After last month's daily cartoon challenge, it has taken two weeks to "recharge" with regards to my sketching. I lacked motivation and nothing really inspired me until the weekend when my youngest son brought his baby to stay with us this week.
I first worked the drawing of his 2 1/2 year old Yellow/Chocolate Lab (Lola) and then tonight worked our little 12 year old Yorkipoo (Miya).
Procreate using BeeJayDel's pencil brush tools 4B and 6B (LOVE his pencil brush tools!!)
This finalizes the 31 day challenge following along with BeeJayDel's tutorials on drawing Halloween cartoon characters. Anyone who's interested in learning Procreate and/or drawing cartoon figures, he has a great YouTube channel with all sorts of videos you can follow along with....not just Halloween.
He also has a Facebook page and a website where anyone who's interested can purchase his special designed Procreate brushes. I have purchased most of them and have to say they are my go-to brush tools to use for sketching in pencil and for inking. Love his texture brush tools as well!
For my other two blogger posts related to this:
Days 13-24
Normally I work the yearly Inktober challenge but for some reason I just wasn't motivated this year to mess with it. I'm so thankful I stumbled across this man's YouTube channel that gave me an wonderful alternative that was a blast to do each day. I have learned so much from this...not just additional things my app can do but also a totally different subject and style!! What a refreshing change!!!
Finished yesterday's tutorial (the Witch) this afternoon completing another page of twelve days.
Only seven more days to go. I'll work on today's tutorial tonight and tomorrow.
It's been days since I last posted as I have been engulfed in a unique challenge helping me learn the ins and outs of using Procreate.
Although I've used the app for several years, I only touched the surface of what it offers people with digital artwork. This challenge teaches techniques beyond the basics and I am grateful. Such a fun way to learn too.
The challenge is presented by BeeJayDel on Facebook and his YouTube channel. Instead of Inktober (which I normally work each year), he chose to produce a video each day of a Halloween cartoon character. He invites people to draw along with him and then share their efforts.
Because I didn't come across his channel until well into the month, I have been playing catch-up working four (sometimes three depending on the complexity) each day. I have finally caught up.
So far here are twelve of the days I have completed. Tonight or tomorrow I should be able to share another twelve days. Below image I share just what I have learned.
Thinking back, I remember the unique furnishings my grandmother had in her apartment when living in West Virginia. A few of her glass accents I remember being made of green or blue glass to include glass top end tables and a coffee table. When she moved to Florida with my Mom, most of her household furnishings were sold but she did keep a few items, which includes an old curio cabinet I absolutely love, a green glass lamp and two off white or bone colored Cherub lamps!!
It is from one of the Cherub lamps I chose to capture a partial pattern to sketch.
This month was my friend's turn to choose a subject for our monthly challenge. The challenge involves drawing or painting a mirror up against a background (e.g. a wall) with a light over-head. We also have to include reflections as our main focal point.
I chose to go with a corner in my bathroom with only some of what's being reflected on the right with more showing in the reflection. I do not get into all the composition rules or elements of design but instead just try to record what I see without worrying about rules and guidelines. Sometimes my results might fit the typical rules but it's not because I plan it that way.
Honestly with this..........I doubt I achieved what my friend was hoping for with regards to the reflections being THE focal point. Regardless, this was fun to do and quite a challenge with perspective with all the angles involved. The fancy light fixture above the mirror was tricky so I basically just suggested it without getting too fussy for fear of feeling overwhelmed.
Seems like I'm on a streak right now with sketching. I'm taking advantage while it lasts.
This first one was practicing John's method of drawing birds by first using shapes. This is not my normal way of working but I like to try different methods from time to time.
The Black Cap is one of my all-time favorites. Love their chatter! This was worked during a late-night where I couldn't sleep. I worked the bird first and then added the rest afterwards just to fill the white space.
Yesterday hubby was out working in the yard when approached by our Neighbor. He had two vases he wanted me to have...both made of marble.
Our neighbor who's family is from Taiwan used to own several stores that carried crafted Taiwan merchandise. The vases are two such items he used to sell. Both were in their original boxes he had stored after closing down the stores. They are from 40 years ago.
One is a large, very heavy, two-in-one vase by flipping it...something I've never seen before. The other is a small one with a very intricate design. I love both but my favorite is the smaller one because of the size and design.
Worked in Procreate by first working a line drawing, completely filling in the black areas and then working over the black with white for the design. Various brush tools were used for this one, to include:
Inking / Studio Pen, Sketching / HB Pencil, Airbrushing / Soft Airbrush, Charcoal / Carbon stick, Elements / Water (for marbling effect).
