Carry on Beautiful!

I’ve had a really nice sketchbook for years now, but like any of you that collect note or sketch books are sure to know, I just didn’t know what to put in it. After a few failed attempts at getting it started, I’ve finally managed it! You can see me give it a bit of a make over and do my first drawing in it over on my YouTube, but for now I’m just going to show you the few bits I’ve done in it!

This was the very first one I did, and the one you see me do in the video! I found a reference picture of a model in a pose that really stretched her neck, and that inspired this.

I’m not sure where this one came from, inspiration wise. If you’ve seen any of my other art posts you will have seen the little mushrooms I’ve been doing with an arm or leg rather than a stalk, so I suppose this is just an evolution of that.

I’ve been binge watching The Simpson’s on Disney+ with Rich, so of course something like this was going to appear! I want to draw cool Lisa soon, but I haven’t figured out how I want to make it somehow weed focused yet.

Of course Gillian Anderson has to show up at some point. It’s not perfect, but I’m really proud of this one! It’s the first time I’ve drawn someone from a reference and had it actually kinda look like them! It’s nice seeing improvement, finally!

This started off as a reference picture of a super cute, aesthetic bedroom with a forest outside, and somehow became this grungey tower block flat, and I’m okay with that. I really enjoyed painting the shadows and figuring out the shades for this, and I think figuring out the lines and perspective taught me a few things I’ll be able to use every time I draw.

This was another that started out as a very different reference picture on Pinterest, but I love taking them and totally changing it. I also realised that when I draw people, I usually just draw white girls, and that’s fair because I usually draw what I know and I am a white girl, but it’s definitely time to add some diversity to my drawing, and it turns out I find it way more enjoyable to colour and shade dark skin.

I’ve always loved collages, so they were bound to make an appearance at some point. This is a super simple one, obviously, because I love drawing these weird backgrounds.

I like collages because you’re taking something someone else has already done and transforming it to hold the meaning you intend, regardless of what the original creators intention was. I find it to be a really interesting concept, and I love how collages evolve and change even as you’re doing them. I cut these pictures from an article in Oh Comely about old things and hoarding (I think, I barely remember to be honest), and by using largely green as the background, and the larger coin looking like a moon, I feel like I’ve changed the meaning to be more focused on how money can pull and sway us like the moon, even when we have it in our hands already.

That might have been a bit pretentious, but that’s art for you! It gets like that sometimes! I hope you enjoyed this little look into my sketchbook!

-Dana