Transcripts
1. Intro: Do you feel trapped in
your style like a robot churning out the
same work again and again with no room to experiment. And the thought of trying something new feels, overwhelming
or intimidating. Well, same! Hi, I'm Chrissy, and I'm a freelance illustrator and tea addict from Ireland. I love to make bold
and colorful work for clients in lots of areas like science,
lifestyle and advertising. And I particularly
love to draw food. I also have an Etsy
shop where I sell cute handmade things,
prints, and zines. That's me back in 2018, I was in a serious funk and
trying to push through it just wasn't working. I needed something
that could get me out of my comfort zone, give me permission to
experiment and make mistakes, but not be pressured by the everyday grind of social media. But the intensity
and pressure of the usual daily drawing
challenges just wasn't for me. So I created my own. I called it an 'almost
daily' challenge, and that's what this
whole class is based on. I've made hundreds of drawings
for my challenge so far. Giving myself that space to experiment taught
me how to practice again, and this not only
restored my confidence, but improved my art. This class will focus
on five main areas that have helped me
during my challenge, but are also core building
blocks of illustration. Line, Contrast, Rest, Color, and my favorite, Experimentation, which will save for last. We'll focus on one
of these areas per day, with practice
exercises and fun mini exercises to get
back in touch with the fundamentals and
jog your creativity. Then we'll move on to making your Final Drawing for each day. And at the end of the week, we'll have completed
our challenge. The goal of this class is to give you the tools
to break out of your usual approach and focus
on the joy of creating. You will need
Procreate or something similar for some of the lessons. And you can use whatever medium you like for the
rest of the lessons. I also made a handy guide
book that you can keep all of your notes in as memento of
completing your challenge, that you can always check back
in with whenever you need ideas for other
projects going forward. So if you're feeling trapped, burnt out, or just over art, this class can help
give you the nudge you need to start having fun, break out of that cage and breathe new life
into your work. So make yourself a cup of tea, grab a pencil and paper,
and let's get started.
2. Your Project & Guidebook: I'm so glad you're going to
be joining me for this class. Our final project is to
complete a five-day, 'almost daily' drawing challenge. At the end of the week, you'll
have four Final Drawings. This class is based
on my experience doing my own daily
drawing challenge. And I've broken it down into a few main areas that when looking back,
helped me the most. Each day of the
challenge will focus on one of these core areas, Line, Contrast, Rest,
Color, and Experimentation. We'll be doing each
day in two stages. We'll always start with
a practice exercise, so you can familiarize
yourself and experiment with the techniques you'll use to create your Final Drawing. In stage two, we'll move on
to our Final Drawing which is the main
project for this class. I'll guide you through a
more comprehensive demo where I'll give tips
and prompts throughout, so you can easily create your own drawing based
on that days challenge. I encourage you to work
along with me during all of the lessons and have fun as we complete the
challenge day by day. You'll need some kind of drawing software for some
of the lessons. I'll be using
Procreate on my iPad. And use whatever you have on hand for the rest
of the lessons. And I've made a 27 page
Guidebook for you, which you can download from the Project and
Resources section. It's an interactive PDF, so you can write directly into the sections and save the trees! And I've uploaded my
own prefilled one as an example for you. The Guidebook is your little companion for this challenge. It has handy checklists to help easily keep track
of your progress and materials needed, and
has space for you to write your notes so you can keep them all in one place. It explains each exercise and includes a
prompt for the day, along with the most important
tips from the tutorials, to make each challenge
digestible and easy to follow. I've also added a 'More
Cool Things' page at the end with links
to extra resources. This Guidebook is a
really handy tool. And you can keep it as a memento or an ideas journal
for the future. To use the PDF open it
using Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download for
free from their website. Click the links in
the contents page two whisk you to each challenge. Use the checklists by hovering over each
square and clicking. And for the textboxes, just click into it
and start typing. Easy. Just remember to
click 'File' and 'Save' before closing the documents so that you don't lose any notes. This is a drawing challenge so I suggest you set
aside 30 minutes to an hour each day so that
you have time to complete it. And if you don't have time, these days don't have
to be consecutive. You can take it at your
own pace if you need. And remember, these exercises aren't focused on
the final result. You don't need to
make works of art. It's more about having
fun with the process. At the end of each day, post your drawing to the
Project Gallery of the class, which you can find in the
Projects and Resources section. And if you feel comfortable, share your thoughts
about the process and how you're feeling
throughout. You only need to upload your Final Drawings for this class. But I encourage you
to share as much as you want so that we can
all follow along with your journey. And hype up other people's journeys
in the Project comments. We're all doing this
challenge together, so let's support and encourage
each other to keep going. Remember, this is a safe space, so positive vibes only. If you have any questions, please post them in the
Discussion section below. And if you share
your project online, tag me @chrissycurtin
and use the class hashtag. I'm looking forward
to telling you about our challenge
for the first day. So head on over to the
Resources section to download the Guidebook,
and I'll see you soon.
3. Day 1: Letting Go With Line: Welcome to the first
day of the challenge. Today we're going
to learn to let go, use and up and have
some fun with line. Line has become
quite important to me since I started
with the challenge. Before that, I used to never use line outside of
my thumbnails and sketches. I used to make super
detailed pencil drawings. And my workflow was always
very structured and stiff, which basically made
me afraid to step outside of the box
and just wasn't fun. And obviously contributed
to me feeling burnt out. But during the challenge, practicing with line
really helped me loosen up and get out of that
stiff state of mind. So I'm going
to take you through three quick practice exercises to help you get loosened up, used to line and start
having some fun. The three exercises
we'll be focusing on are, Continuous Line Drawing, Blind Contour Drawing,
Upside-Down Drawing. For anyone who hasn't
done it before, Continuous Line Drawing is a drawing exercise
where the goal is to draw your subject in
one fluid continuous line. You follow the subject
with your eyes, letting your pencil
move at the same time, drawing what you see. You'll need something to draw with. Use whatever you want as
long as it can make a line. I'm using an 8B pencil
for this exercise. Use any paper you want. I'm using paper I tore
out of the sketchbook, but do use a thicker
paper for wet mediums if you don't want
the paper to buckle, You need a subject to draw. I suggest grabbing three items and setting them up
in front of you. You can choose any
reference you want. But I've made a
Pinterest board with references for all
the exercises. So check the
Guidebook for the link. Masking tape is optional, but it helps to stop the
paper from slipping around. No erasers. You don't want any temptation
to erase and start again. So pause the video and when
you have everything ready, I'll see you back here
for the exercise. Here's my little setup for
what I'm going to draw. I just picked these three things and set up a
composition I liked. So to start off, pick a spot of your drawing
where you want to start. Place your pen or pencil
or whatever you're using on the paper,
and start to draw. From then on keep in contact with the paper for the
rest of the drawing. The goal is to make a
single line drawing. And those are the only rules. It's a simple exercise, but hard to get used to
not lifting from the page. I'm using an 8B pencil because I want a
dark textured line, but I also want to be able
to vary the line weight. You don't have to take that into consideration just yet though. This is just a
practice exercise. When we progress to
our Final Drawing, we begin to think more
purposefully about these things. Keep drawing in
one unbroken line. Follow the shape of what
you're drawing with your eyes and let your
hand flow with it. Vary the weight of your lines. Go heavier to convey a shadow or lighter
to show a highlight. Don't be afraid to draw over or through part
of your drawing. Don't be tempted to erase. The point of this
lesson is to learn to let go and enjoy the process. It's okay to draw off
the page if you have to. Just pick it back up wherever on the page the shape takes you. You don't need to take
long with this exercise, but spend up to 20
minutes if you want to. If you're using a
picture to draw from, I suggest also practicing
this exercise again, some time with objects in
real-life and vice versa. Each way of drawing develops your observational skills
in a different way. So it's good to do both. When you're done, take a minute
to inspect your drawing. See the new shapes that intersecting lines
make. Notice your line. What do you like about it? What don't you like?
