This is our 8 month old Maltipoo pup. Terry wanted a portrait of her so I did this for him. I've been putting it off because of white on white but after viewing some helpful videos and working Morgan's white Cockatiel, I decided to give it a go.
I actually worked this before Olaf giving me the confidence to draw him for Madison.
As a means of reference I can fall back on and maybe as an example to viewers using Procreate, I wanted to document how I work eyes. I do basically the same thing with human eyes.
With line sketches, I use the BeeJayDel's Standard Inker Streamline brush tool. This one is from a purchased brush pack he sells. As for thickness of line, it's a personal preference and for me it just depends on how much ink I might need to blend filling in areas.
My go-to brush tool for adding color and blending is one of the app's default brushes - Painting / Gouache brush tool. I've tried various brushes and always find myself going back to this one.
When Madison came to visit, she brought her dog, Olaf, with her. What was surprising with her dog, he didn't much care for Terry. Terry has a way with animals and has never faced one that didn't like him until Olaf came. Olaf would growl at him every time he saw him, which we all found to be funny. He was also territorial claiming the living room as his space. We think it's because his "momma" was there and he was just protecting her.
Because it seems that I am on a roll drawing dog portraits, she asked if I would draw him and this is what I did for her tonight.
This drawing is for my youngest granddaughter, Morgan, who recently lost her beloved cockatiel by the name of Sunny. She picked him up during her trip here to Florida two years ago. I wanted to do something for her as a memory keepsake.
Working white on white is most definitely one of my biggest challenges. I prefer not to use a background if I can get away with it. Another thing about white is choosing the right color for shadows/shading and it still look white.
Procreate using Gouache brush and TH Wash Stamp brush for the background.
With background and without the background.
November 3rd made one year ago my Mom passed. That day our neighbor sent another rose over for me and I decided to draw it for my Mom to share on her birthday.
After working Lilly for my eldest nephew, I worked on this for my youngest nephew. He's a Pitbull mix of some sort and is super sweet in nature.
He was one dog my mother actually allowed in her room. Mom wasn't exactly into pets of any kind but she liked, Bo!!
Worked the same way as I did Lilly only I worked the eyes first.
This drawing is of Sean and Tiffany's dog, Lilly. I worked this as a surprise to them as she's just as much their "baby" as their first child who was born about a month or so ago.
Drawing this was a little easier except for the ears and the curly tuffs under the face. With each drawing, I face various challenges but I feel it's good for me and helps keep my aging brain active trying to work out solutions.....lol. Even with that said, I do feel a bit overwhelmed or frustrated at times, depending on my mood. It might cross my mind it's too much, tempting me to quit, but I do try to persevere and follow through without giving up.
The challenge I faced with this one was the areas of long fur. Like hair, my eyes/brain want to focus on every little strand. I have to fight that tendency and try to see shapes or groups of color, darks, and lights while at the same time trying to suggest more detail. It's a balancing act for me that I do struggle with at times.
As with other drawings, I started out with a line drawing. This time instead of blending out the lines, working in black and white adding color later, I jumped in adding color on separate layers. Once I had the base color down, I would untick the line drawing and only bring it back up for reference as I worked. At the same time, I had Lilly's photo on my computer screen to view as I worked on my Ipad.
Using the Gouache brush tool, I scribbled color down and then blended everything out following the direction of the fur and shapes/positions of the darker areas.
Normally I work the eyes first but in this case I left that for later, along with the nose. The mouth was one of the last things I put in before finalizing with more shading and details. I added the tag last.
Darlene is here with us (my "sissy" through marriage) visiting for 10 days. Her first trip to Florida since we moved here. She is a first time grandmother and weeks ago I finished a drawing of her granddaughter she absolutely loved.
While here she asked if I would consider working a portrait of her Pap who means the absolute world to her. Although I avoid requests like the plague, I made an exception knowing what it would mean to her. Usually when asked to do something, I get too nervous and fearful I'll not meet that person's expectations so I avoid it.
Anyways...........I told her no promises but would at least give it a try not knowing if I'd be able to follow through with the portrait.
His hair was a challenge due to white on white background plus the white stubble and eyebrows but I managed to work through it (lots of trial and error).
Ending results ... she absolutely loved as did other family who know her and her Pap.
This year I decided to grow amaryllis bulbs again after the success I had last year. I ordered six regular bulbs from Holland Bulb Company (which I am still waiting to receive) and then found a waxed amaryllis through Amaryllis and Caladium Bulb Co. This will be my first experience with a self-contained flower bulb where all I have to do is stick in a nice sunny window and nothing more. My brother-in-law shared one he grew last year and I decided I wanted to try one as well.
As of two days ago...
My middle son, Neal, said how cool this looked........like pathways up a mountain. And he's right........it really does but I didn't think of that until he mentioned it.
Now I have a complete set of portraits of my eldest son and his family.
