All posts tagged Procreate

Drawrch 2026 #31: Self-Portrait

 Martin · 22 days
An illustration of Martin Crownover - me! This drawing is a self-portrait of me looking up and to the right. In the illustration, I am facing to the right, at an oblique angle. I am smiling. I have a light complexion, light eyes, and dark hair. My hair is tied back in a short ponytail, and my hairline is high on my forehead. I have thin sideburns going down to the bottom of my ears, and I am wearing a t-shirt. The drawing is shaded in a posterized way, with each section of shading separated by a hard edge. The colors for the shading are the same as the famous Barack Obama "hope" poster, where the colors go from dark blue, to red, to light blue, to a pale yellow, dark to light. There is light horizontal line shading between the yellow and blue going down the center of my face and on my visible arm, on the right. The background is split into red on the left side and light blue on the right.

Today's Drawrch is the last one for this series, and as is customary, I drew a self-portrait for it.

I didn't know what style I was going to choose for this one when I started working on it, but as the sketch came along, I began looking more closely at the values in the reference selfie and thought it might be cool to give it a posterized look. And since I've never attempted a portrait in the famous Barack Obama "hope" poster style, I thought it'd be worth a try.

So here it is, my last drawing for Drawrch 2026. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, though I probably could've spent another 30 minutes tweaking the sketch. It's good though, and my wife actually thinks it looks like me this time, so I mission accomplished, I guess. 😅

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, and the Vertical Line Shader Light brush for the line shading effect. The Vertical Line Shader brush is from the Beat Tones pack, by True Grit Texture Supply.

For some reason, the horizontal and vertical brushes in this pack are swapped for me... maybe I missed a pack update somewhere, or my Procreate is just weird.

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

And you can re-watch all of the drawing time-lapses for Drawrch 2026 at my Drawrch 2026 YouTube playlist, or by scrolling through the other blog entries on this website.

Thanks again to everyone who followed along with and enjoyed the project this year! Looking back at all of the drawings I made, I'm proud of what I was able to make. I hope that you'll join me for the next one!

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Drawrch 2026 #30: Over Her Shoulder

 Martin · 23 days
An illustration of a woman smiling over her shoulder. The woman's eyes are closed, and her mouth is open, with tongue and upper teeth visible. She has a light complexion and brown hair, with yellow highlights and a few strands of pink mixed in. She is wearing large, gold hoop earrings. She is wearing a top with a thing black strap going over her shoulder, and bright sunlight is cast onto her shoulder and cheek, leaving the rest of her face darker. Wisps of hair curve over the woman's forehead and cheek, as if the wind has tussled her hair. The background is a white that fades to a light yellow towards the bottom, and the entire image has a slight noise effect added.

Today's Drawrch illustration is of a woman smiling over her shoulder.

This is yet another reference image that I wanted to draw for a while but didn't feel confident about until I was sufficiently warmed up for drawing faces. It's not precisely the same, but it's close enough, and I like how it turned out.

This project is just about over, by the way - only one more to go!

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 paint brush for background blending/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:

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Drawrch 2026 #29: Scrunch

 Martin · 24 days
An illustration of a man scrunching his face together as if he is sad or in pain. The man is facing the viewer directly. He has a round head, and it is lit brightly in the middle, on his forehead and nose, from a light slightly above and in front of him. His nose is casting a soft shadow down onto his lips. The man's eyes are closed, and his teeth are visible through open lips. He has a stubbly mustache and beard. The man is wearing a black shirt. The man is drawn in black and white and the background is a pale teal.

Today's Drawrch illustration is of a man scrunching his face together in pain or sadness.

I said the other day that I wasn't going to do another drawing in this style for this project, but the reference image for this one was in black and white and I couldn't resist the temptation to do more values drawing. I did try a new gouache brush for this one though, and I actually really enjoyed it. More so than the charcoal brush from the other illustrations, even though the outcome is roughly the same.

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, and the Night Heron brush for 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:

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Drawrch 2026 #28: Smiling

 Martin · 25 days
An illustration of a woman looking at the viewer and smiling. The woman has a light, freckled complexion, dark green eyes and red hair. She is wearing a brown hat and blue striped shirt and has one hand under her chin. The drawing is done in an ink and watercolor style. The background is a pale green that fades to yellow and then white towards the top.

For today's Drawrch illustration, I tried a different shading technique: Procreate's new-ish watercolor brushes. I still stuck with the Syrup brush for my linework, but I like the watercolor effect a lot!

As mentioned above, this was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching, the Syrup brush for linework, and the Pacific Golden brush for colors and shading.

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:

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Drawrch 2026 #27: Squint

 Martin · 26 days
An illustration of a man looking straight at the viewer and squinting. The man is drawn in a simple, flat style, with slightly unrealistic proportions. He has a light complexion with slight grayness to the color, blue-green eyes, and dark hair. He has a very short mustache and beard stubble on his lip and jaw, and is wearing a black shirt. The background is a noisy taupe color.