Write these notes in your Guidebook so
you will remember them when you want
to do the exercise again. In my drawing, I like how these
leaves came out. And I feel like the depth
is showing through. I like how you can see through
them to the other leaves behind and the shapes that
makes looks pretty cool to me. What I'm not mad about
is the composition. I probably could
have started more to the right because
there's a gap over here. So I'll think more about
positioning next time. Now that we finished up
with Continuous Line, we'll move on to our
second Practice Exercise, Blind Contour Drawing. Blind Contour Drawing is
similar to Continuous Line. You make a single line drawing
in the same way as before. Only this time, you don't
look at the page while you draw and you
reveal it at the end. I like this exercise
a lot because it's practically impossible to
be perfectionist with it. It does force you to let go. You basically need mostly the
same things as last time. Any paper and anything
you want to draw with. But if you can try a
different medium this time, I'll be using a Posca
pen for this one. Unlike last time, we will need
a timer for this exercise. Pause the video again and I'll see you back here
when you're ready. I'll be drawing photo I
found from Shutterstock. If you want to use the same one, I've linked to it
in the Guidebook. Once you have your materials
and taped your page down, set your timer for five minutes or longer if you
think you need it. And let's go. Like last time, we need to focus on
a place to start. So focus on the spot with
your subject and start drawing what you observe again without
lifting your pencil. Try and draw the bigger shapes first and fill in
the details later. Slowly observed the outlines, see how shapes and contours of the object relate
to each other. This exercise is teaching you
to draw only what you see. So really try and not
look till the end. Keep following the
lines and shapes of the objects and don't look
down until the timer beeps. When you're done,
just like last time, take a look at the final result. Embrace the silliness. The odds are that you don't have perfect hand-eye
coordination. Nobody does. See how the lines created new shapes and how they connect together. See your lines, are
they wobbly, thick and definite, edgy or round? And don't forget to
use your Guidebook for any notes you
want to remember. Here's my drawing and
the reference I used. So my drawing here
isn't very accurate. So I can probably practice
more with this exercise. But it does have an energy
that I like about it. I also like the boldness of the line around
the lips here. Even if they're not
in the right place. That's our second
Practice Exercise down. Now we'll move on to
our last practice exercise, Upside-Down Drawing. Upside-Down Drawing is a
drawing exercise that develops your observational skills by getting you to draw your
subject upside-down. It's not single line, so feel free to
erase for this one. When you're finished, you
turn your drawing back around the right way to see how accurately you
observed your subject. Drawing this way removes the
context from your subject. Getting rid of all
your preconceived ideas about what you're drawing. You're learning to see
in a new way here. And the goal is to replicate something as
accurately as you can. So it's okay to erase things. But remember, the more you
practice, the better you get. So don't be worried
about making mistakes. We'll be using all the
same stuff from before. Draw with whatever you want. I'll be using a micron pen this time and use any paper you like. But this time if you want, grab a second sheet of paper, I'll be talking more
about this later. You can draw whatever you want. But a classic version of this exercise is to use
another line drawing. So see the guidebook for
a link to some of those. You'll need a ruler this time. And feel free to go nuts with
the eraser for this one. So pause the video one last time and I'll see you
when you're ready. Once you have your materials ready and your reference
turned upside down, it's time to start. Pick wherever on the page you feel comfortable to start and go. I'm starting on the left-hand
corner as I think it's a good spot to size up the
rest of this image from. But for you it
might be different. Observe the lines and shapes. How far apart are the
shapes from each other? Where do they connect? Notice the negative space. Replicate only what you see. Remember that sheet of paper. If you feel you're focusing too much on what the image
is supposed to be. Cover it up, and reveal a small section to
draw at a time. These might seem like
pretty basic exercises, but you can always learn more by revisiting the fundamentals. Don't be tempted to turn
your page until you're done. Here's a little personal story. Years ago, I was sketching a picture I took
of my dog Trotter, and I came to a blurry section
that I couldn't make out. I didn't know whether
it was part of the dog bed or a
toy or what it was. Anyway, I just kinda drew the shapes that I saw and
finished the drawing. I came across that sketch a while
later and I realized that the area I couldn't make out at the time was actually his paw! And that story reminds
me of this exercise because I was using the exact same techniques
without realizing. And I ended up drawing something accurately without
knowing what it was. Right. So now I'm finished, let's turn it around
and reveal the drawing. When you're done, just like
last time, take a moment, inspect it. Embrace
the imperfection and laugh if it's funny, you can always practice
more and get better. Maybe there are
some mistakes that you like That's great. Try and purposefully bring that into your work
in the future. Now here's my drawing
compared to the reference. I thought it was
actually going to be less accurate,
but I did okay. Especially considering
I used a pen, so I wasn't able
to erase anything. I'm always surprised by how accurate this
exercise turns out. I do kind of like how the lines
have an edginess to them from stitching
as I drew. So I think I'd like to try and emulate that in the future. So I hope you had some
fun with these and were able to
loosen up a bit. Feel free to share your drawings or notes to the Project Gallery. I'd love to see how these
exercises got you thinking. When you're ready,
we can move on to the next video for
our Final Drawing, which is our first official
'almost daily' drawing. So head on over to the next lesson and we can get started.
4. Day 1: Final Drawing: So now that you're all loose
from our Practice Exercises, it's time to start our
first Final Drawing. And you've guessed it our first 'almost daily' drawing today is going to
be a line drawing. I'm going to show
you my approach and give you tips on what
I'm thinking as we go. If you want, you can use any
of the methods we've just practiced in the previous video
or draw however you like. Today, I'll be
drawing this photo I saved a while ago from
stillherestilllife. It's good to keep a list
or folder of things you like so that you can always have something to go to for ideas. And remember to
check out section 1.2 of the Guidebook for a prompt and a link to the Pinterest board for
this exercise if you need. Right. So once you've figured out
what you're going to draw, we're going to need paper
masking tape to tape it down, a ruler and eraser if you
need and something to draw with, I'm going to use this
selection of Micron pens. Use whatever you like
once it can make a line. And if you want to
use a tablet and draw digitally,
that's totally fine. So you know the routine, pause the video and I'll see you back here when
you're ready to go. Before we start,
here's some things to really think about while you're
doing your Final Drawing. Try and be loose
with your lines. Vary the weight
and type of line. Like thick, thin,
wobbly or broken lines. Pay attention to
the lines you're making and be purposeful. And of course, try to have fun! Now that you are set
up, it's time to start. You can use any color
media for this. It doesn't have to be a
black and white line. But remember that line
is the main focus. So I'm going to
search by ruling out a shape similar to the
shape of my prompt image. And then making a
loose sketch first. I'm not being too tight
with this or anything, just drawing a rough outline. I'll be using the Micron
pens for my final lines. So I'm just using
this as a loose base. And I mean this is a loose base
for me because I usually do quite
tight sketches. But loose for you might
be different. So you do whatever
feels right for you. Just rubbing out that line
and that's not a big deal. Observe the shapes and how
they interact with each other, just like in our
Practice Exercises. See how this circle is close to both of
these points here. I'm using those points as an anchor for where
to draw this circle. I'm drawing the main
shapes first right now. I just want to get a
quick sketch down so that I can have fun with the
Micron pens later. So that's the sketch done. And now it's time for the
next bit, which is the line. I want an average line width. So I'm starting off with
a 0.3 micron pen. Doing some broken lines a bit
here to suggest a highlight and a thicker
line where there's a shadow. Actually there's a tomato here that I didn't notice before. So I'm just going to
draw that in now. I'm going to go over all
the shapes I drew in pencil and add details
as I go along. You don't have to spend too long on this drawing or anything. We're just trying
out our lines. So spent however long you want. I'm trying not to
make it too perfect. I want to have
interesting lines and textures and wobbliness. Since I have a tendency
to be quite stiff, having a loose sketch
underneath helps me with that. For me, less planning makes a drawing with
more personality. I know I'm after drawing
over some lines here. And that's fine because it's supposed to be a drawing
where we're practicing. So this being the
best drawing that you can do isn't really the point. Make a wiggly line to show rough textures and a solid line to show a smoother texture. I'm drawing over some
lines to make the lines thicker and making some lines thinner to show
that they're shiny. I forgot there's
a jar over here, so I'm just going
to draw that in now, like it was always there. Sometimes I do actually like
to draw something without a sketch because it will give
the drawing more movement. The more you practice like with
our Practice Exercises, the better you'll be
able to do simple observational stuff on the fly. This photo I'm
drawing is taken from an angle which stretches out
the objects at the front. And if you weren't
really observing, you might be tempted to draw these lines straighter
because it seems unnatural to draw
something that you know is square as anything else. So pay attention
to the angles of the things in the reference
and draw them as they are. I'm adding in a
few extra details. This will make the
image more rich. So there's some type of food here and I don't
know what it is. So just like in our
Upside-Down Drawing exercise, I'm going to draw the shapes
that I see and see what happens. When
there's a highlight, I put a break in the line to show that light is
reflecting off of there. Focus on the line, and notice the lines
you're drawing. Make the lines light
and delicate when you want to convey
something softer or that his light on it and make them thicker when
there's a shadow, or you want to show
something heavy. Just going to quickly draw
in this plate I forgot. Sometimes you forget elements altogether and just draw
them in at the very end. Changing to a 0.8 pen now to make some thicker
contrasting lines. I'm going over these lines with a brush pen to add some
texture and depth. You could also use a
different method like crosshatching or building
up scribbly lines. I'm always looking
at my reference to see where I want to
make a line or shadow. I'm adding a bit
of cross hatching here for depth
instead to make it different from the
rest of the drawing because it's a picture
within a picture. I'm making some final
details with the brush pen. And now I'm done. Just like in our
Practice Exercises. Look back over your
drawing and jot in your Guidebook about what you like and don't like about it. So for my drawing, I liked the energy
it has and how the lines are a bit
wobbly and have texture. And the contrast between the darker brush pen parts of the drawing with the
white background. The last time I used these pens, I felt I was being too tight. So I wanted to keep
that in mind this time and make sure I do a loose sketch to
keep the movement. I also wanted to try out
different types of line. And in this drawing I did
a bunch of different ones. Regular lines, dotted
stipple lines, thicker lines, broken
lines, and textured lines. As for any negatives, I think it could be
even more loose. But overall, I'm
quite happy with it. So make sure you keep making those notes in your Guidebook. It's a really great step to help you remember what you
want to focus on. Because when you move on to
other projects in the future, you'll have those notes and you can put them into practice. And obviously, the more you do that, the more
you'll improve. You've just finished your
first day of the challenge. Share your drawing and I'll
see you tomorrow for day two.
