Day 205 Inktober PrOctober Day 4

Harvest

For the #doodleinstitute October Day 4, a harvest prompt provided practice in the lessons from three of my favorite teachers:

@emilydabbles on Skillshare: Using the brush “nikko rull” to start the background and lighter/darker colors and shades in a layer over the sketch. Then erase around the edges to bring the ink into the shape. I use the ink bleed brush for erasing

@leilaandpo Jennifer Nichols and @LizKohlerBrown on Skillshare: creating backgrounds with brushes and shapes

I thought it would take me all day, but since it’s not a “realistic” inking, but rather an “artistic” interpretation, I was able to create this in about an hour or so.

Trees and Shrubs

#Proctober’s Inktober today prompted practice in trees and shrubs. My husband says, “I wish there were plants with blue leaves and purple berries. Well, our sage actually has a bluish tint.” I just have to have blue in my pictures. It’s my favorite color. You’ll recognize the trees and shrubs from previous days– all easy to sketch in.

Another friend of mine, Susan Watson, suggested a book to me years ago called “20 Ways to Draw a Tree” by Eloise Renouf. It’s helped me be less picky and more free in stylizing my nature elements. If you’re looking to start some nature drawings, this one is a good one to free your perfectionism.

I like the added sunrise with dash of bright light around the grassy edge.

Notice the ginko leaves in the frame? It’s a brush I created following the course by Liz Kohler Brown, Art Nouveau, one of my favorite classes.

SYMMETRICAL BEE

As you can see, Inktober lets you apply all the things learned from classes and videos to free yourself into experimenting and perfecting the skills. That’s Emily’s goal too, for which she provides classes in #drawingdaily2020. Today we drew a symmetrical bee:

As you can see, I’m continuing the leaf highway by showing the little bee on the same leaves as the last four days.

PREY

The #inktober2020 prompt today is “prey,” so I observed my own drawing from yesterday to create this sketch. Poor aphid— praying mantis and ladybugs are always on the look out for them [thank goodness].

So, what are you waiting for? paper, pencil, ink, iPad– draw daily for October and find some joy and fun and relaxation in these dark times. You can do it if I can!