I am currently giving myself a very serious task of deliberately practicing Portrait painting, I plan to have 250 portraits by the end of the year.  I call this series The DELIBERATE PORTRAIT PRACTICE SERIES.

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HOT SHOT 21- How to sketch, when people move…..

It’s nice to get back to these hot shots. I’m so sorry for the massive long wait!

This is Hot shot 21 and it’s all about being able to sketch things when they move and not get frustrated!

Towards the end I’ll be updating you with somethings that  I have been up to and  involved in,  during the long wait and where I’ll be demonstrating before the year ends. Also if you are based in London and want a free ticket to take part the open Studio at Heatherley’s, please let me know and I’ll send you a half day free session to either draw or paint from the model in the open studio at Heatherley’s School of Fine Art, starting off in September.

Let’s start with the Hot Shot first!

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Its great to put up another HOTSHOT here again! 
This time around it’s HOTSHOT NUMBER 20! And this is all about not letting negative comments stop you from sketching!
Towards the end, I’ll also talk about my next upcoming workshop in London based on the Urban Landscape!
I’ll deal with the HOTSHOT first! Read the rest of this entry

After another break I’m happy to get these two great HOT SHOTS to inspire your sketching!! Before I get going I’ll just love to say my exhibition of paintings and drawings of York is currently on at The Kentmere House Gallery, York. I also have an article in The Artist Magazine (December Issue) titled, “Sketching a Passion”- in the article I explain how I transform my sketches from black and white to colour. Do get a copy if you can, it’s a good read…..I’ll be sharing some of the tips in it later on this blog.

If you missed my last post which was way back in August, please click HERE

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HOT SHOT 16- VARY THE WEIGHT OF YOUR LINES

I am really thrilled to get back to blogging again, it’s been a busy summer for me-I recently took part in a plein air painting Competition in London called “Pintar Rapido”- I happened to win the First Prize, you can read about it HERE ! I have also been painting in York, that was a wonderful experience-you can read my blogposts about it by clicking HERE. I have also been illustrating two children’s books which I’ll let you know about once they are published!

Hope you have kept your sketching going?

This HOT SHOT is all about the one thing we all use while sketching-THE LINE!! The line for the sketcher is the most powerful tool! If the lines can speak, the sketch will have a great IMPACT!

But this HOT SHOT is not only about LINES but also about VARYING THE WEIGHT OF YOUR LINES!

I really can’t wait to keep rambling on, but if you missed my last HOT SHOT you can click HERE, it was all about WHAT TO EMPHASIZE in your sketches.

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This is another great hot-shot! Here I’ll be sharing a little bit about the concept of letting who you are show through your sketches. Every artist has something special about them, something that makes them unique.

This part of us should be showing through in our sketches! My last post was about Squinting and seeing shapes, click HERE if missed this post.

 

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This is a double hot shot and I have decided to combine them both because they are related!

 

It’s all about having your eyes partially closed in order to see the main shapes in whatever you plan to sketch and then using this to quickly get down some basic marks to get going while sketching this is very helpful when approaching complicated subjects.

 

But before we continue If you missed my last Hot Shot, number 11, on actually sketching what you see and not what you know about what you see. Click HERE

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HOT SHOT 9-PRACTICE SKETCHING THE OUTLINES WITH ANGLES

Now! I am ready to go with HOT SHOT Number 9! I hope you’ve been putting the blind contour into practice? Just keep it going and flowing. Use up loads of sheets. Remember it’s the mileage covered in your sketch journey that matters. You really want to just keep it going, if you stop, just forgive yourself and start again!

There’s no better way to get better at anything than to just DO IT! Doing it correctly is what this blog is about, so be ready to give everything you pick up a go! Don’t seek for immediate results, just keep it going, nothing worthwhile ever came overnight!

If you missed HOT SHOT 7 & 8 just click HERE to see what the Blind contour was all about and keep it going. In this HOT SHOT we are going to be looking at practicing sketching of the outline with angles. When I say angles I mean the change in direction of the outline in terms of tilts and angles.

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We are now into the demos! This is where I’ll be showing and explaining in depth a few of the things that have made my sketching life much easier. In this particular post, I’ll be dealing with the OUTLINE and something I discovered from a 1985 American Artist Magazine, called-“The Blind Contour”. The Blind Contour actually improved my eye-hand co-ordination more than any other technique!

But before we get going on HOT SHOT 7 & 8, please click HERE if you missed HOT SHOT 6.

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HOT SHOT 3 – WHAT YOU SKETCH WITH…

Today we we are going to talk about HOT SHOT 3, if you missed HOT SHOT 1, 2 click here to read it.

 

HOT SHOT 3

What you sketch with, is very important- in fact, this would be one of the main things that will determine whether you’ll keep sketching or not through the years, because what you use to sketch becomes an extension of your sketching hand.

 

You need to practice with every kind of material you can lay your hands on. Pencil, charcoal, charcoal pencil, ball point pens, felt tips, micro nib pens. Coloured pencils, brush pens etc. Read the rest of this entry