Day 6 - #inktober2016

Day 5 - #inktober2016

Day 4 - #inktober 2016

Day 3 - #inktober2016

Day 2 - Inktober 2016

Day 2 in black and white!

Make some noise!

Day 1 - Inktober 2016

And Here is Day 1!

I am going to be working exclusively in my Hobonichi Cousin. I will try and avoid using alcohol based markers because even though the paper used in the Hobo is really exceptional and can withstand watercolour painting, alcohol based markers are really fierce and still mark through the paper. I will be using brushes that use India ink and water based markers for bigger surfaces. Whenever I feel particularly bold, I will try to use an old fashioned paint brush with a pot of India ink.

I may also, at times, use some watercolour to add a splash of colour but I will try and keep it to a minimum.

#inktober is upon us at last!

Today marks the beginning of #inktober, a really great challenge that is popular among artists around the world. This is going to be my second year taking part in it and I still feel intimidated by the amount of talent I see everywhere.

If you want to know all about Inktober, feel free to visit the official link where you'll find descriptions, great art and great videos.

This year, I am very lucky to be doing the challenge with two very talented artists and I am sure we are going to have a lot of fun along the way.

While waiting impatiently for the challenge to begin, I saw a list of prompts and I wasn't too sure whether I wanted to follow it or not.

After doing the 29 faces challenge and be stuck with one single topic, I was looking forward to spreading my wings and do something more organic. Still, after reading the prompts, I realised that they were not as restrictive as I first thought so I decided to give them a try.

One good thing already started coming from the challenge and it is that I created my very own monster. For a long time I had wanted to create a unique character that would be all mine and I have finally had my wish.

This little monster is named Zazs and he will be the main actor in this year's Inktober challenge.

Here he is in all his green glory:

I will try my best to regularly update the blog with new drawings. One site I will be updating regularly will be my Instagram account ( @wynterblackarts ), so feel free to check it out!

Days 21 to 29 of the #29faceschallenge2016

I have had a few busy days and I've completely lost touch with the challenge. Fortunately, I had prepared a few faces should this had been the case.

These faces are part of a very special new project that I would like to do. I watch (too) many series and I sometimes get confused with some of the characters. So I decided to draw them and write a small blurb to remind me of who they were and what achievements they accomplished.

This used to happen to me in real life with real people that I would meet at the university or at work so I used to do some cheat sheets of my own that involved drawing people and their various quirks and writing their names next to their pictures. Believe it or not, this worked wonderfully and I never forgot a name or a face!...

So here are the rest of my 29 faces for the challenge:

Day 20 of the #29faceschallenge

Day 20 was inspired by my daughter who had just come back from school and was very excited so she told me all about her day during lunch time...

Days 18 & 19 of the #29faceschallenge

Playing catching up again!...

Cat Asleep In Bidet - A Study

My cat Furryosa loves to sleep in the bidet on her bright orange cover. She fills the space perfectly. So it obviously needed to be immortalized in my Hobonichi.

Days 16 & 17 - #29faceschallenge

Days 14 and 15 of the #29faces challenge

I have been running slightly late and changing my style a bit and experimenting. Faces really are a challenge for me, especially when trying to do realistic faces. Still, it's great practice and enables me to find what works and what doesn't. Here are the faces of the past 2 days:

#29faceschallenge - Day 13

Here is my offering for Day 13. It is oddly satisfying to see black hair on Sailor Moon! :)

Day 12 of the #29faceschallenge

This is my interpretation of Katana.

I have always wanted to do some cosplay especially since there are so many wonderful female superheroes but I sick as a seamstress and it can get quite pricey (respect to those who continuously blow me away with their own flawless interpretations of superheroes!). So instead of ruining and stressing myself trying to look like one of my heroes, I just decided to draw myself as some of my favourite characters! :)

Let's face it: who wouldn't want to have Katana's mad skills with her... katana?

Days 10 and 11 of the #29faceschallenge

Day 10 is a watercolour painting I did on the go. I really had some trouble finding the right shade for the skin and this is something I need to work on.

Day 11 was inspired by Suicide Squad that we (finally) went to see this past Saturday. I really loved it and it was tough deciding which character was the best. I had already done Harley Quinn a little while back so it was time to pick someone else.

#29faceschallenge - Day 9

I'm all caught up! Here is day 9 inspired by my afternoon at the sauna...

#29faceschallenge - Days 7 & 8

Done really quickly while some pasta was on the stove... This year, I find myself being very late and disorganized for the challenge. Or maybe I have taken on too many challenges and tasks (29 Faces, Hobonichi, Bullet Journal...).

Still, here are my offerings for these two days:

#29faceschallenge - Days 5 and 6

And here is my offering for days 5 and 6:

This is a friend of mine and her son. I never realised how much easier it is to draw faces of people you know and like...

#29faceschallenge - Day 4

I inspired myself from Charles Schultz with this face of the day!...

#29faceschallenge - Day 3

And here is day 3 of the 29 Faces Challenge!