5. Day 2: Working With Contrast: Hi everyone. Today we're
gonna be talking about Contrast and how you can use highlights and shadows
to make bold images. I think boldness has
always been a part of my work. Even when
I was drawing traditionally, I like to
have really dark shadows, textures, and bright highlights. And that stayed with me
throughout my drawing challenge, but has kinda evolved as my
work has developed. Now I use color to add
contrast to my illustrations. And I like to use bold colors to convey shapes and
make things pop. So right now we're
going to launch right into the
Practice Exercise. And I'll show you how I plan contrast and my illustrations. And I'm calling it
The Shadow Plan. I'm using an iPad
with Procreate, but this should work with
most drawing software. So give the video will
pause if you need, and I'll see you back
here when you're ready. I'd like to start off my
illustrations by mapping out contrast first
with a Greyscale Plan. And to do that, we're going
to make a Value Scale of greyscale swatches that we'll
use to fill in our image. For those that don't know, Value means the lightness
or darkness of a color. So when I say Value Scale, I mean a range of colors
from dark to light. We're only working in grey
scale right now though. To put it simply, everything
you see is made of black, white, and shades of grey. For example, here's
a color photo. And if I change this
photo to greyscale, you can clearly see the
values of everything. The color that was
there before is now represented by a shade of grey. Changing an image to
greyscale like this can help pinpoint where the image
has the most Contrast i.e. the most
difference in values. Places like the shadows here
and the highlights here, will have the most contrast. And the rest of
the image will be made of various shades of grey. So if I were to change
the color to red, you can see that the
level of redness, or the value of red changes
depending on how much black, white, or grey was in
that part of the image. And so with that in mind, every image you come
across as made-up of Shadows, Highlights,
and Midtones. In general, the majority of
an image will be made up of shades of grey unless it has
super dramatic lighting like a Caravaggio painting. And I like to use a
Value Scale because it ensures that I get a good mix of lights and darks
in the image, which is good when you
want to have Contrast. Now with the theory
out of the way, we can make our own Value Scale. So in case you haven't
used Procreate before, tap the '+' on the
top right corner, there'll be some default sizes there already for you to choose. So once you've
picked your canvas, open the color panel
and select Palettes. Select the plus at the top, choose Create a New Palette and name it Value Scale or
Greyscale Palette. Then set the palate to default. Go to the Classic section
and select black by sliding the color picker all the way to the
bottom left corner, then change over to
the Value section. From here, you can
change the value of the black using the 'B' slider
in the top section. Slide it left and right
to see the value change. When you pick a value, add the swatch to your palette by tapping on the palette
with your pen or finger. Then change the
value again by using the 'B' slider and add another
swatch to the palette. Continue doing this
until you have between four or six swatches
of different values. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm going to use a mix of dark, light, and midtones to give me the best chance of
having good contrast. Now that we have our
swatches picked, we can start making
our Shadow Plan. The first thing we're
going to do is find your Value Scale and make
sure you set it to default. Then we're going to make
a new layer and draw some simple shapes like
a cube and a sphere. Then we can start to map out contrast using our Value Scale. Make a new layer and put
it beneath the Line layer. Then place flat colors into the image anywhere you want at first. Use the Lasso tool
to draw around the shape. Tap the circle to close the selection and turn on the
Color Fill option to fill the shape, and make a new layer for each
new value, if you like. Now, fill the rest
of your image with values in whatever combination
looks good to you, using a mix of darker and
lighter values for contrast. I'm going to group
the flats together by swiping right on
each selecting Group and giving it a name.
Now it's shadow time! I'd like to start by
making a new layer on top and setting it to Multiply. Then think about where you
want the shadows to be. I'd like to pick
a direction that my light source is coming from because that will give
me a realistic idea of where the shadows will go. And to do that, you need to
know a bit about shadows. So if you're new to this, how shadows work is that
an object blocks out the opposite area to where
the light is hitting it, casting a shadow
in that space. The position, height,
and intensity of the light source all make a difference to how
the shadow will look. To show you what I mean, in these examples,
you can see that the position of the sun
changes the location, size, and intensity
of the shadow. So in this first example, if it's a bright day and the sun is high on
the right-hand side. The tree will cast a shadow
to the opposite side, making a medium length
shadow on its left. And because the sun is bright, it would be a hard shadow
with very defined edges. If the sun is directly above, the shadow would be
cast right beneath the tree and it will be
smaller and more contained. And when the sun is
lower and to the left, the shadow will be cast to the right-hand side
and becomes longer, just like those long shadows
you see in the evening time. Now, going back to our
first example again, when the light is
high and on the right. But say now it's an overcast day with the clouds
blocking the sun. The light will be a
lot less intense, so the shadow will be blurry
or fuzzy or kind of soft looking. Here's a little cheat sheet that sums up the basics of shadows. Now back to the drawing again. We have the Flats done, and now we can pick
our light source. So for my example, I want the light to come
from the top right. So the sunlight will
be coming this way. So like in the
examples we just saw, we know that the
object would block out the light on
the opposite side. So all the shadows
will fall on the left. So I'll start to draw in the shadows in the shadow layer. I like to use a medium grey
so it's not too intense. You'll see since it's
set to multiply, it makes all the values
darker wherever you draw. We can also think about
the type of light we want. Do you want a hard light with sharp outlines or a
soft diffused light? Hard lighting usually
conveys drama. While a soft light can create a more romantic and
emotional tone. So consider the vibe you want your image to convey
when deciding this. For the circle, I'll do a
softer shadow as an example. And you can also erase to change the shadows we've already
drawn to blend it in more. Continue drawing the
shadows and make any edits on the values of
your flats if you need. Like I said before, I like to
keep to realistic shadows. But when you're
more experienced, you can start to break the
rules if you want and place shadows wherever you think looks good in a more stylistic way. Like making super
angular shadows are very dramatic contrasts. It's at this stage where I
would start to add color, but we'll talk about
that in another lesson. The highlight is the last
thing I add to an image. Make a new layer above
the Shadow layer, but underneath the Line
layer and give it a name. The highlights will be on the same side as my light source. So in my image, the
light is on the right, which means the
highlight will also be on the right side
of the objects. And consider how the
light will affect the edges of the
objects in your image. Just like the shadows,
they can be sharp or diffused depending
on the light source. The highlights will be
brightest on the edges near the light source
and then gradually diffuses as you move
into the object. Now keep tweaking everything
until you're done. You can see the
sharp shadows here. And then these ones
are more diffused. And that's it! Now you know how to
make a shadow plan! Here's a reminder of the
steps in case you need them. When we move on to our
lesson about color, you'll really see how important
knowing about value is. I hope you enjoyed this
practice exercises. Feel free to share
them if you like. And I'll see you
in the next lesson for our second final drawing.
