Tree or decorations

Since we haven’t got a tree this Christmas I haven’t put any baubles or decorations up. But that didn’t stop me getting an old box of them out to draw. The #bandofsketchers prompt for Christmas Eve…. Now I’m having a caramel chocolate and a glass of port while watching ‘the day after tomorrow’ I guess they put it on because its full of snow…..

Almost there

Three year old digital drawing. Dots and swirls! The closest to a tree I will have this year. The cats climbed up the last one so I’m not risking my old glass baubles. Plus my cats are bigger this year and with three instead of two… Disaster would be bound to occur.

Did I ever mention the Christmas eve my husband tripped over after too much beer and snapped the tree in half? About twenty years ago. I stayed up and tied it together with tinsel, rehung the baubles and but the lights back on it. When he got up in the morning he thought he had dreamt it happening!

Diana Rigg?

I do love drawing people, but there is less chance now of finding a subject. So when BBC 4 just showed a half hour interview with Diana Rigg in a programme called Face to Face from 1997? The image of her was full face far away, full face close to and profile images, so her face was fully in view was for approximately ten minutes. It’s a good bit of practice, as if you were drawing from life. The face never stops moving so you have to try and fix where the eyes are, how far apart, how long the nose? And the shape and size of the mouth. Plus the face shape. How long is her chin? How high her cheeks. Trying to see all of the face, not looking too closely at just one bit, so it fits?

Doodles from three years ago…

These were on my memories from three years ago so I thought I would share them. Yet again a combination of doodling and filters. Probably drawn with a stylus. Using Sketch, sketcher free and ArtRage oils. I like drawing faces in profile.

I’ve found I usually draw left facing profiles for faces and animals. In this case I’ve switched a couple of them round to see how it changes the image. Is it something to do with if you are left or right handed? I don’t know.

Jack Frost

Trying to draw Frost from my memory. Not easy. I couldn’t get the feathery patterns that it makes. Drawn in ArtRage oils. Working between metallic and non metallic white on a blue background.

I remember going to bed in the cold. The Frost built up inside the windows. Our breath condensing on the glass. I was on the window side of the room (I shared with my sister) and the curtains were thin and yellow. Behind them a wide windowledge, then wooden window frames with curly cast iron handles to open them. I’d look out on freezing nights and see ‘Jack frost’ on the panes. If it was really cold we were allowed to put the one bar electric heater on until we got in bed under eider downs and our school macs to keep warm under. I’d often sleep with my coat over my head. Breathe warm air on my hands and try and stop shivering. We only got double glazing to our n family home after I’d left for college I think….

Looking up

Well, I tried to draw our living room lampshade. But with the light on it is a bit too dazzling. Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was looking up.

I used a few felt pens, including a gold and two browns. Also a black and a yellow and finally a grey for the shadows on the ceiling. I outlined the edges with a bit of black biro. I might also do something else as I’m not totally happy with this.

Glass bottle doodle

First doodle
Finished doodle

I drew some flowers in an oval area in ArtRage oils. Then transfered it to my Sketch app and added the shape, a bit of shading and the background. Finally I transferred it to Photodirector to add some lighting effects. I tried to draw something that looks like a glass jar.

Running horse

After chatting about drawing horses and the gait they have when they walk, trot, canter and gallop, I tried to remember how I used to draw galloping horses. This is a quick three minute sketch on the Sketch app. That’s why the legs are a bit muddled. I added a bit of shade underneath to sto it floating… Might get some pencils out instead of drawing them digitally….

Drawn wreath

Drawn in Sketch app

If you want to you can try and draw images with various tools on an app called Sketch. I used an ellipse tool and a symmetry tool to centre this drawing and guide the curves in it. I used leaf shapes and flowers shapes adjusted to different sizes and other pattern tools like stars for a bit of digital glitter. I used a spray gun tool to add shade, using the ellipse and symmetry to get the shadows under the leaves, then added a darker layer of leaves. I added a bow shape with a marker pen tool. Finally I added a circle around the wreath drawing to add a bit of definition and added Merry Christmas on top. I did this twice, first with a darker colour then white, slightly offsetting them to get a shadowed effect.