penchills

纸 How is paper made today? Is acid-free paper just a myth? I think it is necessary for artists to understand why we can use just any paper available in the market today (Yes! Any paper that is made in the past two decades! Read further). So let’s dig in… The English word for ‘paper’ comes from Greek ‘ Papuros ’, but the modern paper is similar to the version created by Cai Lun, a Chinese guy in 105 CE. Bark from the Mulberry trees were mixed with hemp. Pulp produced through this process would then be soaked in water and flattened before drying, to form thin sheets of paper. Process of creating paper today stayed pretty much the same. These days Cellulose, Hemi-cellulose and lignin extracted from various plant based sources are converted to a pulp which is mixed with water and some chemicals. It is then flattened, dried and cut to make into individual sheets of paper. Major difference is in the chemicals and the additives, and the new and improved mechanica...

Many artists find it difficult to practice art without good references. Here is a small collection of references I use to get some features right. I know I go on and on about using references. I find using references very useful. Here is another post on that topic . I may update this blog as I collect more references to use. Hope you find them useful. Happy Sketching! Please note that all my references are sourced from Pinterest. None of these images are copyrighted by me, so please use these images with caution. Copyrights belong to the original content creators or the content owners.

Many budding artists like me feel drawing hands is a difficult task to accomplish with accuracy. Either a hand drawing looks stiff or disproportional, and it is probably so because of the way we artists perceive hands. Drawing hands may require the artist to have a basic understanding of the underlying skeletal structure. Here is how I try to overcome difficulty in drawing hands. When it comes to drawing hands, one has to observe them before starting to draw right away. Understand proportions of the fingers, palm and the thumb. A closed fist may be a lot more difficult to represent accurately compared to an open palm. Identify the shapes: In this example, I will try to layout steps with a technique I used to draw a palm facing down. After thorough observation, draw some rough shapes of the reference to begin with. Then it is a matter of getting the proportions right followed by drawing nails and smoothening the edges. Sounds simple I guess. Steps to drawing a hand: Draw a s...

Using references makes sketching easy. It is essential to learn how to use references the right way especially for budding artists. References make learning art simple. Household objects like a stapler, a shampoo bottle can all be used as references.  While it is good to be able to draw from imagination, it may not always be possible. Artists frequently try to find inspiration from nature, or use every day objects for reference. Some even use their pets or other animals as references for their artwork. My six-year old niece loves this book called ‘Dewey: There’s a Cat in the Library!’; illustrations for this book were probably inspired by a pet cat. Some of us may feel that drawing from references may be looked down upon or such a technique may not be appreciated, but evidently, that is the best way to learn, and many successful artists use this technique. Household objects as references Let's say you want to draw a new version of the ‘X-Wing starfighter’ from the Star...

I love doodling, and from time to time, I like challenging myself to improve the way I imagine and draw. Here is what I do. I like drawing blobs of different shapes (silhouettes) and develop them into faces. You may have seen some one do this on youtube, and I do something very similar. Draw Silhouettes After drawing these blobs, the next step is to draw rough lines over them. I wanted to draw some old people today, and I used these silhouettes like clay in getting that done. It may take more than one try to get the lines right, so don't give up the first time you try. Drawing line art Take-1 Take-2 Colours, shadows and highlights If you are satisfied with this step, move on to adding colours. It is best to use a minimum number of colours for practice, and if you want to use any of these for a full fledged character design, you can think of adding more details at a later stage. I used a basic colour palette, but I wanted to add a couple of layers more...

Warning: This is going to sound like philosophy Practice maketh a Picasso However little you may practice, do so regularly if not daily. Progress is possible when you practice, and that statement is true for probably anything that we do. When you want to practice, do so using real world references as much as possible. Even household objects could turn out to be good references to use. Here is an example from Alice Jane Isak on Pinterest. The artist used a coffee mug as reference, and the outcome is great! Watching and observing Yes artists need practice, but practice what or how? Key to being a better artist is in the art of observation. Be patient with yourself. When you practice, it is not a commissioned art piece for someone. You are trying to hone your skills, and rushing in to it is not the way to go. Observing a coffee mug will allow you to see details you wouldn't otherwise notice. Things like where does the handle end, and the mug begin. When you start to watch...

Work with the author Lot of times, you work with the author(s) of a book(s) in progress. When the story is written, it is best to brainstorm with the author in figuring out how the character must look like. Mostly, the author may have imagined how the character should be. If it is possible, draw some rough sketches to narrow down some key features of the character (or multiple key characters). Rough sketches may not take a lot of time, and authors in most cases would welcome such an idea. This saves you some time later and the development process becomes a bit more easy. Do not rush, consistency is the key When the character looks different in different angles, it is going to look bad. Always try to work on different perspectives of the character before moving on to developing it further. It is best to use references if it is difficult to workout everything out from imagination. I always use a lot of references. A lot of children's books have characters with exaggerated feat...

Here is a digital caricature of my ex-boss I made a few years ago. He is an avid book reader, kind of open minded, and above all, great to work with. This was my gift for his birthday and he couldn't stop laughing...

I have been a Star Wars fan ever since I was twelve. I fell in love with the Marvel Cinematic Universe the day I watched "Iron Man". My favourite bad guys from Star Wars are General Grievous and Darth Maul for their visual appeal. I wanted to see how Iron Man would be if he looked like Darth Maul, and here is what I could do with that thought -my tribute to both Star Wars and Iron Man. I call this Iron Maul !

How to create and develop characters in an environment I was working on a project which needed me to create character interactions in an environment. It was about a family of rabbits. Mrs. Rabbit was tired of Mr. Rabbit always asking her to cook carrots. This picture was meant to show Mrs. Rabbit's helpless condition when Mr. Rabbit carries home a fresh box of carrots. Mrs. Rabbit does not want to eat anymore carrots. For this, I first created a rough sketch of a house, and the rabbits. Mr. Rabbit is trying to avoid an awkward conversation with Mrs. Rabbit. I included a box of carrots in the foreground. The kitchen has some utensils, an old fashioned oven, some firewood and a sink. Poor bunnies have a small house, so the kitchen also has a couple of chairs. I usually write notes in a different layer while drawing the rough sketch, so if you find some notes, please ignore. When I was fairly satisfied with what I had drawn, I made a line art layer on top to make the...

This is a basic character study. Wanted to explore some ideas... Just to say this one more time, India is a place with a lot of diversity, and this one is a mere reflection of that! Creating doodles with Wacom is fun!!! Tools used: Wacom Medium One and Autodesk Sketchbook Pro

This is another version of the bunny (Mr. Rabbit in one of the previous posts). In this version he has a pair of binoculars. May be he is trying to spy on somebody!!! I am going to share the whole process starting with creating a line art (we do this after drawing a lot of rough lines), adding colours, shades and highlights. Here is how that goes...

Windmills and a house is a rough sketch I made for an old project. I wanted to show a simple house with a windmill from a European countryside. For this sketch, I used multiple references, and the outcome was somewhat satisfactory.  I started with drawing a rough sketch, and I developed it bit by bit. At first, it was just some lines. some made sense, and some didn't. The rough sketch looked more or less like what I had in mind. Now, I needed to draw a line art layer on top of this one, refine some lines and add some more details. I wanted to add some texture to the line art, so I added some fine lines to mimic a wooden texture for the roof tiles. I then wanted to make the windmill standout, so I created a layer on top of this layer to add some patterns to it. If you want to add more details to this one, go ahead and do so and if you could, please share a link of your version in the comments section below. Happy sketching! Tools used: Wacom...