Sktchy Crowd

In a bid to further develop sketching people I've been trialling a combination of portraits together from my favourite inspiration App 'Sktchy'.

The first try was a page of women. I'm happy with the result but still spend more time than I had hoped on each person. My aim is to be faster and more responsive to shapes and profiles.

 For the Sktchy men, drawing more people smaller worked better. It helped me to simplify the line work and study variations in angles and features between the people.

Motivated to learn with Sktchy Portraits

Mercy. Ink, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 25 Dec 2013

I'm attempting to make 2014 the year I get comfortable with drawing people. My goal is to remove my hesitation of adding them to my urban sketches, to help bring them to life and tell more of a story. Having seen other Urban Sketchers give the Sktchy App a try, I signed up and started work.

 

 

Adrian. Pencil, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 14 Jan 2014.

What's the process? Basically, creative people sketch from a constantly updated pool of photographic portraits provided by other Sktchy users.

 

Milly. Pencil, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 19 Jan 2014.

On completion of the sketch, a photo of the finished piece is then attached to the original reference pic and posted to the artists stream of work as well as the main page. Not only does this create a motivating and creative platform to be part of, but it's a great learning tool to see how other people interpret and create from the initial point of inspiration.

 

Jan. Ink, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 19 Jan 2014

There's generally a good number inspiring reference photos to be found. My preference is for more than just a face. People in action, dressed in printed/knitted fabrics, landscape or buildings in the background all make it a bit more interesting. I am not short choice (you can queue inspiring pics in your profile as you find them) and I already have enough muses to create one or two portraits a week for the next few months.

 

Weimaraner. Ink, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 5 Jan 2014.

And what people post is not just limited to portraits of themselves. Actually, if anything I'm becoming overly attached to creating these portraits. They are taking more than the 5 mins I might be able to sketch someone if drawing on location. So the next goal will be to become more responsive and set a timer going...

 

The Sktchy App is free and can be found via here

Stamp Carving - Pet Portrait

I have long admired the carving of Kozue - she creates wonderful portraits of both people and pets. Kozue has a remarkable ability to capture both so well in a stamp. Like any portrait, I feel the artist treads on egg shells when creating a likeness at someone elses request. Often the only knowldege of the subject is from a single photo and the customer also probably has a strong emotional connection with the subject. So I've generally been reluctant to go anywhere near portraits until a friend requested I carve a stamp of her adorable looking dog.

So here is Bob. I think Bob has the makings of a movie star with he's fabulous markings. It was a challenge and a pleasure to carve a likeness of Bob and I'm quite happy with the result. Hope his owner likes it!