I always end up painting creepy forests for some reason? better composition than the swing one though. yay for progress!

I took a break from drawing in this sketchbook for a month (was using a bigger one), but now I’m at it again coz most of my stuff lately have been digital. Zhen Huan again still in badass mode, and some Queen Elizabeth I Cate Blanchett to add to the badass girls thing. (I keep drawing Kate WIntlset for some reason so I thought of my next favourite movies — “Elizabeth” and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” — and, damn it, it’s also a “Cate” lol.)

Also some terrible eyeballed perspective and creeping on people in Second Cup today. Drawing from photos is easier but drawing from life is more fun and looks livelier. The last guy on the laptop totally has the stereotypical ECE prof look lol.

And…. hehe, the importance of fine details, like the eyeballs. :D

sloppy sketch to test willow charcoal sticks I just bought. nice and soft but makes so much charcoal dust, pretty sure inhaling that stuff ain’t good for my lungs…

and BUTTS. been trying to learn how to draw figures properly instead of eyeballing everything and then hoping for the best.

acrylic on 16″ x 20″ canvas, 3 hours, ref used

My first time painting on a canvas! And first time I’ve used acrylics in about 7 years or so. This is actually not bad considering the last acrylic paintings I made were uuuuugly as hell hahaha…… but it’s not really finished, and there are still lots of things I would fix if I had more time.

I painted this at Paintlounge, a sort of painting cafe ish place. They call it “social painting”, which is as it sounds — making painting a social event. They provide you with all the materials (even an apron!) and you choose a canvas size. This is their XS smallest size, but it’s actually bigger than anything I’ve ever had to paint in my life… lol… their biggest canvas is probably humongous. You can choose to paint from your imagination, bring your own reference, or they have collections of inspiration images for you choose from. Mine came from their landscape collection. (I chose to paint something not too complicated to be safe, but there were also copies of Monet and Van Gogh’s paintings for master studies.) The original image was a lot more muted and calm, but I made my painting super vibrant and contrasted. Brings out a different mood I guess.

The atmosphere is very nice and casual. Just a bunch of people who like painting gathering together and making some art. People would just walk around to look at other people’s paintings and making comments/giving tips when taking a break. I’d imagine this is what art class feels like. There was also live music by local artists playing because it was a special event, and at about halfway we all grabbed our drink and just listened to her perform 2 original songs. I almost never draw with other people (even though I’d like to) so I had a lot of fun my first time there, I’ll definitely be going back! I’m eventually going to do a portrait on canvas once the paint & brushes like me more lol you all saw this coming.

Detail of the boat coz lots of people liked it. :) Still trying to figure out how I managed to freehand that pole so straight… it’s SO STRAIGHT

That’s it, one more Titanic related post and that “Titanic” category is happening. (how likely is this knowing me I should just make the category right now)

So while I was half delirious last night I thought it was a good idea to try some portraits in pencil crayons. So… hard…. I keep thinking I’m using normal pencils, “oh yeah no prob I can fix this later” NOPE. I started colouring in the first Rose before I even had an accurate sketch of her face cough. Aside from limited colours (I have the 24 Prismacolors coloured pencils) these things are impossible to blend, or I just don’t know how to use them?? Second drawing is better coz I made sure it looked like Kate Winslet before colouring, and I was super paranoid about it. Was too scared to put down solid colours in the beginning because I can’t reverse it. It always takes the occasional traditional art to appreciate Photoshop lol. KINDA FUN THO if you can do it right…