Have you ever looked at a drawing you’re working on and decided it’s complete crap? I certainly have, and I guarantee every other artist out there has as well. I’ve heard it referred to as The Ugly Stage, and it’s an apt name. It’s the stage in a drawing or painting where you’ve just laidContinueContinue reading “The Ugly Stage”
Tag Archives: artist
Am I Good Enough?
It’s one of the challenges all artists face — that nagging self-doubt that is constantly telling us we aren’t good enough, we aren’t going to ‘make it’ as an artist, and that we shouldn’t be charging nearly so much for our work. So are you good enough? Can you be a ‘real artist’ and startContinueContinue reading “Am I Good Enough?”
A Fear of Drawing With Colour
One of the things I’ve noticed in my own work is that I tend to desaturate my subjects. By that I mean I make my portraits less vibrant and colourful than the references I’m working from. The reason for this is fairly simple: you can always add more colour, but it’s quite difficult to takeContinueContinue reading “A Fear of Drawing With Colour”
Staying Motivated
Originally written in 2020 As I was sitting at my computer this evening, trying to think of a topic to write about, I thought about the art I’d done today. I did two hours of work on a large commission that’s been on my desk for the past few weeks. I’m getting to the pointContinueContinue reading “Staying Motivated”
Getting Started with Coloured Pencils
I’ve seen a lot of posts online lately asking how to get started with coloured pencils, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts. I started using coloured pencils a few years ago, and I was terrible at it. I’d only really done watercolour and ink up until that point, and had no conceptContinueContinue reading “Getting Started with Coloured Pencils”
Picking References: Part Two
Last week I wrote a post about where to find reference photos to draw from. This week we’re going to continue that topic, but we’re going to focus on what to look for in a good reference photo. This is a drawing from one of those reference photos that I saw and just knew IContinueContinue reading “Picking References: Part Two”
Picking References: Part One
One of the most important things for any artist is finding good reference photos to work from. Although I’ve gotten much better at drawing things from my head, for any detailed work I have to have a picture to base my drawing on. When I’m drawing someone’s pet, the client sends me the photo theyContinueContinue reading “Picking References: Part One”
But Everyone is so Much Better Than Me…
I am a very competitive person. I don’t often get upset when I lose, but I sure do like to win. I like to win at board games, at video games, and in sports. But I also like ‘winning’ in other aspects of my life: I always wanted to have the best grades in school,ContinueContinue reading “But Everyone is so Much Better Than Me…”
How do I improve?
Someone recently asked me what I do to get better at art, and I thought I’d share my answer on here. I’m a self-taught artist, so I’ve never taken any kind of formal schooling or art lessons beyond high school. So how do I learn? What materials and references do I use? To be honest,ContinueContinue reading “How do I improve?”
To Grid or not to Grid
Lately I’ve been taking a lot of work-in-progress photos and videos, to try and show how I work and the process I like to use (I’ll be posting some of that on here, but if you want more in depth blogs, follow me on Patreon). What this means is that people see all the littleContinueContinue reading “To Grid or not to Grid”
Adlaya's Art 