6. Day 2: Final Drawing: Time to finish off Day 2 with our second
'almost daily' drawing. Today, we're going
to make a greyscale drawing with contrast and shadows in mind, using the Value Scale we made
in our last lesson. And like our first Final Drawing, I'm going to show
you my process, how I use Procreate and talk through some tips and
things as we go along. For this exercise,
I'm going to be using my iPad and Apple pencil
with Procreate. But you can use any
drawing software, tablet and stylus
available to you. Have your Value
Scale ready from our Practice Exercise
and something to draw. I'll be drawing
this picture today. And like always, see
the Guidebook for a prompt and a link
to the references. Before we go into this,
just remember again, it doesn't have to be very complicated or
detailed drawing. It could just be a sketch with the values loosely mapped out. Just remember to
have fun with it. Okay, so see you back here when you're
ready to get going. So this time, I'm going
to show you how to set up your own custom canvas. Open Procreate,
and tap the '+' on the top right corner,
like I showed you before. But instead of picking
one of the defaults, select the dark box symbol
at the top, and here in the dimensions panel
type in the size that you want. The size of your canvas, and the DPI will affect how
many layers you can use. See how the number
of layers changes when I make it 150 dpi. So keep an eye on that if you want to use a lot of layers. I like to make everything
at least 300 DPI and choose the canvas size
based on each project. You can also choose
your color profile if you want to work in
something other than RGB but I never change that. If you
want to have a time-lapse, you can choose the quality here. Lastly, in canvas properties, you can choose the
background color for your canvas and whether you
want it visible or not. I like to leave
the background on. Right, so after that very quick
run-through. Let's get going. Today I want the canvas to be a similar shape
to the reference, because that helps
me to sketch out the proportions more accurately. And I'll be using
my greyscale palette. So I'm going to set
it to default here. While sketching, I'm going to fill in the background
with a light grey because it's easier on the eyes than the harsh
white background. Then I'm going to
start the sketch. Remember to use the observation
techniques we learned in our previous exercises to work out the pose
and the proportions. I'm just mapping it out
with some quick lines to start, blocking in
shapes quite roughly. When you're learning, it
helps to work off an image that already has established
a good contrast. Because trying to replicate that contrast as a study
with hope you learn. And as you begin to
understand a bit more, you can try and apply it
to your own compositions. But when you do copy
someone else's image as a study, it doesn't
make that drawing yours. So remember, always credit
the source of your reference! Professionals will use several references
as a starting point. So keep that in mind when
making your own work in future. I can use the Lasso tool to select and move around
sections quickly. When I have this
rough draft done, I'm going to reduce the
opacity of the layer with the slider and use it as
a guide to draw over. I like to work up a
sketch in layers like this and then refine
it in stages. I always want to work out all the kinks during this stage, while mistakes are easy to fix. Then I'll turn off
the original layer, reduce the opacity of
this sketch layer, and refine the lines
one more time. So now it's time to
make some flats. I'm going to group
all the line layers together and give it a name. Then make a new layer beneath that group for your
first flat color. Color in the sections with
the Lasso color fill option, like in our Practice Exercise. Close the selection
and then choose a color from the greyscale
palette to fill it in. Make a new layer for
the next section, and continue doing that
for all the shapes until you fill the whole
image with values. The order of your
layers matters. So put whatever needs to be visible above other layers. You can always move layers
around and see what works. I'm choosing a new
value here because I feel like the image
could use one more. And I'll add this new swatch to my palette so I can use
it again if I need. I also like to
name all my layers so I can keep track of things. So I'm using the values that
I think look good right now. But they might not necessarily
be the final ones. That's what's great
about working digitally, you can keep changing things
until you're pleased with it. Turning the Sketch layer back on so I can draw the background. And I'm filling it in the
exact same way as before. If you don't know what
value to pick for an area, you can always select something
with the Selection tool and then slide
around the color box to see a change in real time. Now I'm grouping the
background flats together to keep
everything organized. And adding a layer to the top of
the group for the shadows. Just going to clean
up some of the edges. And this is why it's
useful to name your layers, so that if you need to edit something, you know where it is. Now I'll change the
Shadow layer to Multiply to see
how it's looking. And I think that's a bit dark, so I'm going to color drop
a lighter color instead, so it's not as intense. A good tip is to zoom out and make your
image small every now and then to check how the color is working
over the whole image. Now I'm making another
Shadow layer on top for the figure and
setting it to Multiply. And again, I'm
choosing a medium grey because I don't want the
shadows to be too dark. The light is coming
from this direction, as you can see from the
shadow on the wall. So the rest of the shadows
will also fall to the right. And as always, I'm
checking back to the reference as a guide
for lighting and shadows. I'm following the forms of the fabric, and
thinking about which parts I want to be in shadow and which parts have
light hitting it. You can draw rough
shapes to block in the shadows first and refine
it later if you like. I like to do quite
dramatic shading. Kind of like everyone
is under a headlight. But you can go for
whatever vibe you want. Experiments with hard
or softer shadows like in our Practice Exercise
and see what you like. Keep filling and
erasing the shadows until you feel like you
have enough contrast. I'm going to color drop
a darker value onto the line layer because it's faded into the background a bit now that I've added
in all these values. I'm adding another Shadow
layer to the figure, with a lighter grey this time and I'm setting it to Multiply again. These will be lighter shadows. Just going back to the
first Shadow layer to add shadows to
the hair and face, forgot about those! Back to that second
Shadow layer again, and I'm continuing to add these lighter shadows to give more dimension and
depth to everything. Now it's time for highlights. I make this layer on
top of the Shadows, but under the Line layers, I like to add highlights at the end to make
certain areas pop. I'm still keeping in mind
where the light is and adding highlights to the
edges of things where the light will
hit it the hardest. I just keep going with
that to make things pop, and wherever I think looks cool. I think I want a softer
edge to the wall shadow, so I'm just softening
up all those edges. Adding a few more shadows. And changing the opacity of the Shadow layers to
see what it looks like. Now I'm done! This is my finished drawing and I actually quite like it. I leaned into the darker
shadows for drama, which I think looks good. I think it has a good
amount of contrast, like having the dark darks
next to the brighter values. And I think the highlights
really make the face pop. If I were doing this as a
fully worked up illustration, I would likely spend up
to three days doing it, but this is for practice,
so I'm okay keeping it more loose and not
refining it too much. And do the same
for your drawing. It's all about practice and getting to know the technique. So don't try and
make it perfect. And then another time, maybe you could work it up into a more final drawing
if you really like it. And that's our second
'almost daily' drawing done. I had a lot of fun with this
one and I hope you did too. Remember to do your own critique and share your Final Drawing. I can't wait to
see what you make! Our next video is a
bonus lesson on how to quickly add color to
your greyscale drawings. So check that out before moving
on to tomorrow's lesson.
7. Day 2: Bonus Tip: Before we move on
to the next lesson, Here's a fun bonus
tip to quickly turn your Shadow Plans into
colorful illustrations. So now I'm going to show
you a really quick way to add color to your drawing, once you have the
shadow plan done. This will be easier if you have all your flat layers organized. So I have all of my Flats
together in groups here on the bottom, I have my
Shadow layers above that, then my highlight above that, and the line there
is on the very top. Keep an eye on the
order of your layers to make sure everything
you want stays visible. So I have my shadow and
highlights near the top so that they don't
get covered by any of the flat layers below. So now we're going to
add a new layer above all the flat colors
and call it Color. We'll set that layer to Screen. Then I'm going to
open this Palette, which I'll share with
you in the Resources. Hold the top of
the Palettes panel, and drag it out so it stays
visible the whole time. And now I'm going to pick
this pink color and color drop it into the Color layer. Because it's set to Screen. What that's going to
do is color everything beneath the layer without
affecting the values. And I'm gonna do it
again for the Shadows. But because I don't
want this new layer to affect anything else, I'm going to make
it a Clipping Mask. So it only affects
the Shadow layer. And I'll do the exact same thing for the next Shadow layer. And I'm leaving the
Highlights as they are. Now I'm going to pick a
blue for the Shadows. Make sure you have
the right color layer selected and drag the color
anywhere on the canvas. And you can see how
it becomes a purple because the Shadow
layer is on Multiply. And I'm going to do
the exact same thing with the other Shadow layer
and see how it looks. You can color all
the layers with the same or similar colors for a simpler monochromatic image. Or you can play around with the layers and add
color as you like. I like to keep all of my
layers separate so that I have the option to add a Screen layer to each flat color if I want. So because mine are all separated, I can add another screen
layer here to her top. Make it a Clipping
layer, and make it blue. I can make another
layer for her pens as well to make it
a different color. And you can keep going
until you cover everything. If you happen to have all of
your flats on the one layer, then you would only be able
to do a monochromatic option, but it's up to you
what you want to do. I like to leave the
highlights as they are, but you can add a
screen layer to them too if it suits the vibe
of your drawing. And that's it a really
fast and simple way to color your drawings. Check out our next
lesson right now for a nice surprise for
tomorrow's challenge.
