Inktober |

gouache on black toned paper: Sktchy Muse is Macho Iberico

This rugged face asked for a rough treatment with the brush, so I made no effort to “clean it up”, which is not that easy to do with gouache on black paper anyway! It was kind of liberating I must say.

brown deAtramentis document ink applied with a dip pen and brush on beige toned paper: Sktchy Muse, von Mypen

In an homage to Inktober, which many of you probably participate in each October, I switched to ink and slowed down a bit to work with washes at first and line detail later.

brown ink on gray toned paper outlined with white gel pen: Sktchy Muse is Jenny L

Do you think I got a bit obsessed with the eyes? haha! It’s always like that. If you don’t watch yourself or set a timer or something, there’s usually a part that gets overworked. But then she did have amazing eyes!

Diamine Silver Fox ink on gray toned paper applied with dip pen and brush on mostly wet paper: Sktchy Muse is Cansin Guven

So the next one I decided to move quickly and not overdo, and now I’m having fun and like the result better, and can’t wait to try another!

I included the names of the models for the pictures submitted as inspiration on the Sktchy app in case you want to give it a try!

Have we used up all our anxiety on police brutality and racial injustice, the pandemic, global warming, and the upcoming elections? Apparently not.

Once again there are dark smoky skies raining ash and a neon red hot sun, and we’re spending our days checking the evacuation maps and nights listening to our cell phones ding/beep/shriek at us about new warnings.

My family of three is still here, watching and waiting, and not so close to the fires as we were a month ago. But oh lordy, my friends across the plain are evacuating and it’s another deja vu.

It calms me down to sketch people. This guy is from the Sktchy app that has the interesting poses. When I finished it this afternoon I realized he looked like an evacuee, waiting to find out if his house burned down.

I never really spent much time learning to paint with gouache. It’s really quite different from other mediums. But I’m determined to make use of the black toned paper in my sketchbook and I need to use an opaque medium. So I will just muddle through and keep trying til it becomes more natural. I finished it off a bit with pastel pencil.

I thought I’d save this one for Halloween! I mean we can’t go trick or treating this year so maybe I’ll just sketch more of these. I made a pretty girl look a bit goulish. She did have yellow hair though.

Decided to sign up for the Inktober challenge on Sktchy and practice some new ink portrait licks with tips from the teachers. I’m hoping it will keep me from the anxieties lying in wait at every turn. Want to join me?