Stretching to Sketch Challenge Week 7

Here is my sketch for this weeks challenge hosted by Kelly over at Kelly Berkey Designs. I have to admit I cringed a little when I saw the pose for this week. (Check out the original photo here) But as always I panic first and then when I start sketching I calm down and get lost in it. I often wonder how my hand is getting the image onto paper!

Each week I have worked through my initial frustration and the case of the uglies that sketch will go through in the beginning. I am glad I didn't give up on any even though I have made some adaptations to them along the way. This week I changed the pose of her hand.

Be sure to head over to Kelly's blog and have a look at all of the artwork for this week!

Stretching To Sketch Challenge Week 6!!

Here is my sketch of Kelly for the sketching challenge she has been hosting over at her blog Kelly Berkey Designs. If you haven't joined us already please do! Every Thursday she will post a photo of herself for everyone to sketch, paint, or whatever. I am really having a good time and learning so much!

If you remember from my sketch last week I chickened out on doing the face profile. This week when I saw the picture I cringed because I wasn't sure if I would be able to do the face. And I really wanted to try this time! Although it doesn't look like Kelly I am pleased at how the face profile came out. Boy did I have trouble with the nose at that angle. I must have done it over 5 times and gave up! And then of course there are the hands. I have kept it no secret that I have had alot of trouble with hands since the beginning of this challenge. I knew I wanted to have her holding a heart and hope it is a pleasant distraction!

Check Kelly's blog later when she will be posting all the sketches for this week. I am excited to see everyone's work!

Stretching To Sketch Challenge Week 5

Here is my sketch for this week's challenge over at Kelly Berkey's blog.

I suppose you could say I cheated this week or more like I got frustrated and gave up on sketching the profile of her face. I tried and tried but it just wasn't coming out right. So I decided to have her hair falling across her face. That was the only thing I changed from the original photo.

The hardest for me this week (besides the face) were the hands, legs, and feet although I think I am getting more detail in my hands from previous sketches. This is done in graphite pencil and I am loving my kneaded eraser wondering how I did the first few sketches without one!

Kelly will be posting all the results later today. Be sure to stop by her blog and check it out!

Stretching to Sketch Challenge Week Four!

Here is my Kelly sketch for the weekly challenge. This one was more challenging than I initially anticipated. I was hoping to improve over last week but the back view was alot harder for me. This one is done in graphite pencil as my others but I tried to use all three this time which did help with the shading. And I finally got a kneaded eraser! Wow, that makes it much easier. Now I don't have to sit with a lap full of shredded rubber from the regular one I was using. I erase alot!

I feel like I put too much pressure on myself to do better than the last one. I don't think I realize that with each sketch comes a different set of challenges depending on the view and body parts involved. There will be new things to learn with each one. I need to be kinder to myself!

As always you can jump in and join us anytime! Kelly will be posting the results tonite and then a new photo for this week will be posted tomorrow. Check out the original photo here at Kelly Berkey's blog!

Stretching to Sketch Challenge Week Three!

This weeks challenge was just that for me. This was a tough one. And I know I probably say that each week! I worked on this one for quite a few hours. The hardest parts were again the hands and this time a side profile of her face. I had never done that before. I also tried hard to get her torso to appear as if it was slightly turned which I think I did achieve.

I really enjoyed this one once I got past my initial frustration. I wanted to throw in the towel at first. I am now realizing that sketching takes time. Time to adjust shading and proportions. It is a process. Things such as this is where I see my lack of patience truly show up! I need to take time and enjoy the process more instead of rushing to get done. I get too excited to see it finished!

Be on the look out for Kelly's blog post today when she shares all the results for this week!

To see the original photo for this sketch click here!

And as always anyone can join! So please do if you haven't yet!

Stretching To Sketch Challenge Week Two!

Here is my sketch for Kelly Berkey's challenge this week. I have to say this was a tough one! I see improvements in my proportions and the hand but I had a tough time with the legs and was not happy how her hair came out. I went a little crazy with it!

Although this was a difficult one for me it was fun to do! Check out the other entries along with the original photo over at Kelly's blog! (Click here) There is some great work this week! I am looking forward to jumping in to the next sketch!

Hope you will join us!! Click Here for more info about the challenge!

Stretching To Sketch Challenge Week One

This is my sketch for the Stretching to Sketch Challenge over at Kelly Berkey's blog. Each week Kelly will post a picture of herself in a ballet pose for you to sketch or paint.

I had never sketched the human form before so this was intimidating for me. I used graphite pencil and a pitt artist pen. I plan to participate in this challenge each week and hopefully improve on my skills especially in sketching hands! That was the hardest part of this for me. The hair was the easiest. lol

You can check out the original photo for this sketch here.

Check out the rest of the artwork in this challenge here.

Hope you will join us!