Portrait Drawing

After constantly drawing and sketching animals, I thought it was neccessary to start a new challenge; drawing portraits. My favourite actor, Johhny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow from the movie 'Pirates Of The Caribbean', was my first attempt of a portrait. I researched the internet for the perfect picture to draw, then selected the equipment i needed for this. I found it difficult to get the shape of the cheek bone and chin right, and to draw the facial expressions and features, but stayed persistent to complete it. I mostly used 4B and 6B greyleads for the portrait to make particular parts to stand out, but also used a 2H greylead to sketch the outline beforehand.
I enjoyed the challange, so i decided to complete one other portrait of Johnny Depp as Mad Hatter from the movie 'Alice In Wonderland.' I used similar techniques to the first drawing to complete the portrait.




Johnny Depp, 'Captain Jack Sparrow.'



Johnny Depp, 'Mad Hatter.'



Art class with Amy Jayy :)

This term in art, Amy Jayy and I found out we were in the same art class together. We are each attempting to complete a piece of art, one in oil pastels and one in chalk pastels.Amy is working with dry/chalk pastels of a picture of a bad day at the beach, and i am working on a river stream using oil pastels.
My second time with using oil pastels, so far it is only half done, but is starting to look good.

A chosen picture

About a week ago, a friend of mine was happily reading a magazine and came across a coloured picture of a cartoon woman. She studied it and decided that i should draw it. I agreed that i would do it, so i took it home and and that night i started immediately, using greylead to draw the outline of the cartoon. The next thing i need to do is choose the right colours for the drawing.

Chalk pastels

I felt as if i needed to get more creative in the way i present drawing, so i decided to look more into changing my way of art.
At school, i played around with oil pastels just for fun. During an art class at school I completed an oil pastel drawing of a flower. It was bright orange/yellow with a dull green for the stem.
That night i begged my parents if they could get me some oil pastels, and the next day i was surprised to come home from school and receive a packet of chalk pastels.
I was nervous but excited to use them at first, and found out they are really easy to work with and can look really effective.

First chalk pastel drawing '2011'

Watercolour pencils

I began to view watercolour to improve on my art skills and try something new.
Starting with watercolours was difficult as i had never done anything like it before. My parents bought me a set of watercolour pencils one year for my birthday, so i thought i would try them for something different. I was unfamiliar on how to use them but once i started, i got the hang of it.

First watercolour with pencils, '2009'

2B & 6B pencils.

Sketching has been my main interest in drawing. I began to examine a range of species other than just sea life. I looked deeper into how to sketch with different techniques and shapes in shading. My drawings began to improve with each tip i took in.
The first drawing i did of a tiger i thought was good at the time, but after researching the different techniques of how to use a 2B and 6B pencil to shade, has improved my recent pictures by making the stripes on a tiger/lion for example, stand out instead of looking bland with the whole picture being an equal shade of greylead.

First tiger drawn in 2007.

Improved drawing using different techniques in 2010.