Warm Up Sketches and a Watercolor Portrait Demo

I made the above sketch in June of this year when my bronchitis was just ramping up. After a couple warm up sketches I ended up making what is currently my favorite sketch of the year. (I framed it and hung it on the wall as a reminder to me of all the fun I had, even while coughing!) 

The video of this sketch session appears at the bottom of this post. It includes paper and materials information. 

I wanted to share this video here on my public blog because I think it clearly demonstrates my “no excuses” attitude about drawing practice. Whether you feel 100 percent or not, you’re always better off having done some sketches!

I hope I can “infect” you with that same sense of urgency about your drawing practice.

If you would like to see more of my sketching and painting demonstrations, and hear my thoughts on art materials and approaches please consider subscribing to my Patreon—RozInterim blog. There are almost 2 years of monthly demos there now, many bonus demos because I get excited about some approach, color theory chats, project ideas, and of course exercises I lay out for you to use for building your drawing and painting skills. Subscribers at the Tier 3 level also have access to a private group and a monthly webinar. 

Reference Photos Used in the Video

The following links will take you to the photos that inspired the sketches seen in this video. For this video I used three “muse” photos from the Museum by Sktchy App (formerly known as Sktchy). 

You do not have to have an account with Sktchy to see these photos. The links will show you the individual photo. Use the links to call up the photo in a new browser window on your computer, side by side with the video window, so you can see my reference as I work. (Normally I get permission to embed the photo references in my videos, but there is not always time to hear back from the models when I get a bee in my bonnet to edit a video and start a discussion about a particular drawing.)

If you like to sketch people and can’t get out and about to sketch from life, you might consider joining Sktchy. There are a lot of great people posting creative, inspiring photos to work from, and posting really great artworks that will inspire you there.

The first photo inspiration comes from Daniel Ciinaru.

The second warm up sketch inspiration photo comes from Amey Todkar.

And my final, brush pen and watercolor sketch, uses the photo inspiration from Kieran Lincoln.