sketch book Archives

Mastering Hand Drawing: The Journey of Practice and Progress

The Art of Practice: Diving into the 2,500 Drawing Challenge Starting with Hands

I’ve learned of this great challenge to help strengthen my drawing skills. The 2500 drawing challenge. The goal is to do 2,500 drawings in a year; 250 Hands, 250 Feet, 500 Legs, 500 Arms, and 1,000 Heads.

The challenge was created by a group named Drawaholics Anonymous. I don’t remember how I found out about the challenge, probably on YouTube or Instagram.

I pulled out my handmade sketchbook I made myself this year and started with the hands part of the challenge. I found a bunch of good hand images to draw from on Pinterest. Here are the first 15 hands I’ve drawn. I can already see my drawing progress from hand #1 to hand #15.

I feel that this challenge is a good one for me. How about you? Have you ever taken on the 2500 challenge? I would like to hear about anyone else’s experience with this or any other great challenges.

Quick Sketching: Capturing the Essence of a Face

Finding Beauty in the Unfinished: The Story of a Sick-Day Sketch

A few weeks ago, I started a face drawing that I didn’t finish because I got sick. Despite its incomplete state, I think what I drew came out good. Even though I wasn’t feeling well, I embraced the challenge and focused on drawing as much as I could. I was able to sketch this full-page drawing of a Japanese man.

This was a quicker sketch, about 10 minutes with my 0.7 HB pentel mechanical pencil. I’m particularly proud of how his eyes came out. Sometimes, things take unexpected turns like getting the flu, but we can adapt and make the best of the situation.

Going Big: Exploring Larger Faces in My Sketchbook

Challenging Myself to Draw Bigger and Bolder Faces

I recently completed a few new face drawing in my new sketchbook, and I wanted to challenge myself by using the entire page for one face sketch. Usually, I fit around four faces or heads on each page. So it was a challenge for me to fill the entire page with just one face.

While I strive for accuracy in my sketches, it’s important to note that my sketchbook is all about capturing and expressing creativity, rather than achieving perfection. So, I embraced the imperfections in this drawing. Her eyes may be slightly oversized, and her lips a touch too small, but overall, I’m still very happy with the outcome of this sketch.

As with many of my sketches, I found the original reference photo on Pinterest. It’s an incredible platform that provides a wealth of inspiration for drawing.

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

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.