Sketch Archives - Page 2 of 3

Faces Unveiled: A Gallery of New Portraits from My Sketchbook

Sketching Expressions: A New Sketch Book and New Faces

Here are some faces from my new sketchbook. I’m always buying new sketchbooks because they inspire me to keep creating. I have a small stack of unfinished sketchbooks though, lol. I found a nice variety of different faces on Pinterest, which served as a great reference for drawings in my new sketchbook.

I’ve been challenging myself to draw as many faces as I can. A few months ago, I attempted to draw 100 faces as part of the 100 Heads challenge. While I didn’t quite reach that goal, I had a lot of fun in the process. Now, I’ve decided to start again and continue drawing as many heads as possible. It’s not about the specific number this time around, but rather about the practice and improvement.

Each of these head sketches took me about 20 to 30 minutes to complete. I wanted to strike a balance between capturing the essential features and maintaining a sense of spontaneity in my drawings. And I must say, I’m really pleased with the way they turned out. I learn something new and gain more confidence in my artistic abilities.

Exploring Shadows and Highlights in a Side View Portrait

Side view sketch drawing by Ralph Contreras

Quick Sketch with a Focus on Light and Dark

Here’s my latest sketchbook entry. I decided to draw a side-view portrait. I found a photo of Zoe Saldaña in her iconic Gamora makeup as my reference, although I didn’t focus too much on capturing her likeness or the details of the character. Instead, I wanted to experiment with shadows and highlights, emphasizing the play of light on the subject matter.

For this sketch, I took a different approach by incorporating more dark shading than I typically do. I’ve had success with using shadows in some of my recent drawings. So I wanted to create go deeper and bring out the contrast between the light and dark areas. It was a quick drawing session, lasting about 5 minutes, I used a 0.7 HB Pentel mechanical pencil for the drawing.

Although the resemblance to Zoe Saldaña or Gamora may not be immediately recognizable, I’m very happy with how the overall sketch drawing turned out. It served as a valuable exercise in exploring different shading techniques and capturing the subject with shadows.

Leap into Creativity: Sketching the Energy of a Jumping Pose

*Drawing set up of Ralph Contreras’s drawing table*

Embracing Dynamic Movement: A Sketch Inspired by Pinterest

Here is another full-body sketch from a reference I found on Pinterest. I really wanted to draw something with a lot of movement. And I found this fun photo of a dude jumping in the air. He shows a lot of emotion on his face too. His arms, legs, and back are bent backward. It’s a very dynamic pose and I really enjoyed drawing it.

I put the image in my Amazon Fire Tablet and placed the reference on a shelf I made for my drawing table. I tried to use a lot of shadows in this illustration. In the drawing, I elongated the figure a little. It’s not a perfect rendition of the reference image. But that’s ok, it was a fun exercise in drawing the figure. I drew this sketch with a 0.7 Pentel HB mechanical pencil and ad a good time with it.

Finding Inspiration on Pinterest: Drawing a Cool Swordswoman Pose

Drawing set up of Ralph Contreras’s drawing table

Embracing Imperfection: The Beauty of Quick Renditions in My Art

For last night’s sketching session, I searched on Pinterest for something to draw. I found this cool swordswoman pose on Pinterest. Pinterest has proven to be a treasure trove of great reference photos and inspiration to me these past few years. It offers a bunch of resources and references for artists like myself.

The original photo was taken by Jessica Truscott, AKA as faestock. I pulled up the image on my Amazon Fire tablet and set it up on a makeshift stand I made for my drawing table. The photo was the perfect reference for costume and pose, providing me with a foundation to work from.

Instead of trying to draw a perfect replica, I approached the sketch as a quicker rendition. My sketchbook has been focusing on faces, but this time I wanted to challenge myself by drawing the whole figure. I drew this sketch with a 0.7 Pentel HB mechanical pencil. I’m really happy with the way it came out.

Seizing the Moment: A Quick Sketch on a Post-It Note

Taking a Mental Break with Post-It Sketching

Seems like I always want to draw and create art at work, but when I get home I struggle with keeping that motivation. So I decided, why wait? I’ll just do a fun quick sketch on a Post-It note during my workday.

I drew a horned female character. With armor and a mythic warrior vibe, she would fit right into my First Legacy webcomic.

