366 Daily Sketch Challenge - male portraits and a special event

The portraits continue...

This week, I thought I'd sketch 'males'. 

I don't know this guy's name as 

I'm assuming his girlfriend, Megan George,
put up his photo on Sktchy.
My apologies for the poor photo quality.
I took this under artificial lighting at night.

15/366 daily sketch
Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
Sketched with Platinum Carbon pen, then painted with Lamy water-soluble ink. 
White highlights are done with Art Spectrum gouache.


I liked the following guy's hair and beard.
He is Jül Züs from Sktchy.

16/366 daily sketch
Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
Sketched with brown Faber-castell PITT pen, 
then painted with Schmincke sepia watercolour. 
White highlights are done with Art Sprectrum gouache.


Another Sktchy user, Ashkan shyrzady. 

17/366 daily sketch
Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
Graphite and watercolours; 
White highlights are done with Art Sprectrum gouache.

I'm participating in Sunday Sketches again.
You can check out this week's participants HERE.

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Today, was a special worldwide event.
Vegans united in a global day of activism.
We committed to a 24 hour vow of silence
to raise awareness for animals
and to promote peace over violence.

I wore my printed T-shirt
and Bradley and I headed to the local shopping centre for the morning,
hopefully, a few a people took note.
One lady came up to me and said she loved the T-shirt
so I'm guessing she knows of James Aspey, the event creator.

Bradley and Aaron got a kick out of my charades all day
because I couldn't speak to them.
I discovered that Aaron is darned good at lip-reading.
For Bradley, we communicated mainly by text messages.

I did so well at not speaking in the morning
but I did slip up a few times
in the late afternoon, early evening.
All in all, I felt honoured to be a part of such an important event.

I'll be back with more sketches in a couple of days.

366 Daily Sketch challenge - more portraits

I am happy to say that I have been sketching daily 

since my last post so let me get you caught up. 

Up first is the lovely Makenna Stardust, a Sktchy user. 

I used BIC ballpoint pens, 

the Cristal Pocket Scents range to be exact.

For the blacks, I used Faber-castell PITT pens for the blouse and glasses,

and a mixed black in watercolours for her hair. 

11/366 daily sketch
Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
BIC ballpoint pens, blacks are Faber-castell PITT pens and a mixed watercolour.
© Serena Lewis

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Next up is Nicola Fletcher, from Sktchy too.

Here is the initial pen sketch,
fast and loose.

I decided to use the BIC Cristal Scents ballpoint pens for adding colour to this one too.
The blacks are Faber-Castell PITT artist pens.

12/366 daily sketch
Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
BIC Cristal Scents ballpoint pens and the blacks were done with Faber-castell PITT pens.
© Serena Lewis

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Next up is a sketch of Alexandria Bryant, another Sktchy user.

After the initial line sketch in pen,
I decided to play with some Lamy water-soluble ink.
Below is the first layer.

And the final results

13/366 daily sketch
Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
Sketched using BIC ballpoint pen and Platinum Carbon pen, 
then brush-painted with LAMY water-soluble ink in black.
© Serena Lewis

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I had so much fun with the water-soluble ink,
I tried it again with today's sketch.
Subject is Susana Norzagaray from Sktchy.

First, the line drawing in pen

Then the first and second layers of water-soluble ink

Then the final results.
I really liked the painterly feel to this one.

14/366 daily sketch
Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
Sketched using BIC ballpoint pen and Platinum Carbon pen, 
then brush-painted with LAMY water-soluble ink in black.
© Serena Lewis

I really do enjoy working with the water-soluble inks
despite having two mishaps in the studio today.

One - I actually had a different sketch under way this morning
until I pulled the lid off my Platinum Carbon fountain pen
and it splattered ink splotches all over my sketch. YIKES!
I should have been more careful as I've noticed
this particular pen seems to leak inside the lid,
not sure why??

Two - I had an ink spill while working on the sketch above.
I had reached across the table and
accidentally knocked my water tub over
which then spilled water into the ink reservoir
and it overflowed onto the table. SCREAM!!
Luckily, I have paper towels at the ready
so was able to quickly mop it all up before it poured over
 the edge of the table and onto the carpet. PHEW!
That was a VERY close call!

Black ink can be a scary medium to work with.
That said, I am loving the syringes for ink transfers though.
I learned about them from my pen guru, Rita McGregor.
I highly recommend them.
Easy to use and no mess!

So, that's about it for now.

I'll be back to share more daily sketches soon...

More daily portraits for the 366 Daily Sketch Challenge

After seven days of sketching my own face, 

I was a little over it so decided to move onto 

sketching other females. 

I'm thinking that I've already done seven days of me, 

I'll now do seven days of female portraits, 

seven days of male portraits, 

and perhaps seven days of children's portraits
in the last week of the month,

or maybe just a mish-mash.

There is a mobile app called Sktchy 

especially for artists who can upload photos 

of themselves to inspire other artists
to sketch or paint them.
It's such a great idea!

The app is only available for Apple products, iOS 8 or later.

I have it on my iPad and I love it! 

So, on Friday I was inspired to sketch Ashley Goeltz, 

a Sktchy artist/member. 

I love her uniqueness! 

I've always admired people who 

march to the beat of their own drum.

8/366 daily sketch

Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 

graphite and watercolours

© Serena Lewis

Yesterday (Saturday), my chosen subject was 

Susana Norzagaray via Sktchy. 

Another unique young lady.

9/366 daily sketch

Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 

graphite, Platinum carbon pen, and watercolours

© Serena Lewis

Today, I didn't have much time available 

so it was just a quick pen sketch of another Sktchy member,
the lovely Valerie Torres.

10/366 daily sketch
Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
Platinum carbon pen, Faber-Castell PITT pens, and watercolours
© Serena Lewis

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I'm back to participating in the Sunday Sketches group.
You can check out this week's participants HERE.

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Bradley (son) and I have been watching the Star Wars movies
to get caught up before we see the latest one.
I've never watched Star Wars before,
except for The Phantom Menace around 14 years ago,
but Aaron, my youngest, went to see the latest one
and just had to watch all the rest. hehe
We're enjoying them so far.

I'm managing the daily sketches just fine at the moment
but the daily blogging was making me feel pressured so,
from here on, I will be posting two to three times per week.

Stay tuned....