After the hiatus; CTRL+ Paint, and Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain by Betty Edwards

About October 2014 I picked up a pencil again with a view to practise and improve on my art on a more regular basis.

I started with CTRL+ Paint, and got up to where many life studies are necessary, but I felt like I had to take a step backwards with my skills and brush up on the basics. After browsing a few forums Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain by Betty Edwards kept cropping up as a good beginners drawing book. So I promptly booked this book out of the library in October 2014, and finished it on 2nd January 2015.

At first I thought the techniques were a bit pointless, such as pure contour drawing, but as I progressed through the book I realised the techniques came in handy. I particularly liked the learning to draw with light and shadows, and drawing with negative spaces.

Over the coming weeks I'll share with you my drawings first from CTRL+ paint, then from the Betty Edwards book. You'll see by the end of the book just how much I've improved, though I still have much to learn.

CTRL+ Paint - Practising drawing simple forms in different angles

CTRL+ Paint - Drawing using just the outer edged of a form

CTRL+ Paint - More drawing outer edges of forms

CTRL+ Paint - Practising blocking out shapes to help with drawing more complex forms