Doodle a Day March- Highlights
Greetings all! I hope everyone is remaining safe and well. Before all this current situation kicked off, I participated in a small drawing challenge called Doodle A Day- created by Instagram user Ellolovely. This is very similar to Inktober, but is more flexible in that any media can be used.
I posted daily on my Instagram (@maddoctorartist), but I thought it would be fun to share the pictures I was most proud of during the challenge!
SPACE
I drew a marsh harrier...in space! I quite liked the effect of colouring the background in black and making 'stars' (though it did drain my pen quite a bit!). It was also fun learning how to make contours and feather texturing. All in all I was pleased with how this one turned out.
GARDEN
For this prompt I drew a familiar face- this is Rocky, the plucky robin who lives in my back garden! He is always singing in the morning when I go to work and he visits the bird feeder often, so I almost always see him daily. For this picture I really concentrated on making a 'soft' texture, as well as seeing how I could convey colour in just black and white (you can tell that the brown is daker than the red, which is darker than the white). I also learned that following the contour of the subject makes for more realistic shading.
GRATITUDE
This is my second favourite of the prompts, as I was able to able the lessons I learned in 'Garden' and I was super impressed at how the fluffiness of the feathers came out! It was also giving me more practice with shading and outlines. In fact I was so impressed I photocopied the original and did a version with coloured pencil too:
RAIN
Easily my favourite of my prompts- earlier with another prompt I had attempted a snow leopard and I really did not like how it turned out. This was my chance to learn from that (never throw away your drawings kids) and I was blown away at how much improvement I'd made. The pose was beautiful, and I was able to get a proper fur effect which I hadn't before. The background is perhaps too dark, but I wanted to convey 'rain' in a different way, but overall this is my favourite piece.
BUTTERFLY
I enjoyed this one more for the theme- I actually have a phobia of butterflies and moths and so this was my change for revenge! Hence I drew a pair of bee-eaters snacking on a butterfly. Again I enjoyed trying new methos to make a feathery texture, and I was happy how it turned out.
PIE
I drew a rufus treePIE for this prompt, and here I made more of an effort to draw in a background. I was used to this, having had to draw backgrounds for my colouring book (available here), but it was the first time I'd done it in traditional media. It gives the piece a more finished look.
GREEN
This may not make the most sense initially- how can you do green when you're working in black and white? Well, I chose a bright green plum headed parakeet, which worked just as well! Here I tried a new approach for the bark, and I was really pleased with the result. It also helped me build more pen control, though to be honest I draw in my lap and not on a table so my lines are already at a disadvantage!
ROYAL
As an artist who loves drawing birds, what else could I draw for this prompt but a proud peacock? This was extremely time consuming and took 5 hours, as you can imagine looking at the details!
SPRING
This prompt was an excuse to draw flowers and a more detailed background, so I added this to the long-tailed tit. I have very many fun poses of long-tailed tits from my bird watching photography, and it was fun to add the details here.
DREAMS
I notice for these challenges that my choice of complexity changes- I usually start with basic sketches, then elaborate into detailed pieces. This was another one that took over 6 hours- a pair of sleeping eagles which I found on an 'eaglecam'. As you can see the majority of my effort went into the birds, with a much simpler background, but I still think it works as it allows you to focus on the subjects without it being too cluttered.
REFRESH
Another of my favourites, this time a blue tit having a bath. This was the first time I tried stippling, which is a technique where marks are made with dots. Very time consuming, but it gives a very different look, which I felt was ideal for the moss effect. Wet feathers are also fun to draw!
INSECT
Here I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try another animal, this time an Asian Water Dragon, which is a species of lizard. This was another time consuming piece, as I had to draw the individual scales, but wow was the end result worth it! Once more I was able to employ the 'think in 3D' tip I'd recently picked up, and I was happy with how this one turned out.
SHELTER
Similar to the rain prompt, but this time I decided to go for a white on black method, which turned out better. This is a white-throated kingfisher taking shelter under a leaf. I haven't quite got raindrops down, but you can only learn by trying, and I learned a huge amount during this challenge by trying different things!
JOURNEY
Almost at the end now! This prompt allowed me to mix all the styles I'd learned so far, and it was great to combine them all in a single piece! I particularly like the stippling on the breast and tail.