8. Day 3: Surprise! It's a Break!: YAY! You've completed the first
half of the challenge. Today's lesson is going to
be a little bit different. It's all about rest and learning how important it is
to take time off. It took a while for me to
learn that I don't have to keep up with the
grind of social media, and that I'm a lot happier taking
things at my own pace. I had to learn to give
myself permission to relax, and not feel like I had to
push it to 100% all the time. And with that in mind, today, I'm officially giving you
permission to take a break! You deserve to relax,
recharge, and unwind. So today's lesson is,
there is no lesson! Taking breaks is
really important for creativity and
mental health. And you deserve it. I know I usually get my best
ideas when I'm zoning out, maybe staring at a window, relaxed, with a nice
hot sweet cup of tea. So I need to give myself that free time to let
the magic happen. So take a breather and spend some time doing
something you love. Maybe it's a walk in the park, reading a book that you've had on your dresser for months, spending time with people
you love or journaling. Let's manifest that
four-day workweek! Whatever you do, you do you today and tomorrow we'll
get back to some drawing.
9. Day 4: Creating With Colour: Hi again, everyone. Today's
lesson is all about color. I'm going to talk you through
how my drawing challenge helped me with color, and
share my inspiration, tips and strategies for
making color palettes. And at the end, I'll show you a really fun way to make color palettes
using Procreate. So let's go! Out of all the
aspects of illustration Color is the hardest bit, and I always think I
have more to learn. And part of that is because in college I didn't really
do any color work. I mostly did black and
white pencil drawings. I didn't know color
theory or digital art. So I didn't have a solid foundation of
learning with color. Before the challenge, the
only inspiration I had for color was a couple of screen printing classes that
I did in college. So I would try to
emulate the layers of flat opaque color
digitally in my work. And so when I started
the challenge, I really want you to use that time to practice some color. I've made a lot of
color work since then. And looking back, two things that helped me
develop my color the most, were Digital Art
and RISO Printing. I started using Procreate
to make digital work. And working digitally
really helped me get more confident
with choosing colors. I think it's a great way to
practice color because it saves a ton of money on
paint and materials! I loved the lo-fi and textured
look of RISO prints. So I kept trying to
emulate that look digitally using overlays
and riso ink colors. And it's become my
favorite way to color now. RISO has a limited range of ink colors and layers
that can be printed. I would try to work within these restraints and learn how to make the most of
a limited palette. And so practicing those things over time has led
me to make some of my favorite personal work. And has even influenced
my client work. My color style has
evolved from what it was, and who knows how it
will develop in the future. For me, the hardest part
is choosing a palette. So how do you even start? Here's a list of things
that I use to get inspired. Real life. There are all sorts of
great color combinations just right there
in front of you. Other artists. I love the pallets that Rebecca
Green and Victo Ngai use. So whose color do you love? Save some images and use it as a starting point when
making a palette later. Again, my favorite, RISO colours. RISO uses
specific color inks. And I find it fun to play
around with those limitations. Even if I'm not going to
physically print anything. Other printing techniques.
You can try and emulate the color styles of things like Screen
Printing or Lino. As a Mini Exercise, I want you to make a short
list of things that inspire you in Section 4.1
of your Guidebook. And feel free to use my examples
as a starting off point. When you have your
Color Inspiration, here are some things to
consider when making a palette. Limited Palettes. Limit yourself to
one or two colors and see how you can use their
values to take you further, just like in our
Contrast lesson. Other artists. some artists like Charlie Clements
or Lisa Bardot, share their palettes
for people to use. Use photos you've saved
to create palettes. Open Procreate, and go
to the Palettes panel. Hit the '+' button, then choose New From Photos. Your photos will pop up and
you just need to choose a picture and Procreate will auto-generate a palette
based on that photo. Or you can select
the Wrench tool, click Add, and then
choose Insert a Photo. Choose a photo. Then open up the panel. Select Create a New
Palette and name it. Hold the top section with
your stylus, and drag to bring out the Palette so
that you can always see it. Then hold down with your
finger on the picture to select a color and tap
it into the Palette. Now you have two
ways of creating palettes from photos or
reference pictures. There's a bunch of
places where you can find existing palettes online. Copic has charts, or Posca
Pens or even Pantone charts. And finally, there's the
Risograph method, which uses two or three colors that overlay to
create more colors. I'll talk more about
this one in a bit. So what kind of
colors do you like? Pastels, Saturated Colors, Muddy Colors or Muted Colors. For me, I love bold
Saturated Colors, and like I said before, I often like to base my
palettes on risograph colors. And I love this painting from the Water Lilies series
by Claude Monet. I made a palette
from this painting so I can show you
the range of colors. You might think this
painting is kind of muted because
of all the blue, but you can see
here in the Palette, all the saturated purples,
pinks, and reds in there. So it's time for another list. As a Mini Exercise, list some of your
favorite palettes. Then find a photo with
a palette you like, and write some notes in the Guidebook about
why you like it. And feel free to share it in the Project Gallery
too, if you like. And if you want,
you can even make a Palette from us using
the tips from this class. Keep looking out
for those palettes online or in real life, and save a picture to a folder. Then you will always be prepared whenever you need
inspiration for a palette. When you've chosen your
colors and made a palette. These are some strategies
I use to get me started. I like to do everything
in greyscale first, mapping out the values first, just like in the
Contrast lesson. Make a mini mock-up. Making a rough color plan
for your illustration will help you see what works before
you start on the final. You can quickly make
multiple options which will save you
time in the long run. And if you're working
traditionally, you can make swatches with
the materials you're using to see how they look together on the paper before you use them. Cool versus warm colors. Think about the mood
you want to convey, and if one of these options
is more appropriate. Blue tones can convey
sadness or cold, while red tones convey
warmth and passion. You can also add a
pop of warm color to a cooler palette or vice versa
it and see what you think. You can use
Complimentary Colors. And this is a good
starting off point for making a bold image. To find opposite colors, look to the color wheel and see which colors are
on opposite sides. Now for the fun part, for our Practice Exercise, I'm going to guide
you through making a color palette using the
Risograph Method. I'm using a tablet
with Procreate for this just like
the last exercise. But you can use
whatever software you have available to you. So pause the video if
you need to get ready, and I'll see you
back here in a sec. Before we start.
What is the Riso Method? It's when you overlay
two or more colours set to any transparency. These colors then combine
to make new colors. Here you can see I've
taken blue at opacity of 70% and yellow at 86%. And combined, they
create this green color. It's different from
using solid colors, which won't mix and will
retain their original hue. You can also use Multiply
if you want to have the colors at 100% and
keep them vibrant. And that's what we're going
to do now to make a palette. So we're going to start off by
making three new layers. Then pick a palette you want
to use and set it to default. I'm using this one and I'll include it in the
Resources section if you want to use it. Then pick three colors
you want to use. On this first layer, I'm
going to choose blue. Draw a circle and hold,
press your finger down if you want to make
it a perfect circle. Then fill it in. Draw each next circle
on a different layer, and make sure they're
overlapping like a Venn diagram. Try and pick a dark, light, and medium color, as this will help you
get the best range of colors to choose from later. When you've done that, set
each layer to Multiply. Then change the values of each color until you get
a combination you like. Try and get a good
range of dark, light, and medium colors. Then make a new palette. Drag it out like I
showed you before. And color drop these colors into the new palette like i
showed in our Palettes lesson. Don't forget the color
in the very middle! And voila, you've made a palette that you can
use for any illustration! As usual, don't forget
to share if you like. Here's a little recap of
the steps if you need. Now that we have
our Inspiration, Palette and Color Strategies, head on over to the next lesson, and we can get started on
our third Final Drawing.
