Sunday, January 19, 2014

Motivated to learn with Sktchy Portraits

Mercy. Ink, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 25 Dec 2013

I'm attempting to make 2014 the year I get comfortable with drawing people. My goal is to remove my hesitation of adding them to my urban sketches, to help bring them to life and tell more of a story. Having seen other Urban Sketchers give the Sktchy App a try, I signed up and started work.
 
 
Adrian. Pencil, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 14 Jan 2014.
What's the process? Basically, creative people sketch from a constantly updated pool of photographic portraits provided by other Sktchy users.
 
Milly. Pencil, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 19 Jan 2014.
On completion of the sketch, a photo of the finished piece is then attached to the original reference pic and posted to the artists stream of work as well as the main page. Not only does this create a motivating and creative platform to be part of, but it's a great learning tool to see how other people interpret and create from the initial point of inspiration.
 
Jan. Ink, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 19 Jan 2014
There's generally a good number inspiring reference photos to be found. My preference is for more than just a face. People in action, dressed in printed/knitted fabrics, landscape or buildings in the background all make it a bit more interesting. I am not short choice (you can queue inspiring pics in your profile as you find them) and I already have enough muses to create one or two portraits a week for the next few months.
 
Weimaraner. Ink, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 5 Jan 2014.
And what people post is not just limited to portraits of themselves. Actually, if anything I'm becoming overly attached to creating these portraits. They are taking more than the 5 mins I might be able to sketch someone if drawing on location. So the next goal will be to become more responsive and set a timer going...
 
The Sktchy App is free and can be found via here

6 comments:

  1. Interesting...
    Hope there is an android version soon.
    The portrait sketches that you have posted here are very, very nice!

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    1. Thanks Balaji. If you have a flickr account there is also a group there who work in a similar way called Julia Kay Portrait Party. http://www.flickr.com/groups/portraitparty
      You would need to apply to join the group, and I expect they have a small waitlist as my request took a little time to be accepted. However, once you are in the group you can then sketch the other members (you will also need to submit a couple of photos of yourself for others to sketch you).

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  2. Interesting. Like your portraits to date.

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  3. I have been absent from responding whilst I got busy sketching people on the beach this Summer, but each time I spotted one of your Sktchy people I've thought they looked great. You really are like a duck to water with these, and if you never went back to Urban Sketching I would completely understand, they work in the most wonderful way and of course don't move!!! Love the colours and patterns you use, very, very fun and bold. I do hope you do many many more and would love you to go big, really big, I think they really work. Congrats.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Suzi! I truly appreciate your encouragement on this. Going big is an exciting idea!

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