Practice Makes Perfect

For the last few weeks I've been concentrating on practicing my drawing and illustration skills. I want to be better at drawing people, facial features, proportions and hands and also develop a style I can call my own. 

Every year I have students who hate drawing from observation. Usually because they struggle with it so don't want to do it. And I always say that the only way they will improve is to practice. Even if no-one ever sees it, practice is what makes perfect. 

So here are the results of my practising. Some went wrong. Some aren't finished. Some i'm really pleased with. 

I like sketching out in pencil first then using a fine liner. I've added colour to these with Posca pens but I'm about to try using some gouache and combining it with my Poscas. More of that to come. 

What do you need to practice? 

I Make Fun Stuff: The Shop is Open!

Wow I've been really slack haven't i? I'd been pretty good at updating this hear blog and then it slipped back into obscurity again. I'm sorry for that but there is good reason! We held our summer street market on the 22nd June and then the very next week we opened our shop. So it's been a bit manic. 

So because that's the reason why I've been AWOL I thought it would be the best thing to blog about. Then I'll show you what I've been up to art wise since the shop opened.

The shop was opened by our good friend Freddie Millerchip and his Dad, local illustrator Joel Millerchip. Lesson learnt there, make sure your scissors are sharp!! They got there in the end. 

The shop is filled with work by artists and designers from East Anglia who regular take stalls at our craft and vintage markets. We carefully selected the work to ensure that it was of the highest quality and unique. It's so important to us that the shop is individual, a one-off and some thing new and exciting in our home town of Ipswich and sells products you can't buy on the high street. 

Feedback so far has been really positive so we're really looking forward to what will happen over the coming months and to start holding workshops and talks in the space as well. 

Let me know if you've visited and what you think!