Making Of a Pencil Drawing + Two Fashion Illustrations (Special Occasion Dresses: Blue and Purple)

Hello there! How's life been treating you? Are you enjoying Spring? I thought that today I might show you some of my art. I don't know about you, but I always love to see the 'making of' tutorials, videos and posts. I always enjoy seeing the effort that goes into creation of anything. My fascination with seeing the creative process is not limited to art, I love seeing the 'making of' of just about anything, but creative creations can be especially interesting. Today I will share with you the 'making of' a (coloured) pencil portrait drawing, done in fashion illustration style. I hope that you will find it interesting.  In addition, I will share with you two coloured pencils fashion illustrations. I've been working on my developing my art skills a lot lately. I know I've been saying that a lot, but really it's true. I've been spending a lot of time drawing and illustration. Maybe it is the spring that makes me feel so creative? Scroll down to see more.

I think that you've already noticed that I love drawing faces. When I do fashion illustrations, I love to draw all the details. I often draw backgrounds as well. I like to create fashion illustrations that are as much about the 'vibe' as they are about the clothes themselves. I drew this portrait style illustration without using a reference. As you can see, I used mostly coloured pencils. I only used a marker to draw the eyelashes because I didn't have the right shade of brown among my pencils. Most of the coloured pencils I have are really cheap (not good at all), so I had to use a marker a bit. I've run out of markers btw, I need to buy some but I don't think I'll buy copic markers yet. I'm running out of pencils too but I'm not sure will I buy any new ones right now because I'm working on some other art and I should probably try to do some research before I buy new pencils. I feel like I'm doing research all the time, there is just so much to learn about different drawing techniques! However, I think buying inexpensive art supplies can actually be good for practice. For some specific project you will need to invest in quality art supplies, but it is a great feeling to create something from practically nothing. Do you know what I mean? When I take the lowest quality pencil that exists and still make a pretty good drawing, I feel like my art skills must be pretty good.  Not that I don't spend a lot of money on my art supplies. I have spent a lot of money on my oil and acrylic supplies, not to mention canvases. These things are extremely pricey. But when I'm practicing drawing, I often use the cheap stuff and while there is definitely a difference in quality of art supplies, one thing is for sure. If you have art skills, you'll be able to make art with anything. Investing in quality art supplies is not only preferable but often it is necessarily, especially for professional artists. However, we shouldn't become dependent on a certain brand or whatever. We shouldn't rely on a certain tool. That's what @zoehong always says anyway. Don't become dependent on art supplies, on a certain brand or tool. I couldn't agree more. With time you realize that there is no such thing as magic paints or magic pencils. There are only magic hands. To get magic hands, you need to practice a lot. So, investing in art supplies is good, but by itself it will mean nothing if you don't work on your art skills. You can't buy art skills, you have to develop them.

Brunette With Blue Eyes

Another thing I love doing is drying flowers, but I think you already noticed that. Does it has anything to do with my love for recycling? Perhaps it does, for I hate to see anything goes to waste, but honestly I think that dried flowers are extremely beautiful. Moreover, they make for a lovely home decor accessory and can function as a photography enhancement. There is something nostalgic and artistic about dry flowers. Sure, fresh flowers are always beautiful, but dry flowers are something you can rely on. I think they can even be used to add something to our photography.  Do you agree? Do you use dry flowers for photography? In the past, I often created 'art' with both dry and fresh flowers. You can see an example here and here.  I'm really fortunate to live in a climate that makes drying flowers quite easy. So, I can't really offer that much advice on the process itself. However, drying flowers is not the most complicated thing. If you live in a cold climate, it might be more tricky, but I'm sure there are many tutorials and instructions out there. Today we can find so much 'how to do' information online. Isn't it wonderful? In this day and age, it is like we don't have the excuse to learn everything.  Anyhow, I love to photograph my dry flowers with my art. You might expect to see more of it in the future. Speaking of photography, I'm not sure have I mentioned this or not, but I usually use a yoga tablet to take photographs of my art. We didn't buy it with taking photographs in mind, but I find it really useful for indoor photography.

Fashion illustrations of the day - Special occasion dresses

These two coloured pencils sketches are actually from last year, but I didn't have a chance to share them with you before. They are both drawn without a reference. The first one is a cocktail dress in two colours: blue and purple. I intended it as a dress for a special occasion, i.e. more on the formal side. Seeing it now, I really wish that I had the time to make it. The same goes for the other purple (burgundy purple) gown I'm sharing. That one was also drawn without a reference. Purple is one of the hot trends for this year and I can't wait to jump on the wagon. Thank you for reading! Have a lovely weekend!