Cool stuff I work with...

For the next few months (as with the past few), I will be very busy in completing illustrations commissioned for a story book.  As beautiful as the drawings are turning out (if I may say so!), they are of course, sadly, not mine to share. So instead I would like to share with you some of the fabulous art materials I work with...

As far as pens go, I have found the Faber Castell Artist PITT range so delicious - a set of four, from Superfine, Fine, Medium to the thick soft Brush tip. With firm felt-tips, they are great for comic line work, quick sketching, monochrome and very detailed pointillism (to name a few!). They are also waterproof, which allows for watercolour washes over the top. I love the precision of the pens, giving very clean lines for a stark effect.

I have only two of the black PITT pens in my collection!

An example of pointillism for hair, using the Superfine Black

In addition to black, the range also comes in brown, which I think are superb for sepia drawings or simply a softer effect than the hard black.

Brown range

Graphite is just such a joy to work with! Recently, I bought a set of four graphite pencil sticks. In other words, they are solid graphite, shaped just like pencils, with no wood, and a thin plastic coating around the stems. This allows for wide, loose strokes as well as fine sharp lines. They have proven great for creative doodles at home, though they'd be just as lovely for facial portraits, landscapes, stills and really any study you'd like to have a go at. Great all-rounders.

The coolest graphite I've ever worked with!

See?

Just one word of advice: Don't visit The Deckle Edge with any large sum of money in your pocket! Or at least, I shouldn't.

Going astray...

Well, here we have a beloved brother about to wander off across a barren rocky scape. All it takes is an observant, caring friend to reason, maybe intervene. I found this picture on the great wide web, and instantly this analogy came to mind. So I have named the drawing "Brother please, not that way".

I know. They're just ants. But ants are pretty amazing. They make you think of yourself - we who are so much more complex, equipped and capable, yet so lacking in the same urgency of life, and dedication to service and wholeheartedness. They are an example in so many ways, and testify of the Greater Being they obey.

I stand all the more in awe of these tiny creatures, having attempted drawing their exquisite bodies. There is no single object or part that is simple, all work together beautifully, and are most aesthetically pleasing. The form reminds me of some incredibly sleek sci-fi sports car, finished to a high gloss and gorgeously designed.

The finished artwork: "Brother Please, not that Way"

I applied a Black & White photo effect, which I rather liked

My inspiration

What amazed me further, was these two ants, contrary to casual observation, were not exactly alike. Take the abdomens for example. The one on the right has clearly defined narrow black bands, while the left-hand ant has evenly sized segments of the same colour tone. The detail is mind-blowing. What else can I say...

Trigger happy...

Faces are so interesting to paint or draw. It is extremely satisfying to carefully study a photo and begin with those first tentative swoops and circles to determine the position and basic shapes of the face... and within a few hours have the person's eyes gazing at you from the paper.

In the case of this portrait, I have the benefit of knowing my subject personally. I say that is a benefit, as I feel I can slip in parts of the person's nature that I have observed, or tweak the expression very subtly to best express how I have come to know him/her. Of course, I do my best to accurately capture the picture, but always keeping in mind the character, the heart of this person as I draw.

Acrylic watercolours (starting with a light pencil sketch)

DOG: Drawn on the Go

Looking at this drawing now, I am once again reminded to rather use the grid method than copying by eye only! But I so badly want to get it right without such help! Surely it must be possible...

These are the sweethearts owned by my parents - two individually endearing characters. Let me introduce them thus: On the right, Baxter, the palest shade of grey from the tip of his nose the the end of his tail, capable of developing thoughts on extremely memorable occasions, and highly dependent on his masters for uplifting his ever downward emotional spiral with encouraging sweet-talk. He is the most loyal dog my parents have ever owned, and to crown it all, a purebred Weimaraner. Simon, on the left, a purebred Red Irish Setter, and of the softest silkiest pelt ever known to the canine kingdom. It to this we owe his sombre and regal demeanour, draped in many layers of nobility and wisdom (from the very hour he was born). 

Sadly, Simon is no longer alive. RIP sweet Simon; you were a delight to all who knew you!

The people of Rohan...

I always thought I wouldn't mind being a member of that horse country in Tolkien's tales of Rohan... The horse people... 

Well, here we have Eowyn - ahem, actually Miranda Otto - do forgive me! I liked the tenderness in her face in this photo, and found the design of her face so sweet. So I attempted a sketch, without a grid, and now you see what the results look like without some sort of map to aid your eye. It is strange - you compare and compare til your eyes hurt, and yet you can't figure out where the facial differences lie between your image and the photo!

