Drawing Improvements: Tone and form/hands. I wouldn’t usually think about hands, that’s not saying I couldn’t draw them at all but I just never did them in detail. I thought it would be most helpful to draw a detailed hand with a lot of tone to give myself a clear idea of what a hand should be like. I’ve done tone practice elsewhere in my drawing practice, I’ve never really struggled but I’ve just kept doing it and I think I’ve improved.

   Using observational drawings to then go on and design characters or a small plan for a narrative has been a big improvement in my work. It would be something I’d never think about doing, but now I’m doing it, it seems so simple and extremely helpful. Definitely something I’m going to continue doing.

   Biggest improvement: Faces. I would always always always avoid faces, I’d draw the figure and leave the face. But when I was in Florence, I just took advantage of the hundreds of busts that were in the museums, so I found a medium I could use quickly and get tone down quickly (Ink, fountain pen. Diluted ink, water pen). And now, I can’t get enough of faces. I can happily draw a face from life and be pleased with what I’ve done.

Drawing weaknesses: Buildings/perspective. I’ve tried drawing stacked boxes to help with perspective issues, I think that went fine but putting that into practice and going out and drawing a building, I still find very difficult. I feel like there’s no room for error, with drawing people, I feel you can improvise a bit and it’s still a decent drawing, but do one thing wrong on a building and it’s a bad drawing. I don’t think I have the patience. But if I draw as many buildings as I did faces to get better at that, then I could improve. I’m definitely going to continue with it.

Things to carry on developing: I love drawing people, so I’m going to continue with life drawing. It’s then taking these observations and applying them into finished illustrations. I’d like to design and develop characters for stories by using the observational drawings I’ve done more (the same with animals). I think this would be very beneficial for my personal practice.

Egon Schiele – Life drawing, artist reference

I’m looking to Egon Schiele for inspiration 1. I love the exaggeration and grotesque-like figures 2. His use of colour, the colour introduces atmosphere. Something I want to try with my work.