November Sketch A Day Faves

December is here! I was going to to say I can't believe at first but to be honest I can. This year has felt like the fastest year yet even though some months felt like they where going in slow motion at times. November was a pretty good month for me. I haven't drawn this much since probably earlier in the year. I don't what came over me. Suddenly I just had a burst of energy and it became really easy. All things good things come to end though as Nelly Furtado would say and I have slowed down a bit. But enough about now and here are my favourites from November and it is the first time in a while where I had to narrow it down! 

First up my squirrel pencil sketch! I originally intended for this drawing to be a quick, small sketch and even though it was small it definitely wasn't quick. Turns out drawing tree bark doesn't come as easily to me as facial features but I really like how it turned out. No better feeling than challenging yourself in whatever small way and it paying off. Plus it helps me work on my patience.

My favourite thing about using varying tones of paper is the challenge of figuring out how shade and light works. Even though I haven't mastered coloured pencil on black paper yet (still can't manage to get those colours to pop!), I love the colour palette of my sparkler drawing against the black background. Also I really love my grey paper too especially when I get to use my white charcoal and I got to use plenty of it for this Marlon Brandom portrait. Everything just comes to life when you add a highlight!

This month I also played with my soft and oil pastels some more. I have fullt come to terms that precision is not something I am going to achieve with the soft pastels but as I have mentioned before I really enjoy the difference in style and I'm beginning to appreciate the texture of the paper I get with soft pastels like in my Matilda drawing. Plus the green colours are just really pleasing to me. In regards to my oil pastel piece of Antelope Canyon I love the strong colours and the blend of oranges against the blues and purples. I'm still getting the hang of layering and how far I can layer but I've managed to incorporate quite a bit of colour in this one without creating too many layers. 

I decided I wanted to do more portraits but almost didn't do these because I had already drawn the Olsen twins earlier in the year. In the back of my mind I had pressured myself to not repeat ideas too much or at least too close together. But when I found these photographs in a style similar to the ones I had done before I couldn't say no. For some reason Ashley was harder to do than Mary-Kate. It took my three attempts of the outline to get it right. But thankfully I stuck with it. 

And my final favourites are my christmas decorations.  What I like about painting them is that I get to use my acrylics and since the mdf shapes are smaller than you average canvas, the paintings come together way faster, meaning I can do a lot more. 

So December is here. Currently I am working on a commission that cannot be shown in it's entirety until the very end of the year but when that's all finished up and I can start making more ornaments! Hopefully it will get me back in the Christmas sprirt. My problem is I get excited way too early and then run out by December. My aim for this month is to do at least the same amount or more drawings and paintings than November! The next time we will speak will probably be the last #sketchaday 2016 blog unless I do a December Faves and a full year Faves. Haven't decided yet. I guess you will have to wait and see. 

To the final stretch!

Hazel, xoxo

Toy Story Alien Costume and Make-Up

This year for Halloween I went as an alien from Toy Story as part of a group costume. At first I wasn't going to do a post on how I made the costume since Halloween had already past but I decided that I may as well since one, people should do more costume parties outside of Halloween and two, I spent a solid hour painting my face, neck and arms green. The world should know! 

I looked through pictures on the Internet for ideas on how to put the costume together - even made a Pinterest board. What I eventually settled on was a handmade hairband, skater dress with a felt pizza planet logo and leggings. It was pretty simple to put together and only requires some patience in regards to sewing.