One feature I can definitely pinpoint is the eye size and positioning - my copy has larger eyes, positioned a little too high.

Another artist suggested I add a background gradient, which I must agree makes the person stand out a lot better:

It is somewhat addictive, you know, copying faces... you start looking at people differently... * what a cool face to... draw*  *love those wrinkles, they'd look so cool in a painting...* *such sparkly eyes... wonder how you'd get them on paper*

Swift strokes

Lately I have been trying my hand at some linework and quick shading in black-and-white. It has been an encouraging phase for me, for as some of you will know, completing time-intensive artworks can become trying, especially when the results are disappointing!

Doing a few minute-long pieces has been quite fun therefore, simply copying any photo I fancy, without bothering about too much finesse. 

Some actors from Tree of Life, graphite stick

My husband's legs! Charcoal

Copies of random photos in graphite

Copy of the photo below, three delightfully beautiful young ladies who happen to be my friends too!

You can see why I was inspired to draw them!! Such beauties!

So, I believe this is improving my hand at mastering strokes with ease and drawing what I see more accurately...

Horses in striped pajamas...

A little friend of mine loves those fascinatingly decorated wild horses that roam our African plains. So I painted a pair for her birthday:

Watercolour acrylics

I was copying it from a picture I found online, and only realized halfway through that the image I was referring to was actually a painting!

The original (artist uncertain)

As always, I began with a pencil sketch, outlining the body shapes and even the stripes. If you look more closely at my painting (please don't!) you will actually see some stray graphite lines on the necks where I didn't erase enough. I could have actually spent a lot more time on shading the bodies to enhance the fine hairs and slightly off-white discolouration (they are wild beasts after all!). But this is what happens when you start preparing someone's gift on their very birthday!

The background was pretty fun, watching those gorgeous colours flow on the wet paper and swirl together all of their own accord. This is the joy of watercolours! They have a mind of their own, always an artistic flair to contribute as you paint, I daresay... I heavily wet the background around the zebras (doing so in about four sections, otherwise the water dries out before you reach all corners of the artwork). Then I selected and mixed several pretty colours, and very delicately dabbed them on the wet paper in several areas, maybe giving a flick here and there to aid mingling. The paper must be wet enough to cause the colours to start flowing spontaneously the moment they touch the paper. Tilting the page can also help intermingling. Using the brush to help mingling is not ideal as this tends to result in the colours mixing and forming more solid (and usually brown!) colours.

If you have watercolours, you might have fun just playing around on various sheets of heavy paper, making colours swirl together, and colouring in basic shapes/leaves/flowers, etc. It can be very rewarding, and it's a great way to get started, without expecting yourself to come up with some stupendous masterpiece...

Little things...

If you have noticed a lull in my blogging, it would be due to my occupation with illustrating a friend's book. It is proving an absorbing, highly creative (and time-intensive!) learning experience, not only in art, but also history, geography and culture.  I feel really blessed to have such an interesting, beautiful story for my first project!

Naturally these illustrations are not mine to share, so I have decided to give you a peek at some other gentle and little things I have drawn over time.

A birthday card

Copied from a photo

Getting ready to illustrate a children's story book soon!

A pair of old shoes - don't leather items just have their own kind of ageless beauty?

These "small" subjects tend to be quick to draw (20 minutes to half an hour), and make great adornments to gift cards, or a starting point to get yourself drawing. Using a photo or drawing from real life is very handy, as you will be able to physically study such things as the way light falls and reflects on your subject, or what elements compose the texture, or exactly what the silhouette shape is... and so forth!

Happy drawing!

The oldendays...

Currently I'm finding delightful challenge in ink drawings, influenced by the historic line-shading technique, the type usually depicting scenes from the 18th century and earlier. Two particular favourites of mine are by Albrecht Durer:

"Watermill at the Montaco"

"View of Arco"

Well, they are not exactly line drawings - perhaps only pen outlines used - but here is a better example of what I am referring to:

Pierre de Fermat, great French mathematician of the 17th century

Though I haven't exactly translated this style in the image below, I am still incorporating the technique to some degree. It is surprisingly difficult to accustom your hand to the neat flowing strokes and keeping the same width between them all the way!

