Another week, another quick portrait

 

I love seeing how much depth I can get using just one coloured pencil for my portrait sketch. Probably need to work on some happier faces....my faces tend to look a little sad and pensive, eh? *LOL*

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Workspace Wednesday - this week's quick portrait sketch

 

Taking baby steps back into adding more creative time to my schedule. Haven't drawn a portrait in 3 months...and it felt pretty good to draw a face again. I like to use a coloured pencil because it forces me to be more deliberate in my mark-making since I can't erase the marks.

Hope you are having a great week so far!

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Thursday's desk- back to colured pencil portraits

 

So this gal is dipping her toes back into coloured pencils portraits...and the progress is slow. *LOL*

But it's a new sketchbook and the hardest part (the first page) is done. Let's fill up this sketchbook! :)

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A week in quick portrait sketches

 

I have really been enjoying these quick portrait sketches as I "warm up" to ease myself back into drawing/painting portraits.

I decided to challenge myself to work on angled faces...

The goal is just to get the placement of the features in the "right" spots.

I used only 1 coloured pencil so I wasn't able to get much depth.

And I used coloured pencils so that the mark-making is deliberate as I can't erase any "mistakes".

Then I. progressed to using 2 shades of the same colour - a mid-tone and a darker shade - so that I can create shadows and get more depth.

I can see myself making slight improvements with each portrait sketch. What do you think? Should I dive right back in to full-colour portraits? *winks*

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Tuesday's portrait drawing

 

So this girl finally got started on her portrait drawing again...clearly needs a lot more practice but it's the start of a portrait sketchbook! *high fives all around*

Here's a 30 minute monochromatic portrait sketch with one coloured pencil. :)

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Mixed Media Monday - a baby portrait and signing off for the year

 

Hello friends! I'm sharing mixed media baby portrait today....which I started painting in watercolour back in September but never completed because I was obsessed with watercolour florals. *winks*

It was bugging me so I decided to just finish off the piece with some coloured pencils (they have been neglected for months too).  I think he looks cute...a little startled but cute. *LOL*

A big "thank you" to you for supporting this little blog in 2021. I did try to post on all week days with a few missed days because I was just to tired to post at the end of a long day (yep all posts were in real-time this year instead of scheduling weeks ahead like I used to do..because I was mostly at home). This was a challenging year in terms of time management but I survived! :)

I'll be baking for the rest of the week till Christmas...and then just chillaxing till we bid adieu to 2021. Happy holidays friends! Stay safe! See you in 2022! :)

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Another portrait practice - playing with shadows

So I have always stayed away from sketching shadows because I find them really hard! And the faces tend to end up looking like they have "dirt" on their faces..*winks* But I decided to give it a go. Props to you if you can identify who this person is.  Because she couldn't recognize herself in the drawing but when I showed her the reference photo, she said  it looked like the photos! *LOL*

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Another pastel portrait

I'm definitely way way behind in my #the100dayproject this year. But I am happy with the portrait pieces that I did complete. :)

These days I find myself really drawn to my pastel pencils. I feel like a kid playing with chalk...mistakes are easily correctable and your hands get really dirty. You can't really get sharp details but the blurry effect is very flattering for portraits.

Like most of my portraits, I'm never done. Of course I thought I was done when I took photos of this portrait but as I was writing this post, I know where I need to go make adjustments once I finish this post. *LOL*

Happy month ahead friends! :)

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Workspace Wednesday - pastel portrait

So I have been having some fun with my Derwent pastel pencils...I've only kept them unused for about 8 months... *LOL* This is my latest portrait drawing using them. Can you tell who this is?