SHOES
This was the final prompt, and once again I had to draw something that wasn't a bird. The perspective on this was difficult, but it was worth trialling as it has shown me what to consider when planning a drawing like this. Even then, I really liked how the birds and babies came out, along with the boot 'rim'.
And so there you have it, my favourite drawings from the Doodle a Day challenge! There's another one this April, so if you're up to have a go, find @ellolovely on Instagram and check out the prompts!
If you like my artwork, please consider following my Instagram @maddoctorartist, and you can also follow my Facebook Page as I post my art there as well.
I posted daily on my Instagram (@maddoctorartist), but I thought it would be fun to share the pictures I was most proud of during the challenge!
SPACE
I drew a marsh harrier...in space! I quite liked the effect of colouring the background in black and making 'stars' (though it did drain my pen quite a bit!). It was also fun learning how to make contours and feather texturing. All in all I was pleased with how this one turned out.
GARDEN
For this prompt I drew a familiar face- this is Rocky, the plucky robin who lives in my back garden! He is always singing in the morning when I go to work and he visits the bird feeder often, so I almost always see him daily. For this picture I really concentrated on making a 'soft' texture, as well as seeing how I could convey colour in just black and white (you can tell that the brown is daker than the red, which is darker than the white). I also learned that following the contour of the subject makes for more realistic shading.
GRATITUDE
RAIN
Easily my favourite of my prompts- earlier with another prompt I had attempted a snow leopard and I really did not like how it turned out. This was my chance to learn from that (never throw away your drawings kids) and I was blown away at how much improvement I'd made. The pose was beautiful, and I was able to get a proper fur effect which I hadn't before. The background is perhaps too dark, but I wanted to convey 'rain' in a different way, but overall this is my favourite piece.
BUTTERFLY
PIE
I drew a rufus treePIE for this prompt, and here I made more of an effort to draw in a background. I was used to this, having had to draw backgrounds for my colouring book (available here), but it was the first time I'd done it in traditional media. It gives the piece a more finished look.
GREEN
This may not make the most sense initially- how can you do green when you're working in black and white? Well, I chose a bright green plum headed parakeet, which worked just as well! Here I tried a new approach for the bark, and I was really pleased with the result. It also helped me build more pen control, though to be honest I draw in my lap and not on a table so my lines are already at a disadvantage!
ROYAL
As an artist who loves drawing birds, what else could I draw for this prompt but a proud peacock? This was extremely time consuming and took 5 hours, as you can imagine looking at the details!
SPRING
This prompt was an excuse to draw flowers and a more detailed background, so I added this to the long-tailed tit. I have very many fun poses of long-tailed tits from my bird watching photography, and it was fun to add the details here.
DREAMS
I notice for these challenges that my choice of complexity changes- I usually start with basic sketches, then elaborate into detailed pieces. This was another one that took over 6 hours- a pair of sleeping eagles which I found on an 'eaglecam'. As you can see the majority of my effort went into the birds, with a much simpler background, but I still think it works as it allows you to focus on the subjects without it being too cluttered.
REFRESH
INSECT
Here I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try another animal, this time an Asian Water Dragon, which is a species of lizard. This was another time consuming piece, as I had to draw the individual scales, but wow was the end result worth it! Once more I was able to employ the 'think in 3D' tip I'd recently picked up, and I was happy with how this one turned out.
SHELTER
Similar to the rain prompt, but this time I decided to go for a white on black method, which turned out better. This is a white-throated kingfisher taking shelter under a leaf. I haven't quite got raindrops down, but you can only learn by trying, and I learned a huge amount during this challenge by trying different things!
JOURNEY
SHOES
This was the final prompt, and once again I had to draw something that wasn't a bird. The perspective on this was difficult, but it was worth trialling as it has shown me what to consider when planning a drawing like this. Even then, I really liked how the birds and babies came out, along with the boot 'rim'.
And so there you have it, my favourite drawings from the Doodle a Day challenge! There's another one this April, so if you're up to have a go, find @ellolovely on Instagram and check out the prompts!
If you like my artwork, please consider following my Instagram @maddoctorartist, and you can also follow my Facebook Page as I post my art there as well.