A bit ago I said I was going to do more studies before finished works….this time I did it! Do I get applause? hahaha! Sometimes we just need to take a bow in our own studio so I’m doin’ it!
The study here was done on toned paper – sometimes it’s easier to add highlights and shadows rather than trying to create so many midtones! Conté crayons are messy but they make me work quick and easy rather than laboring. I didnt even stress much about any blending, just blocking in shapes and tones. Once I finished this I had a much better idea where this piece was headed.
Video
Can you guess from this picture what my favorite little vignette part of the drawing is? Scroll down to look at the finished art before you click to watch and see if you found my little treasure. Watch the video below or click here to see it on YouTube.
The finished piece was a lot of fun! About three days taking up space in the studio – but worth it, methinks. My favorite spot is that window peeking through the archway. I was surprised I actually pulled that off.
That taxi gave me fits. It’s a little rounded and pudgy now, but at least it seems like it might be a car. Ha!
Original drawing for sale
That’s right here if you need it hanging on your wall.
ICYMI
In case you missed this week’s social media tips with silhouettes….Click on the linked text in the captions. The bunny stamp is here, and Lamp black and Lunar black are compared in the telephone pole video.
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
We’re at the end of cherry blossom week – and during this speed Copic drawing I’ll talk through some of the things I learned about color, about masking, about my less-than-perfect airbrushing…..and much more!
NOTE: the date got moved for cherry blossom week so I know the original art won’t make it in time for Mother’s Day *unless* you’re local – in which case I’ll drive it over! 🙂
As you see by the ginormous pile of markers I used almost all the pinks and purples! It was sure one way to learn the colors more and see which ones shifted the color to the warmer or cooler temperature.
Hopefully the rest of our neighborhood cherry trees will stay vertical for years to come – that street cornr is one we walk along regularly, and each time I see the hole in the ground I feel bad for that poor tree!
Classes on sale
The classes on sale for the month of May are all the florals, check them out here!
ICYMI
Below are all the cherry blossom posts you may have missed this week on social media!
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
It’s cherry blossom week around here! Even though the cherry blossoms are gone by now (boohoo) I’m mourning the loss of a neighborhood tree. And using art to cope. Join me to learn how to make this pretty branch – it’s just blobs, YOU CAN DO IT! 🙂
This is easy to do with just blobs of color…no fancy drawing needed! The only dodgy part is the branches, and I hope I gave you enough tips in the video for using the chisel nibs.
Classes on sale
The classes on sale for the month of May are all the florals, check them out here!
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
Happy Earth Day! It’s that holiday when we look around at this big beautiful planet and figure out how we can be part of helping it stay healthy – it’s up to us! My project today is….a little odd, but goes well with the theme – it’s an illustration of a dream I had of being a snail on….Mars?
Another drawing for the stash drawer! Some day someone is going to clean that out and wonder if I had a good psychiatrist while alive. LOL!
Freebie
Whilr creating this week‘s tiny tutorial, I also created a free Earth Day printable! And when you print out an image like it so big there’s no room for the sentiment… you have to get creative with trimming! 🤣 (although I think it’s pretty effective like this, what do you think?)
ICYMI
In case you missed the fun earth day plant and animal projects on social, here’s links to them!
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
I might be squeaking in at the end with an official portrait for Black History Month – but it’s still February so let’s get to it!
Nina Simone is one of my favorite jazz singers – she has a unique voice, and a unique boldness in her music. She’s no longer with us but her YT channel still uploads old footage of her in clubs and other venues, so I used some of that as well as the few color photos to add my own color to this AP/Time photo:
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
Sometimes I learn (the hard way!) that teaching *everything* at once might not be the smartest idea. I’ve shown how to make tree trunks a bunch of times…but most of the time there’s a fox, clouds, grass, leaves….all kinds of elements to squeeze into a tutorial. But….this new format for me is giving me space to REALLY be helpful for you to learn!
Today’s for sure one of those cases – instead of worrying about all the other details, I’ve focused just on tree bark. You can of course apply that to lots of other projects, and on the blog I’ve linked a few older tutorials you can try it out with if you don’t want to just make blocks of bark like I did.
This is the plethora of colors used – don’t worry as much about which color to try as thinking about if you need a dark, medium, or light – and whether you want the wood to be more red, or more yellow, or more neutral. That will get you a lot farther along in figuring out your color choices than just following exactly what was done with these crazy test samples.
The wood in the top right made me think about so many videos I’ve done before – I’ve seen lots of folks see my marker skip all over and end up creating dashed lines for the bark. That’s where I realized I needed to do something focusing clearly on the bark so my marker technique didn’t get in the way.
The grey bark is really zoomed in – or if you’re drawing tree bark with really big chunks of raised bark. Every tree is different, so remember that Google is your friend! Scale the texture to fit the size of the tree you’re creating.
Birch bark peels off differently than other trees – it’s in bands horizontally around the trunk, causing the dark spots to be horizontal rather than vertical.
Putting a tree into context is really where the rubber meets the road. It’s rare (or never at all?) that a tree is seen against a white background – adding any color, whether light or dark, makes a huge difference. I hope the journey of this tree helped show just how many layers and changes it might take to get to this stage!
A few tree/wood tutorials
I promised a couple extra tutorials – in case you wanted a little more info!
Simpler in pen and ink with a watercolor wash:
A tree in perspective – with snow
A light colored fence…
Flooring…
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