Probably the last horror movie portrait I do for the challenge with Sadako from the Ring. Sadako is definitely my favourite between her and Kayako. I think she's creepier and I love her hair too... I have read somewhere that they had done a movie called Sadako vs Kayako...

I have been playing around with my brand new black half pan that I bought yesterday. I have read that this is not a popular colour to use so I was a bit reluctant to use it but I thought I would give it a go and see how it worked. I have to say it worked out really well and it's becoming my favourite one along the Payne's Grey pans...

Hobonichi Postings - Sept 2nd and 3rd

I am going to resume doing one drawing a day on my Hobonichi. Unfortunately, I probably picked the wrong month to start with as September has got the #29faceschallenge and October has Inktober... Still, if I don't do it now, I will never do it! Plus it makes me see whether I really need to get a new Hobonichi for next year to continue drawing every day or not.

I drew my first face for the 29 Faces Challenge on the September 1st page so no reposting this one. Instead, here is Sept. 2nd and Sept. 3rd.

#29faceschallenge - Day 2

For day 2, I was inspired by Ju-On: The Grudge and decided to paint Toshio. This is the first time I manage to paint someone creepy looking.

In the process, I managed to discover a love for painting with a limited amount of shades and the darker, the better. This is definitely something I'm going to explore further.

#29faceschallenge - Day 1

The 29 Faces Challenge is back! It runs all through September and you need to draw or paint one face a day (or less if you are not able to) all through the month.

I was caught a bit off-guard and I realised the challenge had started only when Day 1 was almost over, so I quickly grabbed my Hobonichi and a brush and just did a quick sketch.

Here is a link with all the details for the challenge: http://29faces.blogspot.de/p/september-2016.html

Work in Progress: Elliot the Dragon

Today we went to see the remake of Pete 's Dragon and we really loved it so I decided to paint a tribute to the original movie. It's still a work in progress and I hope to finish it soon.

Drawing My Favourite Series Characters

I have a small Moleskine notebook where I stick in my cinema tickets and I give a quick description of the movie and how I felt watching it. So far, I have mainly done this for movies at the cinema, probably because I come out with a ticket and I feel bad about throwing it, so I need to keep it and keep a record of it.

I have decided to expand on that idea and I have made an A6 notebook where I'm going to record my favourite series. Since I don't get any tickets for watching the series, I have decided to draw some of my favourite characters. It's going to be a great practice for me as I always struggle with drawing humans.

I had started drawing some of the characters from Stranger Things and I paused to do the characters of Merlin because this is what inspired me. I will go back to drawing more characters from Stranger Things as soon as I manage to re-watch the whole series, I will continue.

Here is what I came up with for now.

This is still a work in progress although I was very tempted to just live it like this. I'm going to colour it and use some watercolour on it.

Falling in love again with my A6 Captain America TN

I have constantly been struggling with choosing the right size for my TN and I have gone through many changes through the years: from Field Notes to LMC to A5 to A6 and finally to RS. I have now gone one step back to A6.

I have reviewed my A6 TNs and my Captain America TN was housing my Hobonichi. I moved it back to its original cover and I created 2 brand new notebooks.

It's really difficult for me to find a shop that stocks some really nice scrapbook paper that I usually use for my covers. So I had to get creative and I found a good way to make my covers pop. Since the notebooks were going to be used for specific purposes, I decided to google some pictures that I could later print and stick on the covers and it worked like a charm!

I am really pleased with the results!

Still husband... I mean, still life!

Doodling on the go

Long time no see (again)!

Since the last time I posted, I went on holiday, came back, went to see a specialist for my lung problems and became a devout yogi. In between, I drew and I painted, mainly in my traveler's notebook (the gorgeous caramel coloured one that I presented in a previous post from Lady Falcon), one of my Hobonichi planner and a regular sketchbook.

When we went on holiday, we took our lady cat, Furryosa, to a cat hotel. She's not the most sociable cat there is so I was concerned that she would not get along with the other cats. While we were away, I kept thinking about her and I kept imagining what she was up to. I started drawing and painting her adventures there and I somehow got overboard with it all...

(Note to self: dedicate a complete page to the painting and do not write at the back, especially not with a fountain pen...)

And here is a random flamingo on route to visit some relatives and looking for his way through the Everglades...

And here we are, back in kitten mode and back with my trusted black markers...

Rock on, black metal kitty!

When we came back home, the weather was rainy... as expected. Still, we spent a day at an amusement park and managed to find some sunshine later in the day...


                                                


And here I am dutifully practicing yoga. Who would have thought I would love it as much. I have dedicated a notebook to studying the practice of yoga. And of course, any good books worth his salt should have illustrations, so I have been practicing drawing people (me) trying out different yoga poses and working on my breathing.

My yoga teacher: Furryosa

I'm hoping that, now that the new routine has been established, I will have more time to update this blog. In case you cannot wait and are dying to see what I'm up to, feel free to check out my Instagram account @wynterblackarts!