Romanian gypsies

What really captured my attention was the beauty of motherly devotion and a touch of wild independence carried in their demeanor. This is why I am not entirely happy with my rendition - it doesn't quite capture their spirit. Here is the original:

I used a bit of charcoal for the pattern of her skirt, as well as shading the darker side of the wall, just to soften the stark pen lines.

A new technique - what can I say! Learning stroke by stroke...

Effervescence!

Do you know a sparkling character, with shining eyes and fiery spirit, delightful and fascinating as a kaleidoscope in its swirling colours? I know a sweet darling much like this, and upon finding a beautiful picture of her, I stowed it away for a quieter time when I might attempt capturing that lovely smile...

Little bridesmaid: The photo that inspired me

As you can see above, I began by using a grid, as is often done in portrait copying. This is a tremendous help in laying down your lines and proportions (providing both your grid and the one on the photo are identical!!) 

Another piece I'm busy with: example of the gridwork phase

I think I've learnt a lot simply through copying by eye, with the help of the grid to guide me. It definitely will improve one's unaided copying skills, and grasp of shapes from different perspectives.

 

As you can see, my grid must have been slightly stretched, as Bella's features are somewhat elongated in my rendition. A sure sign to be more precise with my grid copying!!

A beloved face...

About a month ago, equipped with my graphite pencil trio, an eraser and a ruler, I embarked on a sketching journey that unrolled before me in many miles of woven textile, as you will see below. (Or at least, so it felt.)

It was the first time I was beginning to capture my husband's facial to some degree of accuracy, and I was elated! 

Initial sketch

My husband found a mind-blowingly exhaustive website for art techniques, covering all topics from beginner's workspace and material recommendations, to mini courses on every classical drawing medium. You can find it here. He downloaded a PDF package which we have both been working through, and the material is undoubtedly very helpful. 

One of the tips I picked up from those notes, is sharpening your pencils on fine sandpaper or similar coarse surface. Apparently, and I can understand why, sharpeners wear down your pencils much too quickly. As I didn't have sandpaper, I hunted about for a stray brick, and found this grey one to be the perfect texture for working down my graphite tips to the desired shape. This is the other advantage of sanding over sharpening: you are able to fine-tune the exact shape and sharpness you are looking for.

Sharpening by sanding...

As Jonan my husband, loves textures, (especially when overlaid on photos and video animation!), I decided to draw in a woven textile in the background ("negative space", in fancy terms!). I looked up a nice strongly-defined fabric texture online, downloaded it, zoomed in very close and carefully studied the shadows and twists of each strand. Then I set about my long journey... It's been quite rewarding... But I must add, and most will understand, there is a certain point where your strongest desire is to see it finished!!

The final result: My wonderful, creative, kind-hearted husband!

So, at some point, I would like to be making beautiful life-like portraits, capturing those delightful special nuances of each character, just like Brenda Hoddinott...

Sowing and harvesting

Something I'm very passionate about - coaxing tasty delights out of the earth, from the early days of putting a small seed just beneath the soil's surface, to that breath-taking moment of plucking off a succulent reward, and transforming a plain meal into something bright and flavoursome...

Some of my current veggie crops (I do realize the radish is oversized, but it's such a beautiful creation to me!)

In this piece I used my Superfine Faber Castell pen, combined with watercolour Inktense pencils. As you can see, I am experimenting how to make water droplets and shadows, which are somewhat tricky. Please give suggestions if you have any!

My first garden harvest! So proud of them!

An imagined scene...

Sketching must be the most relaxing drawing style (for me, that is).

There seem to be three types of art subjects that I can think of right now: a) an art piece captured from a real life setting/image ; b) an imagined scene, yet true to real life ; and lastly c) a surreal imagined scene. Please comment with any other ideas you may have - I'd be very interested! I guess to that could also be added, d) graphic design art.

The below sketch is a type B art form. I made something from what I had in my mind, however unclear initially, and crystallized it on paper. At first, I couldn't exactly "see" it in my mind's eye, but I had a feel for what I wanted, and incorporated architecture and furniture that I have observed in the past and really liked. As this is all done from memory, there are bound to be technical errors in my designs, as these are purely from my perception of what I saw, without guidance of an image to correct what I thought I was seeing. 

I believe the keener an observer you become of the physical world, the more accurately you will draw and paint. Just take more note of what things actually look like, as you go about your day. I have so often been stumped, when I set myself to draw something from my mind's eye, and discovered I really did not know what it looked like! On the other hand, there are no doubt creative people who are able to conjure very detailed and specific creations in their minds, for conversion to art.