10. Day 4: Final Drawing: Congratulations on making
it this far already. We only have two drawings left! So today we're going
to make our third 'almost daily' drawing with
the Risograph Method. And we'll be using
the Riso Palette we made in the
Practice Exercise. As always, I'll show you my process and give you
tips as I go along. And remember, if you don't
have time, that's okay, this can be a simple drawing. Just make sure that color
is the main aspect. I'll be using my iPad
again for this drawing. But feel free to use
any software you have. You will need your
Riso Palette from the Practice Exercise
and something to draw. I'm drawing another picture from stillherestilllife today. It's a great resource
for inspiration, especially if you like
drawing food like I do. And remember, I
include my reference and more for you in the
Guidebook. So check that out. I just want to mention again as we're going into
today's Final Drawing, that it's totally okay to
copy an image as a study. But it's important to point out that if you are
copying an image, you shouldn't ever try to
pass it off as your own. Always tag and give
proper credit to the original artist
or photographer when you draw from
these references! Just like I do throughout
these lessons. Right. I'm really excited to get
into this Final Drawing, so when you're ready, let's go! So very quickly because you've seen it all before a few times now, I'm going to open
a new canvas and Procreate and quickly
do the sketch. I'm going to find my Riso Palette and set it to default. While I'm sketching,
I'm going to use the grey background trick. But I'll turn that off
when we start coloring because it will affect
the look of the colors. So just keep that in mind
if you're doing it too. And I like to use the 6B
pencil for sketching. This Final Drawing
is all about Color. So I'm not going to
spend too much time making a really refined sketch. But I will do one
or two passes and keep looking back to the
reference to keep me on track. I might not keep the Line layer, but I still want to
have it as a guide. When I'm happy with the lines. I'll
name the new layer as Line. And then I'll turn off
the grey background so that I can start coloring. We're going to make some
quick color mockups first, so that you have a bit of
a plan before going into the final. Start by duplicating your Sketch
layer a few times. Then merge them into one layer
by swiping to the right on each to select them, and pinching them together
with your fingers. I'm making four new layers, one for each color I'm using. It's better to use less colors until you're really
used to the process. So you could use two or
three if you like. Pick out what colors you
want and name the layers. I'm picking Purple,
Pink, Blue, and Yellow. Then set the color layers to Multiply. And drag out your palette like I've
shown you before. We're going to be
coloring this one a bit differently to what
I've shown you before. We're not starting with
the values this time. We're going to block
in the colors, and because they're on Multiply, they'll overlay to
make new colors. Just like when we made
our Risograph Palette. And that's basically what
the Risograph Method is. And that's why these
color mockups are so important, so that we
have a guide to go by. Now, keeping each color
in its own layer, draw in wherever you
want the colors to be. With the layer set to Multiply, you can see how the
colors mix when overlaid. Now, make a few tests until
you find one you like. And we'll base our final
drawing off of that one. I like this one in
the middle the most. So that's what I'm
going to go with. Now back to the Final Drawing and we'll do the same thing. Make four new layers or
however many layers you need. Name them as the
colors you chose. And make sure that they're
all beneath the Line layer. Bring out the palette again. And this time we're going
to block in the colors using the Lasso tool
and color fill option, like in our Final
Contrast Drawing. I put pink in the Purple layer. So I'm just going to undo that
and select the Pink layer. I don't want to draw that
whole selection again. So I'll hold down on the Selection Tool to
re-select my last selection. Learn from my mistake and make sure you keep the colors
to their own layer, or it will get very confusing! Then I'm going to fill in the table with yellow like in the mockup. And also set the color layers to Multiply because I forgot. I'm going to add some
shadows now using the Blue layer and see how it turns to green because the layer
is on Multiply. I'm choosing to do some shadows now instead of at the end, because ! want
to see how the colors will work together as I go. I already know my light source
is coming from the left. So I'm keeping that
in mind and checking in on the reference as
I place the shadows. Then I'll just go back and
forth through the layers, coloring in whatever
I think looks good. It's a simple enough method. The main part is just trial and error and seeing what
colors look good. And I keep going back to my mock-up to remind myself
where to put colors. You can build up on the shadows by drawing over other colors. I'll start to use
the 6B pencil when I want to
add more texture. And you can erase some of the colors with
the Lasso Tool by swiping down on the screen with three fingers and choosing Cut, I'm coloring in the
Purple layer to make more of a shadow
on the curtain. And I go over some
of my lines with the pencil to soften
them up a bit. You can erase some parts and each layer to
create a highlight, contrast or even reveal
other color layers. I'm going to the Line Layer and cleaning it up a little bit. And going into each
Color Layer to clean up any overlaps
that I don't want. But I do want to keep
this overall drawing loose because it
is an experiment. So I don't want to spend too much time refining everything. Adding some last highlights. I'm checking what it looks
like without the line. And I think it does need the line, so I'm going to change
the color to blue. You can reduce the opacity of the layers to
see how that works and keep going until you're
happy. That's me finished! I like the mix of color here on the pasta and the shadows
at the front of the table. I like the general
sketchy vibe of it and how the blue lines contrast with the
rest of the drawing. I think next time I'd like
to try and do it without the line and play around
more with the shapes. I'm glad I did a color study
because I really could be here all day changing color
layers and opacities. And that's day four in the
bag! Just one more to go. I can't wait to see all
your colorful drawings. And remember to take
notes and let me know what you like or think you
could have done differently. I hope you were able
to get creative and have fun mixing
colors today. Tomorrow we'll talk
about experimenting with materials and make our fourth and final 'almost daily' drawing. So see you then.
11. Day 5: Experimenting With Mediums: It's day five, our last
day of the challenge, and for this last day, we're going to be talking
all about experimenting. And how experimenting
can help you let go of your style ideals, but also help you
develop your style. So a big reason for me doing my own drawing
challenge was to break out of the style that I
was stuck in for so long. It hadn't been more than
a few short years since college and I was
already burned out. But I honestly wasn't sure if I could even do anything else. So the idea of
experimenting was scary to me, and
it was a big deal! So during the challenge, I gradually became more
comfortable branching out and it became
fun and exciting. And I realized my
fears were wrong! Through experimenting, I discovered what I
liked and didn't like. And without purposely trying, the mediums I was practicing
began to inform my work. Like incorporating
bold colors and RISO textures into
my digital drawings. I'm not as bothered about having one style now, and I'm more open to experimenting with
new mediums and seeing how they reflect
back on my own work. I feel more able to
express myself how I want, rather than being
tied down to one thing. I see it as a work in progress that'll go on for as
long as I want it to. So I'm hoping you'll
be able to get into the spirit and have a lot
of fun with this lesson. We're going to make three
or four quick drawings of the same object using a
different medium for each, if you can. A sheet of
Paper, or more if you like. It's also fine to
use a Sketchbook. I'll be doing all my drawings
on the same sheet today. You need a Mix of
Materials to draw with. Try and get a few
different materials. But if you only have one medium, you can still
experiment with angle, line quality, shading or color. A Ruler if like me, you want to make borders
for your drawings. Masking Tape to keep
the page in place. And lastly, something to draw, pick an object or a photo. And as usual, I've included a link to my reference
in the Guidebook. I'm going to use this
exercise as an excuse to draw my cute little
Moonstone succulent. So take some time to
gather everything you need and I'll be here
when you're ready to go. So I'm going to do
this first drawing with a Micron Brush Pen. And I'm sketching it out
first in pencil because I want to have a base to work
with when I use the pen. And that's just something
specific to me that I found out by practicing
with this pen before. As you practice, you'll find out how you'd like
to do things too. I'm using the
observation techniques we learned in the
Line Exercises, following the form of the object and trying to keep
the sketch loose. I'll be making four
drawings today. But feel free to do
as many drawings as you like if
you're having fun. And remember, if you have limited materials,
that's totally fine. You can still draw the object in different ways using
the same medium. Maybe draw it from
different angles. Try different lines styles
like in our Line video, try shading like in
our Contrast Exercise, or redrawing the same image in different color combinations. I kind of have a shaky hand, so I'm trying to lean into
that with this brush pen. Now I'm using a pen
with a regular tip for the sections with
intricate lines. You can be loose
with these drawings, were just getting to
know the materials, so spend like 10 to
15 minutes on each. For this next one, I'm using Neocolor pastels and I want
it to be a looser drawing. So for some of these, I'm
not making a base sketch. I'm just drawing
as they go along. And I like to do that when
I want the drawing to be more fluid and
have more movement. Because sometimes
drawings can feel stiff when you're too
tied down to sketch. Well, at least for me. So I'm just drawing and letting the
medium do its thing, letting the textures and
wobbly lines happen. I'm seeing how different
colors combine and overlapping them to make shadows like in the Riso Lesson. And I'm using it at
a different angle here to try and get
a lighter texture. Drawing heavier
and lighter to see how it makes different
textures and lines. I'm using Poscas
for my next drawing. These are just sketches, so I haven't planned
out color here. I'm just adding things and
thinking as I go along. But I have happened to
pick the same colors for this and the last drawing
without realizing, I must have those
colors on my mind. Posca Pen tip, DO NOT shake it when the cover is off. It will definitely
explode and destroy all of your clothes or
worse, your drawing. I know this from personal
experience. So just trust me! The cool thing about Posca
Pens is that when they're dry, you can draw over
them and it won't mix with the other
colors underneath. For the last drawing,
I'm going to use a watercolor pencil
and try and get some nice effects by
adding some water. So I want to draw
some dark areas and some lighter textured
areas to create contrast. Now the fun part, I'm going to spray some parts of the drawing with water
to see what happens. It looks pretty cool
the way some of the pencil is bleeding
into the water. So have fun playing around with your materials and don't worry about destroying
your drawing. It's all an experiment anyway. Now I'm done! Just like
in all our other lessons, look back over what
you've done and pick out anything
you like or don't. Did you enjoy one medium more? And why? Remember to take
notes and think about them next time you work
with those materials. So here are my drawings. I tried four different things and I like different
things about each. I really liked the flow of the brush pen and
how dark the ink is, but I think I could have been
even looser with the pen. I'm so used to tight pencil work that I really have
to learn to let go when I'm using it.
