A Preternatural Experiment
I took part in Inktober this year, a challenge created by artist Jay Parker. The premise is simple: 31 ink illustrations in 31 days, with an optional prompt list to provide some inspiration. The goal is to improve your inking skills.
I don’t know how much better I am at inking, but I did see subtle improvements in my art as the month wore on, gained a new appreciation for thumbnail sketches, and overall, had a lot of fun with the exercise.
**Edit November 11, 2022: I have deleted my DeviantArt account due to their policy around AI art generators.**
I’ve blown the dust off my old DeviantArt account. If you want to follow my drawing and painting, that will be the best place to do it. I’ll still share some paintings and drawings on this blog, but I plan to upload most of my new output on DeviantArt. It’s funny to think that One Last Sketch was finally living up to its title again, but I think it’s more appropriate to keep the literary focus going here.
I’ve actually lived up to my vow from nearly a year ago to draw something every day, and it’s resulted some concrete, demonstrable improvement. That’s hugely rewarding, and I’m going to keep at it for the foreseeable future.
Example: The drawing on the left is from October 2016, the painting on the right, March 2017. I’ve been doing a few repaints of work from a few months ago, in part to get a sense of “where I’m at” with this whole art thing.
A quick perspective exercise in ink and watercolour using MyPaint 1.0.
If you’re tired of my bumbling attempts at digital painting, I recommend taking a look at Carciphona, a webcomic with some gorgeous artwork. It’s one of those stories the creator seems to have had in mind since she was a teenager and has refined over years and years; her passion for that story and characters really shines through.
I’ve had a lazy winter so far. Drawing and painting a lot more than I used to, only writing occasionally (and then finding the things I do write overly depressing and fit for the trunk), and back to reading Murakami again. Maybe I’ll post a review of Norwegian Wood when I’m done.
In retrospect, this one was inevitable. Created with MyPaint 1.0.
It appears I’m doing Inktober in January. The pen tools in MyPaint are really fun to use!
One way to begin the year. Very quickly created with MyPaint.
I haven’t posted a sketch on this blog since 2011. That’s…a long time.
Meanwhile, the space between articles is growing ever larger. Truth is, I haven’t been writing much of anything lately, fiction or otherwise. What I have been doing, is drawing. That’s the exact opposite of the situation coming out of my undergrad, where I was devoting a lot of time to writing but didn’t spend much time at all on art. I have no concrete reason why the flip happened. Somewhere, drawing became relaxing again in a way writing isn’t; even typing these words now is proving inexplicably difficult.
Earlier this year I said I didn’t know if I’d be sharing any of my output. Well, I’ve bought a Wacom tablet since then, which makes uploading the results that much easier. I’m slowly getting a handle on digital illustration and painting, but what’s most revealing is the change of subject and style that came with switching from physical media. My sketchbooks are almost entirely drawn from references; on screen, I’ve been drawing entirely from my imagination. Continue reading “Back to Sketching”
I realized I haven’t posted a sketch for two months! This must be rectified immediately.
I tried to do something vaguely art nouveau-ish with her hair, but didn’t go far enough. Ah well, still happy with the result.
I haven’t posted any articles for a while. That’s because I’ve been…drawing!
Sketched from a stock photo by Kxhara (as per her rules for stock use).
One Last Sketch 