A few JKPP portraits again

It's been a while since I did some portraits for Julia Kay's Portrait Party.

I have so many photos stored that I don't know where to start or just don't always have the motivation.

It was time to practice again, though, so here are some I did lately.

What attracted me to this photo was the pronounced shadows on the face. I really wanted to show that the sun was shining on it. 

I was less inspired with the background, but I like it this way

I loved the moustache on this one. I challenged myself with the hair, trying to put the right highlights were needed. I think the moustache got good. I'm less happy with the hair, though. Practice makes perfect!

Again, the background...

I knew I wanted to use different paper and medium for this next picture. I think it looks a bit like an old children's illustration book. This paper is very tricky to handle, so there are always surprises, but I like it.

"Martine au salon de thé"

Latest portraits for JKPP

Here are some more of the portraits I made for Julia Kay's Portrait Party and did not get around to posting.

Constantine's photos offer a variety of funny faces to choose from. Not always easy to portray, but certainly an interesting challenge.

Constantine

I chose the next one because I liked the challenge of replicating the light shining on Amy's face. The lips got slightly too big, but it turned out to be one of my favourite portraits so far.

Amy

Mireille's photo inspired me a immediately. I exactly knew where I was going with it and which medium I wanted to use. Also one of my favourites.

Mireille

On the contrary, with this one I just went with the flow and saw it slowly develop.

Cooper

Different paper, different styles - part 5

Last type of paper, I promise!

I actually didn't notice it at first, only after filling quite a few pages. My observation skills are unsurpassed, haha!

Again, I don't quite know how to describe these pages. They're slightly grey and porous.

My pencils don't make strong enough marks on this paper, so I thought it best to use watercolour.

It's not as tricky to work with as the first few pages in the sketchbook (or maybe I have just changed my approach), but I have to be very careful with the amount of water I use, and wait for the paper to dry correctly before putting more detailed lines.

I also have to put something under each page when I work on this paper, otherwise the pages below get easily stained, like on this portrait.

I guess it makes the portrait more interesting...

I'm learning to master my brushes and the amount of water I use in watercolour with this paper.

Once again, I got the name wrong... She's Sylvie, not Chantal!

After a couple of portraits I started to add some shading. Always very carefully, for the paper is quite capricious. It does make for very soft transitions, though, which I really like.

She's much lovelier in reality. Very elegant.

I tried using markers, too, but I didn't really like the result. For one thing, the colour continues bleeding a bit after I finish drawing and for another the lines are not as smooth as I would like them to be.

I might give this technique another try later on, when I get tired of using only watercolour

I think I'll use her picture again. I feel like great things can be done with it.

This paper is teaching me patience once more. So far I like the overall results I'm getting

Looks like his hand is disconnected from the rest of his body...

I have to say I'm having a lot of fun filling this sketchbook. I feel there has been development in each of the styles I'm using, which is very motivating.

Thanks again, Marisa, for the wonderful present! ^_ ^

Different paper, different styles - part 4

There are a few black pages in this Lamali sketchbook.

Not plain black paper, but beautifully thick with pressed fibres. Really gorgeous.

I wasn't really sure what to do with it, though, haha.

For one thing, I'm not used to working with black paper, and for another I don't have many tools to work with it.

Watercolour is out of the question and brushpen and the like also.

So for now I am using a white gel pen to work in very clean lines.

Cheers!

It's a good exercise to force myself to decide which lines to put an which ones to ignore.

Different paper, different styles - part 3

Next type of paper in this Lamali sketchbook is plain white paper like the one from a normal notebook, so I can't use watercolour here either.

At least not with much success, haha.

So I decided to try out a more comic-like approach for these portraits. I have to say I have a lot of fun with them. Probably because I love comics.

For my first attempt, I stuck to only using my brushpen. Baby steps.

I might add some colours in the balloons one day

For the next one I wanted to try making something more caraicature-like. Caricatures are not my strong point, though. But I got the expression right.

Bad quality photo, sorry...

I loved the face Marine was making in the reference picture of my next portrait. She seems to be a very funny person.

I got her name wrong here. She's Marine, not Martine!

In this one I started adding colour and skin tone with markers, to make it a bit more real while remaining in the comic style. I'm not satisfied with the likeness, but I like the expression.

I met her in Barcelona, she seems really nice

The next two I chose because I liked the challenge, of the composition for the first one, and of the very distorted face for the second one.

It was a fun composition to try out

The skin tones were particularly interesting to try out.

Glasses are a challenge by themselves...

So far these pages are the ones that show a greater evolution, in my opinion. It might have to do with the fact that the medium is much easier to use, while at the same time forcing me to make more radical decisions in my choices.

One thing I find interesting is that while at the beginning I would invest half an hour tops for one drawing, now I can sit more than one hour working on one single portrait. I'm becoming a more patient person, haha.