This pastel drawing is more loose and free flowing. I really liked
making the textures and mixing the colors right
on the paper was fun. This one's one of my
favorites of the bunch. I generally like
the matte look of the Poscas and how
you can overlap them, but I think this one is more
messy than I'd like it to be. Overall, I'd say this is
probably my least favorite. I wanted to focus on
simple flat colors so it would have worked out better if I had planned it out before. But this is just an experiment, and these are the
kinds of things you want to find out by doing this. So you know, no
experiment is a waste! This last one is my
favorite. The watercolor pencil feels different to
a graphite pencil, which I'm more used to. And I enjoyed using it to make looser and bold textured marks. It was fun and really scary, working with the water,
and seeing how it changed the drawing and
pumped up all the contrast. And I like the contrast between the dry pencil textures
and the water areas. So now let me know what
you think of yours. This exercise is actually my
favorite of the whole class. It's so broad and I have no
idea what you're going to do. So I hope you'll share
your experiments with me. So now we've had
a little taste of experimenting and it's
time for even more! When you're ready. I'll see
you in our next lesson to get going on our very last Final
Drawing of the challenge.
12. Day 5: Final Drawing: It's time to make our
last 'almost daily' drawing everyone.
We're almost there! For today, I want you to choose a drawing
you've made in the past outside of this class,
and draw it again now using a different medium. Try to use a medium you're
not too familiar with. If you don't have a drawing
to redo, that's okay. I've included a prompt and some references for
you in the Guidebook so you can make a
new one now and come back to redraw
it another time. It's really up to
you what you use. But I'll be using most of the same material as you saw
in our Practice Exercise. And making this drawing with
Poscas and Color Pencils. Just make sure you
pick something you're not too used to using. You need your original
drawing to redo or an idea ready if you're
making your first drawing now. And you know, feel free to do
this digitally if you want. Try and pick a brush that you normally
wouldn't use though. I'm going to redo this drawing from earlier in my challenge. It's a digital drawing
I made on Procreate. I think this will
be a good one to redo because it's
quite simplistic, and there was a lot of
ways I can go with it. So you know the drill
for the last time, pause the video, and
when you're ready, it's time to experiment. Here are some things
I want you to think about while
you're redrawing. Refresh your memory of
the original drawing, but don't try and
make an exact copy. I want you to be
led by the medium and not try and force
it to be something it's not. Don't be afraid to
let this drawing the different than the original. If you want to change
something, do it! Focus on the process and experienced the
differences of the medium, and use multiple mediums for
this drawing if you like. You don't have to spend
too long on this if you don't want to. It's all about experimenting
with the materials. And as always, have
fun with it! I'm going to be using
Poscas today. So I'm going to
start off by making some quick color tests,
like in the Color Lesson. And I encourage you
to do the same, whether you're doing
traditional or digital. I've just made a
few quick sketches of my original drawing right now to get a general idea of how the colors will work. I have a limited
amount of Poscas, so I'll be keeping it simple and trying to stick to maybe
two or three colors. And I'm making these
quite small because I just need to get a
sense of the color, and I don't want to use up
all the paint in the pens. While I'm doing these, I'm thinking a bit about how
I want the light and shadows to work and the
contrast of the colors. Even though it'll
probably change the composition when
it comes to the final. But I know these main
elements will still be there. So I'm just going to go
through the colors I have, try out some different
combinations and ways of shading
and layering. Sometimes I skip this step, like in the Practice Exercise, but I regret it whenever I do. So today I'm leading by example, being my best self and
doing my color studies! :) You can make a digital
study too if you wanted. But I think for
traditional work, it's good to do it
with the materials that you're using, so that you can see
how the colors really work together
on the paper. Okay, so I have a
few options here. I tried out some
contrasting colors, monochromatic palettes,
some warm and cool ones. I do like this one, but I think I want
something with slightly more colors
for contrast. But I really like
this yellow one. And I think the contrast of the orange light coming from
the window will be nice. So I think this
one is the winner. So now I've picked
my color mock-up. I can start to sketch
out this new drawing. I drew the original
from my imagination. And for this new version, I'd like it to be more of
a detailed country scene. So I've gathered some references of cottages to work from. I don't want to make an
exact copy of the original, so references will be good
for some new ideas. I always use a mix of a lot of different references
so that I can feel secure that I'm not copying and taking too much
from one source. And I'll keep
referencing these images when adding color and shadows. I'm going for a kind
of wonky style, making all the lines slanted, and I want the whole image to be tilting in all directions. And I'll keep this sketch
really loose because I'm not focusing on line
for this drawing at all. Now the sketch is done. I'm going to go in
with some colors. I'm using the colors
from my mockup, and I'm also going to add in
another blue so that I have something for shadows,
highlights, and midtones. I'm blocking in the main
section of the house first and leaving gaps
for other colors later. Then I'm going in
with the next color for some smaller details. I'm trying to rely more
on shapes over line for this. Part of experimenting
isn't only with materials, but also ways of drawing. And I'm used to doing
a lot of lines stuff. So trying to do something that's shape-based is an
experiment for me. I'm keeping my color mock-up in mind is I block
in all the colors. I actually came up
with the idea for this exercise during
my drawing challenge. One day I had no
ideas for what to draw and I decided to redo this drawing I had
made with Poscas and see how it would look
if I drew it digitally. And I was able to try
out different colors, layering and make different decisions for the new drawing, which was really interesting. And it was also
just really fun to do and compare the
drawings afterwards. So I hope that you find this
interesting and fun as well! I'm using what we learned
in the Contrast Lesson again to work out where I
want the shadows to go. Most of the drawing
would be monochromatic, mostly blues with one or two
added colors for contrast. I want to challenge
myself to get the most from my limited palette. I want this drawing
to have an evening, maybe even Halloweeny sort of
vibe, and orange is the opposite color to blue, so it will contrast, but also give that warm, maybe even spooky glow. I'm blocking in the
rest of the drawing, like in the mockup. I'm doing some overall touch ups now that the background
has had time to dry. And adding some smaller
details like the windows. I'm going back into add
some highlights now. I'm drawing a fence
in the foreground to add depth and add
to the wonkiness. Now I'm gonna go in
with some pencils to add some finer
details and textures. I actually forgot
about this earlier, but I'm adding some
reflected light from the window now to make
the scene extra spooky! Then adding some final textures and details to the drawing. And I'm done! So this is my
finished experiment. I like the reflected light here, and it contrasts
nicely with the blue around it. The little cute details like the roof tiles and the
wobbly bricks are nice. If I was being picky, I think I would have preferred the house to be more centered. But you know, this was more about practicing with materials so I'm not going to worry too
much about the composition. I think I got a good mix of values from my limited palette. And it was fun to
mix mediums and make new textures
with the pencils. Comparing it to the original, I actually prefer
this new drawing. The first one was intended
to be more simple, but I think the details
add more personality and charm to this new one and
give it a sense of story. It's also a lot more dramatic
with the light and shadows, and that's just my
personal preference. So when you're
done, one last time, make sure you spend some time
thinking over your process. How did redrawing your art
feel? Did you enjoy it? Were you able to let
go and have fun? Or do you think
you got stuck just trying to recreate the original? And then compare your drawings. Think about, things you prefer
in the new or original one. Have the limitations
of the new medium affected the way you drew this drawing compared
to the original? Did you make any
conscious changes as you were drawing, and why? If you were to do it again, is there anything you'd
change, a different medium, a new composition, more time? Taking note of these
things will make you more conscious of
why you draw the way you do and help you
recognize why you make certain decisions
when you're doing your work. It's
conscious practice! And if you've been
keeping everything up to now in your Guidebook, now you have a handy
ideas journal full of notes and ideas that you can
refer back to in the future. And that's a really
great tool to have. And that's it! Or final drawing of the week. Congratulations for
getting this far and finishing your 'almost
daily' drawing challenge. I really hope you've had
fun working along with me on this journey, and feel
good about what you've made. I can't wait to see
what you discovered. So remember to share your
drawing and the original for comparison, and answer the
questions we went through. So now we're finished
with the drawings, but we're not done just yet! I still have a few
more things to share. So when you're ready,
I'll see you in our next lesson to talk about
how to find inspiration.
