Draw 50 Things Challenge

January 2020

First traditional drawings of the year:

Red Veggies

This vegetable series began this spring, first as a relaxation from the Indesign work I was doing as my day (and sometimes night) job, then more diligently as I had more free time (like the 6 peppers one).
The first two are done only using colored pencil while the rest also have a watercolor base. They are quite small, except for the last, more medium sized one.

The idea was to create a collection for my Etsy shop as well. I've always found red to be a very stimulating color, so maybe I overused in an attempt to feel more fresh, haha.

The technique is still the same, a light sketch, which I erase, only leaving a hint on the paper. Then slowly adding color, until I've reached the darkest shade from the reference photo.

Maybe the most important part is the years of drawing practice beforehand and attempting with each drawing to understand how to suggest the volume of something, the diligent study of the way light and shadow rest on things. And even exagerating sometimes, like making slightly darker outlines so the shape will pop more in constrast to the white of the page.

The scanning and cleaning process are very important as they contribute to this as well. I usually do it using polygonal lasso in Photoshop with a grey layer underneath so I don't leave any old paper undeleted. Then I replace that layer with pure white.

M.

Chill Sunday

This was my attempt to make a more children's illustration inspired image, but with scenes that portray grown-ups. I don't know if I'd continue using this style,but it was a fun exercise.

If one day I'd illustrate a children's book maybe I could look back to it for reference.

Speaking of which, I didn't use any reference for this, just a simple sketch from my imagination, that I redrew a couple of times, and then colored.

The idea is that of Small Daily Scenes, and it goes together with the Valentines one.

 M.          

Pencil drawings - Summer 2018