Different paper, different styles - part 2

The next type of paper in my Lamali sketchbook series is the one I use for my portraits with washi tape.

It's light yellow-orange in colour, like on the second picture below (with the days still so short, I only get decent light for taking pictures during the weekend).

I didn't really know what to do with this paper at first. One because of its colour, and two, and more importantly, because it's too thin to take water well.

I guess the other type of paper I mentioned in my previous post is very thin as well, but it can be compared to Chinese calligraphy paper in a way.

Over time I have started adding colour besides the washi tape to these drawings. I feel the results are really hit or miss, for it's not easy to choose the right colour and, more importantly, to know when to stop adding to the drawing.

On this drawing, I have mixed feelings about the black background. On the one hand it really makes the subject stand out, but on the other maybe black was a bit too radical a choice?

Why so gloomy?

I had fun with this next one. On the original picture, the glasses are fogged, so I wanted to recreate that effect with the tape somehow. In the end, it probably looks more like she has dark glasses on, but that's ok.

Fogged glasses... I know the feeling, girl!

On this last drawing, I didn't think it would be wise to add even more colour, seeing as the patterns were already so strong, so I only shaded some areas with pencil. I might make them darker, though.

How  wonderfully dapper you are, Sir !

I really need to improve the pictures I take. On this last picture the paper looks so grey! Not at all the right colour. The washi tape looks good, though...

Different paper, different styles - using my Lamali sketchbook

As I wrote before, I have this Lamali sketchbook with different types of paper which I use for portraits for JKPP.

After fumbling just a little, I have come to the obvious conclusion that I cannot use the same technique for all types of paper.

I'll be posting a few insights I gathered during my experimentation.

The first type few sheet is made of some kind of fibre I don't recognise and looks really beautiful. It is, however, the trickiest to work with in my opinion.

The first drawings I made on it, which I already posted, were made with a simple felt pen, so I didn't quite understand it until I tried using watercolour.

For my first attempt, I kept my brush very dry and remained very careful when adding colour, so, although the result is a bit unexpected, I like the happy accidents.

The red was a spur of the moment addition that works well in my opinion

I got a bit cockier with the second one, less careful, and discovered that the water bleeds a lot on this paper. Every drop of water seems to just spread to three times the area I want it to...

Although I don't dislike the result, I'm still a bit disappointed. I don't know if it's because the colour bled so much or the black felt pen that is too "radical" here. The fact is I was aiming for something lighter.

My impatience made everything runnier...

So I learned that I had to be a tiny bit more patient when using watercolour on this paper, and let it dry as much as possible. Which is what I did for this next drawing, at least until I tried adding some shawows in the face.

Again, the watercolour went a bit wild here, but I like it. I could have done with a tiny bit less on the cheek, but the result is quite moody, which is what I was aiming for.

The original picture looks like an image from an old silent film

I also experimented with Tombow brush pens, which I love to use. On this paper I still need to be carefull with the bleeding, but less than with watercolour, so I can control the outcome a bit better.

The hue of colours can be a little bit unpredictable, though. For example, the pen I used for the shading on these portraits was blue, not grey.

I went a bit bold with the yellow. More dynamic.

I later found out that Marion's favourite colour is blue :)

For this last one I also used Tombow, but tried different colours. The difficult thing when using them on this paper is that the fibres get a bit stuck on the brush, so you need to clean it from time to time. It's particulalry visible on the grey area on the bottom right part of this portrait.

I love the colour of the lips here

I really enjoyed playing with this paper. I learned that I had to be more patient when drawing with watercolour and to enjoy unexpected outcomes. Nothing really new I guess, but it's still good to be reminded.

I just discovered washi tape

"What is this washi tape?", you might ask.

It's a kind of masking tape, only with very cute patterns, made of paper. Not surprisingly, it comes from Japan (like almost eveything cute!).

I saw a picture of a drawing including a strip of washi tape and thought I'd give it a try.

I was lucky to find some. It's not that easy to find interesting craft and drawing materials here.

I have a Lamali sketchbook with very different types of paper in it: recycled, white, orange, black, some kind of fibre, etc. I'm using it exclusively for portraits.

I chose to use the kind of orange-coloured paper instead of the white one. I think it makes it more interesting.

Here are some portraits I did for JKPP, in which I used it.

Anne

Adrienne

Danielle

I joined JKPP

What is that, you might ask?

Well, it's very simple: JKPP stands for Julia Kay's Portrait Party and it's the virtual equivalent of a sketching meetup where people draw each other.

So how does it work?

Basically, participants post pictures of themselves to the JKPP Flickr group so other participants can use them as inspiration to make portraits.

One aim of the group is to give artists a safe place to try out different things, get creative and receive feedback from others.

The great thing about it is that you get to see many interpretations of the same subject, which is very inspiring.

The added bonus is that you get a lot of interesting portraits of yourself out of it.

 Here are my first contributions.