studies – AJAiken

All In Gesture – 1940s Baseball

And here are some more recent drawings! Makenzie was the model of these ‘A League of Their Own’-inspired poses.

Gorilla Sketches

A colleague took a video of some gorillas while visiting his local zoo, and I asked if I could sketch from it. The interactions between the gorillas were fascinating to study.

Wild Life Drawing – Wolf Pups

On Saturday I joined an online drawing class from Wild Life Drawing featuring five-week-old wolf-dog pups from Watermill Wolves. They were alternately incredibly active or completely asleep.

Wild Life Drawing hosts live drawing sessions with animals in the UK. I sadly haven’t ever been able to go to any of their in-person classes, but I have now attended online! Last week I joined in a Zoom drawing class featuring three wolf-dogs from Watermill Wolves. A lot of little mannerisms reminded me ofContinue reading “Wild Life Drawing – Wolves”

Badger Prints For Sale

My badger sketches have proved popular, so I’ve had some lovely A4 prints made! You can purchase them using the buttons below.

Character Sketching – Ballerina

Beatrix held some tricky-to-draw ballet poses last Friday for CTN’s On Model class.

Costumed Drawing – Maiden

Last week I was finally able to catch the free costumed drawing session CTN is running before it vanished from YouTube! As it’s a recording I was able to skip back and forward a bit as I pleased, so though poses were between two and seven minutes I spent less time on some and moreContinue reading “Costumed Drawing – Maiden”

Thatched Cottage Studies

At the moment I’m gathering reference for a personal project, and I’m learning a lot! The way medieval houses were constructed depended so much on where they were built – stone or wood? Heather or straw for the thatch? There are the well-constructed houses, some of which are still standing today, and then the onesContinue reading “Thatched Cottage Studies”

Life Drawing, April and May

I’ve joined for part of the last couple of life drawing sessions, modelled by Maxime and Dominique (plus a special guest). Some really lovely poses from both of them, and the added challenge of a snake … *EDIT – The initial time posted was wrong. Updated time below.* Tomorrow (May 5th) there’s a special gesture-focusedContinue reading “Life Drawing, April and May”

Desert

I’ve been working on improving my colour studies and digital painting. There’s a lot I need to keep practicing, but I’m pleased with the sense of distance in this study.

Hand Studies

Recently I’ve spoken to a few people about their life drawing, and one thing that’s kept coming up is hands, feet, and faces. It’s really clear when I look at work that has these things missing. They’re tough to draw – don’t I know it! Sadly, they will still be difficult to draw if youContinue reading “Hand Studies”

Studies from ‘The Stranger’

I recently watched Orson Welles’ 1946 film ‘The Stranger’, about an investigator from the War Crimes Commission trying to track down a Nazi in Harper, Connecticut. Early on there is a scene where a character is being followed. When watching it I immediately wanted to draw studies of the shots, but I’ve found it hardContinue reading “Studies from ‘The Stranger’”

Practice, practice, practice

Last year I came across this tweet, which challenged me to start thinking differently about how I draw through the week. Most of the time I only draw whatever I feel like, or what I’m working on. Life drawing has been the only regular study I’ve done since school. I pick things up here andContinue reading “Practice, practice, practice”

New Portfolio!

It’s been about two and a half years since I last updated my drawing portfolio (!) so I thought it was time to give it a refresh. What’s been exciting about putting this one together is that it’s all new – nothing from the last portfolio is still in it. You can take a lookContinue reading “New Portfolio!”

Sketching in Holyrood Park

For the last month and a half on my job in Edinburgh (I should be able to reveal what I was working on soon) I stayed in a flat near Arthur’s Seat. One evening I took advantage of the sunshine and spent a while drawing in the park. Here are a couple of my sketches!

A trip to the Museum

I’m back in Edinburgh for a few months, working as a Clean Up Artist (if you don’t know what that is, here’s an example) on a feature film I can’t talk about yet. It’s a really exciting project and I’m looking forward to sharing more about that, hopefully soon. One of the tricky things withContinue reading “A trip to the Museum”

Sketches from Muybridge

I spent some time today drawing quick sketches using the Bodies in Motion site. The Muybridge images are especially good for quick studies, and after exploring a variety of sequences I settled on this one.

Move Summit 2019

Move Summit is an industry-focused animation conference in Edinburgh now in its third year. In 2017 and 2018 I was a volunteer, but this time I was able to attend. This year it was a three day event jam-packed with speakers from Pixar, Axis, Aardman Animations, Blue Zoo, and many many more. The first day,Continue reading “Move Summit 2019”

Muybridge Horse Study

I’ve been busy with work and a family wedding, so it’s taken me a while to post anything new! Here’s a group of studies from one of Muybridge‘s wonderful sequences.

Studies from Jaws

A couple of weeks ago I watched Jaws for the first time. I’m not a fan of horror, which is one of the reasons I avoided the film for so long, but I found it to be much more of a thriller (with a couple of bloodthirsty scenes). One of the things I really likedContinue reading “Studies from Jaws”