Putting the painting of the newt aside for now.
It was not going as I hoped (see previous post)...I still have ideas but feel like I need to work on some things before progressing. Thinking it was the eyes, so decided to work on some studies. These creatures do have fascinating eyes!
I pride myself for not being into internet drama or spreading gossip, but i do have a guilty pleasure. Mohammad agbadi is a youtuber who talks about problems with the art community, like tracing, theft, harassing and difficulties with etnic representation. Hopefully he wouldnt mind me borrowing his face to practise drawing black men... even though i heavily overworked his skin.
The Queer Old Man is a solid wood puppet head created more than 50 years ago if not more. The eyes of the character are a radiant blue and the carved structure of the face is expressive and bold.
Doodling will give you ideas for projects that you didn't expect. The characters for my book, Flight of the Silk, came from sketches. This picture is one illustration for the book.