This year for Drawvember, I compiled my own list of prompts, to ensure that I wasn’t going to use “not inspired” as an excuse for skipping days. Drawing actually brings me joy and satisfaction, and as it’s in rather short supply at this time of year for me, I have much at stake.
I picked words that appealed to me, rather randomly, without any clear idea how I was going to develop each prompt. So far, I’m having fun.
Day 21: “Monkey”
My friend Amy shared with me a collage she created in Photoshop in her wonderful Wallpaper series, featuring a monkey silhouette. I found it beautiful and set out to interpret it.
I used exclusively gouache paint, from the few Holbein Artists tubes that I received in one of the Sketchboxes. I mixed Prussian blue, leaf green and titanium white to get the green background, darkened with more blue for the flower stems, titanium white for the flowers, and burnt sienna for the flowers centre, the tree and the monkey silhouette.
Day 22: “Angel”
This is the Haserot Angel, a bronze sculpture of a life-size angel guarding the grave of Francis Haserot at Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio, created in 1924 by sculptor Herman Matzen, who called it “The Angel of Death Victorious”.
The black tears that pour out of his eyes and drain down his neck appeared over time as the bronze aged. Definitely not the common angel! At first I was afraid by the pictures of it, then I was fascinated.
I chose to paint it with a flat brush and black Sumi ink. The bristles are unfortunately worn out and the lines aren’t so sharp and thin anymore.
(Watch the 58-second time-lapse)
Day 23: “Vanquish”
I chose the prompts somewhat arbitrarily and I had no idea how to illustrate today’s prompt, so I am very glad Aston Martin created a model called Vanquish — did they name it this way to encourage James Bond to use it? It’s a beautiful car. I never drew a car before, let alone painted one!
Gouache paint is clearly becoming a favourite medium! I used Prussian blue and green leaf with a cheap medium soft flat brush with synthetic bristles that I once got at a Flying Tiger Copenhagen shop, and a bit of titanium white watercolor in tube for the highlights.
Day 24: “Depth”
Perhaps I chose “depth” as a counterpart for the earlier prompt “altitude”? I struggled a bit for inspiration. Since I am not very good with perspectives, I thought it would be challenging to draw a rooftopping point of view (it was).
I used for the first time a black Copic Drawing Pen that I received in a Sketchbox. The ink doesn’t flow very well. That’s why I haven’t used it before. I don’t know if it’s on purpose. The ink turns to some dark sepia as it dries, it’s interesting. Another interesting aspect is that the line is thick when the nib is used the right way, but it is extra thin when used upside down. I don’t really like this drawing but I don’t detest it either.
Day 25: “Villain”
Black, grey, and blue ink, and gouache painting of the joker holding the Batman playing card in front of his face.
I got so carried away layering grey ink mixed with blue gouache that I misplaced the eye! Oh well, I still like it very much. It’s very bold compared to much of the stuff I usually draw.
I learned that the grey ink in the Brush Writer from Kuretake does not mix too well with the Holbein Artists gouache. And the black ink from the Pentel Brushpen does weird things with the grey ink when that brushpen is too wet.