So, I got contacted by some suppossedly American guy for a commision on his son's dog. He sent a couple of pretty nice pics of it and I did this sketch. In the end it all turned out to be a very ellaborate scam, which I luckily realized before any harm was done. At any rate, I loved drawing this dog and I didn't even know I could create this because it's totally different from what I usually do. I value the experience I got out of this, overall, but be cautious out there. I've been victim to scam attempts four times in a month lately. Instagram is a wild place right now.
I first bought some cheap soft pastels back in 2018 and did a couple of sketches. I bought a nice set of Rembrandt pastels a few months later — didn't use them. I bought some pastel pads, none if which seemed right. September 2020, I bought a couple more sets of bargain pastels and tried a couple of pieces — no good, still couldn't bring myself to use them. Jess bought me pastel pencils for Christmas — I was too scared to use them. I even bought a pad of Pastelmat which is supposed to be THE paper to use for pastel paintings in January. I was too scared to use that as well!
FINALLY, after a few unsuccessful attempts at working with watercolour (brush issues), I cast aside my fear and thought I'd mess around with pastels. Some time later, and this was the result. I've finally broken through my pastel fear-barrier.
I've got to say, I love soft pastels and I'm excited about doing more pieces in this medium.
I try to do a couple of birds a week (obviously don't post them all). This is based on an on-line photo reference drawn with a "soft" Palomino Blackwing pencil and a 4B Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth Progress woodless pencil. Hence the dark velvety black.
I’ve started to feed a couple of strays in my area. Some have clearly been on the streets their whole lives, look very unwell, and have not been spayed/neutered. I wish I could take them all in and get them over to see a vet.
Sketchbooking today, just moved and am unpacking.
I used a reference to draw this scenery. In the reference there was so many details that I really wanted to capture it. I even wanted to capture the details in the bride’s wedding dress. I think the groom looks quite handsome in blue (it’s HIS color as some people might say). I incorporated the long, beaded line under the bushels of flowers (just another element to add to an already beautiful scene). Also, as you can see, I added an audience watching the couple as they have their picture taken. The flowers spread along the table with the view of the wavy waters right behind them looks so refreshing. Every element served its purpose for the ultimate “moment to remember” feeling. One of my favorite things about this drawing is the string lights. It’s one of the smallest items to have, but they add character and charm to the scenery. The string lights give a romantic feel and is even more gorgeous at night. I enjoyed doing this drawing so much that I anticipated the second I’d be finished with it.
This image illustrates a Chinese fairy-tale from the 6th Century. Girl Weaver neglects her heavenly duties to spend her life on earth with the Goat Herd, this invokes the wrath of her family who force them to live apart. They are brought together for one day a year when a flock of tender-hearted magpies form a bridge to reunite them. This legend is still celebrated in China on the 7th night of the 7th month with a summer festival full of symbolism for newly-wed couples.
So you remember a couple days ago, when I made that paper doll, and I said I'd post a picture of her in her clothes? Yeah, well, I lied. I made a new OC, and I was just too excited not to post them. Their name is Kawehi (which you might have already guessed from the title) and I would have drawn their dragon, Silver, with them, but I unfortunately can't draw dragons. I drew and inked them on paper and then colored them digitally, since I have a pitifully small selection of markers.
So I did one of these with a couple of friends over on dA, where we each sketch something then ink the lines of someone else, and digitally colour the third, and as they both chose to draw their characters I scrapped the squid-creature idea to jump on the bandwagon as well! I need no excuses to draw Verus
Finally done! I worked on this for most of the evening and well into the night yesterday. I was so excited to finish it. I did stencil in the letters, but it took so long to paint them in. I bought the board a couple days ago at Hobby Lobby and finished the sign around about 10 minutes ago. Let me know what you think in the comments. (I am aware that the girls foot isn’t hanging down. I’m kinda leaning towards leaving it the way it is.)
Many years back, I watched that documentary ‘The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off’ about a fellow called Jonny Kennedy who lived with the skin condition EB. There’s a bit in that film where he talks about what he hopes his afterlife would be like and, for whatever reason, a couple of coffees as I was re-reading the Wikipedia article about it triggered an idea I had to scribble down...
This coloured drawing I was working on for the past few days, wasn't very successful as I failed to properly bring the elements together. A few mistakes were made along the way, even if I managed to compensate for them quite a bit. But yea... There were a couple day's worth of journaling done on this one as I tried to make it a learning lesson.
For the 31st and final day of Maycean, today it's love's turn.
For this day, I decided to make an adorable turtle couple getting to know each other on the beach. Thank you all for enjoying these drawings. I hope you liked them
In this sketch, I drew myself during the time I lived in Kyiv for a couple of months.
It was one of those clear, sunny days when you really want to go outside - but all my friends were busy, and I was too tired of wandering around alone.
So I just sat on the carpet, staring out at the balcony, watching the blue sky, the clouds... and the occasional freshwater seagull flying by
