Soup for Dinner

Another evening of sketching. Here is the progression of an ink portrait based on a Sktchy muse reference photo. Some artists like to finish each portion of a drawing then move to the next feature (draw hair until done, then draw eyes, then draw beard, etc.). By nature, I tend toward a more holistic, “big picture” progression as demonstrated in this gallery. The first image is a pencil sketch to get layout and proportions, then I add a light pen so I can erase the pencil, then… freedom! I can start to scribble in features with my dip pen wherever I feel like adding tone or texture or whatever, but generally try to balance the darker black areas across the image if possible, and how can you do this without laying down ink across the whole page in parallel… a little here, a little there, oh – need more over here…. Click images to enlarge if you like, and use arrows to scroll through the gallery.

Regardless, this is the way I draw, and if I have a couple free hours, drawing something like this ranks way above TV or Netflix or YouTube. Give it a try yourself.