I thought I would start a post to contain all the art that I post—keeping one in one place and documenting my journey.
As you may have seen in my introduction post, I have inherited my granddad’s pastels, which have inspired me to start creating art again. I haven’t drawn anything for about 20 years, and even then, I never finished a single piece. I remember enjoying drawing landscapes and buildings in my teenage years.
I am excited to try new mediums.
I started this new journey by finding the ‘Anyone can draw’ webinar. Here is my attempt at the trainer drawing at the end.
Thank you for sharing your journey, how special it is to be creating again with your granddad’s pastels. I love that you’re honoring his memory in such a creative and meaningful way.
Your drawing from the ‘Anyone Can Draw’ webinar is fantastic, especially after such a long break! It’s inspiring to see you dive back in and explore new mediums. I’m excited to follow along with your progress; keeping everything in one post is a great idea.
Looking forward to seeing more of your work as your journey unfolds!
I plan to go through the ‘25 to Better Drawing’, and then I am looking at the ‘The Secrets to Drawing’ course.
I already have an idea for my first project using my Granddad’s pastels, but I want to get to know and practice with them first. I am going to get my hands on a new set to practice with.
On Wednesday, I did Day 1 of the ‘25 Days to Better Drawing’. In my trainer drawing, I used only a 2B pencil and ended up with a shine on the darker areas. I also didn’t like how dark my initial shape outlines were, so in this one, I drew the shape outlines with an HB and then used HB, 2B, 4B, 6B, and 8B for the values.
Great job on these! If you haven’t explored perspective before, I think once you reach the perspective lessons in “25 Days to Better Drawing”, things will start to click. It takes time and practice to build spatial awareness; after all, we’re trying to create the illusion of a 3D structure on a 2D surface, which can be tricky to grasp at first. But Matt explains it really well!
Thank you for your comments. The last time I explored perspective was back in school xx years ago!!! I’m looking forward to covering those sections of the course. At the moment, I am taking a pic of Matt’s advice, ‘be patient and take your time’
Thank you for inviting us to participate your artistic journey. I did the “25 days” and “sectrets for better drawing” courses 2 times with about 2-4 years apart. It made me very happy to easier see my journey this way.
Have fun, take your time and keep on posting,
Buddy
Over the past couple of days, I have been working on day 7 of ‘25 Days to Better Drawing’. I don’t recall ever doing shading with line. I enjoyed this lesson and will definitely be revisiting it. Here are the results
Like Jessica, I too find it very wonderful that you are using your grandfather’s materials. Years ago I went to a museum and touched a roman sculpture that was there on the foot. I am not given to these kinds of spiritual things but I found myself mesmerized with tears flowing down my cheeks. It felt as though I was touching the hand of the original artist in some cosmic way. I hope that you sense your artistic connection to your grandfather as well. For a fresh start you are doing very well. I like to draw and to sculpt but am exercising my painting skills at present. It takes quite a bit of effort to be outside your comfort zone. Keep going!
There aren’t as many as we first thought, but it is a start. I’m not familiar with pastels or the brands, so any information the community can share would be appreciated.
At the weekend, I did day 9 of the ‘24 Days to Better Drawing course’. Here is the result.
I surprised myself with this one. I have never used white charcoal before, nor have I used blending sticks. I did it while I was waiting for my stepdaughter at swimming training. When I was packing up, I thought it looked okay for a first time, but when I opened my sketchbook to show my wife about three hours later, I was surprised by how good it looked, it didn’t look like my drawing, almost like someone had taken it over and finished it for me.
It goes to show that sometimes you need to walk away from your art and revisit it later. The darker shades don’t look as dark in the photo as they do in real life. That may have to do with the lighting I am using, and I can see that there is some graphite shine.
Your Day 9 drawing turned out beautifully! I love that moment of surprise when you come back to something and see it with fresh eyes, it really does show how stepping away can change our perspective. You captured a great sense of form and contrast, and for a first time with white charcoal and blending tools, that’s seriously impressive!
Cray-Pas are a well-known oil pastel brand, often used in schools and beginner sets, but they can be used to create beautiful effects with layering and blending. I’m less familiar with Ocaldo, but I’m sure others here might have some insight too. I’m sure there might even be you tube videos to help you out.
Looking forward to seeing where your journey with pastels (and everything else) takes you next.
Thank you for your kind words regarding my day 9 work. One thing I was wondering is whether it’s advisable to clean blending sticks between blending different value transitions (I was using sandpaper)? I found that when I was blending the darkest values and then trying to blend a mid-range value, there was too much soft graphite on the stick, so I had to clean it before use, but no matter how much I tried to clean the blending stick, there was still graphite residue.
Thank you for the information regarding the pastas. As you know, I have started at the beginning and am looking forward to experimenting with different meds.
