Category: Sktchy

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Art Art theory Drawing Gouache Painting People Portrait Sktchy Sktchy

Alexander’s Analogous Bathroom Selfie in Lavender

Alexander H from his bathroom selfie on Sktchy, 8x8" on watercolor paper
Alexander H from his bathroom selfie on Sktchy, 9×8″ on watercolor paper

Analogous colors sit beside each other on the color wheel. For this gouache experiment with analogous colors, I chose Dioxazine Purple, Quinacridone Magenta, and Pyrole Red; basically a violet, a red-violet and a red. Plus white of course. My favorite gouache paints are M. Graham, especially their white, which is so wonderfully creamy.

Normally when I paint I try to match the colors I see, so painting with arbitrary colors is a very different approach for me, one that requires focusing more on value and warm/cool relationships. There was no way I’d get “normal” skin colors with this combo of colors. Below is my original sketch on Xerox paper which I then transferred to watercolor paper.

Initial sketch
Initial sketch

One funny thing about this Sktchy gouache class is that the teacher seems to pick reference photos of people I never would have chosen. The photo reference for this lesson: a guy seemingly looking in his bathroom mirror when he woke up in the morning. It didn’t inspire me, but maybe the combination of a non-interesting photo and the experiment with color took the pressure off so I could just play. I had so much fun with this one!

Photo reference from Sktchy
Photo reference from Sktchy
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Art Gouache Portrait Sktchy Sktchy

Trying Gouache Again

Gouache portrait, 10×8 inches on Arches CP Watercolor paper

I’ve studied gouache before as in this post with color charts and several other times over the years. This month I’ve been participating in the “Sktchy 30 Faces in 30 Days – Gouache and Watercolor” challenge with a different artist demonstrating their way of painting a portrait in either watercolor or gouache each day.

The first gouache demo was presented by Jordan M. Rhodes (@jmr_art on Instagram) who I’ve been following on IG for a long time. I tried to paint along with him but kept on struggling. I ended up taking much longer, painting multiple layers until I was able complete it with some degree of satisfaction. And of course it took me several hours just to get the drawing right-ish first.

My preliminary drawing
Reference photo

I had hoped that doing this 30 day challenge would force me to work faster, but nope. It wasn’t until I got to the next gouache class that I picked up the insights that have given me much more confidence and better skills, which I’ll write about when I share the next portrait.

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Drawing Faces People Portrait Sktchy Sktchy

Rainbow Hair and a Pretty Pointy Profile Pic

Ioana F from Sktchy, pencil and colored pencil, 10x8 inches
Ioana F from Sktchy, pencil and colored pencil, 10×8 inches

I was inspired to sketch Ioana because of her brilliant hair color (see her photo on Sktchy here) and because a dear friend had to shave her head while undergoing chemo and I was looking for photos of beautiful bald women to share with her. (Ioana also posted photos of herself with a shaved head on Sktchy.) Maybe when my friend finishes her treatment and her hair grows back she’ll dye it shades of pink and orange to celebrate.

Profile sketch from internet photo, pencil, 10x8 inches
Profile sketch from internet photo, pencil, 10×8 inches

This sketch was done to practice profile drawing which I find difficult. She has such an unusual facial structure as you can see in the photo below, but somehow looks beautiful despite the pointy chin and long nose and big ears. She looks nervous about it all in my sketch.

Reference photo from somewhere on the internet
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Art Drawing Faces People Portrait Sktchy

Aleksandra Again and Again

Aleksandra Final Pencil Sketch
Aleksandra Final Sketch, pencil, 10×8″

I worked on making a portrait of Aleksandra over and over for a couple of months (see the terrible work below). I finally surrendered and chose a different photo of her. The drawing above went smoothly and I did it in one afternoon. (Sktchy photo reference for above sketch.)

What originally inspired me to paint her was the bright yellow-green background in this Sktchy photo. But I learned the hard way that selfies shot close up distort the features and shape of the face.

Our eyes and brains automatically correct for things like photo distortion and lighting, but trying to draw exactly what is there from a distorted photo doesn’t work unless you’re ok with a distorted drawing. Sometimes that can make for a fun caricature, but in this case I was trying to capture a complimentary likeness of a pretty woman.

Below are some of the failed attempts. The first colored image is an oil painting with about 15 layers of failed attempts beneath the final failed attempt. The second colored image is a gouache painting that I put too much paint on, tried to wash some off, then gave up because the sketchbook paper was ruined.

Last six attempts including a failed oil painting (top row) and gouache (bottom row).

Below are the really terrible initial drawings.

Early attempts, some with imposed corrections
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Art Drawing Faces Sktchy

Sketch of Zoey K.

Zoey K from Sktchy. Graphite on copy paper. 8 x 8 inches.

My pencil drawing can’t do justice to her bright red hair (see her photo on Sktchy here) but I’m still limiting myself to pencil to improve my portrait drawing skills.

I’m trying to work out how to address the distortion that is in almost every selfie because of the wide angle lens held close to the face. Perhaps the best solution is to just go with it and not worry about realism. Maybe everyone is used to seeing each other via selfies and that’s what we think people look like now anyway?

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Art Drawing People Portrait Sktchy Sktchy

Calm, Gentle Bette

Quick Sketch of Bette G. from Sktchy, graphite on Xerox paper, 11x8 inches
Quick Sketch of Bette G. from Sktchy, graphite on Xerox paper, 11×8 inches

I’m finding myself attracted to sketching people who radiate peace and kindness which is calming in the midst of all the intensity in the news. This was a quick afternoon sketch from last month. You can see her reference photo on Sktchy here.

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Art Faces People Portrait Sktchy Sktchy

Yikes! Really, 2021?

Sketch of Eegan from Sktchy, graphite on paper, 11x8.5 inches
Sketch of Eegan from Sktchy, graphite on paper, 11×8.5 inches

And that’s about all I have to say about 2021 so far! Yikes!

You can see the original photo reference on Sktchy here.

Categories
Art Colored pencil art Drawing Faces People Portrait Sktchy

Happy New Year Flower Garland with Onlooker

Happy Flower Garland with Onlooker, graphite and colored pencil on paper, 11x8"
Happy Flower Garland with Onlooker, graphite, colored pencil, 10×8″

When I saw the reference photo on Sktchy for this drawing, I loved the happy smile on this guy’s face and the perplexed expression of the man in the car next to his. It expresses my feelings for the new year: grateful, happy optimism for better days ahead and the dismayed confusion and general WTF for last year.

Here’s to a joyful, healthy and less socially distanced 2021!

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Art Drawing Faces People Portrait Sktchy Sktchy

Sketching Zel and How to Draw Glasses

Zel K from Sktchy, graphite on paper, 11×8.5″

I watched artist and teacher Mike Creighton draw Zel K. during Sktchy’s free Saturday morning YouTube stream last week and decided to draw him myself. You can see the photo reference of Zel on Sktchy here.

Mike taught a great way to draw glasses at about 22 minutes in on the video.

Screenshot from Sktchy video linked above.

First draw the rectangle into which they fit, getting the perspective and angles right, then just round off or embellish to match the shape of the glasses. What a game changer!

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Art Faces People Portrait Sktchy Sktchy

Sketching Someone’s Surprised Son

Tina Wayne's Son from Sktchy, graphite, 14x11"
Tina Wayne’s Son from Sktchy, graphite, 14×11″

I loved the photo of this adorable young man looking surprised, with his big wide eyeballs and even his hair seeming to stand on end with shock. It was really fun to draw!

You can see the photo reference of whatTina Wayne says is her “goofball son” on Sktchy here.