I’m 32 days into a 100 day project of little paintings to reclaim moments of creative joy with no strings attached – a daily reminder of what made me want to be an “artist” in the first place. I’m posting daily on my Instagram account @stephdillondesign
This is part of a beautiful moment that was created as I was painting on these mini watercolour sheets. During the journey, I painted around 5 paintings. This is the first painting I painted during my train journey. A group of girls ( students ) got excited when I showed some of my paintings. So I gifted them this. More on the way ....
I’m often asked about my Bic pen drawings and how I do them. It starts with a good foundational drawing, the ballpoint pen part is just trying to colour within the lines. I try to do my best to explain the process, but the best way to show my progress is by posting my efforts to master pen drawings over the span of 3 or so years. I have been doodling/drawing with ballpoint pens as far back as I can remember - they were cheap, readily available and always lying around the house. It wasn’t until I was bored during a particularly long team meeting-conference call (around 2016-17) that I started to think about the possibilities of ballpoint pens as serious portrait illustration tools. My first experiments with full colour ink portrait drawings were rather crude, but that’s the point of learning new techniques—as long as the curiosity and the love of drawing is there, you can transfer that skill and passion into any medium. Remember, the most exquisite drawings and paintings you see didn’t materialise fully formed, they started out as failed experiments. Failure after failure after failure. It’s important to remember this when you get discouraged (I've failed spectacularly over the years). The only difference between the accomplished artist and the beginner is hundreds of hours of practice. Talent can only get you so far. It’s the hard work that you do behind the scenes that makes your work look effortless. Keep doodling. Keep learning. Stay curious.
This is the 5th piece that I painted during my train journey. I painted this scene after passing so many bridges, i was wondering how the people from below might see us when the train is crossing the bridge. A group of girls ( students ) got excited when I showed some of my paintings. So I gifted one of them this (●'◡'●)
These are some of the first paintings I ever did. I did them about 2 years ago. I've done more since but these will always be special to me since they were my first try using acrylic
Gouache on paper, this was my second time using gouache, I’m pretty happy with the medium! And will do more gouache paintings whenever I’m not doing oil
I've combined Inktober and Drawlloween to create a bunch of big ink-wash paintings of horror themes. I'm really excited about these!!! I can't wait to have 31!
This is an acrylic painting that I made for someone I was close to. We would often take turns of one of us being overly affectionate and the other being playfully annoyed. I tried to capture this dynamic in the painting of these two owls. This painting was an experiment in portraying animals, something I don't do often, and using my paint knife as a tool in my paintings.
Cont. to work on BnW illustrations, I wanted to focus on making the reflections have a realistic quality. I struggle with clouds, but I felt I was most refined here. My BnW's seem to have so much more life and expression than my paintings. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
A penguin. Digital watercolor base with oils overtop. I wanted to try to paint it like those traditional animal paintings from ages ago. I gave them an ear piercing for the challenge and kept it at that. They're stuck up; they don't need much. ;P
This is the 4rth piece that I painted during my train journey. I painted this scene after getting mesmerised by the view from the train window. It was Day 1, evening, 4 pm. We were passing through mountains and lakes. A group of girls ( students ) got excited when I showed some of my paintings. So I gifted one of them this (●'◡'●)
This is the 2nd piece that I painted during my train journey. I painted this scene after getting mesmerised by the view from the train window. We just passed by a lake which had flowers on the riverbank. A group of girls ( students ) got excited when I showed some of my paintings. So I gifted one of them this (●'◡'●)
I'm starting a new art challenge #whimsicalByMamaminia
Art challenges are an excellent way to stay motivated. They are great for creating consistently in one style.
I fell in love with gouache paintings with a whimsy touch when I discovered Ruth Wilshaw.
It's my first attempt at creating an illustration with a whimsical accent
These are just some random paintings I had done a while ago when I was experimenting a lot with watercolor and I wasn't too thrilled about them at first. I have since looked back on them and actually think they are quite nice.
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 had some 5x7 postcards produced if you're looking for some whimsical paintings to frame or use to mail to friends. I'll throw some stickers in with each order.
Hello guys. I just found this website and its seems really cool. I paint now and then and this is one of my paintings. I received a school assignment for my art class to do an artwork based on the society. Without doubting i chose my theme which is "body type". A very close friend of mine belongs to the not so "accepted" body types and it has been a really though time for her even though she doesn't really show her emotions. I painted a girl vs another girl with an atmosphere around them, based on their looks. U can see the difference on how they bring themselves to the society just by looking at their body position. So how the society influence their mental state.(I can only post 1 pic so the next post will be of the another girl) I got a B+ \(^O^)/
