Draw This in Your Style (DTIYS)
Each week Bernard Sombret posts a roundup of some of the week’s Draw This In Your Style challenges on Instagram. He also hosts his own weekly DTIYS challenge that he includes in his roundup. I pick out a few of the scenes that appeal to me, and sketch the vignette in my A4 Hahnemühle sketchbook.
The inspiration photos are an ideal way to practice sketching on scenes I wouldn’t ordinarily get to sketch. It doesn’t matter that I may never have to sketch a similar scene when I’m out urban sketching. They’re just a great opportunity to practice your hand-eye coordination. To sketch was you see, not what you think you see.
You can also click on the DTIYS or Draw This In Your Style tags to view all of art challenges and compositions I’ve completed.
DTIYS Compilation Nov 29th
I was drawn to two of the building scenes, mainly because of the foliage and flowers, and one building scene that I actually zoomed in out and made the people the focal point.
This is Bernard’s Art Challenge #44 of a small cottage festooned in bougainvillea. My favourite part of this sketch is the area of brighter white behind the table and chairs.
When you add darks next to light you create the most dramatic areas of contrast that that’s a really effective way to draw the eye to a focal point. I didn’t intentionally choose this focal point, it evolved. So this is a good reminder to establish the focal point before the painting starts.
I created the curtain of bougainvillea using pale pencil outlines for the overall shape, and then added the colour in separate layers, using wet-in-wet technique. I added the ink lines afterward, but next time I do a scene like this I’m going to omit the ink lines and add some shadow areas for definition instead. These ink lines draw the eye away from the focal point and from the details in the house. The only time to add ink lines on the floral element is when it’s the focal point.
This is the Draw With Dieksiee art challenge #41. I don’t usually have a lot of patience for sketching complex building scenes, but I’m discovering that I do love sketching foliage and flowers.
This autumn-themed door wreath was a complex compilation with lots of different shapes and colours, but it was so satisfying to sketch and paint. The turquoise door background draws the eye, but it’s the 3d looking wreath that draws the eye.
The other flowers in the scene have been painted slightly muted so they aren’t distracting.
I did originally leave the building wall a lot paler, but my in-house art critic provided his insight that the door was too prominent and didn’t seem ideally connected to the building. So I made it a little bit darker.
He was right, the door fits better and now it looks more like an old cottage wall rendered in plaster.
The bunch of grapes is the challenge from Sketch With Me Sunday – and honestly, was just to fill up a space and was a bit hurried.
It was a good exercise in mixing greens – since I’ve taken out my premixed sap green and undersea green from my palette.
The bottom sketch is the Draw With Pareg art challenge. I zoomed into the railway station scene portion of a larger urban scene with lots of buildings.
I didn’t have the room (or patience) for lots of buildings, so chose to sketch this vignette instead where the focal point is the two people walking onto the train platform.
I used a limited palette of French Ultra Marine and Burnt Sienna Light for the grey, and more BSL for the ground under the tracks. Then FUM for some of the clothing.
Although the sketch or painting isn’t great, it’s a really good useful reminder that when I’m out urban sketching, I’m completely free to zoom in on the areas that interest me the most, and I don’t have to sketch everything in front of me.
Here’s the roundup from Bernard, so you can visit his instagram profile and see the latest DTIYS challenges. He posts a new roundup every Friday.
If you’re in the mood to sketch and paint, and not sure what to paint, these weekly DTIYS art challenges are a fabulous opportunity to work on your hand eye coordination.