13. Ideas For Getting Ideas: Congratulations again on
finishing this challenge. You should be really
proud of yourself! I hope this class has given you inspiration to make your own challenge one day in the future. And if it has, that's what
this lesson is all about. What inspires people is
a very individual thing. Two people can look at
the same picture and come away with two
completely different ideas. Inspiration can hit
us at any moment and not always only needed
two, which is the problem. So for me, there's
two aspects to it. Ways to find inspiration and keeping track of that inspiration
for when you need it. And this can do both! I'm a big list keeper. They're my favorite way to
help keep track of things. Lists of Ideas and Dream
Projects you want to do. Prompts challenges. Keep them in a notebook,
ideas journal, or in a notes app on
your phone or computer, or even the Guidebook. You can keep Folders of Cool
Images that inspire you, or Folders of Reference
Pictures that you want to draw. And you can curate and make
your own Pinterest Boards, save Collections on Instagram, or Bookmark things on Twitter. There are endless places
to find inspiration! Now, having a list of your own ideas is a
good goal to have. But ideas are hard! So how do you even
know what to put on your list in the first place? Well, here are some
things I think about. What are your
interests or passions? What do you do every day? What things do you
see? What kind of things do you do for fun? What would you make if money
and time were irrelevant? Here are some things
I like. Nature. I love Animals and
Documentaries, especially the ones by
David Attenborough. I like Street Wear fashion, big oversized jumpers,
all that kinda stuff. I love printing techniques like Screen Printing and RISO. Here's the big one. I love FOOD! So what do you like? Make a short list of things in section 6 of your Guidebook. It can be anything, and use the
questions above as prompts if you need to. And I know
what you're thinking, OH MY GOD, why does she keep making us make all these lists? But trust me, it's a
really good thing to do. And when I make a list, what I like to do is use one of the words as a prompt
for a mind map. I think of as many things
as I can to relate to it to really get everything
out of that one topic. This is also a good method
to get all of the bad ideas out of your head so that you have room to think of
all the good ones. Then you can add any good ideas to one of your lists for later. Now go through your list
and see if there's anything in there that
you'd like to draw about. You might be surprised
to find subjects you never realized were just
right there in front of you. And making these
lists in advance willl make sure that
you're always prepared anytime you need extra
help coming up with ideas. I also use Strategies to
help kickstart an idea. Strategies are plans for
things you want to do and can be based on your list of things that you like
and want to learn. For example, one strategy could simply be, drawing things
you want to learn, like anatomy, backgrounds
or buildings. You can make a theme
for a week or a month. You could draw something you
saw that day, week or month. You could practice using a
specific medium or technique. Or you could draw things that you hate to give
yourself a challenge, like characters, hence, a
horse or a crowd scene. See the Guidebook for
some more examples. For our next Mini Exercise. Make one or two
Strategies of your own. You can use my examples
as a starting off point. Now you have a few
ways to get ideas! And as a bonus, here's
a way to combine your Ideas and Strategies
to create your Challenge. For example, your Idea could be that you would like
to draw buildings. And your Strategy could be that you want to
learn ink drawing. So the Challenge could be, make
ink drawings of buildings. And if you've been
collecting pictures of things you like up to now, you might already
have a bunch of references to work from. You can also just
combine Strategies. So you want to get better at painting and you want to draw
things you saw that day. Boom, a Double
Strategy Challenge!!! So let's come up
with a challenge. Create one or two Challenges using your Lists and Strategies. You can make it as simple or
as complicated as you like. And feel free to use
my previous examples and Strategies as inspiration. And if you feel comfortable, share them to the
Project Gallery. And you can use this
method to help you, if you ever want
to make your own challenge in the future. Right. So now you have
all the Ideas For Getting Ideas that
you'll ever need! We're almost
finished this class, so head on over to
our very last lesson, where we'll talk
about tips to stay motivated before we
finish up with the class.
14. Tips To Keep You Going: Drawing challenges
or great, and mine has definitely
helped me out for sure. But challenges are also hard. That's why they're
called a challenge. And you definitely don't want
to burn out from trying to keep up with the demands of
it if it's too much for you. I've gone through many ups and downs throughout the process. Times that perfectionism
would start to creep back in. Or I felt I was forcing
myself to do too much. Or even that I was wasting my time experimenting
with materials. So what can you do
to prevent yourself from getting fed up or
running out of steam? Well, I want to share with you my own special list of tips and rules to help you keep going and having fun
with any challenge. Try to only make one drawing a day, and spend no more than
a day making that drawing. I would focus on
learning and trying new things instead
of the final result. This isn't about making work
for your portfolio or shop, so don't aim for perfection! You'll get better over
time with practice anyway. So don't force it. Plan some themes or
prompts ahead of time. It's okay to not have
everything planned out. But planning some things can
ease the stress of having ideas so that you can focus on the fun of
making the drawing. If it starts to feel like a
chore, try something new. Don't overwork yourself. It's fine to only
spend a few minutes on a drawing or whatever time
you're comfortable with. If you really like an idea, see this as a sketch
or practice and you can make a more developed
version when you have time. Draw at whatever size
or shape you want. There's no need
to be confined to a sketchbook for every one. We're not making beautiful flip throughs for Instagram here, that's just not
what this is about! Value your free time and take
weekends and holidays off. You'll recharge and have experiences that you can use
for inspiration later. And if you can't
do that, just be mindful to take whatever
breaks fit your lifestyle. This is an important one, be kind to yourself. You're doing your best, so don't beat yourself up if some drawings aren't
turning out how you want, or if you don't feel as
productive as you should. And lastly, break any of the
rules if it keeps it fun, just do whatever, keeps
the challenge fun for you. Take a few days to do a drawing. Make something that
isn't a drawing, like sculpting or embroidery. Give up on a drawing you don't like and maybe pick
it back up later. Skip a day or two if
you're not feeling it, just remember to come back to the challenge when it
feels right for you. You make the rules! There really isn't
a wrong way to do a challenge as long
as it works for you. All these things
have helped me with my challenge and I really hope that they can help you too. I've included this
list in section 7 of the Guidebook for you. And if you come
up with any rules of your own, let me know. And that's it. That's our final lesson. See you in the wrap-up
where we'll talk about the key takeaways
from this class.
15. Wrap Up: I'm so glad you've
stuck with me and finished your first
'almost daily' challenge. We've had fun learning to let go and step out of
our comfort zones. And maybe you're
beginning to feel a bit more energized about
your practice now. We've covered a
lot in this class. You've learned how to
loosen up and express yourself with our
Line Exercises. Had fun planning ahead
in our Contrast Lesson. The importance of Rest and
recharging for creativity. We got creative with
Color and learn the Riso Method. We learned it's okay to try new
things and make mistakes. How taking notes can make us conscious about our
artistic decisions. And so many tips and tricks to generate ideas and
stay motivated! I hope that you take away from this class the importance of being kind to yourself and
doing things in your own time. And that allowing
yourself the freedom to experiment can help reignite your passion
and creativity. If you haven't already
download the Guidebook. So you can keep it as a handy memento of
everything you've learned ,and refer back to it anytime you're
feeling stuck, burnt out or need ideas. I want you to leave this class feeling confident that you
know what to do and how to stay motivated, and
have the tools to help with burnout whenever
it raises its ugly head. Don't forget to
share your drawings with me in the Project section. Leave a Review so I
know what you think. And please spread the word and share this class with anyone
you think would like it! You can follow me
here on social media. And if you're sharing
your drawings online, don't forget to tag me and use the class hashtag so
that I can find them. Thank you so much for
taking this class. I've loved being able to share my little drawing challenge
with a difference with you. And I really hope you enjoyed
your journey this week. Now go have a nice cup of tea or a treat for yourself,
and I'll see you soon. :)
