Peacock pens

Happy 2024, but already the first week of the new year is quite busy. Preparing for family visits, first busy week at work, trying to colour nicely between the lines to take a good path, a road that is in line with the challenges I want to take on. I am also brainstorming to broach fun topics in my blog, to present you as a reader with something valuable. But it all takes time to inform, document and mold me. I would have liked to make some sketches with watercolour this week, but it wasn’t to be. What I did do is sketch portraits. I love doing this and it relaxes me, but at the same time my creative brain twists and turns are triggered.

Sketching faces now is probably the hardest thing there is. Especially if you want to have a resemblance to the person you are sketching. Golden tip here is: never draw friend or acquaintance or family as a beginner. Every mistake is immediately punished and chances are that you will never want to sketch anyone again.

For drawing faces, there are several methods. I learned the Loomis method. It does take a lot of time and energy to learn, but it is a good basis. You will learn the proportions in the face and how to build a face. The base is actually a sphere on which you draw a number of baselines. Gradually, you build on.

You can find a lot of information on the internet about the Loomis method. It goes without saying that I mainly use a fountain pen for sketching, so not a sketch with pencil first. The disadvantage is that every line with your fountain pen can no longer be erased, so you have little margin to cover up mistakes. Exciting, isn’t it? The biggest advantage is that I can enjoy the feel of my fountain pen.

Where do I get my inspiration? Mostly via Pinterest, advertising magazines, Instagram… you name it, plenty on offer. If you would like to sketch someone with a special face, feel free to check out the insta page of Eartsworld, examples abound

Learning to draw faces is a slow process with a lot of trial and error. I notice that there is already a lot of improvement, but I still have a long way to go. One of the challenges of this year is to do some portrait sketches in watercolor, I think that’s definitely worth doing.

I encourage you to sketch a portrait. What is your experience? Not so easy or is it not that bad? Maybe you have talent? Who knows, it might be addictive and you want more and better.

I started this post with some complaining and whining about lack of time. The good news is that I took a week off next week, yes! The weather forecast and the expected freezing temperatures have actually forced me (hmmm) to take time off. I’m also working on something abstract in water colour…more later on.