4/19: Day 29
I missed doing my drawing today, for the first time. We spent the day driving to Boston, and we were so busy packing, driving, getting settled into the hotel that I just didn’t make time for art. I won’t let this be an excuse to stop this project. There will inevitably be days that I miss, because, life. But I’m going to get back to it tomorrow.
4/20: Day 30
I did tons of drawing today and I’m really happy about it. My husband had a few appointments so I stayed at the hotel, where there was pretty much nothing to do but draw. I turned on youtube for company and just drew for several hours. It was really nice to have some time to myself to just be creative and not be distracted by household chores or pets or work, I could just draw.
I love how these little cats came out, I was going for a really cartoony look and lots of deep shades.
These two monsters are my favorite from the day. When my husband saw them he said they very much resemble the two of us. My husband in his vest, about to go hunt for mushrooms in the forest, and me, 9 months pregnant, and huffing and puffing while walking the streets of Boston. It totally wasn’t what I intended when I drew them but it also totally works!
I played around a bit with shading with these Pilot soft blue lead inserts for mechanical pencils. I like how they’re so similar to colored pencils but you can get more detail because of the very small lead. I wish these came in all different colors, I could have a lot of fun with that!
These last few are pretty random, I was having fun shading with pens. I may add some light watercolor to these but haven’t decided yet.
4/21: Day 31
Ooooof I really hate this one. I don’t even know where it came from. Sometimes drawings just pop out of my hands and I have no idea why. Kind of like dreaming, there’s no real control over what’s happening, it just happens and you just witness it. Not a fan of this one, but I’m determined to share everything here even if I don’t like it.
4/22: Day 32
I don’t often use colored pencils. I always like using them when I’m in it, but they’re always a big time investment that I usually don’t want to make. I love the instant gratification of ink and watercolor, you can have a finished drawing in 30 seconds pretty easily.
Colored pencils take commitment. You need to dedicate the time to layering, blending, slowly building up color. This little monster was fun to do, and I could see myself doing more colored pencil drawings on a small scale like this. This guy took me about 20 minutes whereas larger colored pencil drawings can take hours or days to complete.
4/23: Day 33
An excited little fish today. I drew this guy with my Pentel pocket brush but it didn’t seem complete so I added a little splash of color with colored pencils and now I love it! I haven’t done very much of mixing ink with colored pencils but this was really fun so I’ll definitely come back to it!
4/24: Day 34
I’m not a fan of today’s drawing. I rarely use art markers and have truly never understood how to properly shade with them. I only had 4 shades of gray to play with today and blending went terribly. I’ve always coveted those Copic art markers and been a little envious of the artists who have giant hordes of them and really know how to use them.
There’s a good lesson here though. When you’re starting on art journey, it’s great to try as many different supplies and materials as you can. BUT, you don’t have to like them all. Not all of them will resonate with you and feel comfortable for you to use, and that’s okay. It’s important to try, to play, to experiment, but don’t feel like you must use any one type of supply because that’s what other people do. Every artist finds their own medium that they’re really happy working with, and you’ll find yours too.
4/25: Day 35
A simple bear today done with ink and watercolor. I have a lot on my plate today and honestly didn’t feel like putting a ton of effort into a drawing. This guy is cute though!
All told, this week was a little rough with traveling back and forth to Boston, not having all of my supplies with me while there, several days of feeling like I had too much on my plate to do a drawing, it was a lot. But I powered through it and I’m glad I did. I did more drawing this week than I have in awhile, and while I don’t love everything I made, I learned something from each and every drawing. Pushing through the resistance is part of the reason I’m doing this. There will always be days and weeks where it’s not easy, but you could argue those are the ones that count the most.