The berries are from last year Terry cut from a palm tree. What's neat about the berries is the fact they dried hard rather than shriveling up or getting mushy.
Although we have resident hummingbirds, there are months where we don't see them around the feeder. We've noticed within the last week we are seeing quite a bit of activity...probably with the migration of those from the North.
Stillman and Birn Alpha / Staedtler Mars Lumograph 2B
This time of year our oak tree drops millions of these little acorns. These little treasures hurt if stepped on barefoot and I'm one who hates wearing shoes.
Found this twig with acorn caps still attached after a night of gusty winds.
Quick pencil sketching using Staedtler Mars Lumograph 2B pencil in Alpha sketchbook.
Not sure exactly what type of rose this is but I was told it fell under the wild rose. This rose sends out long trailers that will climb anything near it. Dad had a very large tree at the side of his house and it grew beneath it, sending it's trailers all around climbing up into the tree. It was absolutely gorgeous!!!
While living in West Virginia, dad gave us a starter, which we planted at the front corner of our house. We had a trellis made that it climbed and continued doing so up and across the railing of our porch. Our porch was above the garage or what some might consider a second level of the house.
When we moved, we brought with us a starter that is still growing in a pot. We're really not sure if it will survive in the ground here in Florida with sandy soil or where exactly to place it due to the harshness of the sun, so we've left it in a pot. After six years of being here, it's never flowered but continues to grow. Unfortunately nothing like it did up north and the leaves tend to get black spot probably due to the high humidity here.
I like sketching and painting this particular type of rose. It's my favorite of all the rose varieties. Going through photos I have from years back, I decided to sketch it again. First in my sketchbook in ballpoint pen and then decided I also wanted to work variations on my Ipad using Procreate. After I finished the digital versions, I went back to the sketchbook and added color using watercolor.
Here are the results:
Having two accounts and playing two individual Animal Crossing games, my youngest son asked that I sketch my characters I created in each game.
One game is playing in the Northern Hemisphere (my first and main game) that follows our seasons (which is going into Autumn) and the other game is playing in the Southern Hemisphere which seasons are opposite (going from Winter into Spring). I'm doing this so I can enjoy the various species of fish, bugs, and sea creatures based on the different seasons without having to wait all year long to finish my museum.
With my main game, my character is an older version of me showing where I wear my hair back all the time and gray in color. In the second game, I set myself up as a younger version of me when I actually wore my hair down and before the natural highlighting started to take place.
Notice both show me barefoot and that's me.........I hate wearing shoes :-)
I had the younger version visit the older version in the game so they could sit side by side to work on this sketch.
Quick sketching in Alpha sketchbook using the 2B pencil.
Yesterday I posted the graphite looking rose and made a change to the suggested table surface as I didn't like the angle I had it drawn at.
This shows the initial line sketch I worked and what I'm using as the base for each drawing using different brush tools. I may do one more to render a color pencil look.
I'm finding the more I work with roses, the less intimidated I feel with all the petals.
Using Procreate, I worked this rose using the brush tool Charcoals / Carbon Stick.
Subject is another rose our neighbor clipped as a thank-you after Terry took over our thank-you gift I had made using one of my rose drawings from a couple of years ago. I had uploaded it to Shutterfly along with a personal sentiment to be printed off on a tile plate that sits on an easel.
Before I jump into my next challenge requested of me, I decided to draw this butterfly that showed up outside the window where I sit throughout the day.
I had no idea what kind it was until I looked it up on the internet. Turns out to be a Swallowtail but not sure which one. Might be considered an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail or maybe a Black Swallowtail (at least so far from what I've been able to find).
This one was primarily brown (a reddish brown) with off white or cream "white" spots. Also had suggested spots of powder blue towards the bottom of the wings and above the "white" spots. In the photo there's a hint of orange just below the long segment of the body where one white spot is split in the center.
Worked in Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook with Staedtler Mars Lumograph 2B and 4B pencils.
A few days ago I sketched a fossil called a Trilobite from the game Animal Crossing New Horizons. I shared with two of my three sons..........with my youngest who also plays the game.
Last night my youngest texts me saying he had a challenge for me.....sketching my house in the game. When you start out, you reside in a tent until you go so far in the game and then have a one room house built. As you work for and earn money, you add on rooms...one room at a time. A complete house will have four rooms on the main level, a large upstairs, and a basement. Later in the game, you can customize the outside of the house having several styles to choose from.
