When we visited Lovely Eldest I found a short bit of downtime to sketch. Being me I only wanted to sketch natural things and all that was on offer was an apple and an aloe vera plant. I took the wimps option…
I hate drawing apples and it shows…
However Eldest is a rather talented young lady, so I showed her my sketch and asked for help. In five minutes she drew a far more convincing apple than I could in 30 and basically pointed out that I wasn’t putting enough effort into my shading.
Next day I sketched the play aeroplane at the airport on our way home attempting to put more effort into my shading…
When we returned home, I found a dear friend, who is a very talented portrait artist, had made a suggestion about working on my shading in the comments on my blog post. The universe was clearly pushing me to work on my shading, so the next day I drew the tree stump I’d drawn the first day I started drawing and focused on shading…
I knew there was still a long way to go, but was pleased with the improvement I’d made in four weeks…
Next day I found a YouTube tutorial that explained the light/shadows really clearly and used it to help me draw a much better apple – all be it an imaginary one…
Next I drew my strawberry planter…
The next day was busy, so I worked on squeezing quick sketches in when I had 5 or 10 minutes throughout the day…
Next day I shaded the trees in a sketch I’d half draw ten days earlier…
And finally I worked on a jug last Sunday.
I’m now learning about perspective, while, of course continuing to work on my shading.
Until next time,
Bekki x
Dartmoor Creative 
Your shading is coming along nicely. Keep it up.
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Thank you xx
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Shading makes a huge difference. I also struggle with it and have found focused practice really helps. That and working hard to draw what I actually see instead of what I think I see.
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Glad I’m not the only one – although i did notice my daughter was exagerating shadows to get a better result!
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Making 2d look 3d takes work!
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As they say, nothing worth while was ever easy! 🙂
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Very true!
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🙂
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You can certainly see your progression. You must be pleased .
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Thank you. I am pleased, although I was also pleased that initially when i really focussed on drawing what I actually saw, I could make things look like they were rather than as if the dog had done it and I’m still chuffed about that too 😊
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Well done. Excellent progress. I love the trees. 🙂
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Thank you 🙂
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You are really improving with your sketches. How will you translate the pencil and paper shading to thread and fabric?
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Thank you. I have been thinking about that, but at the moment I’m mostly focusing on getting better at drawing – i think the more I understand about drawing the more options/ideas I’ll find with fabric. However I am also enjoying it so much i don’t think I’ll mind if i never do translate it to fabric.
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I did wonder whether you have, in fact, found something you love doing for its own sake. You certainly appear to be showing a talent for it.
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Thank you, that’s really kind. I am very much enjoying it, but then I am still in the honeymoon period.
Today I found myself thinking how well something I was drawing might translate into a fabric picture, so fabric definitely not out of my consideration, although I’m also starting to cast thought on other artists’ media too. However for now I’m sticking to learning about how to draw and resisting messing with other media.
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I think you may have nailed it 😉
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Definitely improving – with a bit if help from my friends.
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