Materials used

A4 Crafting foam - lime green and white

Double sided sticky tape

Needle and thread

Felt sheets - blue, orange, yellow and red

Lime Green pipe cleaner

Marker pens

Hairband

Lime Green face paint

Bright Eye Shadow Palette

Chunky Belt

Lime Green Leggings

Blue Long Sleeve Dress

 

Pizza Planet Logo

I started by tracing out the orange circle and the yellow ring making sure to keep a bit of excess yellow felt on the ends of ring so I could tuck it in behind the orange felt. I then cut out the pepperoni and mushrooms out on the red felt sheet and used a blue marker to turn mushrooms to purple. Same with the green herb bits, I used the yellow felt and a green marker. Just saved me having to buy more colours of felt. From there I laid out where I wanted every piece to be and started to sew the orange and yellow pieces onto the blue felt. If you want you could probably just sew straight onto the dress and do without the blue felt but I wanted to be able to use the blue dress again without having to unpick everything. Once everything was on the blue felt I trimmed the excess felt away and sewed the logo onto the dress making sure to stretch the dress when sowing it on so when I put the dress on the badge it wouldn't be ruffled too much since I'd already accounted for movement.

Alien Hairband

Initially I planned on using felt for this too but I'm so glad I ended up getting the foam because it ended up being way sturdier. The first step is to fold a pipe cleaner in half over the centre of the head band and twist the pipe round each other so it creates a secure antenna. 

The dodded line is where the foam folds under the hairband 

I then drew out a shape like the top half the drawing/rough template above and folded over the foam so when I cut around the shape I had drawn I would be left with a shape similar to above.  I made sure that the middle tab would cover the bottom of the pipe cleaner on the headband but also wouldn't be top thick that it would stop the hairband from gripping to my hair all the way round. I stuck the three white foam oval eyes and eye lids on the outside with double sided sticky tape and the ear shapes on the inside. I used marker pens for some shading and the pupils and then sowed the top of each side to each other to secure it in place leaving room for the antenna. Originally I used double sided tape for this step too but it eventually busted open when left for a while. The foam is sturdy enough to withstand sewing just as long as you don't create to many holes (take extra care if you decide to use a sewing machine).

Make Up

Thankfully I did a trial run and a patch test of the face paint otherwise it would have taken a lot longer on the night. The first time I looked slightly more like Disgust from Inside Out which is an alternative costume idea you could use. 

 

I started with a clean, bare face and used a foundation brush to pack the paint on and later went in with a sponge while it was still wet. However don't use the sponge too much because you will end up taking the paint off your face more often than getting it on. Once I was happy with my paint layer I set it with a mix of green, blue, yellow and white eyeshadows using the darker colours to conture and create dimension. Originally I was going to wear a bun but eventually decided to keep my hair down so I didn't have to paint the back of my neck completely. I used a white eye pencil to make my eyes look a little bigger and mixture of blues and yellows on my eyelids. 

If I had more time I definitely would have painted more little aliens on my nails but I haven't quite mastered nail art yet so I'll have to leave it for another time.

Et Voila!

So once the leggings are on and the hands are painted (if you can get gloves... it's a lot easier) that's the costume complete. If you have budget I would recommend attaching a purple roll neck if you want to be even more accurate. If your like my mum you'll be asking "What about padding? Won't you need padding to make you look round like the aliens?" You can probably skip that step unless your fully committed to the look. I also thought about attaching aliens to my belt and carrying around a claw but it just wasn't in budget. Ain't nobody got time/money for that!

So that's it! Written out it seems like a bit of work but really it's pretty simple. A bit of cutting, sewing and taping really. Hope you like this post from me.

 

Until next time, peace out!

Hazel, xoxo

September and October Sketch a Day Faves

It's time to get all caught up with my sketch a day so I've decided to make a favourites post combining the last two months. Just didn't feel right to completely ignore those months and plus there are some pieces that I like from the small selection I did. If you would like to know why I haven't been drawing you can check out my last blog post. With that being said let's waste no more time and jump right in.

I probably don't need to explain why this is in my favourites. But what I will say is that I'm finally at the place where I don't just feel sadness looking at it. I think it could be one of my favourites of the year.

I conciously chose to draw this photograph because it felt like it was in line with the previous Aly and AJ portraits. Because of there composition and style they feel like a series to me. The reason I love drawing portraits is because as you are drawing them you get to see life come into them and even with the simplest expressions you can create underlying emotion. I wouldn't be as bold to say that I achieve this everytime but that's always the goal. Even though my style is in the realm of realistic I don't always see it as important to make the drawing identical to the reference but as long as I feel like I get the expression right I feel pleased with the work. And with this one I think I did.