Accepting his challenge, I decided to sketch both the tent I started out in and how my house looks now with 1,825 hours of game play. One might think I like this game......ha ha. Truth be known, I now have two accounts and playing two games at the same time....one in the Southern Hemisphere and my original in the Northern Hemisphere. This way I can play different seasons catching season specific critters I would otherwise have to wait forever to get to finish my museum. My second game only has 395 hours of game play but I haven't had it as long as the original one I started.
Both are worked in the Stillman and Birn Alpha journal using Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils 2B and 4B. I'm having a blast working in graphite!!!!
In previous posts, I mentioned where playing a game can be educational. This is another example sketching one of the fossils found in Animal Crossing New Horizons.
Looking for a subject to sketch in graphite, this fossil called out to me while playing my game. I just think it looks cool and loved the challenge with all the detail working the body structure. As I was sketching, I started wondering about the history of the Trilobite and found the articles I read on the internet to be fascinating. I hated science when in school but now at 60 plus years old, I find it more interesting.
Using Staedtler ML 2B and 4B pencils / S&B Alpha sketchbook
Over the last couple of weeks, I have finished two journals with a third journal almost finished (two pages remaining). Wanting to work larger, I ordered two Stillman and Birn 8.25 x 11.25 journals......one Beta and one Alpha.
After finishing one large Beta journal, I decided to start working in the Alpha and this is what I did to break the sketchbook in...a banana flower and small bunch of bananas cut down yesterday from plants we have in the back yard.
We may actually have eatable bananas this year. Those sketched were a small group of immature bananas on the stalk along with another larger bunch that were much bigger and fuller. My husband had thinned the plants earlier in the year and fertilized heavily resulting in more and larger bananas.
We didn't know until this year we needed to cut the bananas down while still green and hang upside down to start the ripening process. With all the varieties out there, we have no idea what type these are. Will be interesting to see how they turn out once they turn yellow.
Alpha Journal using Staedtler Mars Lumograph B pencil
This is one flower that totally intimidates me when it comes to sketching so I decided to take it on while I was in the mood for a challenge. Even after four sketches, I can't honestly say it helps with how I feel when approaching this type of flower. Wild or Dog roses don't affect me in the same way as the other type roses. It's that "ball" of wrapped petals that tend to make me feel a bit overwhelmed when trying to draw them.
I tend to do OK with rose buds and those partially opened, as well as wild or Dog roses (Examples 1, 3, and 4). Number 2 was the most difficult for me. Number 4 was the easiest as I feel more at ease when working in graphite. Number 3, I made myself work the line drawing with pen only (no pencil) and it wasn't too difficult as it is fairly easy with only a few petals (Dog Rose).
Pens used: Pilot Metropolitans with Dark Red and Dark Green Document Inks (F nib), and Pilot Prera with Noodler's #41 Brown (XF nib).
Graphite is using Wolf's Carbon pencil #2B
Over the last couple of days, I have been watching (and sketching along the way) a few videos on Drawing Birds by John Muir Laws. Although I've sketched and painted birds for years, I never knew the anatomy of birds and thought by learning this, it might help me improve on results. If nothing else, it would help to be able to identify which part of the bird I'm working on and learning what I can simplify and still end up with decent results.
I worked these as reference I can fall back on if necessary. Fab Hotpress / TWSBI Eco with Urban Grey ink.
Yesterday I grabbed a new type ballpoint pen made by Uni-ball (Jetstream RT 0.7 mm) to see how it might work on two different paper surfaces. I was interested in seeing if ink would build-up causing blobs like other pens I have tried. Although I did have to wipe the point on paper towel now and then, the pen worked quite well on both a toothy surface and a smooth surface.
5.5x6" Journal made with Arches 140 lb Coldpress WC paper. Added a little color with DS watercolors.
5.5 x 7" Journal made with Fabriano 140 lb Hotpress WC paper. Chose not to add color. No pencil lines were used as I wasn't sure how the ink would handle going over graphite. It was also unknown if erasing would smear this type ink.
What I found is that I enjoyed using this pen for ballpoint sketching.....unlike BIC or a few other brands I've tried that tend to blob quite easily with a lot of stop and go dabbing the pen point on paper towel, which I find cumbersome.
Inspired by the Switch game, Animal Crossing New Horizons, I came up with the idea to design a fishbowl or Aquarium.
The challenge involves sketching individual components and then sketching everything together.
If working a standard fishbowl or other container like a jar, we are to sketch at least one fish and a minimum of three accents inside the container.
If working a larger aquarium, we are to sketch at least one fish and a minimum of four accents inside the container.
