ahena is that she has gray eyes.

So, in doing my 16th portrait for the 100 day project, I thought I would look for an inspiration for Athena. I love Marissa Poetzl's light eyes in the inspiration photo for this drawing.

What do you think - does she look like a good Athena?

Portrait 15/100

This one was tricky with the angles, etc., but I loved drawing her hair!

Portraits 12, 13, and 14 for the 100 Day Project

For portrait 12: Love this bed head photo of Melons Moore on the Sktchy app.

For portrait 12, I received a request from Marianas Aurelius to draw her on Instagram. Here are my drawings with and without watercolor.

For my 14th portrait for the 100 day project, I received another request to draw Zhanna from Instagram.

Which do you prefer? Do you like them with or without watercolor?

More pet portraits

Another portrait of Charlie - with his big brother, Taiko - for my good friend, Sharon.

Here is a portrait of a cute cat from Sktchy.

Portrait 11/100

For my 100 day project of 100 portraits, here is the 11th.

Charlie

My good friend, Sharon, asked me to draw her cute pooch, Charlie. Here's my first sketch.

Portraits 7, 8 & 9

My 100 day project of 100 portraits continues!

Portrait for Sktchy's WAXWord - the word is Soapy!

Another completed sketchbook!

A couple of days ago, I finished another sketcbhook! I work on several different sketcbhooks at once, so it is always a pleasure for me to finally finish one! This one is a handmade coptic-bound sketchbook with Bristol paper.

Here is a speedy tour through my Sketchbook 15.

6/100 Portrait

Today was going to be a busy day. So, I started drawing a Sktchy portrait this morning before dropping my daughter off at school and posted the work in progress.

I was able to finish the drawing later in the day.

It was fun to draw!

5/100 Portrait

This is my 5th portrait for my 100 day project (#the100dayproject). I decided to draw Cindy Patrick on Sktchy because I admire her artwork and she has been very supportive of my 100 day project.

This was yet another instance of my inner critic/monkey telling me that my drawing was terrible and I should just scrap it and start over. But, I kept going and tried to ignore that inner critic. In the end, I really like it. Have you had battles with your inner critic? How have you been able to silence it? Are the battles ongoing?

Starting the 100 Day Project

I am getting addicted to drawing portraits and getting better by drawing people I don't know on Sktchy. In our Sketchbook Skool Polishing klass with Nelleke Verhoeff, Nelleke encouraged us to take on some projects doing things we love. So, I decided to start a 100 day project to draw portraits. One a day (though I may do more) for 100 days. You can read more about The 100 Day project here.

Here are my first few portraits for the 100 day project.