For some reason everytime I get my hands on pastels I draw scenery with a hint of creepiness to it. I don't mean to. It just happens. I like how loose they feel and most of all I like the colours. I've got much improvement to do with pastels but I like how I've begun. When drawing with pastels I get the same sort of feeling I got when painting as a child in playgroup. Instead of being focus on the finished piece, I'm more invested in the experience of using them.

This canvas commission came at an ideal time. I was getting lazy and since this idea was presented to me all I needed to do was paint it on the canvas. No challenges, just a pleasure to paint! If you're interested in a commission, information is up on both the pricing list and the terms and conditions.  

If you haven't listened to the Hamilton soundtrack, I advise you do!! A rap/rnb musical about the rise and fall of American president Alexander Hamilton doesn't exactly make much sense on paper but to listen to it is a different story. I had to draw the amazing Lin-Manuel Miranda behind the show. He such a talented and admirable person. I was inspired to draw him after of course listening to the musical but also watching BethBeRad's Rad Portraits youtube series where she draws people she admires in different mediums. I used dipping pens and ink for this one. I like the cross hatching effect with the ink since it reminds me of the kind of portraits you find on the dollar bill.

These last two pieces where done with ink and waterbrush pens. Even though I used the wrong paper for both, the deer piece was a pleasant surprise since I had zero clues if it would turn into anything presentable but I really like the effect the brush strokes make. And the daschund piece just makes me smile. Such a happy looking dog it's hard not to. For about 20mins Steph and Dom from Googlebox followed me because of it. Such fleeting success. 

So the aim for the end of this month is to have a full selection of pieces to choose favourites from for the next favourites post. And as I said in my last post I'm going to get cracking on painting some Christmas decorations the minute bonfire night is out of the way! 

The penultimate month has begun!

Hazel, xoxo

Let's Get Honest - Sketch A Day....yeah right?

It's been a while. I haven't posted a blog since the end of August and if you follow my #sketchaday2016 through any of my social media you will know that I have been slacking! I should probably change the hashtag to #sketchwhenibloodywellfeellikeit2016 because basically that's what it has become.

I've been in a rubbish mood/head space in regards to my drawing. By the end of September I went to put together a favourites and I felt like I had close to nothing. The feeling hasn't come from nowhere though. I made the conscious decision to take a break for a while at the beginning of September after a loss but when I started up again I struggled to draw anything and when I did most of the time I hated it and unfortunately that feeling of inadequacy hasn't shaken completely. 

Before September I drew things I wasn't 100% happy with but I managed to bounce back. But now even if I draw things I like I can't seem to carry to confidence through to the next piece and end up staring at a blank piece of paper. One of the main purposes of sketch a day was to raise my confidence with art and I felt like I was succeeding until September and now I'm starting to feel like I'm back at square one.

I think what annoyed me the most was when my nephew was born at the end of September I had planned to do sketch of him to mark the day. Sounds easy, right? What could possibly stand in my way. The ideas simple and formed and I've got the materials ready. Surprise, surprise... it didn't happen and so the alarm bells starring ringing. Not even inktober has got me out this over spilling September Slump like I hoped it would.

I'm not stopping completely though. I'm determined to see this through. In the next two months I hope to get things started back up again. I'm ready to get my Christmas ON!  I have a loose plan. This month I will be breaking out the pastels again and eventually will put together a blog post about my experience with them. I will also start painting my mdf christmas ornament shapes. Last year I did an Elf the movie one that I love so heres to many more. Maybe home alone... maybe miracle on 34th street, Jack Frost. I'm open to ideas. Knowing me though I will want to use the ink despite being resistant to it last month! And you know what I'm gonna let myself. I also have some square canvas and boards so if I can fit it in I'm gonna paint on one of them.

