30 Drawings in 30 Days! Part 3

We are in the home stretch now, with only ten days left in my 30 Drawings in 30 Days challenge! Here is the link to the first post, with days 1-10 and a link to the second post with days 11-20!

21. Your dominant hand, drawn with your non-dominant hand (drawn in pencil) I've said before, I picked the prompts because I knew they would actually challenge me! If I wanted to make it easy on myself, I would have picked 30 prompts like "draw a comic of a woman doing xyz..." This particular prompt wasn't just a challenge, but a physical challenge as well! I have to admit though, I'm impressed with the result!

Not too shabby!

22. Draw a lamp (possibly your favorite?) (drawn with pencil) Like Steve Carell, I too love lamp! And while I didn't pick my favorite lamp to draw, this one is my second favorite! 

Nothing snarky to report, it's just a great lamp!

23. A tree or other outdoor plant (drawn with pencil, inked with pens) Last year I planted over a dozen lilies around the base of one of our trees, and they came up beautifully this year! So I picked one of them to draw, with two flowers on top. The drawing is in black and white, but the flowers themselves were pink, with dark maroon freckles.

#Lilies have been trending in my drawings lately.

24. A still life of fruit (drawn in pencil) I had to Google it to be sure, but an avocado isn't a vegetable - it is actually a fruit! I even used cross-hatching (the technique from an earlier day in the challenge) and am really pleased with the final drawing!

Avocados are surprisingly fun to draw!

25. A single shoe (drawn with pencil) I chose my daughter's dress-up princess shoe for a subject this time - while my shoes may have more character from use, hers are hands down a lot cuter! ;) 

You just can't go wrong with faux diamond studded shoes.

26. Draw the building you live in (drawn with pencil, inked with a brush pen) I love, love, love house portraits! Seriously, check out #houseportrait on Instagram sometime. It's wonderful. So here it is, chateau McAndrews! I opted for a brush pen and quick strokes for a more impressionistic drawing. I wasn't worried about getting the angles perfect; the feeling of "home" was more important.  

My homie.

27. A superhero of your own design (drawn with pencil) My first thought was to design a new Spider-Man, but I had a lot more fun with this one! Introducing Princess Politically Correct, with superpowers of empathy and understanding, multiculturally colored bandages for boo-boos, and reasonably sized heels! 

She's not here to save the day, she's here to make sure everyone is included!

28. A non-domesticated animal (drawn with pencil) We were so excited when the Henry Doorley Zoo in Omaha had two baby elephants born around the same time, so why not draw one of them for this challenge? Fun fact: elephants are the only animals with four knees.

That baby weighs more than my husband!

29. A self-portrait but dressed up (drawn with pencil) This prompt is the opposite of the prompt for Day 2 (a self-portrait in pajamas.) I was originally planning to draw DC in a long, sparkly evening gown, but instead I chose a work uniform for her - because I had recently been hired at a bank (after 5 years of being a stay-at-home-mom) and I was so excited I just had to draw it!

Anybody got any good accounting jokes? Leave them in the comments below!

30. Something anime style (drawn with pencil, inked with pen) We made it, number 30! I know this one isn't for everyone, but I started drawing anime-style characters back in high school and I will love anime until the day I die. Drawing this, I thought about my teenage self who wished for nothing more than to draw like this back then. Patience, my younger self, because practice makes perfect and you'll get there!

She's walking her dog!

We made it to the finish line! Again, here is a link to days 1-10, and here is the post with days 11-20.

I'm not sure I really learned anything (except that avocados are fruit) but the practice and the process was a lot of fun. The most unexpected result was that my Facebook page blew up! Well, blew up for little ol' me, at least. I ended up with over 25 more followers/likes. The most popular drawing, by a landslide, was my terrible portrait of Jessica Alba... it had over 1,500 clicks and 22,600+ organic views. 😂 Not my finished paintings or drawings I put hours of effort into, oh no, I go viral for a bad portrait!

Would I do this challenge again? Absolutely! Every single year? Maaaaaybe not. I think one challenge a year is enough for me, and in 2023 I'm thinking about jumping back on the Acrylic April bandwagon. The next 30 Drawings in 30 Days challenge will have to wait until 2024 or beyond. Who knows, maybe I'll do a 30 Portraits in 30 Days challenge and really blow up the internet.

30 Drawings in 30 Days! Part 2

Let's jump right back in with the second post about my 30 Drawings in 30 Days challenge! Here is a link to the first post, with days 1-10.

11. Draw something using crosshatching (drawn in pencil) This one was really interesting! I struggled a bit at first with my lines, then found a good rhythm. It doesn't help that I picked the shiny side of a pressed penny as my subject! In the end, I'm quite happy with how it turned out, and would love to use this technique in future drawings!

So shiny!

12. Draw a dragon (drawn with pencil, inked with pen, colored with multicolored colored pencil) Now this one was more my style! I had recently discovered a colored pencil with six different colors in one pencil in the depths of my supplies, and thought it would be the perfect way to give this fluffy dragon a magical sort of look!

I bet he smells like cookies.

13. Draw your non-dominant hand (drawn with pencil) Pretty sure it's a right of passage to have pages of hands drawn in your sketchbook. Maybe not. But hands are hard, which is why I always say "Practice, practice, practice!"

Welp, it's a hand.