Drawing Captain Marvel: My Marvelous Sketch

I recently started a pencil drawing sketch of Captain Marvel, inspired by Brie Larson’s portrayal of Carol Danvers in the MCU…

Captain Marvel drawing by Ralph Contreras

From Screen to Page: My Captain Marvel Sketch

I recently started a pencil drawing sketch of Captain Marvel, inspired by Brie Larson’s portrayal of Carol Danvers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I really enjoyed the movie and don’t understand why it gets so much criticism. In my opinion, it was a fun 90’s inspired superhero film.

My current project is a pencil sketch that I plan to eventually color using Prisma color pencils. Although I have done some face color pencil sketches before, I want to complete an entire figure illustration this time. I’ve included a picture of the whole figure here, but I apologize that it’s a little light and out of focus. I’m not the best photographer, but I wanted to show what I’m working on.

In the close-up picture of the face, I feel you can see how I’ve improved in drawing the female face. Having developed a stronger style of drawing faces from my practice sketches, which can be found in some earlier blog posts. I did use some photo references from promo images of the movie.

I’m quite happy with the progress of this illustration, but I know it’s only the first step in my process. For this sketch, I used a .05 Pentel mechanical pencil, which helped me achieve fine details in the drawing.

I’m excited about this new illustration project and can’t wait to see how it turns out. I plan to continue practicing and improving my drawing skills, especially with coloring and shading. As always, I welcome any feedback and suggestions from my fellow artist friends and blog readers.

Improving My Art Skills: From Button Noses to Alien Villainesses

Discovering Confidence in Drawing: Progress with Female Face Sketches

As an aspiring artist, I am constantly looking for ways to improve my skills and techniques. One of my recent goals has been to draw faces and practice sketches, which has allowed me to experiment with different drawing techniques and styles.

To help me keep my proportions in line, I used grid paper for all of these sketches. I also tried a new technique for drawing button noses I learned from YouTube, and I feel that they turned out better than how I usually draw them. For the lips, I added a hint of a smile to each of the heads. You can also see some practice sketches of lips in the background.

All of the heads are female, and I tried out different hairstyles for each of them. In the first drawing, I made the features slightly larger than usual, including the eyes, lips, and ears. The hair is also styled in a unique way, with one side shaved and the other side long. I used a .07 mechanical pencil for this drawing.

In the second head sketch, I decided to color the eyes blue to add a pop of color to the otherwise monochromatic sketch. I used the same pencil for this drawing as well.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with these sketches and I am happy with how they turned out. I feel like I am improving my skills as an artist with each new drawing. I didn’t use any photo references for these sketches, which shows that I am becoming more confident in my ability to draw from my imagination.

Finally, I decided to challenge myself by drawing an alien or necro villainess for my last sketch. it allowed me to experiment with different shapes and features for the face.

All these face practice sketches have been a great way for me to improve my drawing skills and experiment with new techniques. What new techniques have you tried recently in your own artwork? Share your experiences and successes in the comments below!

Guardians of the Galaxy Art: Gamora Color Pencil Head Sketch

*Gamora Color Pencil Drawing by Ralph Contrera*s

Color Pencil Sketch Portrait of Gamora

As a fan of Marvel Comics, I was thrilled when Guardians of the Galaxy hit the big screen and became a huge success. Gamora, one of the members of the Guardians, has become an even more well-known and popular character because of the movie.

So, for fun this afternoon, I decided to do a colored pencil head sketch drawing of her. I used Prisma color pencils and grid paper to help me keep my proportions accurate. By overlaying different tones of green, I was able to add variation to the shadows and highlights, while using yellow around the eyes to make her more accurate to the comic book version. Even with the grids, the eyes turned out a little crooked, but I’m still happy with the end result.

Capturing the Intensity: A Color Pencil Sketch of Jean Grey

Jean Grey Colors Pencil Drawing by Ralph Contreras

Color Pencil Sketch of Jean Grey (Or Maybe Madelyne Pryor)

Color pencil sketching is a great way to express your creativity. I had a lot of fun drawing Jean Grey from The X-Men in a quick color sketch of her head. The expression on her face actually made her look more like Madelyne Pryor her evil clone.

I used grid paper to keep my proportions accurate which I feel really helped. I draw things a little skewed sometimes. Sketching with colored pencils is a great way to experiment with different techniques and create unique and vibrant works of art. I highly recommend giving it a try!

Hela from Thor Ragnarok

Hela-Thor-Ragnarok-MCU — Hela Drawing by Ralph Contreras

Hela from Thor Ragnarok

Here’s a lunch break sketch I did of Hela. She’s always been one of my favorite Thor villains and I really enjoyed Cate Blanchett’s portrayal in Thor Ragnarok.