I will go on the record and say there will be no #sketchaday2017. I will continue drawing and painting but I don't feel the need for the hashtag next year. Also I feel like I need the freedom to draw things and not always upload it. Plus everyday posts can get very annoying for everyone.

With all that being said you will be hearing from me very soon. Definitely won't be leaving it this long next time!

Hazel, xoxo

August Sketch A Day Faves

Off the bat I will say this month has dragged a little. Every other month this year I blinked and it was done whereas I've been convincing myself for half this month it was already September. It's not that I've been bored, I've spent most of month working and watching the Olympics (I've said it before and I'll say it again, Rhythmic gymnastics....WOW!), so it makes little sense as to why August has seemed to last so long. 

I've continued to pace out my work and have been enjoying it even though I have significantly less work to show for the month. And with that being said let's show and tell my collection of favourites.

At the start of the month I finished my AJ Michalka portrait. It seemed only right to draw the AJ to my Aly from July. I used the promarker and pencil technique from before and really enjoy how it looks in the end, especially with a bold solid colour in the background. The challenge with this one was definitely the hands which when I look back are quite similar to the hands from the Emily Blunt Huntsman portrait I did a couple months ago. I must be drawn to that particular pose. AJ was kind enough to repost the piece to her Instagram page which is always a thrill.

I finally got some black Pitt pens to try and this was my first go using them. I think they have a lovely finish and I intend to continue using them possibly for illustration work. With the dancer piece I tried to create some movement and hopefully in time I'll get the hang of that. My style is quite tight but to create movement it needs to be more loose. Not my strong point but it's a goal. And I really love my owls little face!

This acrylic painting was done specially for my Mum. She has been asking for a painting of mine and my siblings childhood teddy bears for quite a while and this was the month I finally granted her requested. Since my room is quite small it is hard to do acrylic pieces just because I don't have the best set up. Thanks to my brother I have a portable tabletop box easel which I can set up on the bed but if I'm painting for too long my back tends to hurt since I have no back support. Luckily this one didn't take up too much time and the teddies seemed to flow out of me (apart from that creepy teddy on the right). Painting this piece reminds me of just how much I love acrylics. Definitely need to think up more ideas for other canvases.

I've been seeing a lot of awesome work done with pastels online recently so thought it was time to give them a go again. As I have probably said before I find pastels a little too messy for my liking so to try and combat that I bought both pastel sticks and pencils for more precise detail. The colours are so pretty and they blend lovely. Once I have used them more I hope to do a blog post about them and how I have gotten to grips with them - if I ever do. 

This is the month of Britney Spears' Glory. If you haven't listened to the album and you enjoy pop music I highly recommend you give it a whirl. It's basically a mix of elements from In the zone, Britney and a hint of Blackout. The day I listened to the album was the day I drew this. I just got my grey Strathmore sketch pad which is such a great size. I didn't expect it to be as big as it was. Plus I was finding it hard to find a pad of just grey paper here in the UK. This pad was an import from the US on Amazon. I can't wait to see how colour pencils will work on it. So many possibilities! 

I have finally started using PayPal and taking commissions. It has been a some time coming. I had been thinking about it for a while but didn't quite know if there was a demand for it but when I did my Aly drawing last month and people seemed to be interested I thought it was time to get things rolling. This piece is for a former work colleague of mine and she has been great through the whole process. She has been like a cheerleader for me and I can't thank her enough! The next step will be to set up some sort of store, whether it be through Etsy or elsewhere, and sell prints and so on. But for now I'm just focused on the commissions and putting together a solid price list. This is another topic I wish to do a blog post on so stay tuned next month.

 

My last two drawing of the month make my favourites purely because I think they show some improvement compared to some of my other work in pastels and charcoal. All I need now is a better fixative, other than hairspray, to hold them in place so I'm open to suggestions. Also I really like the expression on the portrait piece. I'm a sucker for emotive faces.