As always, my initial sketch always leaves more to be desired. I mean I try but the ugly stage for me starts early into the sketch..*winks* Luckily pastel is a rather forgiving medium because you just use your fingers to blend and things tend to to look artistically blurry. *hahaha* 

Here's the portrait mid-way through...when I decided that maybe I went too much into the dark side. *hehehe*

So I thought I should add some colour to bring some life back to the portrait. And yes, the teeth struggle was real. With my sister, I either get the chipmunk smile or the "look at my dazzling white teeth and give me a toothpaste commercial" smile. Which was why I never attempted to draw her portrait. Until now.. Plus the two others I sketched as a warm up practice prior to see if I could draw her teeth...*she said that those were ugly and she looked much nicer in person*

And if you were wondering why I was so "thorough" in my drawing to even colour in the background, Wonder no more. I got the background dirty (pastels smear rather easily) and had to do the usual cover up job. ;)

But I think I did a decent job. Kind of looks like her right? *high fives all around*

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Mixed Media Monday - portrait on wood panel

Hello friends! This week's Mixed Media Monday is a portrait on a wood panel - just 1 of the 100 portraits I'm hoping to complete in #the100dayproject2020.

The mixed media wood panel is one of a series of 3 which I did previously when I planned to do a triptych and never got round to actually doing it (story of my life *winks*). Anyway, since I had 3 of them, I thought it would be perfect for my pal Lizzy Hill's 3 grandboys from son #1. (Yep son#2 also has a boy...lots of boy portraits coming your way...*LOL*)

I did a rough sketch with a willow charcoal stick...just to ascertain the size and placement of features.

Then I went in with acrylic paints and inks....

I thought that using acrylic paints and inks to paint a portrait would be much faster than using coloured pencils. Which is. In theory. Unless you are me. Any guesses how many times I painted and repainted each eye? *hahaha*

Plus it was challenging to paint on the uneven wood panel that I had previously threw paint and inks all over.

I had fun though. And since I already told Lizzy she would be getting these for Christmas, I have no choice but to complete the other 2 (which I have already started...and clearly repainted a few times ...hehehe).

Here's the reference photo I used. Lizzy recognized Ollie straight away so I think I did okay. What do you think?

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Mixed Media Monday - Portrait #2 from #the100dayproject2020

Yes, I believe it's day 21 of #the100daychallenge2020 and your girl here has done a grand total of 2 portraits....just 98 more to go! *wish me luck please*

Of course, the first one I did was in monochrome so it was totally necessary to up the ante for portrait #2 and do it in colour. You know how I like to stress challenge myself.

I kept to a limited colour palette to challenge myself further.

Photo credit: Cindy Lee

And also decided to attempt another baby portrait because babies are cute and a little more challenging to draw. This little cutie is my pal Cindy's baby boy Ashton. I was supposed to be in Penang last month to meet this little guy...but for now, this portrait will do. :)

P/s: This was done on a 9x12inch toned gray sketch paper with Faber Castell Polychromos coloured pencils and a Posca paint marker for highlights. I might need to draw smaller portraits or work with faster mediums in order to reach my goal by the end of the deadline. Will I be able to do it? *winks*

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#the100dayproject - 100 portraits...check out my first one!

Photo credit: Tim Isaac 

So #the100dayproject officially started on April 7 and your gal here started hers yesterday. Yep, she's behind by 15 days and needs to play major catch-up. *LOL*

Of course, she decided to choose the challenging task of drawing 100 portraits in the duration. *dramatic music plays in the background*

Seriously though, I haven't drawn in weeks. You know that I really enjoy my sketching at cafes while enjoying a cuppa. With the lockdown, I've pretty much stopped sketching. *sad music plays in the background* Of course, I was strong-armed (virtually) by my pals Lizzy Hill and Cindy Lee to get started on my #the100dayproject. So yesterday, I got started. *high fives all around*

I've decided to do 100 portraits of family and friends using the different mediums in my large arsenal of art supplies. My plan is to get them framed and give them as Christmas pressies. Yeah...go me, starting on Christmas pressies in April!

Anyway, portrait #1 is my sweet nephew E! I snagged his cute photo off his daddy's FB account yesterday to use as a reference photo.

What do you think? Would you like your portrait to be in my line-up? *winks*

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