I designed three projects to isolate different elements of drawing and give you good practice habits. You can pick one or try them all.

Sketching outlines
1. Pick a photo reference
2. Identify key points of the outline in your head or annotate your reference
3. Draw the outline freehand
4. Overlay your completed drawing and reference. Note where they are different and why
5. Draw the same thing again, overlay again, and compare to your previous result
Depth and contrast with shading
1. Pick one tool (dark graphite or black colour pencil or ballpoint pen)
2. Select a photo reference with high contrast
3. Block in the darkest value, then go from light to dark and build the shading up in layers
Colour and texture
1. Pick a reference
2. Focus on the contrast of value and saturation levels
3. Start with a base layer of highlights, midtones and shadows
4. Add the texture on the second layer with pencil strokes and blending
5. Continue refining detail and darkening shadow areas in the third layer
6. And be sure to share your projects in the Project Gallery!!

Stefan De Vries

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