My goals for next month are to do smaller pieces just so I can work on my speed. I can be quite slow sometimes. And other than that I just want to continue using pastels and other mediums to improve my skills. Drawing aside next month I will become an aunt for the second time so I'm quite excited for that!

Roll on September!

Hazel, xoxo

July Sketch A Day Faves

This month I fully embraced spreading sketches out over a few days instead of pressuring myself to churn a new one out per day. In the months before I could feel stress building up over trying to produce a different sketch everyday and I think it was the main reason why I've increasingly been missing days.

With that in mind there are less favourites this month but only because more time was put into them. The main materials I used in July were promarkers and graphite pencil with coloured pencil thrown in ocassionally. Here are the best from July!

I had avoided doing eye drawings partly because if I let myself I would do them all the time but mainly because Instagram is full of them and they have begun to feel slightly cliché (if that's the right word). But with Lindsay Lohan's birthday passing (an old fave) I couldn't risk drawing her beautiful eyes. I think it's the eyelashes and grey combination that I love.

Done over the course of many days, this was the follow up piece to my diner marker drawing which I love mainly for the birdseye view. At the risk of sounding creepy I like the feeling of being a fly on the wall witnessing candid day to day moments and even though there are no faces you can get a feeling of mood from the setting and colours. The drawing feels comfortable and homey to me, probably because of the clutter and home baking.

Legally Blonde turned 15 and I wanted to commemorate it by drawing from my favourite scene in the movie. The original plan was to do five expressions but in the end I just stuck with these three and really love the finished sketches! With each one I managed to a get a little quicker so who knows how fast I could have been by the fifth face. Another time maybe. This drawing led onto my Princess Diaries drawing later in the month. I definitely want to continue doing facial expression work. 

I went on a spree of drawing colourful insects when I was stressed about producing larger scaled detailed work but these studies managed to calm me down with there simple shapes and fun use of colour. Plus I got to use my white gel pen for highlights which is one of favourite things to do. 

Fun fact - I've never seen the entirety of the Wizard of Oz, only clips here and there, so there is really no good reason why this drawing came to be but I love it all the same. I was thinking about all the old Hollywood actresses I loved and drew in June and after watching a documentary run down of the best hollywood musicals it got me thinking about Judy Garland and how I knew of her but yet hadn't seen any of her work. I so I found an image of these ruby slippers and decided to draw them. I really like how the reflection on the floor turned out along with the green background. 

I went full out on this one! I saw that you could do a layering technique of promarkers then coloured pencils and wanted to try it out and so chose Aly Michalka as my subject. Since I was able to put down base colours with promarkers, almost like an underpainting, it allowed me to be quicker with the coloured pencils which I can find annoying if I spend too much time with them, especially on hair. Pretty sure it's the first full portrait I have finished this year and I'd say it is one of my best ones technically all year. Helps that Aly is stunning as well. I've managed to incorporate markers, pencils and facial expression all in the one. Proud of this one. 

Finally got to see Finding Dory and I loved it some much. So glad Pixar are back on top form again! Baby Dory is the cutest thing ever so I had to draw her! A fun promarker drawing, especially with blending all the blues.

And my final favourite is a drawing of an old family photograph of me and my cousin that my dad had pestered me to do. I hadn't actually see the photograph before which is always nice. When I finally got round to drawing it I remembered how much I love drawing familiar faces. I might actually try and dig up more photographs and draw them. I'm bias but I think my childhood photos are the best. But doesn't everyone think that of there own.  

My goals for next month are to possibly start a series of illustrations for my nephew and his new brother that will be arriving in September, pretty close to his own birthday. But we shall see. On top of that I have been inching to decorate my room with a wall mural so I want to design something pretty, possibly floral. I also maybe wanted to try and get to grips with charcoal or pastel. That's a big maybe though. Not sure if a messy person and a messy medium should work together. I also keep forgetting that I have canvas boards to use so I need to start coming up with ideas. Notice how these posts are mostly reminders for myself. Anyway...

August... here we go!

