So, you understand the grid, now what?

The first time I used the grid was my senior year in High School. I was surprised to see they were teaching it at my college also. I'm not one to boast about my work. I'm highly critical of myself up until my art professor in college always used my stuff as an example. I couldn't believe it. The picture above was my very first drawing in college using the grid. Looks pretty good for a first drawing. I didn't believe it though. It took my professor to tell me this for me to believe it. So please don't be so hard on yourself and your work. Everyone is different in the way they execute art and it is all beautiful.

So, you've got the grid down pretty well and you want to challenge yourself a bit. Let's also assume you know how to shade. Shading is critical when doing a portrait drawing. I would love to teach you how to shade but it's almost impossible to do in writing. I recommend looking on you tube for some pointers or taking a class on drawing. Practice shading a ball. It helps you to understand where light hits on objects. Also the pencils you use are important. Everyone is different as far as what pencils they like to use. Some like charcoal, some like the soft pencils and some like the harder ones. Try them all out and see what you like best. Personally, I like the soft pencils 2b, 3b, 4b, 5b, and 6b are my favorites.

Anyway, you think you're ready to draw a portrait. What should you start with? I highly recomment starting with a celebrity photograph. They're the easiest for me to draw. They have a ton of makeup and great dimension on them. They're photographs are already art. Use a celebrity you like a lot. I used a lot of Johnny Depp in my early years of drawing. I love Edward Scissorhands.

And Gwen Stefani from No Doubt...That picture has a bad glare on it from being behind a glass case at school...

Eventually from a lot of practice you will find you understand the body more and shadows. You won't need the grid and will be able to draw whatever you want more freely. The good thing about learning the grid is if you ever get stuck on a picture you just can't get to look like the photograph, you have the grid that will guarantee you will get it right. Below are my latest works without using a grid.

As you will see I have evolved from pencil to oils and colored pencils. I highly suggest you play with different mediums and find your passion. I would love to see your work from when you started and where you are now! Happy Drawing.

Enjoy - Finished My Painting!

So this is more of a design/realism painting.  I think you call it figurative realism?  I'm not sure.  With this particular painting I mushed together different Mucha prints.  For example the girl's left arm is from a different Mucha girl holding a different cup.  It's a cup I found in my pantry, more elegant than the beer cup in the original.  The girl's hair is different than the original, the original had her wearing a headband, so I painted her some fire red hair and tossled it up for that morning look.  I wanted her to be looking at something, so I peppered some butterflies here and there.  The design that is framing her in is probably one of my favorite parts.  Mucha rarely had symmetrical designs which is something I love. I hand painted every line. No measuring, no ruler. Just my hand, a tiny paint brush and my eyeballs.  All I gotta do is take a really good picture of it without a glare and put it up on Etsy!  If you want to visit my shop you can go to http://www.thesketchyeasel.etsy.com/  or if you want to see all my artwork you can go to my facebook page at   http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/The-Sketchy-Easel/195620920486042  Don't forget to "like" me when you're there!!

I hope all is well with you

Ashley

Mucha in Winter - My Little Back Room Studio

Are you a procrastinator?  I'm usually not, but when it comes to this piece, I most definitely am. I started this painting in 2007 in college.  It was the end of the semester and I was done looking at it. It looked mostly finished so I still got an "A" but nothing up to my standards.  You artists out there know what I'm talking about. You have a piece you have been staring at for weeks and just get so sick of it you need a break before even looking at it again.  Well during this break I have managed to get a new boyfriend apart from my previous 6 year relationship, get engaged, married, move to North Carolina, back to Georgia, have a baby, then move back to North Carolina.  Now I'm here and finished it in our little spare bedroom in our apartment.  I'm hoping to have my own studio when we get a house. If you're an artist, I'm curious as to where you do your art?