Digital editing

The first picture was drawn in ArtRage oils. The second was edited in Photodirector. Take your pick of which you prefer. I’ve changed the texture and colours in the second one. I’ve also added an overlay of grunge and some extra texture using a couple of the filters. I think although they are both digital, the first looks more painterly, the second more stylised, like a print. I could imagine both of them being used as editorial images as illustrations for a written presentation about horses? All the time I’m trying to improve my drawing and art skills….

Today’s prompt is Sky

#bandofsketchers prompt

Got up just before 7 to draw a magnificent dawn? It was still gloomy when I started and because of the low cloud it got lighter, but no sign of the sun!

This is the view east of the house. Willow Bush still in leaf but turning yellow, beyond that the rooves of the shops on the main road and the skeleton of a new building that stopped growing in March. The telephone pole, the Walnut tree we planted twenty five years ago and a Holly Bush below the willow. Used a calligraphy black ink pen and Spectrum Noir metallic coloured pencils. Took about twenty minutes in semi darkness.

Spiral

Drawing spirals calms me. Following the contours round. Sometimes I add a dot so that the line has to deviate around it. I used all my metallic pens for this, mainly silvers, a gold and a purple. I did have a green but it has almost run out. I think this looks a bit like a tree trunk, like dendrochronology. Tree rings that you can look at to see how old the tree is (the outer ring is the one which was current when the tree was cut down). If you count inwards then each ring represents a year generally. You can alsu tell by the thickness of the line. I know that’s not what my drawing represents, but it’s what I see when I look at it.

Xï

Green amaryllis

Green amaryllis bulb about to burst, the last years leaves still surviving in another pot and some darker green leaves in another pot. The living room reflected behind in the background. Today’s #bandofsketchers drawing this afternoon. I kept the colours to a minimum to emphasise the greens.

At the museum

At the Terracotta army exhibition in 2018.at the World museum in Liverpool. I like drawing as well as taking photos. (I had over 100 photos).

The World museum is full of so many interesting exhibitions, ranged over several floors. These included Egyptian art, Clocks, Marine artefacts and other art and objects. Too much to see in one day. I would love to go back and see more!

Digital life drawing

I took my tablet to a life drawing class a couple of years ago. I wanted to see what a digital drawing would look like. I chose to use a program called sketcher free that gives you different texture tools, like fur long fur, ribbon, chrome, and other pens. You can chose the background colour. You can also use a colour slider and picker and a change in pen sizes. It’s a bit complicated to choose a pen shape that translates to the drawing well. There are other programs that are simpler to use but I liked (as usual) the patterned effect I created.

Mandalas

Original
photodirector and layout apps

A doodled mandala and adjustments in photodirector to add lens flare and playing with the drawn lines (gold and silver pens on black cartridge paper).

I wanted to cover the paper in patterns, it started out as a reasonably balanced pattern at the centre, but I soon went off on a tangent!

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt

Drawing every couple of days to a prompt helps me keep my hand in and makes me think about drawing things slightly differently to a straightforward image. Hence the bike wheel…. Can’t say I got it right with its wonky spokes and dodgy perpective but I did find it enjoyable. The only thing is the radiator in there doesn’t give out much heat so I drew the circles for the wheel in the kitchen first (it’s warmer). Then I tried to draw the spokes in the bathroom but I was shaking too much to get straight lines!

By the way I didn’t draw the oil cans and the old rags… I think he think his bikes are horses and need stabling….. Lol