Been playing with pencil...

We always take a family vacation to the mountains this week between christmas and new years, so I packed a journal and a toolbox of a few supplies with me. i wanted to use this down time to sketch, practice faces and build my drawing skills. i love Pinterest because i am able to stockpile ideas that i love and want to try and know exactly where to go for them when i am ready to reference them. with almost a thousand images pinned to my "faces + people" board i started picking and choosing my faves and going for it in a brand new journal. 

practicing from a sample image is the best way i know to hone your skills, it not only builds skills but confidence. the idea being that eventually after enough practice you will start to develop your own style.

i am nowhere close to feeling confident in my faces, but i will tell you spending this time to just play and bounce between styles has felt really good...organic and fun!

as of today (day 4 of our retreat to the mountains) i have completed 6 sketches/pages. i have tried to document my process with a few stages photos to give myself a better insight into my own process and i thought it would be a fun way to see the progress.

These are the first 2 sketches I worked on. (above and below)

i wanted to try my hand at a colorful image (color added using the Aqua Markers).

then tried the black Aqua Wash to add the clothing and background contrasts in this one

then this one..she's a bit avatar-ish with them big eyes, but i am just going to consider her ethnically unique, lol!

and that leads me to today's, she is my favorite (i have always wanted to draw a face with glasses,not bad for my first one.)

Supplies used:

ALL ORIGINAL IMAGES (and loads more faces) can be found in my "faces + people" board vis Pinterest

• Verithin colored pencil
• black Col erase colored pencil
• black Prismscolor pencil
• prismacolor colorless blender
• prismacolor sharpener
• Prismacolor accessory set Blending stump
• toolbox chest
• Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Hard-Bound Art Book 8.5"x11"
• Generals Scribe-All Pencil - black
• Aqua markers
• Mix & Match Deluxe Waterbrush

Comments

[Kass Hall]

I've said it on FB Donna but these truly are very good - I learned about drawing in art school that practice is the key and using reference images is perfectly fine!!! I can't wait to see more of these. They make me want to go back to some life drawing classes (which are, if you get the chance, the best drawing lesson you'll ever get).

Happy New Year, Downey's!

[Lisa]

In awe!!!!!

[Susan Kemp Maldonado]

LOVE YOUR DRAWINGS! SO BEAUTIFUL. :) ♥

[heather]

wow...inspiring....I think I need to start doing this....havent sketched anything in a long time but when I was sitting with pencil and paper how peaceful and happy I was, gleefully lost in a world of my own imagination and design. Thank you for sharing
.

[Gail]

Amazing ... Feeling inspired!

[Kate P. (aka Sparkle Tart)]

Love this post Donna, so awesome to see a professional artist who is still learning and playing and growing - in PUBLIC! Have a wonderful New Year!

[Carmen]

Very cool Donna.

[Peggy mcdevitt]

Thank you, am also trying to perfect my face drawing skills. So appreciate your blog post and Pinterest examples, I have a few good faces too on my boards. Thanks for the inspiration.

[Sweet Red Clover]

Yay for you, Miss Donna! These are beautiful! I especially like the colorized one...you make me want to pull out my aqua markers and see if I can make something half as gorgeous! Total squeal of delight worthy work! <3

[Carmen]

Incredible! Visited your store finally on my way to the mountains in NC. Took some supplies with me but I like your results better, LOL!

[Coral]

I only learned to draw faces last year but they aren't quite right yet - they are missing a little somethin' somethin'. We all have Pinterest boards full of drawing ideas and inspiration we never use - definitely going to try this technique after seeing your amazing results. I'm getting better with each one and have learned the more you do and the more you practice, the better you get. I think using a reference photo will be a huge help.

[Debbie]

They look great! I will check out your board on Pinterest!

[Marion]

It does take a lot of practice but your doing an amazing job. I love looking back at my previous sketches to see how far I've come...that's great for inspiration!