14. A blind-contour drawing (drawn with a brush ink pen) Blind-contour drawing is when you don't pick up your pencil (or whatever you are using to draw with) until you are finished, and you also don't look at your paper, you only look at your subject. I did accidentally lift my pen in this drawing, you can see the broken line where it happened. I picked my daughter, Alex, as the subject for this one. She was watching TV on the couch a few feet away from me, and was a perfect still model! I love the way blind-contour drawings turn out, and should really do more of them.

You can kind of tell it's a person!

15. A motorized vehicle of some sort (drawn with pencil, inked with pens) I probably should have picked a car, as my car and truck drawing skills are MIA (missing in action - as you can see in the tiny sketch below) but instead I chose a Segway! 

I've never ridden one, have you?

16. A landscape of your choice (drawn with pencil, inked with pen, and colored with colored pencil) Of course a toaster was going to make an appearance at some point in this challenge! 

Be free, little toaster!

17. A drawing with pointillism for coloring/shading (sketched with pencil, drawn with markers) Another toaster?! This wasn't my favorite one so far, but it was interesting. I'd do more pointillism (using "dots" to create an image) in the future, I think.

Even the lines are dots!

18. A scene with single-point perspective (drawn with pencil, inked with pen) I had started off with this being a cityscape because I loooove cityscapes but after one side of flat, bland buildings I wanted this drawing to get wEiRd!

After 20 years, finally some proper surrealism!

19. A non-motorized mode of transportation (drawn with pencil) The whole point of this challenge was to try techniques/subjects I don't usually use in my art. We have proof that realism isn't my specialty (sorry again, Jessica!) but I do keep trying! For this one though, I wanted something a little more my style. And in the end, I really like how it turned out! 

I've never ridden one of these, either!

20. A non-scary monster (drawn with a soft brush pen) I had DC, a couple of toasters, a city... it only makes sense that I'd include one of my monsters as well! This time with classic reclining style!

Oh my.

Well folks, we are two-thirds of the way through the challenge! Again, here is a link to days 1-10, and here is a link to the last set, days 21-30.

30 Drawings in 30 Days! Part 1

There are hundreds if not thousands of daily drawing prompts you can find online, all laid out nicely for months of creative inspiration and practice. Many of them consist of a single daily word that leaves all sorts of room for interpretation, like “red” or “enlighten.” I thought it would be fun to build a list of my own, and share the results. My goal was to stretch my artistic muscles a bit, so some of the prompts I came up with are very different from what I normally draw! This will be a three-part post, with ten prompts and images included in each post, in the end totaling up to 30. I started this on July 1st, 2022 (but Haley, aren't there 31 days in July? YES! And on the 31st, I took a break!)

Let’s dive right in (pun intended) with 1. Mermaid/merman/aquatic person (drawn with pencil, inked with pens) This character is called Rema, and she's a water fairy from a fantasy story I've been rolling around in my head for a while. In this drawing, she's pregnant and about to birth her egg!

Bloop, bloop!

2. Self-portrait in pajamas (drawn with pencils and gel pens) I'll admit, the first thing I reach for in the morning is my robe! I've probably mentioned this before, but every time I draw a self-portrait, I represent myself as this demon-cat-princess named DemoniCat (DC for short.) It's also how I sign all my artwork (prints get signed with my full name.)

Anyone else rock the robe life?

3. A cat/dog/domesticated animal (drawn with pencil) This is our Jack Russell terrier, Lola. She didn't sit still long enough for me to finish, but it's a pretty good likeness!

She's a good pupper.

4. The view from your front door or window (drawn with pencil) Across from our house are some fields and a little wooded area where we regularly see wildlife - I don't usually draw landscapes, so this one was fun to do!

No wild toasters, though.

5. Draw what your feet are currently doing (drawn with pencil) It's funny, but I didn't really consider what I do with my feet when I'm sitting - turns out I tuck my legs up on the couch, feet together, and cross my legs or ankles when I sit in a chair! 

That one's lefty, this one is righty.

6. A portrait of a celebrity (drawn in pencil) Oh Jessica Alba, I am sorry! 😂 I know if I put in more time, I could continue to adjust her features and eventually get it right, I just didn't want to put in that much time. This is why I don't draw realistic portraits!

It's okay to laugh, that's what I'm doing!

7. A piece of furniture (drawn with pencil, colored with markers) This is a tiny wooden rocking chair for my girls that used to be mine when I was their age!

Heirloom status achieved!

8. A character from a book (drawn in pencil) I'm currently reading the Sword of Shannara trilogy, and this is how I picture the druid Allanon in my head.

What does a campfire really look like?

9. Something in the style of Dr. Seuss (drawn in pencil, inked with pen, colored with crayons) I thought using my kids' crayons would be an appropriate medium for this one. This is a self-portrait of me, just finishing up a painting in my studio, when a mouse skittered past my bare feet (we found out it was a mouse when we caught it two days later, at the time it sounded like the size of a small dog!)

Nailed it!

10. A single leaf (drawn with pencil) I'm not sure if one segment of a Christmas cactus qualifies as a 'leaf' but it's what I chose! If I was to choose again, I think I'd pick a dried leaf from a tree, I think those just have more character.

Pointy, yet soft!

There you have it, the first round of daily drawings! Here's a link to the second set of ten, and here's the post about the final ten.