Hazel, xoxo

Deviant Art Nostalgia and Online Art Communities

The caption on the picture reads "Here are some of ma old drawings from 2006. It amazes me how much I have improved." Oh Hazel... you're so modest! 

Who here remembers Deviant Art? I ask as if it is part of the past alongside sites like Bebo, Piczo and Freewebs but to my surprise the site is still up and running, with people still posting and taking part in the community. I only fully realised this recently when I decided to upload better quality images of some of my #sketchaday2016 to my abandoned Deviant Art page after figuring out how to work my scanner.

For those who don't know, Deviant Art is the original social networking site specifically for artists where people can post their work and update fellow artists with journals about exhibitions and so on. It was also where you can find inspiration and comment or critic other people's work. I always found it to be a friendly and positive environment, especially for those who where just in the beginning stages of learning what they could do (I make it sound like a place where youth learn of their magical powers... it's not unfortunately).

Currently I have two profiles on Deviant Art. My recent one - click here to view its wonders - and my original account which I don't have the heart to delete because it reads like a time capsule - Cuteasabutton-xo.

It was one of the first places where I uploaded my work online back in 2008 when I was fifteen. After my Bebo profile of course. I loved it! It was where I found artists to look up to. In some ways they where my teachers and taught me what was possible if I kept practicing. One of the first artists I followed was Zindy Nielsen. Most of her art consisted of fan art or portraits of random girls on clouds with butterfly wings. I was so impressed with her shading. She introduced me to the idea of blending and smudging. I tend not to do that anymore because personally I think it can often make things look too flat, especially since I wasn't great with varying my tones like Zindy was.

Deviant Art was also the place where I discovered the green eyed monster. I would see drawings people of a similar age to me had done and they would be so much better than me and I would simmer with jealousy. At least with older people they had years on me so logically I saw no reason to be jealous of them. But with my peers it was a different story. In my classes in school I had always been the best at art but online I wasn't. It was a harsh reality to face at first. My ego really took a bruising! My first journal entry makes me cringe so hard! Is English even my first language? I think this illustrates my point about jealousy quite well.

The journal entry after this one is me breathing a sigh of relief that I finally recieved comments and celebrating. Me... insecure? Never! Also it is important to note I am only listening to music while writing that journal entry and doing NOTHING else. However in a later journal entry I am eating smokey bacon crisps so it's all good!

Despite my jealousy of other artists skills, Deviant Art was always a positive environment. I never received any negative comments and since everyone on the site was an artist in some way we all understood each other and tried to build each other up. If a critique was to come your way it would be constructive unlike in popular social media. It felt like there was more of a relationship between you and your commenters. 

I bring this up because I have noticed quite a shift in the online art community. Even though people are still on Deviant Art the larger audience are on sites like Instagram and Tumblr where the conversation between the artist and followers seems to be a little stilted. Even though I still get nice comments they are less frequent, due to the love button, and less thoughtful.

The small community I do have on my social media are wonderful. They mainly consist of my family, friends and online friends I have got to know over the years (mostly through the Aly & AJ fandom - shoutout to violet buds!) There are a few new additions but it is very hard to expand your reach outside your own social circles. I'm not one to strategise and over advertise myself but I feel like that's what social media is now. Branding and marketing. I just can't shake the feeling it's not genuine. 

The popular format doesn't accommodate conversation very well, at least in my opinion. Now its not that I need complimentary comments, even though it feels good to get them. It's more that previously I felt like I was getting to know people on my social media before whereas now it's just a passing "nice" or "cool" and there is very little I can say back without sounding like a twat. 

I guess it is just the world we live in now where social media has become more of a scrolling activity instead of something you engage with. I guess I just have to adjust my expectations and join the bandwagon but I will miss the hay day of Deviant Art where I felt like I belonged to a community instead of being one of a million. Who knows, eventually I might be able to foster a community but for now I'll keep shouting into the wind. 

Nostalgia rant over! :)

Hazel, xoxo