So drawing challenge number 6 was to design a character using a random character generator. I think this is a great idea as it makes you think outside the box and go out of your comfort zone.
This is what I got from the generator:
And here’s the sketch I came up with:
I plan to do a cleaned up and coloured version of this princely lion tomorrow so watch this space…
I recently bought some macro extension tubes having read an article about using them as a much cheaper alternative to macro lens. (Mine cost under £10) I took them for a bit of a test drive this morning and though I still plan to save up for a macro lens eventually I think these produced very good results and seem like a great way to try out macro photography without breaking the bank.
This shot was taken with my 18 – 55mm lens at full zoom
This is how much closer I could get using just the 9mm extension tube
Here’s a few more that I took, the final one shows how close you can focus using the 30mm extension tube. You can also use all three tubes together which would allow even closer focusing. 
Challenge number 5 was to draw lots of figures, quick sketches and silhouettes. I used an online tool (http://lovecastle.org/draw/) which gives you a slideshow of images and you can set a timer so that the image will change after a certain number of seconds. This is great for doing quick sketches if you’re not able to get to a class with a live model. I warmed up doing 30 second poses and then moved onto 1 minute poses. The challenge was to do at least 20 drawings but here’s one page of the ones I felt came out best.
I’ve had a couple of days break from the drawing challenge but I got back to it yesterday with challenge number 4 which was to draw a part of the human anatomy you have trouble with 20 times, at least 5 being skeletal / musculature studies.
I chose hands because I often find them challenging to draw and because they are so expressive and versatile, the amount of poses which you can create with hands seems almost endless.
I love abstract images; I think it’s amazing how composition, texture, pattern and colour all come together to create an image which is engaging and can even evoke emotion in the viewer despite not being of anything recognisable. So when I saw some beautiful abstract photographs created by taking close ups of coloured paper I decided to have a go myself. This was a simple and fun technique to try, I made interesting shapes using various coloured papers held together with paper clips and tried different lighting approaches including backlighting the paper with a light box. Here are some of my favourite shots.
My top tips if you want to have a go at this technique:
If you like my images prints are available to purchase via my online store (at present I am only able to deliver within the UK)
Day 3 of my drawing challenge, the task was to draw a figure in action, here’s my drawing and the reference photograph:
So it’s day 2 of my drawing challenge and today’s exercise was to draw a figure from a reference. Here’s my drawing and the reference image I worked from.
