Today's Drawrch illustration is somewhat stylized. In part because I wanted to try to get it done quicker than some of the others, and in part because it gets a little boring to just try to recreate photos, sometimes.

It's hard not to get caught up in the details even when you're trying to gloss over them, and at one point the addition of red made this start looking like the famous Obama "Hope" poster by Shepard Fairey. I wasn't trying to make something in that style however, so I'm glad I was able to veer away from that as I added more color and more details.

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Soft air brush for background shading, and the Inka brush for linework and just about everything else.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from SketchDaily.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

For today's Drawrch illustration, I wanted to do something a little different. I focused a lot less on making sure the sketch was accurate and just worked on making angles that I liked and texturing things in an interesting way.

The result could probably use some refinement, but I think I capture the essence of the reference image, and overall, I like the way the face and colors turned out.

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Studio Pen brush for linework, the Soft air brush for shading, and the Larapuna brush for background texture.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from SketchDaily.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

I've used this style for a few Drawrch illustrations in the past, and it is a bit hit-and-miss. For this drawing, I think it is mostly a success, though the shape of the man's face looks a little too angular to me after finishing the drawing and viewing it from afar.

To borrow a phrase from a famous author: so it goes! 🤪

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Syrup brush for linework, the Larapuna brush for fills and shading, and the Soft air brush for background gradients.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from SketchDaily.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

I didn't wait long this Drawrch to bust out the Inka brush, but it's one of my favorites, so I have no shame in that. This illustration seemed like a good fit for it too, with the woman's hair slightly wind-blown and the bright highlights on the left.

The sketch looked good to me, but the finished drawing has the woman's face looking a little too wide compared to the reference. That's how these things go, though! 😅

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Inka brush for linework, the Soft air brush for some extra shading, and the Tarraleah brush for background texture.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from SketchDaily.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

It's not a great look to be just about late with my second Drawrch illustration but this is the first one I used a reference for this year, and I'm a little out of practice (which is sort of the point of this project).

So the sketch took a long time to finish, and then I didn't know what style I wanted to do for the final. As you can see, I ended up just going with the sketch, which I'm actually pretty happy with. I would have probably started off a little differently if I had planned on doing that, but in the end, it turned out fine.

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for just about everything, and the Inka brush for the white fill at the end.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from SketchDaily.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

So begins another Drawrch, a project I created in 2022 to practice drawing faces. In this project, I draw a new face every day for the month of March, with no style or theme restrictions. Most of the time, I end up finding a reference picture and just drawing that in whatever style sounds fun for the day.

For the first day of this year's Drawrch, I drew a woman holding a small "Drawrch" sign. I feel like I don't draw women enough, so it felt like a good way to start this year's project. I was also still feeling the comic book style from my finishing illustration for Februdoodle, so I went with that here too.

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Rusty Nib 1 brush for linework, the Syrup brush for fills, the Rough Dot Shader 45/Light brush for shading, and the Worn 1 Subtle brush for adding some distress to the image.

The Rusty Nib 1, Rough Dot Shader 45/Light, and Worn 1 Subtle brushes are from the Rusty Nib pack, the Beat Tones pack, and the Fast Grit pack respectively, all by True Grit Texture Supply.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

Today's final Drawrch illustration for 2024 is, as seems to be tradition at this point, a self-portrait!

Though I'm quite ready for a break, I had a lot of fun doing this project, I am happy with the work that I made for it, and once again, I feel like I learned a lot (more) about how I see things and how to draw them.

I still wouldn't consider myself particular good at portraits, but I could definitely feel my ease with the process increasing as the project went on, and the underlying sketches came a lot easier towards the end.

What's next? I might have to try a month of just doing sketches, or maybe revisit some of the sketches that I did here and try for a different style for the finished part. I am also interested in putting together some videos where I analyze the sketches versus the references, and see how accurate I really got.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who watched these drawings unfold - and perhaps joined me for the few I did live on Twitch as well. I really appreciate all the support I get from everyone, and I hope you had just as much fun watching as I did making this time around.

As always, this was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Inka brush for linework, the Old Brush for some painterly shading, and the Soft air brush for additional shading/gradients.

You can watch each time-lapse at this YouTube playlist.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

Thanks again for watching, and I hope to see you soon, for a future project!

Here's today's Drawrch illustration! This one is of a man looking how I feel right now: tired.

I started this one off with a loose sketch, still trying to veer off into caricature territory. So the proportions of the man are not right at all, on purpose. His nose is too big, mouth too wide, jaw too angular, and hand a bit glove-like. But then I got to shading it and I could get away from trying to do that more realistically.

So the result is sort of an uncanny valley between caricature and not, which looks better up close (like when I'm working on it) but pretty strange from afar. It was good practice, anyway - and only one more to go now! 😄

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Inka brush for linework, and the Old Brush and Soft air brush for shading. Additionally, I used the Rough Dot Shader 45deg/light for the halftone shading, which is from the Beat Tone pack by True Grit Texture Supply.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from SketchDaily.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below:

Here's today's Drawrch illustration, a drawing of a woman looking back.

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching and the Soft air brush for the background gradients. Additionally, I used the Smooth Natural Nib from The Rusty Nib pack, by True Grit Texture Supply.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from SketchDaily.

If you'd like to see how I drew this one, you can watch the time-lapse below: