Tag: drawing

Doodle book project – Shapes and Faces

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Lately I’ve been asking myself whether it is worth it to take some time off to do drawing and illustrations each day (amateurish ones of course). Shouldn’t I be focusing on some other priorities such as trying to make more income for my upcoming graduate studies, or spend more time studying and understanding the professional field I’m heading into.

However, browsing through the various artistic community and seeing everyone constantly producing such beautiful artwork has definitely spark my envy at this craft. I realised that if I ever want to achieve that level of consistency and dedication to this hobby, I need to practice, and practice, and practice, and practice. I justified that this time for drawing is time well spent, because I feel relaxed and happy when colouring and building pictures with simple lines.

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Starting with the basics again, I refer to the second lesson from the doodle book that teaches how to draw human portraits – Shapes and faces. Emotion and facial features can be a daunting thing to capture when drawing portraits. So the book starts on a easy-going level of simply creating comic-like expressions on different shapes.

It asks me to fill up the page with bold drawings, so I decided to go one step further and practice more than it instructed.

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In this practice, I definitely drew some expressions that I’ve never tried before. The main lesson here is that the position of eyes, nose, and mouth can make a huge difference on expressiveness.   Plus, I snuck a few of my penguins into the array of faces.

What do you think? Try this exercise out in your own sketchbook!

 

Portrait Practice – Magazine Girl

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Did another portrait practice sketch by drawing a model in the magazine. Again, I made a mistake of not using a pencil to sketch first, therefore I drew most of the lines by instinct and at-the-moment adjustment. In the end, the whole body proportion is not…quite..right…?

Plus the relaxed hand position in my drawing just looks as if the girl had a sore neck lol!

Portrait Practice – doodle book project

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I came across doodle books by the way of online recommendations. I’m always interested in books that teaches art at book stores, and I’ve always love to watch art tutorials on youtube.

Yet it is clear that you cannot improve if you don’t start drawing things yourself. Videos and books can teach you techniques of give you an idea of how to draw certain shapes, but to learn art, the best way is to pick up a pen and paper and start drawing.

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This is why I’m beginning my pursuit of drawing people through a series of exercise as guided by this book I found: Easy Drawing Note, 10 minute a day, learn to draw people.

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Hobonichi Flip Through December 2014 – part 2

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Continuing my previous post on my December page flip throughs, my daily entries consisted of a main illustration for the day, and surrounding it are my journaling of the day’s events! I’m not that great a writer, and I don’t want to pressure myself into writing fantastic entries that are full of meaningful thoughts or anything like that. Therefore I try to focus my art on doodling and replicating photos that I’ve taken in my iPhone for that day.

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Sometimes I take inspiration from Hobonichi entries shared on facebook pages or cute images I’ve seen on Instagram. Luckily I don’t have to rely much on prompts yet to come up with things to draw. There are too much interesting things around me that I would love to put into doodles and writing.

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Hobonichi flip through December 2014 – part 1

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I got my hands on the Hobonichi Techo planner in November last year. It was the English planner, and its December pages actually start from the 24th. Of course I couldn’t wait to start using it already, so I skipped ahead and actually started using the 2016 December pages! I figure that I would have gotten a new planner during planner season (September – November) later this year, and it will all cycle out eventually.

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My hobonichi planner set-up includes a cover page that I put on the inside of the planner cover. This one is a collection of inspirational phrases that make up the Good Life Project Creed. For those who would like to know more, the author and host of this website Jonathan Fields hold talks and conversations with entrepreneurs and incredible people. I love watching his videos and listen to his podcasts. This creed really speaks to a lot of things in life that we face, and which inspires us to be amazing everyday. I would always flip to this cover page for daily inspiration.

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Portrait Practice – Contemplation Girl

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After losing an opportunity of commission for character design, I decided to start practicing my character illustrations. First, I got to tackle some of my greatest fear in sketching – drawing people.

So this project starts with speed sketching models out of a magazine each day. Got to practice body proportion, at the same time learning clothing coordination, ha!

30 Day workout challenge

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Part of using a planner is trying to put some organisation in my life. It’s also the place to record new commitment and project plans! The latest priority in my life is getting more healthy and fit.

For me, working out always require some discipline, whether it’s a training plan or a fixed schedule of exercise. Using the vertical calendar of the Cousin to track eating plan and exercise hours is looking to have a fruitful result! I’m already loving the dropping numbers in my weight and body fat. My next challenge is to actually take photos of my before & after, and putting it inside the planner as well…(this is going to take some courage).

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One of my latest commitment to a exercise plan is Blogilate’s 30 day thigh slimming challenge.

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8 ways to keep a travel scrapbook

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For people who love to travel, seeing the sights and snapping pictures just isn’t enough. Sometimes the experience is so powerful, that you want to carry a bit of it back with you in back home. This is where the travel journal comes in. The famous Midori’s Traveler’s Notebook is perfect for this purpose, as its sturdy cover allows protection for the contents. Some other travel journals comes with plastic folders to carry tickets or important receipts, all part of traveling and keeping notes.

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Whenever I’m going on a lengthy trip abroad, I always prefer to do some research on the places I’m going to visit. That includes Important information such as transportation and train schedules, and there are always some tips and recommendations from previous travellers that I just have to pencil in my itinerary. Before each trip, I will consolidate all the ‘research homework’ into a small booklet that I can carry and utilise when on the exciting trip.

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My journals for 2015

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As an avid stationery geek, it is natural for me to own several notebooks and drawing pads, the number increasing as new items catches my eye from time to time. Near the end of last year, the search for the perfect planner/journal gets intense, as it will determine how I start my journaling for the new year.

I’m lucky to be living in Taiwan, where there is a lively trend of creative journaling. Stationery products such as washi tapes, stickers, journals, planners, and pen items flourish and can be bough in plenty of stationery shops all over the country. We are also heavily influenced by Japanese culture, where writing things down and decorating artistically is very popular in their journaling habits.

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As of 2015, I will be using three main journals as my creative outlet: Hobonichi A6 Techo, Hobonichi Techo Cousin, and Midori Traveler’s Notebook

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