I really wanted to get back to basics with today's Drawrch illustration - the last few have been too detailed and taken way too long for me to finish on time. So today, I focused on getting basic shapes from the reference into the illustration, eschewing realism and just getting the elements in there.

The result is maybe a little flat for my taste at this point, but I like that I was able to get the essence of the reference in there. Looking back at it now, I'd probably make the mouse a little less wide. Otherwise, I think overall it's pretty much what I set out to make. And I got it done super early, which is a massive win right now. 😎

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 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:

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Drawrch 2026 #26: Green Eyes

 Martin · 26 days
An illustration of a woman looking toward, but slightly past the viewer. She is facing to the left and her eyes are turned to the right. Her mouth is slightly open, and her hand is up to her face, with fingers curled against her cheek. She looks intrigued. The woman is drawn with unrealistic proportions and colored in a painterly style. She has an olive complexion, large green eyes, and brown hair tied back in a long ponytail. She is wearing large, intricate earrings and a red shirt. The background is a blurry pale green with a darker streak through the middle and a more saturated top.

For today's Drawrch illustration, I did a rushed loose sketch, trying to make it a little bit of a caricature, but I'm not sure if the end result really bears that out. It's not a failure, but it could've been better with more time spent at the beginning, I think. Unfortunately, I am still feeling quite behind on my sleep, so I can't spend all night drawing. 🥴

Anyway, 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 paint brush for shading. I also used the Soft air brush for a little bit of masking here and there.

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:

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Drawrch 2026 #25: Distance

 Martin · 27 days
An illustration of a man looking to the left, into the distance. The man has a light complexion, dark eyes, and dark hair. He is lit strongly, with only his eyes and nose in partial shadow. He has a mustache and beard, and mid-length, wild hair. The drawing is in black and white, with black being charcoal shading and white being a warm white color. The background is empty.

Today's Drawrch is a drawing of a man staring into the distance. I did this one in black and white because the source image is in black and white. Sometimes I like that, because it makes it a lot easier to distinguish the values, but drawing it in virtual charcoal made the whole thing take a looong time.

This was created in Procreate with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate Pencil brush for sketching and some light line work, the Moleskin brush for the bulk of the shading, and the Syrup brush and Soft air brush for masking.

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:

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Drawrch 2026 #24: Looking Up

 Martin · 28 days
An illustration of a woman looking up. The woman has a medium complexion, dark hair and eyes, red lipstick, a nose piercing, and hoop earrings. She is facing slightly to the right, with her eyes open slightly wide and looking up. She has a blank expression on her face. She has long dark hair that falls almost straight down at the sides, with a few shorter pieces crossing her forehead. The background is a warm gray.

Today's Drawrch took me a long time to get done. The sketch was a long one, as I was having trouble getting the proportions right (and they still aren't), but then the shading took forever to finish. I just kept feeling like it looked too flat. Anyway, it's late and I'm tired. 🥱

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 paint brush and Soft air brush for shading.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing is from Line of Action.

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

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Drawrch 2026 #23: Luigi

 Martin · 29 days
An illustration of Luigi, from the Mario Bros. games. Luigi is drawn in his usual outfit, with green hat, green shirt, and blue overalls. He is facing to the left but looking to the side at the viewer and smiling with open mouth. He has a black mustache, blue eyes, brown sideburns, and brown hair that comes out from under his hat in the back. He is drawn and colored in a saturated way, like the old Mario Bros. illustrations, with some slight shading giving him a bit of dimension. The background is pale blue with a light glow behind Luigi.

It's been a while since I've drawn a Nintendo character for Drawrch, so I figured I'd have a go at it tonight. I've always liked the old-school Mario Bros. illustrations!

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, and the Soft air brush for shading.

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

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Drawrch 2026 #22: Into Sunlight

 Martin · 30 days
An illustration of a woman looking into the sun, to the right. The woman is squinting and smiling very slightly. She has a pale complexion with freckles, dark eyes, and dark hair. She has very large bangs over her forehead, going down to her eyebrows. Her hair is very busy and is tied up out of frame. She is wearing a necklace and green shirt with purple spots. The background is just a blurry fade from steel blue at the bottom to a bright pale yellow at the top.

Today's Drawrch illustration is another one where I went in feeling a lot of doubt.

So many things were in play: The woman in the reference image has a very unique look that I was worried I wouldn't be able to replicate. Her face is tilted just slightly, making the angle of the eyes difficult, and her cheeks are abnormally round at that angle. I hate drawing hair and I never feel good doing it, so bangs are a challenge. And on top of all that, I'm still trying to catch up on sleep, so staying up late after a lengthy re-start was on my mind.

I spent a lot of time on the sketch, and sketches never look right until you start rendering/coloring them. After I put down just a few bits of color however, I knew it was going to turn out alright.

It's funny... I see fellow creators say "trust the process" all the time, and I used to mildly scoff at it. But more and more I find that if I just proceed in earnest and trust myself, things turn out how I want them to more often than not. This feels like something I knew when I was younger and forgot somewhere along the way.

Anyway, 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 paint brush for shading, the Flicks spray paint brush for the freckles, and the Syrup brush for fills and other utilities.

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:

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