The Rapture

I combined many different snippets of elements I have picked up visually in the past - cracks in tiles, large tiles, old-fashioned windows, heavy wooden beams, pure cotton cloth, simple pitchers, fields of waving grasses... the list goes on. Things I really like!

Please comment if you have anything to contribute to these ramblings, I'd be delighted to hear...

Planted by the Rivers of Water

My first inspiration from Psalms...

The book of Psalms has been a close friend to me over the years, rich in nuggets of encouragement, personal emotional conflicts experienced by the great psalmist himself and how these matters tied in with his spiritual journey. In some way it deals with issues on  a very fine level and just unravels a knot in one's heart with a single breathtaking line or shared experience.

Planted by the Rivers
"He" (the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord) "shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper." Ps. 1:3

As you can see, this man is bearing a variety of fruits in different parts of himself. Some of us specialize in one kind of fruit of the Lord. This is treasured just as much! I think even wanting to bear fruit is the beginning of having "life more abundantly".

I used my INKTENSE pencils (and water for blending) to create this image, first sketching the outlines in pencil, and then gradually building up the colour. I laid down very soft general washes or each colour region, ie. shades of green and yellow over the river banks, blue and indigo in the river (leaving lots of white areas), and of course various browns for the tree bark.

Once the first layer had dried, I detailed the leaves, fruit, grasses, exposed earth and water using the same pencils. I enjoyed experimenting with different colours to create shadows and nuances and even used some Fuschia in the tree trunk! And Peacock Blue in the shady grass... Sometimes such splashes help bring a picture more to life, just using an unexpected colour where most people would agree they are seeing, say, brown only.

More to follow soon...!

Dots and crosses...

I have been thoroughly inspired by Albrecht Durer's works, after a friend mentioned his sketching style to me. What an engaging pen technique! I wanted to try my hand at it immediately after scanning through rows and rows of these masterpieces.

I know this particular artwork has been prolifically reproduced into countless forms since its creation, and might perhaps best be given a breather to simply be appreciated in its original loveliness. But what can I say - I fell into the same temptation of so many before me, eagerly reached for my Superfine Faber Castell and 4B Staedtler, and before I knew it, the lines were weaving together on my page... and yet another rendition of this work was born. All I can say is, it was a wonderful experience, and I was a little sad when I had to persuade myself it was actually done, any more might spoil it... 

A study of Albrecht Durer's "Praying Hands"
Superfine Faber Castell PITT Artist Pen on 120gsm sketch paper

Original by Durer - thank you Wikipedia!

Those hands really speak to me of the person they belong to - something tender and simple in his heart intermingled with the weathering and humility brought by hardship. Well-used hands too I would say, judging from the "milking muscle" next to his thumb! I'm sure he was a vegetable gardener too...

There are a few more artworks lined up for sharing, so have a peek again tomorrow!

Dust in the dusk...

This is something I've wanted to try for a while - the great equine creatures fighting! I think these ones are prancing around each other, looking for the moment to attack...

Fire at Sunset - you could say the ground is aglow with their fury!

And very exciting news!!! My Derwent Art Academy pencils arrived in the post! You should have seen me, so ecstatic! These are gorgeous Inktense pens - specially designed for being blended with a wet or damp paintbrush. I shaded the above image with them.

Eighteen marvelous colours, with delicious names like "Thistle", "Bark" and "Baked Earth"...

Just this morning I had the idea to work through the book of Psalms, my most loved book, bringing its imagery to my pencil and paintbrush tips. I look forward to sharing this adventure with you...

This may take a while, as I am also engaged with illustrating my children's story book, Pobble in a Pickle. So far I have sketched the storyboard, as well as the first few images, which await the embellishment of watercolour!!

Ah, just the thought of those Inktense pencils make me happy!! Excuse me, I must go draw...

Rustling in the leaves...

Aren't watercolours just delightful?

I simply used a downloaded photo that I really liked and outlined the facial features and leaves in pencil. I actually took a bit of time on this stage, to be sure I was happy with the kitten's expression, as I kept coming up with an endless variety of naughty faces! The kitty in the photo actually looked a little scared and vulnerable - but that is the beauty of interpreting an image in your own way. Every person will produce something quite unique from anyone else, and which only that person can put onto paper.

Rustling in the leaves - watercolour acrylics