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

My Experience with Winsor and Newton Promarkers

I have now fully embraced markers. They are so fun and easy to use plus I get the same vibrant colours without having to organise an elaborate set up like I would with paints. I really am quite lazy when I think about setting up supplies. I find it can discourage me from starting to draw or paint. So the simpler, the better. 

My first foray into Promarkers was back at the start of the year, with the Letraset brand - in fact I have a blog post about it here on this blog. Within the last month or so I have slowly been buying more to expand my colour choice. As I have continued to buy them though there seems to have been a change over with the Promarkers going from Letraset to Winsor and Newton. The colours are the same but I do feel like the Winsor and Newton ones are slightly better in regards to blending.

The third row is Winsor and Newton Promarkers and the lines under the row are the Letraset Promarkers. As you can see the colours are pretty much the same (apart from the yellow but only because I tried to blend with it and it picked up the other colour). From this colour selection I've managed to make a variation of colours. My only annoyance is with the lack of variation in skintones but my using the browns and greys from the others sets I can just about manage a darker range of skintones. However it would have been a lot better if the skintones came in a pack of 12 to insure a better diversity of colour.

While shopping I also bought Marker paper which to my surprise is a lot thinner that I though it would be. When I ordered it on Cass Art I didn't look at the thickness of the paper assuming it would be quite sturdy since all the paper I had used with markers so far all had bleeding. So when I saw the paper was quite flimsy, resembling grease proof paper or tracing paper, I was taken aback (70gsm to be accurate). But there definitely isn't any bleed through which is amazing even though you can see the drawing on both sides of the paper. For now it is great for sketching however I think I might look for some alternatives for higher quality work just so it is easier to store without tearing or creasing.

How the drawings look from the back of the paper.

I found this Baylee Jae video about the subject and thought it might be helpful to those looking for marker appropriate paper like me.

I have looked into other brands of markers, Copic and so on, but I find the Promarkers do the job just fine without putting a hole in my purse. I am curious to test them though just see what the hype is all about. Until I win the lottery though I think I'll live without having used them. Pigment Markers are another type I'm interested in due to how easy it looks to blend them, especially with the white pen. Far superior to the waste of time blender that comes with the larger packs of Promarkers. They look like a mixture of pen and paint.

I see myself using markers for a while. The novelty hasn't wore off yet. The only thing that concerns me about them is how fast they might fade but until I see that for myself I'll continue using them.

Hazel, xoxo   

June Sketch a Day Faves

It blows my mind how fast time goes. It feels like yesterday I set myself the #sketchaday2016 challenge and we are already half way through the year. Granted I haven't kept up my end of the new year's resolution fully but that's just a minor detail.  I still hold myself to the challenge in spirit! 

Anyway... This month has been a month of canvas gifts, pencil sketches and promarker exploration!  I've also been quite heavy in the portraits area and even though I want to broaden my subject matter, portraits will always be my favourite thing to do.  I grudge having to stop myself from doing what comes naturally to me. Faces are just the best! 

So here are my favourites of June!

At the start of this month I managed to hold myself to the goal of painting some canvases. Both of these canvas where painted as birthday gifts, tailored for each person's loves. The first being the Marvel universe's Christophers (minus Chris Pratt unfortunately) and the second being little Holly! Overall I was happy with how they turned out despite time constraints due to last minute planning. Definitely going to do more canvases soon! 

After over a month of painting with watercolour I wanted to go back to some old standbys. Pencil drawings are the foundation of my skills so it is always a pleasure to go back to them. However recently I feel like the pencils just don't have the contrast in tones that I want to achieve so that is where charcoal comes in. I'm not great with charcoal, mainly because I feel like I have less control over details. But the contrast in tones is so much easier to achieve, especially with the toned paper and use of white charcoal.

My intention was to stick with graphite and charcoal for most of the month but I craved colour after using the watercolours for so long so decided it was time to go back to markers. And so with that thought I ordered a bunch from Cass Art.

With my promarker phase came my craving to draw old Hollywood actresses. Even though I like my Liz Taylor and Sophia Loren ones, Vivien Leigh is definitely my favourite out of the three. I just love the colours and facial expression. 

Who knew that if you drew a hippy van that pro marjuana Instagram accounts would take notice. Good to know!

These last two pieces are by far my favourites of the month. I didn't think I would be able to achieve any sort of style that resembled realism with markers but I've pleasantly surprised myself. 

My next goals are to paint on some bigger canvases but also start to draw some original pieces and by that I mean using my own references instead of secondary ones. I also want to start drawing a wider variety of people instead of just the white female. 

Side note - When I bought a pack of skintoned markers it only had tones to draw white skin which is completely ridiculous. Yes I could probably buy individual colours to widen the skin tone colours I have but you would have thought that they could have sold a bigger set to incorporate the mutiple skin tones there are instead of just ivory and pinks. Rant over!

On to July!

Hazel, xoxo

"Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear" Review

A while back I bought a book called "Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear" by Elizabeth Gilbert. I'm usually not one for self help books but only because I never seem to connect with them. There intension is to help but I always leave confused with nothing I can actually apply to my life. For instance I always think about vague books like "The Secret" that are about the simple idea of putting good energy in the world and the universe giving it back - a sort of cause and effect deal. But when it tries to get deeper down into the subject it tends to waffle on and go round in circles.

So when I saw "Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear" at the bookstore I was cautious. However the title called out to me. I've been grappling with how to lead a creative life and whether I should keep it a hobby or turn it into a career. But also I knew that my life unfortunately is overwhelmed with fear. If I had an "Inside Out" scenario going on in my head fear would definitely be the leader of the control room. And with that thought I bought it.

It sat on my shelf for quite some time waiting to be read as I tried to get myself out of a reading funk. It was only a couple weeks ago on a sunny day while I was in the middle of the #makeasplash challenge I decided to start the book. That day I finished half of it in one foul swoop and rest of it on the sunny days after. It's been a while since I've read something that I felt so connected to. It doesn't feel like a self help book but instead more like a collection of stories from the author's life that have taught her lessons she wishes to pass on.

What I liked about it the most surprisingly is that it is quite a spiritual book. Gilbert talks about inspiration as if it is a separate entity on the hunt for open people to bestow its ideas to. Reading Gilbert's ideas on inspiration and creativity reminded me of one of my favourite pieces of writing about what is known as the blessed unrest:

"There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time. This expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it.

  It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.

  No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others."

-Martha Graham

What draws me back to creative living again and again is the process of turning inspiration into pieces of art - the act of capturing "Big Magic". Gilbert talks about the importance of leading a creative life but not necessarily have it be a career. Just as long as creativity is incorporated in whatever way it can improve your quality of life profoundly. We should be free to make what we desire and not have to worry about the response and judgement that comes after we put it out into the world. It's act of making that is what we should be in it for, not the approval of others (no matter how nice it can feel).

With this in mind Gilbert also talks about the pursuit of a creative career and the mindset needed in order to prepare yourself for the shit that comes along with the whole process (the shit sandwich as she calls it) and how she deals with it. Failure is part of the journey. In this part she touches on the idea of the tortured artist and completely debunks the idea which makes me internally cheer.

There's probably so much more I could say about the book but I wouldn't want to spoil it for you incase you do eventually decide to give it go. I've already passed mine onto a friend to read and once I get it back I'm definitely considering reading it again which is a rarity for me. I wouldn't say the book has changed my life but it has definitely opened my eyes. Whether my life changes is in my hands.

Hazel, xoxo