Not able to decide which medium I wanted to use, I chose to work my challenge in different mediums.
Digital: Sketched using Procreate on the Ipad. I chose to use minimum color leaving the rest black and white.
Graphite: With this one, I just wanted to practice sketching fish and accents and not necessarily put them together in a fishbowl or aquarium. This was using the Wolf's Carbon Pencil - B in the Stillman and Birn Beta sketchbook.
To finish the last page in my Beta journal, I worked this quick pencil sketch using a Pentel Graphgear 1000 mechanical pencil #7.
Pen and Ink plus Watercolor: My primary contribution for the challenge I used the Kakuno fountain pen and #41 Noodler's Brown ink. Worked in the Stillman and Birn Beta journal. DS watercolors.
This started out as only a pencil study. I was practicing the head of this cardinal as I learn the names of various areas of the face and how they relate to one another creating basic features. After working the pencil study, I decided to add a little color.
Worked in journal with Arches 140lb Coldpress Watercolor, Graphgear 1000 mechanical pencil #7. Painted using Qor and DS watercolors.
One of my favorite drawings of our Yorki-poo, Miya, has been nagging at me that something just wasn't right about it. Today I decided to revisit and make a few changes hoping to capture her likeness better.
Original Drawing and evaluation:
Although this has been the closest I could get with likeness, I was bothered by the shape of her face and eyes. They were off making this look like another dog. Face appears too wide and eyes not large enough. If I look at Miya, her eyes are closer to the size of her nose. I also felt this lacked shading on one side of her face...making it look kind of flat.
Today's Changes and feelings with results:
I think with the changes, I have come much closer to her likeness and I like the shading a little better. I wasn't crazy about all the white in and around the eye that I left in the original drawing and definitely made her eyes too small. With the changes, I felt I should leave the eyes a little smaller than the nose, keeping in mind the foreshortening with her snout/nose being closer.
I might re-evaluate this again at a later time but for now I am pleased with the changes. This definitely looks more like our Miya.
A few people I know use a watercolor pencil to work their preliminary sketch before inking and adding color. One I know normally uses a blue-gray and another uses a light brown. My friend who uses the light brown chooses that color because she prefers to ink using brown ink.
Out of curiosity I thought I would try using a brown watercolor pencil since I was planning to use brown ink. I chose a Bt Sienna so I could actually see what I put down on paper. A lighter brown would have been way too challenging for me to see.
My goal was to compare using a WC pencil versus using graphite with regards to erasing the lines later, smearing as I worked, and how well the ink flowed over the pencil lines.
What I found was the WC pencil did not smear like graphite would while working. The side of my hand or finger did not pick it up like it would working with graphite. I worked my little experiment on Fabriano Hotpress and found the WC pencil erased easily with a kneaded eraser. The nib and ink covered over the WC pencil lines with ease whereas it doesn't always over graphite.
I was encouraged by my findings thinking I might start using the WC pencil more often when working my light pencil sketches UNTIL I used the same pencil on Stonehenge Aqua. My findings on a different paper surface showed just the opposite.
As mentioned in previous posts, I've been playing a game Animal Crossing New Horizons since it came out back in March. What I'm finding while playing are ideas that come to mind for sketching.
While the game is definitely fun and relaxing, it can also spur a few other feelings as well, which gave me the idea of coming up with adjectives and illustrating what I associate them with most.
At first I considered this a monthly project between friends but I already have an idea for September and my next month is November. I couldn't wait so decided to make it a personal project instead.
What I did was choose a minimum of six adjectives that fit with characters and/or objects within the game. My chosen adjectives are: Annoying, Cool, Irritating (for me a step up from annoying), Sweet and Adorable, Disgusting, Rude and Arrogant, and Favorite Things.
First I worked the illustrations in my journal and then a write-up within a simple word document, inserting the page scans, explaining each (as numbered on the journal pages). Taking it further, I wanted to see how it might look worked as a brochure using three columns and inserting the illustrations individually within the description.
What I enjoy about doing these pages from the game is a recording in my journal of what I enjoy, which in this case is playing the game. This one is particularly is special because of the other family members also playing and the fact we can interact with one another in the game by visiting each other's island.
Worked in journal with Stonehenge Aqua watercolor paper and using the Pilot Kakuno fountain pen with Noodler's #41 Brown ink.
Journal Pages:
**One additional illustration not included above is a Butter Churn. I worked that by itself on it's own page as an exercise which will be in the next post. It is, however, included in the brochure shown below on the last page.
Brochure Style with comments/explanations:
