Reviews and Tutorials, oh my!

Surprise! This week I'm actually doing something different...that doesn't include a drawing. The entire time I've been blogging here, I've been wanting to do a blog post about my favorite YouTube reviews/tutorials of Prismacolor pencils. I hope you readers will be able to forgive me for not having an actual drawing this week but I hope these videos will be helpful for you who are looking into purchasing or working with these pencils. Enjoy!

REVIEWS

In this review by The Virtual Instructor is one of the first reviews of Prismacolor pencils I've ever seen before I ever decided to purchase the pencils. I love that he, along with talking about the quality of the pencils and the durability of them, he does a simple drawing of an apple that comes out (as you can see from the thumbnail) phenomenal! This 8 minute long video is great to watch if you're looking to learn more about the pencils and get some drawing tips as well.

I really like this review from Jorge Bustamante even though it's short because of the fact that his Prismacolor pencils are older and he still has all of the sets. It shows how long these pencils do last. However, he did state how he has some pencils that are so short because the lead has broken many times throughout the years. I also really enjoyed his video because he has not only the premier pencil sets but the Verithins as well. This is another great review to watch--especially since he talks about the quality of Prismacolor pencils vs regular Crayola pencils.

TUTORIALS

I am OBSESSED with this video by Blick Art Materials! I first found this video a few months back and I loved how the instructor showed different techniques to enhance a regular Prismacolor pencil drawing. She talks about using a colorless blending pencil or pen to enhance the drawing, which binds the colors together, blending them to a point that wouldn't be reachable by the pencils alone. Her tips are fantastic!

This is another great tutorial/helpful video by BlueRoseArkelle because she describes the difference between Verithin and the Premier soft core pencils (which I use). She demonstrates how light and hard pressure affect the drawing. This video is extremely helpful if you are using either type of pencils and want to learn how pressure works when drawing. Definitely a good video to watch!

RANDOM FAVORITE!

HOLY CRAP, you guys, this drawing by  Heather Rooney is seriously AMAZING! I came across her on a whim and I am in love with her drawings because of how realistic they are. In this video she draws singer Ariana Grande, and I sincerely thought it was a photo once she was done. Heather is amazingly talented and I urge you to check out the rest of her videos because they will blow you away!

I hope you enjoyed this post and will take the time to go through some of these videos to learn more about Prismacolor. So far, I love these pencils and enjoy working with them each week. I hope to expand my collection and hopefully be as good as Heather one day! 

If you want to learn more about or purchase Prismacolor pencils, click here or here

Rookie Mistakes & Best Friends

Sticking with the theme I started last week, this week's drawing (actually 2 drawings!) are people I'm very thankful for and fortunate to have in my life. But before I go into that, I want to explain a problem that I've been having with my drawings. I cannot stop drawing people! Every week when I think about the things I want to draw, my mind automatically goes to people. I'm guessing that some people will read this and say "stop worrying, just keep drawing" and I should listen to that but repetitiveness can lead to predictable posts--and I don't want it! Alas, this week I drew my two best friends, Holly and Cody. Throughout all of the friendships I've had, these two have stuck by me through some rough times. 

I've known Cody since I was 11 years old and Holly since I was around 14 or 15. These two are seriously incredible friends and I am thankful for them not only during Thanksgiving time, but every day. I truly have no idea what I would do without them. 

The picture I decided to base my drawing of Holly on was a picture I took of her when we went to Wrightsville Beach two summers ago--back when she had long hair. Knowing her, if she saw this she would probably say something along the lines of "I miss my long hair!" 

Almost finished--I didn't want to reveal the final product until the last photo!

I chose to base my drawing of Cody from a photo that I took of him on our first photo shoot. If you saw my Facebook, you would see exactly how many photos I take of this guy! He is obsessed with himself, just a tad, and I feed his addiction by taking photos of him almost every time we hang out. 

Here's where I made the rookie mistake--I pressed hard when coloring in his hair and shirt, so a lot of the pencil debris went all over his face, leaving black marks mixing with the other tones I was trying to add. It's hard to tell from this picture but that's what happened. Also, he looks incredibly yellow and I did not do that intentionally at all, although it looks kind of cool. Holly's face came out more soft and delicate while Cody's is bright and almost pop-art like. Kinda funny how that's more like their personalities! I guess I know them too well ;)

Readers, I am going to seriously try to commit to a drawing where I do not draw people! It's going to be tough but I don't want to bore you or make this blog predictable. I guess next week we will see what's going to happen!

If you want to learn more about or purchase Prismacolor pencils, click here or here

Thankfully Inspired

Since it's November--and Thanksgiving is this month--I was inspired to draw some things that I am thankful for having in my life. Lots of things come to mind but I had a hard time deciding what I was going to draw. I've been doing lots of portrait drawings, which I enjoy, but I tried so hard to stray away from that...

too bad! This week, I decided to draw one of the people I'm most thankful in my life--my boyfriend, Mike. We've been together since July of 2012 and we have a really great relationship. He will be spending Thanksgiving with my family and I this year and that's very exciting.

So for this week, my inspiration is dedicated to Mike, who has also been asking me to draw him for quite some time. I finally got around to it! I'm also quite pleased at how this drawing has turned out.

The outline! I actually sent this to Mike in a text and he responded with "HOLY SH*T THAT'S AMAZING!" It's not even finished yet and he's already pleased!

This is where I started to freak myself out because the drawing started to look very similar to the picture I was using for reference. Also, in this photo, his eyes look black but they're not. His eyes are actually a light brown. One of the Prismacolor pencils was actually incredibly close to his eye color. Very cool!

The Prismacolor pencils I have are not erasable (there are some that are). His mustache in the previous photo was a little too harsh, I felt, so I used my pencil's eraser to dull it out. I'm so happy I did so because it ended up making the drawing look a lot better.

The final product! Here you go, Mike--here's your face!

I think I'm going to continue with the theme for next week's drawing. There are many things that I am thankful for and fortunate to have. The hard part will be trying to decide what or who to draw. I'm going to try my hardest to make the next post not a person but it's so difficult! Maybe I should see this as a positive since I stated how bad I usually am at drawing people. Anyway, I hope everyone reading is having a wonderful November!

If you want to learn more about or purchase Prismacolor pencils, click here or here

#WomanCrushWednesday

There is a popular trend that goes around Instagram every week that's called Woman Crush Wednesday. This is where people post pictures of their "woman crush" (doesn't really have to be their real crush but just someone they admire, obviously) each week. Normally, I don't partake much in Instagram trends like this mostly because there really aren't any female celebrities that I admire...other than my one and only woman crush, Kat Dennings.

I know lots of people who have favorite female celebrities or singers that they admire or idolize but nobody has ever come to mind to me before until I saw a movie called Charlie Bartlett. Without going into too much detail of the movie, I'll just skip to the point: Kat Dennings is in it and I loved her character. It's not that she was overly fantastic in the movie; I just really admire her acting and her wit. Also, I think she's absolutely gorgeous. I've seen lots of other movies of hers but I absolutely love her in the T.V. show 2 Broke Girls. I've been watching that series since it came out a few years ago. She is phenomenal in the show and super funny! So for this week's drawing she is not only my #WomanCrushWednesday she is my inspiration.

Not going to lie--Kat Denning's lips are a lot of fun to draw/color in. She has huge lips! I particularly loved the drawing I chose to recreate because of her reddish orange lips. 

I like starting off with a light brown color for dark hair so I can use it as a guide, since it will be covered up later on with the darker colors. Kat has dark brown to black hair anyway but in the drawing I chose you can see little bits of light brown because of the light reflection.

It's really hard to tell that I colored in her skin because Kat has very porcelain skin anyway but it is colored! I lightly used a peach color and gave her some high light on her cheeks. 

It's more visible to see the coloring on her chest in this photo. Here is the final product! The black hair might stand out a bit more than I wanted it to but I was having trouble making the rest of hair almost as dark.

Overall I think the final product came out lovely. I hope that if Kat saw it her self she would like it! It doesn't entirely look like her but I'm sure I will be drawing her again in the near future to perfect it. This was a fun drawing this week. Surprisingly, I'm enjoin the portrait drawings more! Funny, huh? Hopefully next week I will have something other than portraits but we shall see!

If you want to learn more about or purchase Prismacolor pencils, click here or here

Holy Husky!

This was supposed to be last week's drawing but for whatever reason, Google decided to lock me out of my account and wouldn't let me sign into my blog for a good few days, hence the double blog posts for this week. 

I am pretty much obsessed with Huskies. Actually, I'm obsessed with all dogs in general. Dogs have always been a part of my life and I haven't ever met a dog I didn't like. Sure, some dogs may not have liked me but I get all too excited when I see a dog. I am convinced that I will have many dogs once I have my own place...and I can't wait!

I was inspired to draw a Husky (for last week) because my boyfriend and I have recently been addicted to watching cute puppy videos on YouTube together. We love to watch puppies play-fighting with cats, trying to bark, playing with babies, chasing toys, and on and on and on. YouTube is a great place to get lost for awhile and just watch cute animals. My boyfriend, Mike, has a huge love for dogs as I do but has never owned a dog ever which I find downright unacceptable. He may be a bit more obsessed with Huskies than I am however I am crazy about dogs in general that I'm sure I beat him. 

Even though I didn't use many colors in this drawing, I find that the more basic I am with my colors, the more perfect I want the drawing to be. As you can tell I used mostly black for this lil' puppy.

He's taking shape! Drawing a Husky really made me want to hold one so bad. They're BEAUTIFUL dogs!

Puppies with blue eyes--so adorable! I think I could've spent more time on his eyes but since this was a sort of basic drawing of a Husky puppy, I didn't put as much effort as I would a more complicated drawing. 

The final product! If this drawing could come to life that would be wonderful. Husky puppies are absolutely adorable.

Once I showed this drawing to my boyfriend he was so excited that I decided to draw this little puppy. He tells me all the time that one day we are going to have a Husky and I believe him. Little does he know that we're going to have lots of dogs--not just a Husky! ;) Overall, I think this drawing turned out well and I am still enjoying using my pencils. Sharpening them regularly has been key and I'm glad that they haven't run down very fast like regular colored pencils. The lead quality is amazing in Prismacolor pencils. I can't recommend them enough.

If you want to learn more about or purchase Prismacolor pencils, click here or here

Day of the Dead: Killed it!

Continuing on with the creepy, Halloween-esque drawings, this week I decided to tackle another portrait drawing. Again, I am not the most talented when it comes to portrait drawings but since my Vivien Leigh portrait came out pretty well I decided that I would try again. For this week's drawing, I took inspiration from Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) which is something I have always found fascinating. Day of the Dead is on November 1 and since we're hitting the middle to end of October, I found this topic to be quite fitting. 

I have never been one to brag about my art nor do I like showcasing what I do unless I feel 100% satisfied with it. However, this week I can say that I am extremely proud of the final product. In total, I spent about 2 hours working on this drawing. Please forgive me for the lack of photos, I spent SO much time and effort on this drawing that I forgot to take as many photos as I could in between. 

Pretty rough outline and adding in some details--it's a good start!

Adding in some red! Also, her lips were really cool to fill in. I love Prismacolor's red shades.

 She has a very dramatic eye look, right? This is where I started getting excited for what was to come. I really wanted the eyes to be the main focus of the drawing.

Drawing in the hair was so much fun! I started with a pinkish red color for the outline and then added some more reds, black, and burgundy colors. The blending (as you will see in the next photo) turned out beautifully.

Honestly, I couldn't be more happy or proud of how it turned out. Granted, it looks a lot better in person but this is the most realistic I've ever drawn and that thrills me. 

I'm really hoping to continue this streak of good drawings; next week I'm going to stick with the same format: something Halloween like but still keep it a surprise for you readers! Hopefully next week's drawing will be even more realistic but we'll have to wait and see!

If you want to learn more about or purchase Prismacolor pencils, click here or here

This is Halloween! (Well, almost!)

Happy Halloween!...er, I mean, Happy almost Halloween! Halloween is my most favorite holiday, even more than Christmas. Although I haven't actually done anything on Halloween the past few years (the past two years I was sick) I still throughly enjoy the discounted candy the day after ;) I am a candy addict and I have so many fond memories of being a kid begging my mom to let me take two bags to get as much candy as possible. Disappointed, I was only left but you can bet that it was overflowing by the end of the night. 

Anyway, last week I left you guys hanging and didn't tell you what I would be drawing next. I thought about many different things actually but then it just hit me. 

Since Halloween is my favorite holiday, it doesn't take much for me to get into the Halloween mood. Once it starts getting chilly, and everything is pumpkin flavored (Heaven!) all I wanna do is watch Halloween movies. I have spent too many hours of my life watching iconic Halloween movies. One of my most favorite movies of all time, not just relating to Halloween, is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Which...TECHNICALLY it could be said that it's a Christmas movie. However, the first song sung in the film is called 'This is Halloween.' And yes, there are elements of Christmas but if stores like Target and Walmart start selling Christmas decorations as soon as they put up Halloween stuff, the people out there who say this is strictly a Christmas movie have no argument. Nevertheless, for this week's drawing I drew the two main characters, Jack and Sally.

 Starting out with a rough outline of the lovely couple..doesn't her hair look awesome? I really love that color and how vibrant it is. 

 This is where I started to have a lot more fun. As soon as I colored in her face, I knew the final product would turn out awesome. I also outlined her face (and Jack's) with a sharpie so I can create the fine lines that I feel this drawing deserved. Also, I got rid of the eyebrows I had drawn in the previous drawing..I really thought she had eyebrows for some reason.

 Super happy about the shadowing under Sally's chin! I added some pattern on the shirt and some blush to her cheeks.

Voila! The final product! 

Overall, I am super happy about how the final product turned out. I don't think I've ever had as much fun with a drawing as I did with this. Maybe it's because I'm in such a Halloween mood or maybe it's because I have a slight obsession with Jack and Sally. For next week, I think I'm going to continue the Halloween theme..but again, I will not reveal what I wanna draw (mostly because I don't know yet). Until next time, guys, stay spooky!

If you want to learn more about or purchase Prismacolor pencils, click here or here