As I've been accumulating more and more art supplies, I was starting to realize that things had gotten a bit disorganized and it was becoming more of a hassle to find the things I was looking for, so I started thinking about how I wanted to organize my drawing tools. In this blog post, I'll go over what my goals were in organizing my supplies, what I've settled on, and why it works for me. I'll also go into a bit of detail about the specific tools I use in case anyone's curious, but I'd like to remind anyone who's looking for advice about what to use for your own artmaking that I am very much an amateur at this, so you probably shouldn't listen to anything I say. Also, this is what I've found works for me, and you might find other things work better for you. That said, let's get to it.
Pencil
Achievement unlocked: Sketch pad completed
ArtworkCommentI just reached a big milestone in my art making journey: I filled up my first sketch pad since I started making art again! Posted below are the last picture I drew in that sketchpad (I asked for suggestions on Twitter, and was told to draw "a dragon experiencing buyer's remorse after sending its horde to Cash4Gold"), as well as the first drawing in my new sketchbook. Despite using a pose reference, I don't think I got the proportions and perspective quite right on this one, but oh well. I'm happy with how the details on the jacket and shoes came out, though.
Backlog of art updates
ArtworkCommentOh hey, so this blog is a thing, huh? Whoops.
If you've been following me on Twitter, you've probably seen that I've posted several sketches and work-in-progress updates to my big Rogue painting that haven't been posted here. Let's rectify that.
First up, some charcoal sketches. Practicing drawing eyes, the Night Elf from the WarCraft 3 box art, and Johanna from Heroes of the Storm (aka the lady Crusader from Diablo 3).
Next, a pencil sketch of a harpy for @FallingStardusk and a birthday sketch for @Faebelina.
Practicing line art in Photoshop with a drawing of Lara Croft from Rise of the Tomb Raider, a graphite/charcoal pencil sketch of Slipstream Tracer from Overwatch, and a pencil line art drawing of a fashionable lady. For the Tracer drawing, I used graphite (which is reflective) for the glasses and earrings, and charcoal (which isn't reflective) for the rest, which gives it a pretty neat effect.
Finally, some progress updates on my Night Elf Rogue painting.
There, all caught up. I'll try to remember to post updates here more often so I'm not dumping a ton of images into one post again.
Queen Padme Amidala pencil drawing
ArtworkCommentI haven't been slacking on my Draw Every Day 2016 project, I promise! I've just been spending the last five days working on one drawing. As I said in my previous blog post, I recently re-watched the Star Wars Prequels, so I drew Queen Amidala in graphite and a bit of colored pencil.
This started out as a simple quick sketch, and quickly grew into something more detailed and complex than I'd initially planned. I'm mostly happy with how it turned out, though I didn't notice that the eyes weren't quite lined up until it was too late to fix it. I'm just taking it as a lesson learned: Even if you think your sketch is lined up correctly, quadruple check before you start drawing dark lines!
If you want to see the progress photos, they're in my Work-In-Progress gallery.
Daisy Ridley pencil drawing
ArtworkCommentIt's been a while since I've posted any updates here. I'm not done practicing making art, I've just been spending a lot of time recently practicing things I've never been very good at, like drawing human figures/poses without a reference, and while I'm making good progress, I'm not ready to start showing any of that yet.
I do have something today, though. Since I've been spending time practicing things I'm bad at, I needed to take a break from that and remind myself that I can draw things that look good, so I did a pencil drawing from a photo reference. Because there's a big national and religious holiday coming up soon, in keeping with the holiday spirit, I drew Daisy Ridley.
Sketches of Daisy Ridley as Rey
ArtworkCommentI'm trying to re-teach myself how to draw real people again, so I drew some sketches of Daisy Ridley's character Rey from the Force Awakens trailers. They're pretty quick sketches and a bit rough, but I feel like I've made some progress and learned some things while drawing these three sketches, which is the important thing.
Assault Android Peanut
ArtworkCommentI drew another assault android from Assault Android Cactus: Peanut.
No scanned version this time, because my scanner was blowing out the lighter colors too much, so you just get a photo taken with my phone. I bought some fancy new artist pens (Amazon link), and they're way better than drawing with a Sharpie. Having different size tips for doing bold lines and fine details is really nice, and the pens put down really dark ink that doesn't smudge or bleed through the paper, even in spots where I put down a lot of ink, like around the eyes and midsection. The colors are colored pencil.
I noticed when it was too late to change it that the hand holding the drill is facing the wrong way. Whoops, oh well. Who knows how an android's wrists work, anyway.
As always, you can find the work in progress shots in my Sketches / WIP gallery.
Feathered T. rex sketch
ArtworkCommentQuick sketch of a feathered T. rex. What a majestic and fearsome beast, hear her powerful roar.
I drew a Cactus
ArtworkComment(From Assault Android Cactus, one of my favorite games to come out this year.)
I started the sketch with a pencil, and in recognition of Inktober, I did the line work with a fine point Sharpie, then finished off the coloring with colored pencils. I used the character select screen in the game as a reference.
I'm not quite as psyched with how this turned out as I am with my Inkling drawing, probably because this was done on paper where I couldn't keep hitting undo over and over to fix every little mistake, but this is probably more representative of where my actual drawing ability is at right now. I definitely need to work on my confidence in my line art, because drawing with a marker on real paper where I can't hit the undo key if I make a mistake makes me incredibly nervous.
You can find the in-progress photos in my sketches/WIP gallery.
I bought a sketchbook that I'm filling with practice sketches, but most of them are very practice sketchy and aren't worth even putting in my sketches gallery. I'll be sure to keep posting the ones that aren't completely terrible, though.