This one was quite the challenge due to facial hair. At one point I felt a bit overwhelmed tempting me to give up but I chose not to do that. After various trial and error attempts, I finally found a way to depict the facial hair and hair stubble I was happy with.
A lot has been going on the last few months but I have still managed to get some artwork done...two of which were therapeutic in nature.
Have also been busy with completing several diamond art kits and playing with Legos.
Personal Challenge...to illustrate the first things that come to mind living in Florida that differs from living up north and that I have seen/experienced:
Birthday gift - recording the growth of lily buds that were in the arrangement Travis sent to me:
From a section of one of my diamond art kits. Madison loves bees and I thought of her as I did this:
Learning a new technique called Dispersion and as a therapeutic means to unload some emotional/mental turmoil I've chosen not to bog me down:
I actually considered working the Inktober challenge this year as I've done it a few times in the past. First day of October rolled around and I jumped right in with remnants of yard debris from the storm that grazed us. After working a few illustrations, that desire fizzled quickly. Instead of motivating me, I felt this dark cloud form dreading the thought of 30 more days. No thanks.
After working what initially started out as pen and ink for Inktober, I chose to work with one of the mediums I enjoy more.
While Morgan was staying with us, we played using Procreate. There is so much to learn using that app and I was sharing a few things I have learned.
She wanted to try working on my Ipad because of the screen protector that has a paper like finish where it doesn't feel like the apple pencil is too slick to control. And as an exercise, she worked on drawing a nose practicing how to shade to form it. She did an excellent job with both!!!
I love the fact my two granddaughters love to draw as it is yet another thing the three of us have in common we can work on together and share....even with the distance between us.
It's been a busy last two months. We've had both granddaughters come to visit (two individual trips), which has been amazing for us here in Florida. We love when the family comes to visit but having this one on one time with each granddaughter has been very special for them as well as us. A treasured time I doubt any of us will forget!
Even with that said, I did manage to get some drawing in...
Darlene (sister-in-law) shared with me one of her latest adventures in Diamond Painting. Because Terry likes to work pictures out of beads, she thought he might be interested in this. He was intrigued and decided to get a couple of kits.
After watching his "painting" develop, I thought I would give it a try as well and ordered a kit. His two kits consists of round beads or diamonds or whatever they are called and mine ended up being the square ones.
This is the first one Terry completed:
Last night I was lucky to sleep an hour so rather than tossing and turning, I got up and started drawing.
Lani (Alani) - turned a year old as of May 29th. One of the sweetest dogs we've ever had and she's a Momma's girl.
She's considered a Teddy Bear (Shih Tzu and Bichon Frise) with a rare genetic issue in this breed mix and for a small dog....hip dysplasia. Her hips click as she walks/runs but so far it doesn't seem to bother her in the least. Our vet said she could go a lifetime as she is now or we may be facing one of two surgeries, which we hope we don't have to put her through. I guess time will tell.
This to me captures her overall demeanor.......a happy, playful, and loving little bundle of joy!
So far this is what I've done as I go through course material and play with the various new brushes and techniques covered.
I'm going back to previous drawing/illustrations I've created and seeing what I can do to give them a little artistic uplift. The course also covers rules I tend to avoid like the plague like composition (why I prefer illustrating and journaling) but it's good to face them now and then.............I suppose...ha ha. I did need something different as I was feeling rather stuck. This offers a new challenge that may keep me busy for awhile practicing and experimenting, which I should do more of.
Course I'm taking:
Introducing the Procreate Watercolor Masterclass by Nathan Brown through DesignCut.
Brush Pack also purchased:
Master Watercolor Brushes Ultimate Edition by Nathan Brown also through DesignCut.
There are videos on Youtube under both the instructor's name and DesignCut for additional information.
At present, I am taking a new Procreate digital watercolor course and playing with some of what I'm learning from it. The course is by Nathan Brown through DesignCuts.com.
Taking a previous digital pencil drawing done back in February, I've worked it two different ways.
Original drawing:
Experiment #1: Blending part of the bird into the background forcing the eyes to go to the head and adding just a touch of color to part if the bird only. I'm not real crazy about this one but was fun to play and experiment a bit.
Earlier this year we had to remove a large Camphor tree we had growing in the backyard. It provided a lot of shade which helped block the south-western sun from higher temperatures in the sunroom and kitchen. Unfortunately, the roots of this tree and a Magnolia in the back have caused damage to our septic drain field so we had to have both taken down.
The one major drawback to the Camphor tree was the leaves that would come down with storms as well as the berries being toxic to humans and pets. Lani was notorious for mouthing or picking up everything from stones to mulch, which made us nervous every time we took her out back. Now we have Sadie and like Lani, wants to pick everything up.
We do miss the shade though as well as lower electric bills.
I worked this illustration first in my sketchbook. Then worked it on the Ipad without blending and with blending just for the practice and variation.
