Photo: Urban Sketch and Skin Tone Palette Reference

Continuing with day seven of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. I missed the Earthsworld Challenge yesterday, so did that one, and today’s as well.

Day Six and Seven of my 365 Day Sketch Challenge

I did the two day’s worth of the Drawing Earthsworld Challenge from Facebook. One was a single portrait, and the other was a duo who I painted separately.

Drawing Earthsworld Challenge (Dec 12)

Pen: Black Uniball Eye – Fine

I used the same mix for her shirt as I did for her skin tone.

Her teeth were sketched as negative space – that technique of sketching teeth is fast becoming my default style.

Pushing Paint to create Shadow Areas

The hard line shadow on the skin by her shirt is done by:

• waiting for the paint to dry
• then using a damp brush to push the paint away from area I want left as a light highlight and move the paint towards the shadow area.

You’re basically pushing the paint pigments so they clump together. This push-technique creates a hard line, but one with a slightly softer edge than the edge created by paint left to dry naturally.

Drawing Earthsworld Challenge (Dec 13) #1

Pens: Black Uniball Eye – Fine, and Black Staedtler pigment liner 0.05

I used the pigment liner for the finer wrinkles lines on this portrait, and wish I’d used it for some of the lines in the hair.

Skin Tone Palette

I used a mix of Opera Rose and Buff Titanium for the base skin tone, and added Phthalo Green (blue shade) to the mix for the darker and shadow areas.

Hair Colour Palette

For her hair, I used a mix of Buff Titanium with a little touch of Phthalo Green (blue shade), and then added a little touch of Opera Rose for the warmer highlights.

Clothing Palette

I like the strategy of using a limited palette for portraits.

If I’d thought about it, I wouldn’t have painted her red sweatshirt in its actual colour because I think it draws the eye away from her face, and it clashes too much with her pink lipstick.

I should have mixed a colour to create a more cohesive feel between the face colouring and the clothing. To ensure that the face is the focal point, and not the sweatshirt.

I did these three variations from a mix of Opera Rose and Phthalo Green (blue shade). I think that pinky-purple would have been too much.

I much prefer the shadow purple shade and the petrol blue shade. Both would have been a better colour for the sweatshirt than the red. One of these shades could have been used for the her irises if I’d wanted them to blend in more.

Drawing Earthsworld Challenge (Dec 13) #2

Pen: Black Staedtler pigment liner 0.05

I used to always use a fine liner for my portraits. Well, all my sketching. But then I discovered fountain pens and line variations, and ever since then I’m all over the place.

I don’t like SO many aspects of this drawing, but if I had to pick something, I like the tilt of her head, and the loose sketching style of her tee-shirt.

Every sketch you draw isn’t going to be successful, but we’re never going to improve unless we practice, practice, practice. And a sketch like this only takes a few minutes – so not much time was wasted.

I should really have another go at sketching it, because there’s so many areas of improvement. But I’d rather wait until tomorrow, and see what inspiration photo they post for the Earthsworld Challenge.