mific | Entries tagged with drawing practice

The current

drawesome challenge is to 'draw what you see'. This is what I see from my usual chair in my living room at night - part of the opposite side of the room with a small lamp with star cutouts, and on the wall a star-shaped mirror, two plates, and an old tambourine.
Drawn in Procreate with the calligraphy 'chalk' brush which is like a soft pencil.

Grayscale drawing of a lamp on a table, an armchair to the right, shelves on the left, round decorative objects on the wall.

This month's challenge at drawesome is drawing hands. As I did that already last year I wanted to try something a bit different so I did shadow animals. Pencil drawings enhanced with a brush pen and acrylic marker, digitally coloured backgrounds.

Hands folded to cast the shadow of a rabbit.

( more here... )

Another pic for the

drawesome challenge to do automatic drawing - when you draw freely with no plan or specific image in mind. I've again done it digitally on Procreate, and I felt like doing a coloured one this time. I used a digital "scratch away" technique where you use layers, with the underlayer coloured (I just filled it with blurred, random colour) and the top layer solid black in which you draw with the eraser. A nice break from more intense painting and doing organisational stuff. Click for full size.

Abstract black pattern with spirals and decorative detail, over background colour.

This is for a

drawesome challenge to do automatic drawing - when you draw freely with no plan or specific image in mind. I chose to try it digitally on Procreate, using a textured brush that's a bit like a crayon. The rules I set myself were not to use the "smoothing" function Procreate can do, where it takes a wobbly line you drew and makes it a smooth curve or ellipse, and not to use the eraser. Interesting - quite like doing zentangle patterns, and pretty much the same as full-page doodling. I usually listen to podfic or audiobooks while doing art but I listened to music this time to make it a bit less likely that I'd be prompted towards a particular image. It was nice getting back into music and I realised I haven't listened to much since discovering audiobooks. Click for full size.

Abstract sepia pattern with spirals and feathery shapes.

Belatedly catching up with the September

drawesome challenge "Face your fears". For the challenge we had to practice drawing or painting something we find challenging. I've always found hands tricky to do, but so did Goya so I'm in good company. :) I used my own hands as models, and did these digitally in Procreate with a 'pencil' type of brush.

( Read more... )

I've been slowly pottering away at the latest

drawesome challenge - the "shrimp" challenge where you have a go at drawing something, then practice using references, and then draw the thing again without references, hopefully using what you've learned from the references.

I decided to draw cats, as I like cats but usually don't draw them very well - too like cartoons. I didn't draw these pics as part of any fandom but they do of course fit neatly into one: Naomi Kritzer's Cat Pictures Please. I've posted them to AO3 on that basis and we'll hope the AI enjoys them.

First attempt at drawing cats from memory - very cartoony: (click on each pic to see the full size)

( pics under here... )

Watercolour painting of two cats smooching - a gray and white smaller cat on left, smiling with her eyes shut, being smooched by a ginger tabby.

Final attempt - drawing cats freehand from memory, after the reference practice:

( pic under here... )

So that was interesting, and a good reminder that drawing something a lot of times does help with learning how to get the details right.

I hardly ever post to Instagram as their fucked up algorithms are dispiriting, but there's a meme going around there (and on tumblr and twitter) where artists collage together 9 of their pics. It's called #faceyourart and I think it's supposed to be for comparing your artworks to see trends and flaws, or something. Anyway, it's irresistible so I made one. Most are from the past year, but the Parker one was done a couple of years ago. One thing I notice is my limited range of poses - of "camera angles" - compared to some other artists. That's down to inexperience with drawing, and it's something I can work on.

( pic here... )

In other news, the weather continues mostly warmer than usual down here (having said that, it just started pouring down), with signs of very early spring like magnolias flowering and the earliest blossom - deep pink prunus campanulata which the tuis love to drink nectar from.

( pic here... )

I'm busy with my Big Bang projects - my McShep Big Bang fic's all done and I'm waiting to post when scheduled, on the 14th. I have one remaining fic to finish, a lot of complement art, intermittent BIPOC portraits, and a project for

drawesome where you have to draw something from memory (badly, in my case!) then use references to practise, then draw the subject again. I'm doing cats, as I love them but tend to draw them like cartoons. Here's a preview as I'm still practising drawing from references. The reference pic is my own monster Daisy, she of the unsheathed claws. More work needed on the feet, for both of us!

( pic here... )

Here are my first 20 portrait practices. Ahmed Aldoori on Youtube started the "100 Heads Challenge" and set up a Pinterest Board with lots of references. Many of them are pouty young models so I'm also using more varied reference pics from the BBC show "Portrait Artist of the Year". Some of the original references are statues, which are good for shadows and contours. I get bored with grayscale graphite drawing so I've added colour here and there. Click on each thumbnail for the full-sized pic.


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Polymorphous Perversity

Draw what you see - corner of my living room

Drawing Hands Practice - Shadow Animals

Automatic Drawing #2

Automatic Drawing - first attempt

Hand drawing practice

Drawesome drawing challenge - cat pictures

Writing, art and early spring

Drawing practice - 100 heads (1-20)

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March 2026

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