Inktober Week 4 and 5

I can't believe I got through Inktober! I've learnt many new things, and I'm definitely in the process of evolving new skills, and I can't wait to explore them even more. It has been a really great experience and I'm already getting ready for next year.

Day 22, dandelions

Day 23, melody

Day 24, moth

Day 25, roots

Day 26, jellyfish

Day 27, plum blossom

Day 28, gem stone

Day 29, vines

Day 30, wisteria

Day 31, lanterns

Day 24 I was low on time and ideas, so I tried to recreate this artwork: Pinterest.


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"Ink" (watercolours): Winsor & Newton
Ink pens: Micron
Sketchbook: Fabriano

The Art of Spirited Away

I love Hayao Miyazaki's films and Spirited Away was the very first one that I saw. Ever since I was very little the beauty of his films has swept my feet away. The artist, that has been a part of Studio Ghibli's films, that I probably admire the most is Kazuo Oga. He has painted many of the backgrounds for the films and I never tire of looking at them.

I have a couple of 'The Art of...' books with art from various Studio Ghibli films that I treasure. I wanted to give you the opportunity to have a little peek inside and see some of the wonders these books are filled with. Today I have chosen to share 'The Art of Spirited Away' with you.

It was very hard to choose just a couple of pages to show you. The book is packed with gorgeous scenes and you can spend hours looking through the pages just to soak everything in.

I always get so inspired when looking through these books. They're definitely worth having in your collection.

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Pages from the book are copyright Studio Ghibli

The book: The Art of Spirited Away

One-Point Perspective

I've started to learn perspective drawing and I'm enjoying it so much. I feel like I'm receiving some tools that will make it easier for me to convert what I have inside my head to a piece of paper. I have so many magical places in my mind that I want to share with you and I think I'm one step closer to being able to do so.

I'm only just starting to get the hang of one-point perspective but I'm eager to learn more. I have an art book that has been really helpful. It's called 'The Art of Perspective: The Ultimate Guide For Artists in Every Medium' by Phil Metzger. This book takes you through many different aspects of perspective drawing. I haven't read the entire book yet but I really like the way it's put together. There are many illustrations that help describe the subjects that Phil Metzger are explaining and a what-have-we-learnt section after each chapter.

Two things I've found really helpful to keep in mind, when drawing with one-point perspective, is the eye level of your scene and the scene's vanishing point. When learning new things I want it to be kept simple. If I have to remember too many things at the same time I'll be sure to forget one of them or confuse myself more than necessary. 

Once you've established your eye level make a dot on that line to represent your vanishing point. Now all the lines in your drawing, except the vertical lines, has to meet at that vanishing point. Once I learnt this I thought that that couldn't be right. As it turns out, it is. 

I've tried to make some lines on top of one of my inktober, actually one of the very first drawings I've ever made with one-point perspective, to hopefully clarify the meaning of eye level and vanishing point and how to actually use them. 

The red line is my eye level. I've drawn the blue lines to show that all of my lines, the lines of the table, the lines of the shelves, all meet in the vanishing point. As this is one of the first drawings I've ever made using one-point perspective I'm sure there are some mistakes. For instance I don't think the eye level should have been quite that far up the page.

I would definitely recommend this art book if you're learning perspective drawing. I had no idea about what to do at first but after reading some chapters in this book I felt like I could take on the challenge. 

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Pages from the art book are copyright Phil Metzger

The art book: The Art of Perspective: The Ultimate Guide for Artists in Every Medium

Inktober Week 3

I feel like my style is really evolving due to Inktober. I've always stayed clear of drawing backgrounds because I didn't know where to start or how to get it to look right. Now that I've actually started to learn how perspective works I've almost overcome that fear. I'm not afraid of trying to create scenes anymore but actually really intrigued. It also maskes it so much easier to convert my imagination on to paper. Hopefully soon I'll be able to share the magical and fantastical places I have inside my head.

I'm still just working with really simple perspective but as I get confident with it I'll move on to the next step. Most of my inktobers, in this third week, are drawn with one-point-perspective.

Day 15, succulents

Day 16, mushrooms

Day 17, flower crown

Day 18, starfish

Day 19, spark

Day 20, constellations

Day 21, wave

I can't wait until Inktober is over. I'm really enjoying it, even though it is a bit tough sometimes, but I'm so looking forward to creating small scenes using colours and gouache. I'm sure colours would help create just the right mood for the scenes.


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"Ink" (watercolours): Winsor & Newton
Ink pens: Micron
Sketchbook: Fabriano

Inktober Week 2

In this second week of Inktober I started to feel the pressure. Some of the days the prompts just didn't do anything for me. The prompt list I'm following are all nature related prompts so I thought that I would be filled with inspiration and ideas but that hasn't exactly been the case.

However frustrating some of the days have been, and however unsatisfied I've felt towards some of my inktobers, I'm still very eager to complete the challenge and learn and explore as many things as possible.

Something quite amazing did happen during this week though. I completed my very first sketchbook. The very first of it's kind ever heard of in the entire of history. I've started quite a few but never finished one.

Day 8, water

Day 9, sunflower

Day 10, apples

Day 11, snowflakes

Day 12, feathers

Day 13, bubbles

Day 14, butterfly

I've started to try and learn perspective drawing. I've never really learnt this and that leaves a huge gap in my drawing skills. My first attempt was day 13 where I had no idea about what I was doing. For day 14 I've tried to draw with one-point-perspective and all the lines where pretty confusing. It's more simple than I initially wanted but I thought it was better to keep it simple than confuse myself further with all of the perspective lines.

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"Ink" (watercolours): Winsor & Newton
Ink pens: Micron
Sketchbook 1: Pink Pig
Sketchbook 2: Fabriano

Inktober Week 1

This is my first time participating in Inktober. If you're not familiar with Inktober I hope my short explanation can make it a bit clearer. The month of October is dedicated to creating an artwork a day only using inks. It's usually done with black ink but inks come in every colour so it can also be done in colours. Every day there is a new word you have to incorporate in your piece. There is an official prompt list made by the creator of Inktober, Jake Parker, but many artists make their own. Inktober is about evolving your skills, getting a good drawing rutine and otherwise working towards your own personal goals.

My goal is to first of all make it through the entire month. Otherwise I'm striving to experiment and learn. I really want to get better at creating interesting compositions because this is something I'm not very confident in. I also want to have a better understanding of values that's why I've chosen to do my pieces only using black. I'm actually cheating a little because I don't have any black ink so I'm using watercolour instead. It's still challenging because I'm not used to using watercolour like this and it's black. Next year I'll get myself some inks (that is if I make it through this year).

Day 1, maple leaf

Day 2, small flowers

Day 3, seashell
I'm not completely happy with my day 3 Inktober. I have made it and you can find it on my Instagram account if you're interested: Instagram

Day 4, wind

Day 5, strawberry

Day 6, tea

Day 7, planets

I really like some of the concepts and I think I'll recreate them in colour and more detail once Inktober has ended. My favourite one so far is day 7, the one with the dalmatian and all the planets. I think it looks good now but I'm sure it could look even better in colours.


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"Ink" (watercolours): Winsor & Newton
Ink pens: Micron
Sketchbook: Pink Pig