Recently, I have been trying to draw more. My sister and I have an art challenge on Instagram @DaphXine_art_challenges which have been great ways to work on my skills. There are other challenges which provide word prompts which I find incredibly helpful since I find that I draw things that I might not have tried to draw on my own.

Recently there was a prompt for ‘raven’. I don’t think I would have thought to draw a raven on my own. As usual, I go to google to first start looking around for images and ‘step by step how to draw a raven’. I came across a site called the Virtual Instructor and there happen to be a step by step guide on how to draw a raven. I definitely find these step by step sites very helpful in learning how to break down the drawing. I feel that as I continue to practice, I’ll be able to transfer some of the techniques to some of my own original conceptualized piece of art more and more.

I really found myself enjoying the process of simply working with the pen and pencil. The raven had me working on a variety of hatch styles to create the feathers of the crow. It forced me to have to focus my attention on the pen and it’s stroke – not being able to rely on sweeping broad strokes of a paintbrush.

I’ve been trying to draw daily and today I have a few ideas to work on. The @DaphXine_Art_Challenges this week has a theme of Autumn Harvest – so I’ll be working on drawing pumpkins, gourds and squashes. Plus there are a few other challenges that have sparked my interest as far as things to draw. I just have to remember to give myself a break and try not to rush things. I think I tend to rush things. The weather is supposed to be iffy so today may be a good day to enjoy relaxing and drawing. Happy Sunday everyone!