This week I bought the newest issue of ImagineFX magazine to get check out some new art and artists and I was super inspired by Lois van Baarle's loose, natural, face sketches. I decided to try to draw some myself without looking at reference photos and here is the final product!
 
Tip: Use dark lines for outlines and shadows, and light, loose lines for filler and texture. I struggled with this when I first started drawing because I wanted to do either all light lines or all dark lines. Mixing it up will give your drawings dimension and depth!

Guys! I recently started a new job and it has been great so far but it has been a lot. of. training. I spent a few days out of town for a training and got a lot of sketching/doodling in while I was there. The page on the right is full of doodles that I did during the classes on the side of my notes (that I then cut out and taped in my sketchbook), and the page on the left has some more refined doodles that I did in my hotel room. I really wanted to try drawing girls without looking at references to test my anatomy/face skills and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out! 
Tip: If you want to try drawing without a reference photo, look around! Start drawing from real life. Real people move around and chance positions and it forces you to draw quickly and imagine and remember shapes even after your "reference" is gone. 

Lazy Sundays are for trying new things! I bought 3 tubes of Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache a few weeks ago with the intention of trying out this new medium but I hadn't gotten the chance until today. I was a little intimidated but OMG it's so fun and the texture is so satisfying. There are definitely some things I learned and ways I can improve, but I'm pretty happy with it for my first try! 

Tip: Use your sketchbook to try new things! Gouache is super fun but so are markers and colored pencils and watercolors and acrylics and crayons. Let go of the fear of messing up and see what happens!

It's August so it's basically Halloween, right? Right. For this little bat girl I used a Faber Castell XS pen and shaded using an ink wash technique (diluted black ink in an aqua brush). The left page is just some hand practice. 

Tip: Using graph paper can help with accuracy and proportions! And Post-It has these amazing sticky note graph paper pads that are perfect for your sketchbook!