watercolour crayons

A Smile Makes The World A Better Place

| June Malone

Before embarking on a portrait, making a preliminary study sketch can help to familiarise yourself with the subject – once you begin putting down marks on the paper a relationship starts to form.  Taking that first step will help to reveal what is important as you closely investigate the details of their features.  As the study is usually carried out in a free and spontaneous manner, it is common to prefer the sketch to the finished portrait.

sidneycrayon

I plan to make a few more studies in watercolour as well as in ink before starting the final portrait of my step-daughter’s youngest son.  When drawing his sweet little face I got totally carried away, so have learned not to overwork it….something I do a lot.

Since (unbelievably) that clown Donald Trump is US President Elect, our world has been turned into a circus…and it’s not funny.  So I thought I’d give you at least one reason to smile by sharing this little cutie with you.  This was all done using watercolour crayons.

 

The Art of Wu-Wei & Coloured Pencil Bliss

| June Malone

Isn’t it always the way?  With this drawing of my son I didn’t try.  Really!  It was only a spontaneous sketch with barely any conscious thought…yet somehow, I effortlessly managed to accurately ‘capture’ my son and his mood.  He even likes it enough to use it on his website.

Composer©James

Striving for perfection and overthinking often sabotages creativity.  It’s a paradox!  This was only achieved because I was ‘in the flow’, in a ‘zone’; the usual self-inflicted pressure was off and I didn’t care about the outcome.  I was unleashed!

Composer©zoomDrawing with coloured pencils is extremely satisfying.  It’s just so very simple – all that is required is some paper, pencils and a sharpener.  And the results are gratifyingly fast…no drying time required.

I’ll have to cultivate this – in future, I’ll try not to try.

Au Naturel

| June Malone

More pictures of (the same) bare, naked man without a stitch on, in his birthday suit.  He was impressive in that he effortlessly held difficult poses without swaying or trembling and never complained.  Next week we’ll have a female model.

This figure drawing/painting class is freeing me up – it’s refreshing to focus purely on the PROCESS instead of the end product.

The first was a 15 minute pose and the second 10 minutes.  In future I’ll only use large 420 x 594 mm paper for figure drawing as the 10 minute studies are far superior to the 20 minute watercolour I did on smaller 356 x 254 mm paper….which is why I’m not showing it to you.

Shelf Portrait

| June Malone

Herewith only a small portion of my current reading matter.Some are being avidly studied – others, I’m merely dipping into.  They all offer me the opportunity to further develop the multiple intricacies of illustration skills and feed my insatiable curiosity about the subject.

Soon I hope to demonstrate here how they have inspired and educated me.  My motto is to never stop learning and trying to improve.

Watch this space….*cue “Wonder Woman theme tune”* ♬ ♫ ♪ ♩